Hi Kelly,

Thank you once again for taking the time to reply to my comments. Your response makes me wonder if I did a good job of conveying my thoughts in my previous post. When you said, "your words tell me that you are carrying a few burdens and that you are in need of rest" as well as your missive on being carnally minded, it made me think that perhaps I had failed. That's not to say that your comments were a waste of time. Far from it! I found the last part particularly interesting and more food for thought.

Please let me take another stab at what I was trying to say... it is the church that burdens me, not my work. In my experience with many denominations, little seems different about the way the church works and the way that our culture works. Sure, you occasionally hear a little about Christ in churches today, but not very often and usually in a context that looks so much like other human institutions. This is why I have pretty much given up on the institutional church. There is little that is distinct about it, and while it claims to have Christ as its Head, it certainly doesn't behave that way. :-(

A few months ago our @Librarian posted the following video on the reign (kingdom) of God - https://housechurch.org/view-discussion/church-is-essential-but-not-the-essence. I encourage everyone who hasn't watched it to do so. I think that it accurately describes the state of the institutional churches today. I find it sad and extremely distressing that the vast majority of churches will so readily find reasons to NOT worship with other Christians that we disagree with. We place our human traditions and institutions ahead of the Gospel, relying instead on cultural conventions to make us feel good and validate our sinful ways. My prayer is that God brings us to obedience, both in our personal relations with each other and as the church body as a whole.