O.k., so I'm not Catholic. Only been to a regular mass once. I've been to one Catholic wedding too. Growing up in a Protestant world, one of the critiques I always heard of the Roman Catholic church was the way their structure of priesthood mediated a relationship between people and God. One of the scandals of the coming of Jesus was to open all that up, and give us direct access to God - the temple veil was torn. Cool.

But I've begun (and probably only just begun) to notice how my following of Jesus and pursuit of God is mediated by other people. To be transparent here, there are times that I'd much rather read a book about scripture than scripture itself. There are times I'd rather read a blog about church than experience church first hand in the way I interact with others.

Over the past few days, some of the bloggers I track have written about the possibility that their blogging days are coming to a close. They are saying important things - about working out the life of Christ in real, human relationships. And yet, when I read those words, they cut - and it's because I've used these blogs to help mediate my relationship with Jesus and his bride. There's a lot that is good about that, but again, if my temptation is to go to substitute that for flesh and blood relationship with people, it's off base.

A life of faith in the community of ekklesia is often an experience of mediated worship. We need one another. That's good. But it's incomplete. I can claim all I want in public environments to be captivated by who Jesus is and the radical, subversive ways he does things, but unless I'm daily with him - like really walking and talking with him, living his kind of life, the evidence will speak for itself.

Go with Jesus, my friends.