Christ said ‘follow me,’ not study me.

I have to tell you that I am an Episcopalian, grew up and Episcopalian, tried the Southern Baptist Church for a while, and came back to the richness and beauty of the Anglican liturgical style of worship. I have visited other denominations, particularly for weddings and funerals. When I was a kid, I went to all the different VBS offerings. Growing up in Oklahoma, I experienced the Indian Church and the Quakers. Being a thinker, I examined each experience, taking away a new bit of knowledge from each. Maybe that is why I have stuck with the ‘via media’ and the denomination that through its liturgy, Bible base, tradition, and reason has remained as close as possible in a contemporary sense to the 1^st century Church.

We have a new opportunity. We have built a home in Tennessee that we plan to retire to. It is just a few miles from an Amish settlement. When we go up there to prepare for the future we get most of our fresh vegetables from the Amish store.  We frequently see their carriages on the roadways.  We are witness to their countenance and willingness to help others. We were in a store when the man of a family came back into the store with his sales receipt to verify that they had not been under-charged for an item. It is hard to remember another time that I have seen that level of honesty.

I don’t intend to covert, but I do see many aspects to their way of life that are admirable. They certainly live out their faith. In the article that you will find if you follow the link below, you will find a statement attributed to an Amish man that says: Christ said ‘follow me,’ not study me.

Now I reason that in order to know Christ I do need to study about Him. But there is a very practical application of once I know Him enough to make a stab at it, that I should really try to follow Him rather than just thinking about Him or studying about Him.

Hmmmmmm…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/28/the-amish-american-experience-pbs-premier_n_1306585.html?ref=religion