Great thoughts from Rob Bell's goodbye sermon

A couple days ago I listened to Rob Bell's final message to Mars Hill. I love listening to Rob--his voice adds passion and wonder to his words. I posted a link to this message on my facebook page, but suggest you get the podcast and listen, rather than just read.

I thought I'd share a few parts of his message that spoke to me:

this church, this place, this community, was once simply a
hunch. a dream. a vision. 

a picture in the mind of a new kind of church for the new world we find ourselves in. 

a church that was fearless in confronting the injustices and systems of oppression that lurk around every corner and at the very same time deeply committed to the personal, intimate experience of following Jesus, of experiencing the joy and peace that transcends space and time. 

a church that found the stale, old categories of liberal and conservative boring and irrelevant because we'd experienced resurrection, which includes and affirms anything and everything that brings liberating, new life wherever it's found irrespective of whatever labels and categories it's been given because of an abiding conviction that the
tomb is,
after all,
empty.

a church where the main thing was actually the main thing.
a church that understood that there is a simplicity on the other side
of complexity, 

aware of all of the various interpretations
and theological perspectives and complicated systems of thinking and analyzing 

and yet with a clear, resolute sense that Jesus is doing something in the world, bringing water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, peace to the restless, presence to the lonely 

and we are invited to join his movement. 

that Jesus is ultimately not a proposition you intellectually assent to but a person you say 'yes' to.


I love Bell's messages. This last part, which I put in bold, is an important piece for all of us--whatever labels describe our theology. We easily get caught up in thinking, intellectualizing, arguing, debating, defending, and questioning--our beliefs, our interpretations, our preferences...


I need to remember that what is most important is knowing, experiencing, following, pursuing, longing for, crying out to, imitating, and living in Jesus.

It's not about what I think about Jesus, but how I relate to Jesus. And it seems that as I get older, this doesn't become easier, as I used to think it would. My always-present questions about life, death, God, the Bible, people, religion, everything, make my pursuit of Jesus more challenging than ever.

So while my understanding might not be as simple as it used to, I want to grow in my ability to say "yes" to Jesus, no matter what.