yes, i love the reference to god not wanting to give them a king. i think one of the things in the current set-up that frustrates me is the general principle that we sheep come sit in a room and face forward and are led by a guy who has all the answers. even if the church is healthy and compassionate or small, this is still the system. a king of sorts.

a couple of years ago i went to a friend’s synagogue and was blown away by the way the rabbi interacted with the congregation. he asked not rhetorical questions to make his own definitive point, but he actually ASKED the congregates their thoughts on the scripture of that day…TOGETHER they came upon a consensus of thought around the text. it sounded like stories of jesus with the teachers of the law.

i have also noticed in liturgical protestant congregations that even though there is a stronger hierarchy of priests, the focus on them as “king” during the gathering of the people is less - they are one of the elements. there is the reading and the sacrament and the praise and they are just a single element of the day. there are even lay people, by design, to handle many of the other elements. in contemporary protestant churches (as a general system) it is all about the sermon, and the one who gives it. we even choose the music to fit his “theme.”

there are those who are teachers, and we should seek instruction, but is this the purpose of our corporate gatherings?

i would also say that while christ gave us god’s intended law for community, a pure image both in word and action, is it not the holy spirit who was sent to empower us to this? christ’s example is not empowering. enlightening perhaps, inspiring at the first, but knowing “how we ought” does not sustain. where does the holy spirit fit in our concepts of church?