"I am not a religious person...

...and I've come to say that neither is Jesus."

Man, I got past the first line but it didn't seem to come any easier. I was up in the lunchroom, surrounded at this point, by folks starring, laughing, some still talking, some listening. So I continued...

Religion is a set of beliefs and actions, usually containing some moral code that governs the conduct of human affairs. It's dead. It's the same 2,000 years ago as it is today, and will be 2,000 years from now.

Followers of Christ are about a relationship with the Creator of the whole universe. We are developing a friendship and unlike a set of ideas or code of conduct, it's new everyday. It's you, a living thing, relating to another living thing and as a result a relationship grows, changes and is new every day.

In the same way that y'all are relating to the folks sitting across the table, so too does Jesus want to relate to us. He's not gone you know. He died and was resurected. He's still here. He didn't go anywhere. And his Spirit is in the room right now. He's sitting at that table, standing right there. The Holy Spirit is here and Kingdom of God is near.

I went on to describe how the world's a mess and what the Kingdom of God looks like. I must say it was rough. While I speaking this big guy stands up and walks over near me. He just stands there starring me down while I kept going. When I finished he approached us as we took a breather.

"Hey, that took real guts what y'all did. God Bless." I didn't quite know what to say, but thanks and we later spoke for a few minutes. Nick got his email. A high schooler who had been in ear shot came up and thanked us, and a campus minister had been in one of the offices and came out to listen. Both appreciated what we said and gave us encouragement. It was a great blessing, while in the midst some folks had laughed, but no one got up and opposed us. Afterwards a few folks had clapped. Others said, "What?! Are they clapping because they liked it or because he's done." It was probably a little of both.

The Lord is moving here at IUPUI, and our conversations are really fruitful. The topic of this talk had been 'I'm not religious' because we had been hearing a whole ton of folks use that. It would kill conversation and often became an excuse. Keep praying for Indy, and for all the folks on the front lines, as God continues to reveal his purpose to us all and calls us on to build His Kingdom.

For the Revolution,
Rus