The World Doesn’t Need Fake Religious Folks
December 13, 2018 at 12:37 p.m.
By Ken Locke-
I wonder if there are times when people look at followers of Jesus (I’m including myself) and see us being synthetic. The world is starved for that which is real and doesn’t need factitious religious folks.
Many years ago William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army, was asked about a new translation of the Bible and whether Christians should be reading it instead of the King James Version. Booth’s answer was very insightful: “"I want to see a new translation of the Bible into the hearts and conduct of living men and women." He was alluding to verses like Colossians 3:16, which says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly …”
The figures in that Nativity scene are clean, serene and lifeless. Not like the young couple who traveled far and delivered a child in a smelly stable surrounded by livestock.
Jesus, the Word of God, put on skin and lived in this messy world showing us The Way. His followers are not called to be statues but living witnesses who reach out in this chaotic world with His love and mercy. Christ should be “translated” into our daily actions as our lives are gifts to others sharing the Good News of Christmas throughout the year!
Ken Locke is community ministries director of The Salvation Army in Warsaw and director of the Greater Warsaw Ministerial Association.
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I wonder if there are times when people look at followers of Jesus (I’m including myself) and see us being synthetic. The world is starved for that which is real and doesn’t need factitious religious folks.
Many years ago William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army, was asked about a new translation of the Bible and whether Christians should be reading it instead of the King James Version. Booth’s answer was very insightful: “"I want to see a new translation of the Bible into the hearts and conduct of living men and women." He was alluding to verses like Colossians 3:16, which says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly …”
The figures in that Nativity scene are clean, serene and lifeless. Not like the young couple who traveled far and delivered a child in a smelly stable surrounded by livestock.
Jesus, the Word of God, put on skin and lived in this messy world showing us The Way. His followers are not called to be statues but living witnesses who reach out in this chaotic world with His love and mercy. Christ should be “translated” into our daily actions as our lives are gifts to others sharing the Good News of Christmas throughout the year!
Ken Locke is community ministries director of The Salvation Army in Warsaw and director of the Greater Warsaw Ministerial Association.
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