ReJesus Part 2

To continue the ReJesus quotes, I'll allow my friends, Alan and Mike to say it and say it well...This is from Chapter three, page 63:

Two quotes that open the chapter:
"Christ's whole life is all its aspects must supply the norm for the life of the following Christian and thus for the life of the whole church." ~ Soren Kierkegaard

"All religious institutional embeddedness - whether in the form of temple worship, unjust social systems, or repressive religious practices - is challenged by the revelation of God in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus." ~ Gail O'Day

Alan and Mike open the chapter with this:
Iin Revelation 3.20, we hear these famous words of Jesus: "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." We generally interpret this to say that Jesus is standing at the door of our hearts and asking us to allow him to come in. Even though we can appreciate the sentiment, the verse itself has nothing to do with personal evangelism. The specific church in question in Revelation 3 is that of Laodicea, the famously lukewarm church that Jesus wanted to vomit out of his mouth. The image here is of Jesus standing outside of the church asking to come in. The question that should spring to our minds is, "What is He doing on the outside of the church when He is meant to be the Lord of that very church?" But of course, John's revelation of the seven messages to the seven churches is fiven to us as a warning that we not make the same errors. Jesus is outside the door of the church in Laodicea! How is this also true for many communities and organizations that claim the name Christian? The question we ask in introducing this chapter must be, is Jesus similarly outside the door of your church? Have we shut Him out of the fellowship of the insiders? And what has been the result? "

Let's look at the result! Hmmmm. Scary!