Back from Vacation

Hey, is this thing on? Purrs and roars are back now that we've returned from sunny FL.

My Emerging Church friends are roaring with new decisions every day. The question of whether these are good or bad decision remains to be seen, but a prayer wells up within me:

Lord, don't let this be another thing we talk about in theory. Don't let us get bogged down with whether it's a program, a movement, or a conversation.

Don't let us get stuck defending a right to exist and to call ourselves Christian.

Don't let us argue to hear ourselves talk or even to gain agreement. But don't let us settle for less than Christian truth.

Don't let us be so enamored with our lack of form that we shun all form, and don't let us bow too easily to formulas without thinking.

Don't let us stick with old physical structures, communal structures, or philosophical structures that keep us from following Jesus. But don't let us throw out the old just for the sake of the new.

Help us, Lord, to keep the main thing the main thing: Jesus is Lord, and we are here to love and serve God and to love and serve the world.