Converting the Church

I was reading about the Conversion of Saul (into Paul) the other day.
Paul’s conversion is known among Christians as one of the craziest conversion stories. The dude was killing Christians, then he meets Jesus on the road, is blinded, then Ananias comes and heals him, and Paul becomes the biggest disciple of Christ. He takes the gospel everywhere, gets put in jail a couple times, and writes a bunch of letters that make up a bulk of the Bible.
Thing is, he wasn’t some drug-addicted, gang member that we like to think of as the “crazy conversion stories”. He was a religious leader. A zealot in the church. That’s who Jesus saved. Someone who knew the scripture. Someone who attended and taught in the Temple.
Jesus, in so many ways, came to save us from religion. Now, I don’t subscribe to the whole “Jesus hates religion” movement and I’m not arguing that Jesus doesn’t like the church or it’s not important. Church is needed. Community is needed. But, I would be lying if I didn’t say that there is still a lot that the Church and the people (and leaders) in it need to be saved from. Jesus brought us a better way. He came to save us from the burden of the Pharisees. To bring freedom. Most of his rebuking in the scripture is toward the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then, he’d be like “catch ya later, getting dinner with the sinnerz” (I bet you Jesus was cool enough to use “z”’s as “s”’s).
I’m not calling for a sharp change of thought or life. What this does for me is it helps me understand the relationship that Church and it’s leaders has in my life. I should be plugged in a church, but I should also be super aware that the Church is broken and so are the leaders. (And, trust me, I am super aware). I should not let the Church place burdens on me I was not supposed to carry. I should listen to the wisdom from those in my church, but I should listen to Jesus first. He is freedom and love. The church… well, the church unfortunately has a long way to go.
We gotta stick it out, though. I need to be faithful to a church if I want it to grow and to change. Barking at it from the outside is not going to do anything.
Well, now it’s time to go get ready for church.
