meditatio at the water's edge

This coming weekend I am supposed to be doing a seminar in Ft. Collins, CO for youth leaders... we are going to be talking about "absolute truth." I have been bouncing this concept around in my brain for a while now. If truth is embodied in Christ, and if we understand truth as we increasingly live in God's story, how can we expect the world to follow the same belief system? But, that is nothing new to this conversation... here is my premise... and probably others as well... the more the evangelical church has tried to create a black & white world of right & wrong, the more the church has alientated the culture.

Why do we prefer the easy and clean answers of "right" or "wrong"? Yet, it was Jesus who lived in the world of sinners. It was Jesus that was asked tough questions, but he returns the questions with other questions. It was Jesus who seems to live in a world of complex reality. I am thinking that if the church would be willing to struggle with the real issues of life, perhaps it would also more clearly bear witness to the reality of our risen Christ.