"Organized Religion," for many, brings to mind great abuses. Wars that were fought over seemingly irrelevant theological issues. Money that has been spent on ornate furniture and gaudy buildings rather than giving to those who are hungry. Children (and adults) being drawn into a depraved trap where someone in power could use devotion to take dignity and hope from them for selfish purposes.
Why would anyone want to join an organization where they might be dictated to by some distant group of officials who seem to hide in religious shadows? Why would anyone willingly submit to new sets of archaic rules that were written by dead men in an era whose values died long ago? Why would a person give money, time, or energy to a group of strange (and emotionally unhealthy) people when spiritual freedom is available for free in so many other ways?
That doesn't sound like freedom at all. It sounds like spiritual slavery.
Though each person that would use the phrase "organized religion" means something different by the phrase, maybe they are on to something. Maybe in their suspicion they are pointing those of us who have entrusted ourselves to Jesus to something different and...more than organized religion.
Even though our friends' bent towards distrust may cause them to throw out the proverbial baby with the metaphorical bathwater, can we learn from the desire of their hearts for something that is more meaningful?
Maybe what we need isn't that kind of organization. Maybe what we need is family.
There is something assumed in the New Testament writings that is easy for 21st century Americans to miss: the Church is not merely an organization or structured institution, the Church is people who are in relationship with Jesus and with each other. Like a family. Messy and beautiful.
I will say it again because I think I need to say it again: both messy and beautiful.
I would go nuts without some sort of organization in my life. It isn't like organization is somehow secretly evil. It is how we organize and for what reason. The reason: relationships. The how? Through relationships.
Both the hardest and the best things in the world have to do with relationships...connection with people. Religion without relationship is just a ploy for power. Real religion, though, is relational. We were created, shaped, formed, built to live life with relatives. (You know, people we relate to.)
Oftentimes the real problem with "organized religion" is that it takes the personal and relational out. Forms and structures are there, but relationships- the kind that are good for all people- are missing. Rules and principles have taken priority over the simplicity of knowing Someone and being known.
Paul the pastor (who wrote many of the writing of the New Testament) did not write in such a way to set up institutions to hold up religion, he wrote urging people to take a chance on relationships. To take a risk that real life might be found more in entrusting ourselves to others who love us than either devotion to a religion or determination to stay away from religion.
"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith." Galatians 6:10
"Faith" is not about a religion to work hard to believe in, but about a real confidence in a Person we can trust. All people who have known the goodness of being known by Jesus are free to trust themselves to others who have done the same.
Yes, it is messy because people are messy. Yes, it is risky because we have all been hurt by trusting someone else. But, it is beautiful because real freedom is found in being family. Even if we cannot fully trust each other, we can fully trust our Relational God who is working in our hearts to make us family.
Would you want that? Would you involve yourself in the lives of others? Would you take a risk in order to live the adventure of faith that always means being deeply (heart) connected with others- even if what hurts them, hurts you and what encourages them, encourages you? What if we are disappointed or let down or (God forbid) betrayed? And what if we had conversations that filled our souls and reshaped our lives' trajectory and drew us deeper into the heart of our Father?
This is the type of "organized religion" the Spirit is creating. It starts in people. Its starts with relationships. He is giving us a family to come home to.