That’s not how it works – It is all Ice Cream

Greetings Dear Reader,

I love ice cream.  I do not like anything chunky in my ice cream. I have a friend for whom ice creams is just the canvas on which she paints with chocolate chips,  nuts, fruit, and anything else that she can acquire. 

Ice cream comes in so many flavors that if one likes ice cream one can find a favorite.  It is an exercise in futility to argue over flavors of ice cream.  No matter what one puts into his or her ice cream if it possess certain things it is still ice cream.

Over the years the church has developed many denominations.  Some divisions are for good reasons and many not for such good reasons.  We argue and hate over the basics of following and practice.  The real problem is when we  think our flavor of following is the only one that is ice cream.

As long as the basics are there faith is faith.  I have covered those basics before and will not belabor them here.  There are some clear benchmarks of a Christ follower.  One of them is that we are to love each other.  We are to worship in spirit and in truth.  We are to be kind and gentle with everyone. 

Dividing over practice is not how it works.  Whenever we do that we think is worship from the heart we do well.  When we begin to tell others that is the only way worship we do not do well.  We violate the very thing that makes it all work.

Christ has room for infinite diversity in his followers.  Those followers need to be about the basics of following.  We need to agree that no matter what our preferred flavor of following is if we are living out the core of the gospel we can make it work.

I need to be about loving others.  Caring for those in need is essential.  I can prefer loud worship to classic.  I can enjoy my prayer private and public as long as it is genuine.  The way it works is that my heart must belong to Christ.  I must follow him.  That is how it works.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)