Mix Up

Some preachers mix up conformity with transformation. They think their job is to transform you by telling you what to do, the rules and rites. The idea is that if you obey, you will be transformed. That really is conformity. We have been into conformity since Constantine. Before that, we were more edgy, more prophetic, because we Christians were in love with Jesus Christ. Would you really burn at the stake for a rule on fasting? Generally, these preachers of conformity who are celibate priests, focus on issues that are not much struggle for them, such as birth control, and divorce.

Transformation, on the other hand, is the work of God. The fertile ground in which God works is our failures and sufferings. Failure can reveal our need for God. We cannot become transformed on our own, nor by following a rule. Rules can knit us into community, but cannot transform us. Humility can come only with our mistakes, done over and over, I have found. "Where sin abounds, Grace aboundeth more." Transformed people become prophetic voices if they stay within the community, but challenge it. These are the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. If you leave the community because you don't like anyone telling you what to do, or you think they are stupid and you wise, then I suspect you are moving toward narcissism rather than transformation.