The Safety of Fear

I would like to suggest that the Church become a place of terror again; a place where God continually has to tell us, "Fear not"; a place where our relationship with God is not a simple belief or doctrine or theology, it is God’s burning presence in our lives. I am suggesting that the tame God of relevance be replaced by the God whose very presence shatters our egos into dust, burns our sin into ashes, and strips us naked to reveal the real person within. The Church needs to become a gloriously dangerous place where nothing is safe in God’s presence except us. Nothing—including our plans, our agendas, our priorities, our politics, our money, our security, our comfort, our possessions, our needs. (Mike Yaconelli, "The Safety of Fear," found here.)

I love this thought. Actually, I've loved quite a lot of the things Mike Yaconelli had to say. But this one caught my attention this morning. I was particularly captured by the lines I made bold. Wow! Very close to a number of other things and thoughts that I've been bumping into the last couple of weeks.