These past few weeks have been quite interesting for me. I had been in a long period of frustration, questioning, doubt, and discontent with my church, my friends, my school, and my faith. Church wasn’t enjoyable to me, in fact it was quite irritating- like nails on a chalk-board. My relationships seemed to all function solely on a surface level. I was stuck in the rut of my day-to-day routine–life was dull. Which is NOT how it should be for a Christ follower. I needed a fresh perspective, a glimpse of hope, and for someone to tell me something, anything worth hearing. I wanted authenticity, passion, and sincerity and I didn’t feel as though I was acting that way, and quite frankly- it seemed as if few people around me were either. It was about this time I picked up Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz– which is perhaps the best book I have ever read. I enjoyed how the author challenged modern day Christianity saying,
“The real issue in the Christian community was that it was conditional. You were loved, but if you had questions, questions about whether the Bible was true or whether America was a good country or whether last week’s sermon was good, you were shunned. You were loved in word, but there was, without question, a social commodity that was being withheld from you until you shaped up. . . Biblical ethics was used as a tool to JUDGE people rather than to HEAL them. Christian leaders used biblical principles to protect their power , to draw a line in the sand separating the good army from the bad one. “
The uncomfortable truth is this: Christianity has been turned into an elite, “members only” social ring, in which people who do not conform to our standards of dress, appearance, social status, political/religious views, etc. are shunned. We don’t excercise unconditional love, in fact we have gotten so far away from it that it is barely recognizable. We are so caught up in our Christian rituals– our weekly bible study, attending church services throughout the week, our “prayer” groups (sometimes code for gossip club) etc., that we don’t stop to THINK. Myself included. Does this sound cynical? Sorry. That is an inevitable but unintended side-effect of this truth, but I’ll take my chances because this needs to be said. I’m not trying to be negative, or self-righteous- because I am guilty of everything in this paragraph. But I think sometimes we have to ask, “What are we doing, and Why?”
The reason I enjoyed Blue Like Jazz is because it gives us the solution to this problem: LOVE. True love, unconditional love. It encourages us to find what the love of Jesus Christ would look like, and then to emulate that and share it with a world that needs it so desparately. Because, at the end of the day- isn’t that all that matters? This may make me sound like a heretic but I would submit to you that when everything is said and done, God won’t ask you if you had perfect attendance at Church, if you gave generously to charity, if you had your quiet-time everyday, or if you were a faithful tither. But I think he would be interested to know if you LOVED. Did you love Him, and did you love people. That is what it all boils down to.
My humble, honest, and fervent prayer is that our schools, churches, and community would see a visible, undeniable, unavoidable, arising of Christ-like love. But it starts with a very personal, individual, decision to communicate acceptance, and practice love. Then and only then will we truly be able to build the Kingdom for Christ. Does this sound far-fetched? Like a scheme, or a typical “church camp” mission or promise born out of those “in the moment” feelings when the guitarist is playing slow songs? Well its not. It is what I hope and pray to be a reality that- God willing- soon we will ALL realize.
