Thinking about people driven out of the Church because they cannot cope with female bishops or gay priests (of either sex).
Our Sermon on Sunday touched on “Follow me! and they did“. I thought - how many of us, approached by a stranger who said “Follow me!” would leave friends and family and do just that? Then I wondered what Jesus wanted of them and I assumed it was to wander with Him, listening to His message, so that when the time came they could pass it on. And it was a simple message of love - love God, love your neighbour - amplified in the Sermon on the Mount. So that was the whole doctrine of the church of Christ. But then men took over - from Constantine onwards - and more and more “rules” were added until it became just like the church Jesus had left. Then what happens? Schism. Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father only, or from the Father and the Son? How earth-shattering is that? “What would Jesus say?” No one asked, I suspect. But it was enough to split the church. Then came the adoration of Mary, the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, the Infallibility of the Church....and so it goes on. Why does the Church need infallibility - unless they keep moving the goalposts? Inevitably one keeps coming back to “What would Jesus do?” and the answer must be “nothing” - He set out the Rules of Salvation during his lifetime and He would say - “Don’t waste your time arguing on these matters - just concentrate on MY message”. I see the Church as a giant tree with Jesus Himself as the trunk and branches sticking out from it, all valid in the eyes of God, whatever their procedures, so long as they follow the original commandments. No-one is "driven out" - they just chose to go, to follow the path which, for them, is most comfortable.
