John 14:6

Just heard an amazing sermon online by the likes of Brian Zahnd. I heard him speak once at ISU, and since then I've been compelled to occasionally listen to his podcast. He's a well read poetic pastor who took a church of like 80 people in podunk Missouri to 4,000 members. After his sermons sometimes I have to go to the dictionary, because he'll say things like "it's a scathing indictment on the world we live in." It's great.

Here's some notes from his sermon "Changing the World with a whisper." The gist of it was that in our American culture where 75% claim to be Christian but few actually walk in truth, we need less to preach at people with the bullhorn and come near to people and simply whisper. In it, he unpacked John 14:6 in one of the most thorough ways I've heard. Here are his bullet points:

Jesus is the way to find forgiveness
Jesus is the way to reconciliation with God and one another
Jesus is the way to be human
Jesus is the way back to the garden
Jesus is the way to inner peace, social peace, and world peace
Jesus is the way to prosperous living and abundant life
Jesus is the way for human beings to recover and confer dignity
Jesus is the way for us to love our enemies and end the cycle of revenge
Jesus is the way for legislatures to craft laws and for elected officials to govern
Jesus is the way for families to live together without anger, alienation, or abuse
Jesus is the way for the alcoholic to get sober and the addict to get clean
Jesus is the way for the poor to find a way out of their poverty
Jesus is the way for the wealthy to learn how to share
Jesus is the way for the selfish to learn how to care
Jesus is the way of healing for the sick in miracles and medicine
Jesus is the way for the old world the new world and the third world to become God's good world
Jesus is the truth which leads us to abandon our false philosophies and idolatrous religions
Jesus is the life of authentic Christianity, whether in catholic, orthodox, protestant, or evangelical expression
Jesus is the way for a prodigal people to return from self imposed exile and live again in the father's house where there is room for all
Jesus is the truth which liberates us from the lies of sin and satan which have bound since the fall
Jesus is the life which our best poets writers and musicians always thought was possible but never quite could find
This is our Gospel, God's whisper of love and truth that can change the world

Praise God. I want in on that!