N.T. Wrights on my Soul

This is not a task Simply for a few backroom specialists. If church leaders themselves spent more time studying and teaching Jesus and the Gospels, a good many of other things we worry about in day-to-day church life would be seen in their proper light. It has far too often been assumed that church leaders stand above the nitty-gritty of biblical and theological study; they have done all that, we implicitly suppose, before they come to office, and now they simply have to work out the "implications." They then find themselves spending countless hours at their desks running the church as a business, raising money or working at dozens of other tasks, rather than poring over their foundation documents and enquiring ever more closely about the Jesus whom they are supposed to be following and teaching others to follow. I believe, to the contrary, that each generation has to wrestle afresh with the question of Jesus, not least its biblical roots if it is to be truly church at all--not that we should engage in abstract dogmatics to the detriment of our engagement with the world, but that we should discover more and more of who Jesus was and is, precisely in order to e equipped to engage with the world that he came to save. And this is a task for the whole church, especially those appointed to leadership and teaching roles within it.
--N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus


I'm not sure exactly how to follow that except perhaps, amen and amen. I suppose I am in church leadership, but I think I would more easily identify with being the wife of a husband who is in church leadership. And that is something quite different entirely. It is perhaps, easier to have opinions & observe closely, but still maintain a position on the perimeter. It is much to easy to be involved but not involved. This last year has been eye opening, challenging, frustrating and rewarding. It's just too easy, I think, for humans to get involved and muck everything up. I don't approve of the other's expectations for me, she perceives the church is headed the wrong direction, the order of the service has not been properly planned, he spoke out of turn, I didn't agree with this particular sermon. And on and on it goes. 


I'm sick of church politics. I'm tired of the business. 


What I am not tired of is being with the people at church. Challenging and encouraging each other. Being with people who remind me, just by being who they are, that there is much to strive for in life, there is a deeper relationship to be had, there is always Someone who is in control. There is always love.


I think Wright really brings us around and redefines our perspective when he exhorts us to investigate Christ. ALL of us. How better to follow Christ than to journey together, to discover and learn together? When all of who we are, our life, our theology, our relationships, and our church are Christ-centered, we are closest to being the creatures God created us to be. We can be on the same path together, headed the same direction, and it can look different for each and every person. We can do church, and, in my dreams, lose the business of it. 


Amen and Amen?