I wrote this in 2009...gotta love that the internet has a great memory.
I have a friend that responds the same way to my talking about Jesus. Every time I bring Him up, she turns it into a conversation about religion. Religion in our day has a negative sense. It means misuse of money, greed, power, sexual deviants, tediousness, judgement, condecension, overly opinionated people expressing themselves in political realms using their religion to justify their actions.
I find that we are not far from Jesus' day. We expected Him to come back to be a political leader, to release us from the oppression of the government. But He always side-stepped the issue of politics. He spoke about the heart, not the taxation of the government.
But we haven't knit Him only into our political views against His better judgement, we have also painted Him as a God who wants you only if you are worthy of having.
Now Christians will be the first to deny this. They believe they are extremely open & non-judgemental. But the opposite is true. They believe that if you don't become like them, then you are "lost." When they really have no idea about the state of your heart & your relationship with Jesus.You see, we have created a formula for what it means to serve God. We have put a big shiny ribbon on our best Bible memorizers, given deacons a big ol' grin & a slap on the back, praised those who always have religious jargon to give if you are in a pickle.
I am not in any way trying to diminish the importance of leadership in the church. As with all groups, leaders are necessary. I am, however, saying that we have given this a far greater importance than it is worth.Is it so hard to believe that there are people who come to church every now & then are just as close to Jesus as those who are there every Sunday? Is it unfathomable to believe that you can be a "good Christian" and not attend a church at all?
I believe it is. I believe that we have created people who feel they are serving only if they serve in a church. So what the outcome of this is that we are a people group who perpetuates itself...we have isolated ourselves from the world that we are supposed to be loving. We have set ourselves apart so much that our interpretation of the world is grossly mistaken & we are irrelevant. We have gotten stuck in a very sticky air bubble and can't seem to find our way out...or like the people in The Village (M. Night Shyamalan is my favorite) are too terrified to do so.
And if we do venture out, it is with the express purpose of witnessing to some poor soul, elevating ourselves to a greater position than the person whom we consider "lost." We have made people's souls our business. We have stuck our nose in, uninvited mind you, and placed a rubber stamp of what we consider as "saved" or "lost." They are "saved" if they go to church and "lost" if they don't. Then we proceed in a predictable manner after making our judgement. If they are "lost" we talk about Jesus to the point of idiocy & invite them to church, and throw around multiple religious phrases to bring them closer to Jesus...or to church, at least. If they are "saved" we are comfortable & free to be ourselves, so long as it is up to par and acceptable behaviour for a fellow Christian.
And when I say, "we have isolated ourselves from the world we are supposed to love" I do not mean the missionary type of love...that condescension of "I'll show you Jesus by not being myself but by being kind & soft-spoken & speaking only religious jargon." Loving people is messy. Loving people means you have given them the ability to hurt you. You have let them into your world, into your heart, into your thoughts of despair & anger. It is an equal love...they give to you, and you to them. It is exposed wounds, sweat, irritation, arguments, and phone calls late at night because you're afraid.
Missionary love does not look like that...it puts up a barrier because we really have no intention of getting to know these people whom we want to "save," or have them get to know us. We do not want them to add anything to us except possibly to increase our spirituality in a measurable way. We simply want to add them to our list of people we have rescued from the firey pit. This type of love is careful with what you say & do. It is constant guarding of your heart & mind. It is the kind of love a teacher has for her students...all one-sided & pious. Even when we are talking to people who have a higher IQ than we do & more life experience. How extremely arrogant of us.
I don't have it figured out. I'm just a girl who has been steeped in, marinated in, and soaked in the Baptist culture. I can tell you every Sunday School answer in the book. I have the plan of salvation buried deep in a place that would take me years to get to. But this has not aided me in life. It has given me a spring board upon which to make my decisions, but judgement of others has given me nothing but heartache & loneliness.
And then I think about Jesus, the author & perfector of my faith. And I know that He has it figured out. That I'm here simply to love Him as best as I can, and love others...love others equally, whether they are "saved" or not. (Being vulnerable & real with a person who is "lost" is quite refreshing. I recommend it if you've not tried it).
So for now all I know is...I love Jesus. But I drink a little.
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