More Thoughts from Velvet Elvis

Here are some more quotes from Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith that have resonated with me over the past couple of days...

Why do we do the things we do? Many people react to and are driven by these deep, unspoken forces. They are strong and they dictate huge areas of our lives. And it is possible to be a good Christian and go to church services and sing the right songs and jump through the right hoops and never let Jesus heal your soul. (118)

I have seen many [Christian] leaders who wear their issues on their sleeves. They are raising money to build a bigger building, but the truth is they are still trying to earn their father’s approval. They never unplug their answering machine and take a Sabbath because they still believe their parents’ divorce was their fault. They live in reaction to everybody around them because no one ever taught them to have a spine. They are racked with guilt because they are not doing enough. They are trying to teach people about a way of life that isn’t true of their own life. On a regular basis when I’m with pastors, I’ll ask them if the message they are preaching isn’t the dominant reality of their own life. You can’t believe how many will say that it isn’t.

So my question for leaders – and for Christians everywhere – is, are you smoking what you’re selling?

I cannot lead people somewhere I am not trying to go myself. I don’t have to have arrived, I don’t have to be perfect, but I do need to be on the path. And that’s why for so many the church experience has been so shallow – so many leaders have never descended into the depths of their own souls. They haven’t done the hard, difficult, gut-wrenching work of shining the bright lights on all of the years of baggage and destructive messages.

It is so hard to look deep inside yourself. My experience has been that very few people do the long, hard work of the soul. Maybe that’s why Jesus said the way is narrow. (119)