Jesus OR? Christianity???

I read one of Brian McLaren's questions last night in A New Kind of Christianity, and it brought together a whole lot of ideas I have been thinking about for quite a while, for myself personally, and as a spiritual director.

"How does spiritual formation in the way of Jesus differ from religious education in the way of Christianity?" (p. 170).

A few years ago, I was listening to a directee share about difficulties he was encountering with participating in institutional Christianity.  And I have had many of the same difficulties.  Then he asked me, "so what keeps you connected to Christianity?"  The answer popped out of my mouth so fast, both of us were startled:  "It's Jesus!"  I have continued to reflect on the deep truth of that answer for me and for who I believe God is calling me to be.  My own journey as a follower of Jesus began during a prayer group (40 years ago last month), when my inner being felt overwhelmed by love that I knew, without any doubt, was that of Jesus for me.  That experience of deep, unconditional, unmerited and consistent Love has been the "touchstone" of my journey as a Christian.

Lately, I (and many other people) are finding that it can be embarrassing to identify as a Christian:  there are so many ways that some Christians and some churches are demonstrating hate, judgment, rejection of anyone who is different, scandalous/abusive behavior, greed....the list could go on.  I looked for a quote I have heard attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, "I like your Christ.  I do not like your Christians.  Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."  (The attribution to him is disputed, but it is still a good quote!)

So, back to McLaren's question:  how do I become more like Jesus?  How do I "live Christ," or, as Paul said, what does it look like to say "I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living me."  (Galatians 5:19b-20)  I know I can only to do that, only one moment at a time, and only by the continuing grace of God.  I do need the fellowship of other followers of Jesus, in the church I attend, in the church as "the body of Christ" (locally and globally, past, present, and future), and with other seekers who yearn to know God deeply, whatever that looks like for and in them. 

When I focus on Jesus and who he calls me to be, the many problems I have with the institutional church and with "Christians" whose behavior makes me cringe (as I am sure my behavior does for others at times!), become the background, not the foreground, of what it means for me to be a follower of Jesus.  What if the goal of church could become, as McLaren says on the same page, "not simply to pump knowledge into people, but to train them in the "way of love," so they may do the "work of the Lord," empowered by the Holy Spirity, as the embodiment of Christ."?

What do YOU think?