one last thought

I finished re-reading Mere Discipleship last night, but I had to share one more quote worth mulling over for a while:

When churches pervert the gospel so that it becomes moralistic rule-keeping, shame is often heaped upon those who fail to meet narrow, provincial expectations. Consequently, “church” takes the shape of yet one more perverted principality and power, enslaving rather than serving. “Church” becomes a community of “nice people” who come together to hear sermons and sing songs and do their religious thing, when the reality underneath the nice exterior is always much more messy, filled with hurts, pain, and dysfunctions; caught under the power of delusions about sex, power, and money; trapped in servitude to those institutions and cultural norms and principalities that traffic in such contraband.