It’s simply got to come down to listening — to what John Eldredge terms, “Conversational Intimacy,” with God.

You can go back to the OT even — the Jewish people asked for a king — and God responded, “But, I want to be your king.”

You go to the NT. The disciples come to Jesus and ask him to crown one of them the new leader — Jesus lays out the exact same flat management hierarchy.

Jesus had barely ascended to heaven before we set about crowning a pope and recreating the chaos…

It’s either:

(A). “Good morning Daddy, talk to me. What’s next Daddy? Goodnight Daddy.”

(B). A new set of rules with the usual payload of shame, guilt and fear and some doofus at the top to enforce them.

There’s just no middle ground and no peace that can be made between them.

Cal