But you may also have seen what often happens when someone try to step outside the expected role, because it's not healthy for them any more. Maybe the family works through it and continues to grow. Or maybe it doesn't, and the changed person leaves. Truth is tough. Change is hard.
Churches are no different.
If anything, churches are no less resistant to change than families and organizations and no more open to the prophets in their midst than were the people of God of old. The church as a whole has always been more comfortable with a Christ it can worship than with a Jesus who can be your intimate friend. Because you know that the Christ who is your intimate friend knows you inside and out, knows your secrets, knows the truth about you. That's why grace is so hard for us. Because grace is the gift that is given to you by God, your intimate friend.