Army of Priests

It’s the 1st of October (at least in Australia, your mileage may vary) and today is the official “re-launch” of this blog as armyofpriests.com .

Jesus said the following words to Peter during His ministry: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Mathew 16:18) I remember for years thinking that this meant the church would withstand all the attacks of the enemy. After all, the world is a scary place and we must keep ourselves “pure”.

I thought that life was a test to take before getting into heaven. That the ultimate goal was to keep believing what the pastor taught. To not drink, sleep around, swear, or do drugs. That I had to walk carefully in a world full of land mines. I thought there was temptation lurking in every book, movie, shopping centre, and friend (indeed there is). The bad apples would ruin the good ones, thus I should try to separate myself from the world as much as possible.

Read more…

Attn: For those that read this blog via RSS (you know who you are) this post contains some important information for you…

I started this blog nineteen months ago. That sounds like a lot longer than it feels. Over that time it has done a half reasonable job of attracting readers, especially considering my post rate has dropped dramatically at times. And I have gotten some really good feedback though the comments and the About section of this blog. Those let me know that I am not just a raving lunatic, and these posts are actually worth something to someone. Thank you for those.

Shortly before I started this blog I watched The Last Samurai which stars Tom Cruise. I was inspired by the Samurai’s devotion, discipline, courage, and values. All these were attributes I wanted to develop in myself. They also tie in deeply with my identity as a soldier and my attempts to get Christians out of their pews and into the world (where all the excitement it). If the popular posts of this site is any indication I seem to have done alright at that. The Radical Christian: An Overview is, by a large margin, the most visited page on this site (even more so than the About page), and the rest of the series also ranks highly.

The last nineteen months have also been a really significant learning time for me. In the years before I started this blog I had been spending a lot of time studying and trying to understand the purpose of Church, and the best way to fulfil this purpose. However, whilst I have been writing this blog the gospel itself has been something I have questioned and explored. I have had some really wacky, off base ideas ideas at times but I finally feel like I am ‘getting it’ something which is evidenced in the events of my life recently.

But I digress, “Becoming God’s Samurai” isn’t, I feel, the best name for this blog. It creates other images in peoples minds, such as violence, that this blog isn’t about. It’s also cumbersome, considering that even I get the spelling wrong sometimes.

For these reasons on the 1st of October this blog will become armyofpriests.com . I feel that this title expresses both the idea that we are at war, and are soldiers, but also the method of our war. We are an army of lovers as it were.

WordPress says that all links to godssamurai.wordpress.com will get redirected to armyofpriests.com and that the RSS should continue to work. But, just in case, they recommend changing your RSS over to http://armyofpriests.com/feed/ .

There will be some other changes too. Firstly, I have been able to organise my life in such a way that I can now post every day. Starting on the 1st. I have over a month’s worth of posts ready as it is. I also plan on doing some custom CSS at some point as well.

Thanks, and I will see you on Wednesday!

I remember the first time I got my hands on the Message paraphrase of the bible. It was many years ago, it was only the New Testament and it had been prior used. It didn’t take long before I took a yellow highlighter pen and emphasised many passages through Acts. I was highlighting passages about the church which I couldn’t reconcile with church today. I had started a journey which I still have not yet finished. I wanted to know: What is wrong with Church?

At the time I had some very strange and naive ideas about church. I read verses like 1 Corinthians 14: 27 & 29 (“If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret” & “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said” (NIV)) and began to think that the key was having two or three shorter sermons rather then one big one. But this type of thinking is what you would expect from a kid. Since then I have learnt much more. I have read a number of books on the topic, I have traced our traditions back through history, I have written (for my own sake) pages on the topic. The reality is that there is a lot wrong with church, many things I will touch on latter but the primary problem with it is me.

I had been asking “What is wrong with the church?” but never making the connecting between the church and me. I am the church. The church is not some organisation or program or building, it is the body of Christ, and it is something that I am part of. So when I ask what is wrong with the church I am asking what is wrong with me.

If I was perfect, wouldn’t I love regardless of external factors such as church structure or some screwed theology from the pulpit? Wouldn’t I seek the lost regardless of any perceived condemnation from the people around me? Wouldn’t I seek out other Christians and form strong families regardless of how centred our organisations are on appearance?

The problem is I am not perfect, and the church isn’t helping, but that is no excuse. The primary problem with the church is not one of structure, or theology. Its primary problem is that there aren’t very many “new creations”.

Christ did not die so that I can attend some service on Sunday mornings and sit on a pew. He came to begin the process that would make me perfect. He came to make me like him. He came to make me passionate, he came to make me loving, he came to make me bold, and he came to make me honest.

I have a list compiled from the bible that reminds me of what it really means to be the church. I did not make this list – it is available from many places across the web.

• Love one another (John 13:34, 35).
• Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10).
• Honor one another above yourselves (Romans 12:10).
• Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16).
• Stop passing judgment on one another (Romans 14:13).
• Edify one another (Romans 14:19).
• Instruct (admonish) one another. (Romans 15:14)
• Accept one another (Romans 15:7).
• Have concern for one another (I Corinthians 12:25).
• Carry one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).
• Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32).
• Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21).
• Agree with one another (Philippians 4:2).
• Teach one another (Colossians 3:16).
• Encourage one another (I Thessalonians 4:18).
• Build each other up (I Thessalonians 5:11).
• Live in peace with one another (I Thessalonians 5:13).
• Be kind to each other (I Thessalonians 5:15).
• Encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13).
• Spur one another to good deeds (Hebrews 10:24).
• Confess sins to one another (James 5:16).
• Offer hospitality to one another (I Peter 4:9).
• Serve each other (I Peter 4:10).
• Show humility to one another (I Peter 5:5).
• Have fellowship with one another (I John 1:7).

There is another one which I add: “You are a kingdom of priests” (1 Peter 2:9). To me a priest is so much more then simply having a direct relationship with God, it is an obligation to be his ambassadors here. It is a command to act like priests, not just call yourself one.

That list is important to me because there is nothing stopping me from doing it. I don’t need some new church structure to confess my sins to someone for instance. I can start to be the church, right now.

This blog is all about this idea – about becoming new creations in a church where the laity have given up their responsibility to “be priests” to the clergy. It is a call to action, a call to fight. There is much to be said, this post is only a very rapid overview of only one idea but it is an idea that underpins my life.

God let me act out what I believe. Let me be your priest. Let me be your warrior.