These are the words of him who alone is the Civic Center of the entire cosmos. In him there is neither Dunlap nor Creve Coeur, north or south end, neither picket lines nor picket fences. I AM all that matters.
I love this about you:
- Historically, and still, you are evangelical and you focus on my written Word, the Bible. You are known as a “people of the Book.” Sometimes, you are disparagingly called “Bible thumpers,” because of your penchant for the Scriptures. I love it that when confronted with a dilemma you ask, “What does the Word say?” I will keep my word and bless you as you continue to search my Word.
- You consistently gather to worship. All across Peoria while many are hung over from Saturday night, you are driving over to your church buildings to worship.
Nonetheless, I have these things against you, and no collaboration of Six Sigma will resolve it; only your repentant heart will forego my judgment.
I gave and spent my life going to the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the discarded. In contrast, so may of you are packing up, building new facilities as you move away from the very ones I sought out. Have you sought my opinion regarding this grand exit to Grand Prairie? Please don’t escape the poor– engage them.
Many of you worship both the flag and the cross. You bow down to both. Are you a Christ folower or an empire worshipper? You cannot be both. Choose this day whom you will serve. The kingdom and the empire have always been, are, and ever shall be mutually exclusive of each other. I AM President–not Reagen, not Clinton, not Obama. I AM CEO–not Jim Owens. I am Mayor–not Jim Ardis. So many of you are industinguishable from your culture. You sit in church on a Sunday morning; the unbeliever sits in front of his widescreen. But Monday through Saturday you both bow to the empire. Choose this day whom you will serve.
You break my heart in your eagerness to wage war on behalf of the empire. You seem to evidence so little hesitation, you seem so unquestioning of how the empire deals with the perceived enemy. You break my heart in your blanket endorsement of the empire’s thirst for war and retribution and revenge. Did you learn this from me? What did I teach you? What did my entire life model for you? Are you mirroring me or the empire? You join your friends and neighbors and line the streets as upu celebrate your parades exalting weapons of mass destruction. Never once have I seen you, Church, line the streets or gather to protest your inhumanity inflicted on each other. You break my heart.
Repent of these matters. Look at yourself in the mirror. The Spirit of Peoria may be docked for winter, but I assure you, the Spirit of God is active and alive, seeking people willing to sacrifice their reputation, prestige, and comfort for the sake of the Kingdom. The Spirit seeks churches willing to be misunderstood and maligned by their culture as that church incarnates the life of him who was, and is, and is to come. Repent and return. If you do not, there will come a day when your glistening steeples will serve as lances upon which you will be impaled; your massive stained glass windows will shatter and the shards will lacerate your lukewarm heart.
If you are a man or woman who has, or desires, a discerning mind and heart, hear what the Spirit says to the church of Peoria. The man or woman who hears and obeys my words will receive exponentially more from me than they ever sacrificed for me. You are called the River City. I have prepared for the brother or sister who loves and obeys me –the church who follows me– a new home, a New City, through which will flow the River of Life. No more carp or waste contaminating this river. Instead, fresh, crystal clear water that heals, that refreshes, that cleanses, that revives mind, body, and spirit. I stand on the banks of that river and beckon you to come.
This past Sunday we finished our teaching series on the 7 letters to the churches in the book of Revelation. We asked a few people in our community to follow the pattern of the letters in Revelation and write a letter to the Church in Peoria. The letters are meant to be both encouraging and challenging, much like the original letters were. Check out the last teaching in the Revelation series to hear the letters in their full context.
