In the last days... people will [hold] to the outward form of godliness but deny its power. 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard had a strong aversion to lukewarm Christianity. He was so overwhelmed by the awesome majesty of God, and the strong commitment urged by Jesus, that he wrote with withering irony of the insipid official Christianity of his day.

He protested against the idea of 'Christendom'. Christ for him was always a contemporary challenge, and an offence. Nineteen centuries of Christian history offered him no guarantee whatever that the church of his time and place would not reject Jesus as religious people did then.

We wouldn't crucify Jesus... we'd simply organize our lives and our churches in ways which left his radical demands off our agendas. Kierkegaard knew which was worse.

Lord you went to the cross; but sometimes my goal is to remove any discomfort from my existence - even my Christian existence. Lord, have mercy on me. Amen.