Jesus Brand Spirituality : Part 1
I recently received an advanced copy of a new book that’s due to hit the shelves soon. It’s called Jesus Brand Spirituality (He wants His Religion Back). The book is written by Pastor/Author Ken Wilson.
Ken’s background and life experiences give him a unique perspective on the journey of faith. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with Ken a few times so I was really excited to get an advanced copy of his new book.
I’ve only just begun to read the book, but I’m going to try to put down some thoughts about it as I go through it.
Chapter 1: Reclaiming the Pilgrims Path
I like the opening paragraph….
“Jesus wants his religion back. And he wants it back from the orthodox, the Bible-believing, and the defenders of faith as much as from anyone else.”
Man do I agree with that…
In America at least, religion, Jesus, his name and everything done in his name has been hijacked by a group or groups of people claiming (if not by word at least by actions) some moral superiority to further there political ends rather then God’s Kingdom. Don’t get me talking about politics please…my Grandma may be reading.
Needless to say, something has gone wrong with the brand name association here in the states. Republican does not equal Christian. Moral majority does not equal spiritual authority. Right does not mean right. Ok…I’m getting off track here. But Ken’s onto something. Their needs to be a re-branding. Jesus needs to hire a new PR guy or something to come up with a slick marketing campaign. Somewhere Jesus, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus has been lost.
I really liked this quote…
“Let’s think of Jesus as the magnetic presence buried beneath the movements that represent him. He is the attractor who is obscured as much as he is revealed by the labels that define us in relation to him”
Ken then uses a good metaphor to describe how we should look at Jesus and our relationship to him. Not as insiders, not as outsiders, not as climbers along this linear ladder of religious beliefs, spiritual laws, absolute truths, etc…. But rather, He challenges us to look at life as a pilgrimage. All of us as start our journey from a different point of origin, a different perspective. Along the way the culture, the climate, the landscape, the experiences differ. But at the center there is this magnetic force pulling us in, drawing us closer. As Ken says,
“The closer we get to the center, the more our paths converge. But for now the only concern each of us shares is this: how can we take “one step closer to knowing” one step closer to the center we’re looking for?
So far so good…I’m liking it. More to come later.
man - that is exactly what i was going to say!!! ha ha - i am just going to copy and paste your blog post over onto mine! i am also reading a copy and i like all the same parts about it that you like for the same reason….you did once say we were kindred spirits right???
Amen.
Full agreement. David Owen Ritz (New Thought) commented that if you just read the red print in such a version of the Bible, you realize Jesus was a supreme metaphysicist with great thoughts about spiritual kinship!
[...] about halfway through the book Jesus Brand Spirituality now and from the traffic generated by my first post I thought I’d post some more thoughts from the [...]
I have read the book and it is a great attempt by one man(and a wonderful man he is) attempting to describe his belief system and how that system defines his faith. It is all based upon the belief that Jesus had a mission and that mission was to start a church. What better way to show the transforming presence of Jesus into our communities than to spread the word of the real mission Jesus walked this earth. Jesus suffered death so that we would all be forgiven of our sin for all time. Jesus knew what it was like to be separated completely from our Father. That is the fundamental Christian truth. Whatever beliefs we propose after that is just simply religiosity.
I pray that Ken continues to keep his heart and his head open to Jesus…and His transforming presence, and humbly so. All love to you Ken.