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Essays on Christ as our life, the ekklesia as His living body, and the religious substitutes that have displaced Him.
Much of what we call Christianity has become a religious substitute for the life of God. These essays expose the buildings, intellectual authorities, gifted personalities, and inherited forms that have displaced Christ as the source of our living. They call us to abandon the substitute and come to Christ Himself.
Begin with These Three Essays
These three readings move from God’s purpose, through the substitutes that occupy His place, to the life of the ekklesia.
1. The Life God Intended to Give
Begin with God’s purpose to give Himself to humanity—His life becoming our living.
2. The Evil of Christian Culture
Consider how the things of Christ can replace Christ, until familiarity with Christian things is mistaken for living by Him.
3. They Had Christ Before They Had Christianity
Turn to the ekklesia as the expression of His life, and the surrender of the forms and gifted control that displace Him.
Then, Cross the River
Cross the River. Leave Babylon. Return to Jerusalem. brings these three readings to a personal invitation: leave what has replaced Christ, give up dependence upon gifted people, and allow His life to find expression among us.
For a quieter companion to the call to cross the river, read What We May Never See—on loving what God desires without assuming its completion is our assignment.
Published Essays
Read the published essays below, beginning with the newest.
The Visible Is Not Ultimate
A substantial reflection on visible suffering, unseen hope, and the living reality of Christ. Faith tells the truth about circumstances while receiving them within the larger promise of resurrection.
Themes
Choose a theme to open a related essay or Dear Ray letter.
- The Source before Christian behavior
- System, ministry, and spiritual decline
- The Lord’s table and predictable religious culture
- Elders, authority, and maturity of life
- Evangelism and the meaning of fruit
- The church as a living expression of Christ
- The old creation’s death in Christ
- Time, eternity, and the finished work of God
Read related letters
These published Dear Ray letters touch several of the themes above:
- The Vision That Never Cooks — on the difference between a living vision and religious activity.
- What I Remember from Santa Barbara — a recollection of fellowship and the life of the church.
- The Difficulty of Beginning Again — on renewed attention to Christ, whose life remains ours through years of interruption.
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