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.