Last month I had the opportunity to speak at icuTalks on the topic of Ending Stigma in the Church.

I was incredibly honored and took all 26 of my 25 minutes to talk about a reconciling God in a church that often perceives him through the lens of retribution. If you’re curious about the new book I am finally wrapping up, Leaving & finding Jesus, this is a good introduction.

When the sun sets on my shoulder when the northern lights shine bold

“But you still consider yourself a Christian!” He responded with anger.

“Yes, but not as you define it.” Then I added, “I am absolutely in love with God, just not the one you’re angry at. Man, when it comes to that god, I may be a better atheist than you.”

Over the last twenty some years I’ve had some rather rude awakenings. Yeah, I’ve traveled to new places and I’ve confronted Bad Dudes. But that’s pretty much were the similarities to an episode of the A-Team end. You see, the bullets were real and they didn’t miss. I’ve been shot, many times – and it was no mere flesh wound either.

Here’s the thing, if we believe God is about control, it affects everything. Every experience and encounter is filtered through the insecurity of our relationship with a small God. A control-based perspective of God is evidenced by the subtle anxiety we experience in our heart when the furnace breaks down, to the blatant sense of righteousness when a rapist gets the death penalty.

Yes, sin is a big deal, and our job as Christians is to remove the condemnation that is associated with it, not add to it. We are invited to, like Christ, release kindness, and walk people into freedom. “There is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” (Rom 8:1) That’s us! And I would add, ‘therefore there should be no condemnation from those who are in Christ Jesus.’ We can’t give away what we don’t have…