Jesus Has Left The Building
Hat tip to Andrew at Bloggedy Blog for leading me to this. Author Paul Vieira has given that title to his new book, due out this summer. In the prologue he says that this is "a story about me, the generation that I belong to, and where I believe Jesus is taking the church."

He quotes (the seemingly ubiquitous) Bono about religion is what happens when God leaves the building. When He's there, that's another story.

It sounds intriguing. Many, of course, have been saying this kind of thing for years now, all the way back to the Jesus Movement of the late- Sixties and early- Seventies, and, before that with people like Luther, Hus, Zinzendorf, Wesley and, even before that with someone named Jesus. As far as he was concerned in his teaching and preaching God had left the building of the "church" or religion of his day. Something new was coming. God was actually moving out of the building into the people. Jesus was the way to that truth and life. (I know, that's a misquote. It is simply an inerpretation, not meant to be a quote.)

It may happen from time to time that when the Spirit IS in the building amazing things will happen- one of the first of which is that he goes out the door expecting us to follow. Like at Easter, "he has already gone ahead of you as he promised."

I don't know where Vieira is going with this, but it sounds interesting.