{"id":8721,"date":"2012-04-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2012\/04\/16\/andrew-sullivans-forgotten-jesus\/"},"modified":"2012-04-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-16T00:00:00","slug":"andrew-sullivans-forgotten-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/andrew-sullivans-forgotten-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Sullivan\u2019s \u201cThe Forgotten Jesus\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

While children’s poetry is an unusual form for a Leadership<\/em> article, this is what emerged after reviewing Andrew Sullivan’s thought provoking article, “The Forgotten Jesus,”<\/a> in the April 9 edition of Newsweek<\/em>. I’m glad that the disparity of church behavior with the teachings of Jesus is becoming a prominent national conversation, but it is often framed as a false choice between either Jesus or the church. Still, Sullivan’s piece is an important article on the institutional church and the gospel of Jesus in our current American context.<\/p>

There once was a writer named Sullivan<\/p>

who wanted to give Christ a mulligan,<\/p>

so he said “people, please\u2014ditch the Church so diseased,<\/p>

and remember what Jesus taught us again!”<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

His article published in Newsweek, <\/p>

caused Americans widely to now speak<\/p>

about clergy corruption, and “Christian” eruptions<\/p>

of behavior not loving or meek.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

My thoughts on the matter? As follows:<\/p>

his argument’s not at all hollow,<\/p>

the critique is well taken, “churchianity” shaken,<\/p>

an indictment we’d do well to swallow . . .<\/p>

but I can’t recommend his conclusion<\/p>

(the repeat of an age old delusion);<\/p>

that if the church lets us down, we should get out of town<\/p>

and leave “them” to break down in confusion.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

See, Christ married critique with communion,<\/p>

restoration, and holy reunion.<\/p>

The rich he made poor, but still opened his door<\/p>

for all sinners to feast and find union.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

And so I say listen to Andrew,<\/p>

but do all you possibly can do<\/p>

to live well in the church, leaving none in the lurch,<\/p>

like our Teacher Jesus has shown you.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

For the church is a whore, but our mother,<\/p>

and as much as we might like to smother<\/p>

those who hijack our lord, we cannot well afford<\/p>

to leave Jesus behind with the others.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While children’s poetry is an unusual form for a Leadership article, this is what emerged after reviewing Andrew Sullivan’s thought provoking article, “The Forgotten Jesus,” in the April 9 edition of Newsweek. I’m glad that the disparity of church behavior with the teachings of Jesus is becoming a prominent national conversation, but it is often Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[2655],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[4444],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-8721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-paul-j-pastor","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-media"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nAndrew Sullivan\u2019s \u201cThe Forgotten Jesus\u201d - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta 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