[Theme song not included, all music on this episode by Andy Squyres]

“Joey Svendsen here.  This is a conversation for the ages for me and the epitome of where I’m at in how I view my faith, God and my church .  May we all accept the freedom from our arrogance.  May we strive to progress in our love."

Musician/song-writer Andy Squyres discusses with Joey the following post he made on his Instagram: 

The good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is always given by people who only partially understand it, and it is received by people who probably know a little less.  The preaching of the Gospel is the active work of displaying our partial understanding (or misunderstanding) of God to those who also have only a partial understanding. There is no systematic theology or statement of belief which provides ultimate understanding of God.

It is not impossible to understand the Gospel, but it is never accurate to claim to have all understanding of it.  All communication of Christ IS the communication of our limited understanding of him.  Or in other words, it is the bold proclamation of our misunderstanding.

The communication of the Gospel, whether by word or deed, can in no way happen perfectly
because the God story can only come through imperfect vessels with limited understanding.

This is the brilliance of God and is a testimony to his reliance on patient love rather than on control.  His good news always travels by imperfect means and yet it never stops producing peace.  This isn’t to say that all presentations of the gospel are on equal footing or that we should never wrestle through theological systems of thought.  We should always seek the face of Christ in order to see him better.  But we can trust that God’s grace is sufficient at the point of our limited understanding and we can rely on the fact that he is the author and finisher of our faith. 

So who is the preacher you don’t like?  What is the church, mega church, denomination that you have proclaimed judgement upon? I have my list.  I am guilty of holding court in my mind and pronouncing guilty verdicts on many different communities of faith who have come to different conclusions that I have.  This is arrogance which came to set us free from.  In the Church, we are witnessing a massive “leaving church” movement and I can actually see the justification for it, but I worry that there is no place to go.  Because here is the actual truth: hypocrisy abounds EVERYWHERE.  There is no human community that has eradicated hypocrisy from its midst.  Progress in love is our only aim. 

Andy Squyres:
https://twitter.com/andysquyres
https://andysquyres.com/
https://www.instagram.com/andysquyres

Joey/PWNA Instagram:  www.instagram.com/joeysvendsen
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PWNA Theme Song by Stoy Prioleau (aka: Riggy Roc): Apple Music