Little Jack Horner
Went to church
And sat in the corner
He stayed on his bum
Till he felt numb
And said,
“What a good boy am I.”

Church is too often a form of gathered individualism. People assemble in one place but there’s little openness with each other. The right to privacy (isolation) is a lonely rite.

Religious privacy cares more about what people think than about truth. Jesus told His followers to “shout it from the housetops.” Surely we can learn to speak out and testify in worship gatherings.

Christianity is non-private. Let your heart be tender and open before the Lord and before people.

The Bible doesn’t teach religious privacy. Instead, it says: “Confess your sins to each other.” See James 5:16. Christians need to gather as an intimate community–as close family members, not as a passive audience.

Privacy is disconnection from others. It’s a cover-up word for seclusion and loneliness. When your heart is full of closed doors, there’s no room to let other people in. Dark hearts hide and therefore they remain in their darkness.

Religious privacy isn’t freedom. It’s being alone in your bondage. You need your privacy to stop blocking your heart so that you can open up to heart-felt intimacy and caring community. To experience the beautiful kingdom of Jesus-based intimacy we have to go beyond the roadblock of religious privacy.

The attitude of religious privacy has been the piracy that has stolen Jesus-based spiritual community from the body of Christ. If you think your faith is a private matter, you may have missed the heart of the matter–“carry each other’s burdens.”

Teach a Christian to enjoy sermon-hearing and he’ll become a church attendee. Teach him to hear Jesus and testify about Him and he’ll become a disciple. I love to let the living Jesus invade my privacy and fill me with His presence!

When Christians replace heart-to-heart-intimacy with religious privacy we quench the Holy Spirit. Without genuine Jesus-based spiritual community, a church service is “a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.”

You can’t experience Jesus-based intimacy with others if you’re holding on to religious privacy. All sermon and no testimonies makes church a killjoy. Let everyday people joyously declare how God has answered their prayers.

Jesus is the Light. Religious privacy blocks out the light. Humble openness lets it shine. “Walk in the light.” Here’s what the Bible says about privacy: “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known.”

Privacy tends to keep people apart. They chat together but withholding much that is significant they don’t really know each other.

When Christians congregate
But hesitate
To open up their hearts
To one another,
They’ve gathered physically
But their hearts
Are far apart.

Let your heart
Out of the religious shed
And be led
By God’s Spirit.

Instead of learning
To inwardly glide
And be carried along
By God’s Spirit,
We’ve learned to hide
Our heart from God
And from each other.

Christianity is about
Cooperation
With Jesus
Not about a narration
About Jesus.

Hearing sermon
After sermon
Will not make you
Firm in
The faith.
Determine
To hear and obey
The living Jesus
Every day!

If hearing someone recite
A sermon
Doesn’t ignite
Lifechanging insight
The preacher took the bite
Out of the Gospel.
When the early Christians preached
They would often incite
A riot.

If you believe
Be led
By the Spirit.

Often what we call
A coincidence
Is an incidence
Of God working.