the church in ashes

I want to share something from John Eldredge’s Daily Readings devotional today:

"Have you no other daughters?” “No,” said the man. “There is a little stunted kitchen wench which my late wife left behind her, but she cannot be the bride.” The King’s son said he was to send her up to him; but the stepmother answered, “Oh no, she is much too dirty, she cannot show herself!” But he absolutely insisted on it, and Cinderella had to be called. She first washed her hands and face clean, and then went and bowed down before the King’s son, who gave her the golden slipper. Then she seated herself on a stool, drew her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe, and put it into the slipper, which fit like a glove. And when she rose up and the King’s son looked at her face, he recognized the beautiful maiden who had danced with him and cried, “This is the true bride!” The stepmother and two sisters were horrified and became pale with rage; he, however, took Cinderella on his horse and rode away with her.

I love this part of the story—to see the heroine unveiled in all her glory. To have her, finally, rise up to her full height. Mocked, hated, laughed at, spit upon—Cinderella is the one the slipper fits; she’s the one the prince is in love with; she’s the true bride. Just as we are.” (Waking the Dead , 71–72)

I love the way John puts this analogy to the church, but I want to take it just a little bit further.

God is in love with his bride, and he is seeking her out. Don’t be surprised when you see her come to him with soot and ashes on her from the religious stepparent who has tried to subjugate her in performance and legalism, but never allowing her to experience the true freedom of being loved by the King!

I think one thing I’ve learned before even my CLB experience, but also now it’s reaffirmed, is that the church is those who are called out…from wherever they are found. The Good Shepherd is seeking all the sheep, not just the ones who look like they belong, not just those who play the religious rules, but those who know no religious structure or form and those who have been enslaved by the stepparent who has taken the place of the true Father and taught them to perform duty rather than enjoy intimacy. These are those people who love God because he has saved their lives from hell, but not just to stick them in a religious circus to make them perform like the world used to, but for freedom!!

Paul said that this was why we were saved…for freedom. Religion has for so long ordered what spirituality and Christianity would look like that now when God is invading the spiritual bubble and popping it, all the masks are being challenged. It’s uncomfortable to have our masks ripped away. It’s unsettling to have to think about why we believe what we do and wonder if what we’ve always believed is really true. It’s unnerving to hear the voice of the Spirit come through someone or something other than our “accepted” procedure and protocols.

It demands us to take notice, to reconcile the fact that we are undone and do not know it all or have it all together. It demands us to recognize a God we’ve not seen before, one who refuses to be defined by man’s feeble speech and reason. It demands us to lay aside our religious standards and protocols and look to the God of mercy for definition and discernment.

There is a slipper in the hand of the Prince today. Maybe he’s looking for us, will we shake off the oppression and soot, or will we allow the conduct of others keep us hidden away by religion and hypocrisy? Maybe there’s a slipper in our hand, and a commission to find those in the shadows…