Back in the early 90’s Franciscan priest Brennan Manning released the book, Ragamuffin Gospel.
Way back in January 2008 I finally picked up a copy and started reading it. I’m in the middle of the third chapter and loving it so far.
Manning focuses on the grace and love God gives – and we so often overlook or forget about – only giving lip service.
Here are some of my thoughts and quotes from Manning through the first few chapters…
The institutional church has become a wounder of the healers rather than a healer of the wounded.
Amy Grant ring any bells?
Though lip service is paid to the gospel of grace, many Christians live as if it is only personal discipline and self-denial that will mold the perfect me… In this curious process God is a benign old spectator in the bleachers who cheers when I show up for morning quiet time.
(Martin) Luther wrestled through the night with the core question: how could the Gospel of Christ be truly called “Good News” if God is a righteous judge rewarding the good and punishing the evil? Did Jesus really have to come to reveal that terrifying message?
Morton Kelsey wrote: “The church is not a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners.”
How often that is forgotten.
Any church that will not accept that it consists of sinful men and women, and exists for them, implicitly rejects the gospel of grace… And though it is true that the church must always dissociate itself from sin, it can never have any excuse for keeping any sinners at a distance.
We tremble before God’s majesty…and yet we grow squeamish and skittish before God’s love.
The God of the legalistic Christian, is often unpredictable, erratic, and capable of all manner of prejudices. When we view God this way, we feel compelled to engage in some sort of magic to appease Him. Sunday worship becomes a superstitious insurance policy against His whims.
If your God is an impersonal, cosmic force, your religion will be noncommittal and vague. The image of God as an omnipotent thug who brooks no human intervention creates a rigid lifestyle ruled by puritanical laws and dominated by fear.
Many folks have an extreme dislike for this idea of a post-modern/emerging/emergent church. There seems to be this idea that it’s turning people away from God’s holiness and the “fear of God.” I seem to feel that the “fear/knowledge” of God is already there but when they look at the church and look at the effect Christianity has had, they stand back and say, “a message purporting to be the best news in the world should be doing better than this.” Many of these seekers are wanting to serve a God out of love – rather than fear. They want to serve a God that’s real in every way and not a god just sitting on a cloud somewhere waiting to strike us down if we don’t live up to his expectations.
…A loving God fosters a loving people.
…Love is a far better stimulus than threat or pressure.
The Kingdom belongs to people who aren’t trying to look good or impress anybody, even themselves. They are not plotting how they can call attention to themselves, worrying about how their actions will be interpreted or wondering if they will get gold stars for their behavior.
For the disciple of Jesus “becoming like a little child” means the willingness to accept oneself as being of little account and to be regarded as unimportant.
When our inner child is not nurtured and not nourished, our minds gradually close to new ideas, unprofitable commitments, and the surprises of the Spirit. Evangelical faith is bartered for cozy, comfortable piety. A failure of nerve and an unwillingness to risk distorts God into a Bookkeeper and the gospel of grace is swapped for the security of religious bondage… If we maintain the open-mindness of children we challenged fixed ideas and established structures, including our own.
…the open mind realizes that reality, truth and Jesus Christ are incredibly open-ended.