Family gets to spend time together during the holidays. No exception this year. All four kids were home for the holidays. Didn't leave much time for blogging.
They brought home a movie for us to watch...Easy A. I liked the movie, but must admit to extreme fatigue centered on the depiction of Christians in any kind of contemporary media. The best descriptor...Jesus Freak. The terminology fits the said "Christians." They are judgmental and condescending. Those who don't "fit" with their idea of "good" are excluded at best, condemned at worst.
In this movie and others in the genre, Saved to name one, the person(s) who are vilified by the Jesus freaks are the ones who actually live more closely "the way" Jesus taught. They are accept the unacceptable. They serve others. They quietly live lives of honor and integrity while the Jesus freaks work on their perfection at the expense of all those around them.
How did this happen and why do we allow the myth to continue? The movies are funny; the Jesus freaks do provide comic relief and great entertainment. But, I can't find a consistent alternative view of what it means to be Christian in a public venue. People only see the movies--they don't set foot inside the church community. We don't speak publicly of our faith--it's between "me and Jesus." Those who use faith to condemn people to hell in the name of Christ, to exclude the lowly and disadvantaged, to insist that only perfect people are allowed in the kingdom, insert your favorite irritant here, those people speak loudly and persistently about faith. Frankly, if I am not a church-goer, familiar with Christianity only in an evening-news/movie-character way, I would tuck tail and run.
In my younger years, I lived out my faith in the "Jesus freak" tradition. I was encouraged "not to yoke with unbelievers," to "be sure people know they will burn in hell if they are not 'saved'," to adhere to a rigid set of "beliefs" without question. The older I got and the more I actually read the biblical text, the less I could justify that tradition. I never see Jesus ask people what they "believe" before he shows the grace of God through healing or acceptance or meeting the most fundamental human needs. The only time I see him questioning beliefs is with the religious peoples. What I see of Jesus is living a life of "love." In the first century, love was the action of reconciliation, peace-making, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, including and respecting all in the community and ensuring that all had the opportunity for life abundant. Life abundant was not just suffering through hell in this world with the promise that heaven would be great. Life abundant was sharing, receiving, living with each other's pain and sorrow, putting God first--and then recognizing the joy and life that comes through that way of being in the world.
The "Jesus freak" traditions in Christianity certainly still exist. They thrive. The human condition seems to seek the sure, the judgment, the black and white...and especially the we're-in-you're-out" way of being in the world. Jesus' way is hard. It cannot be fully understood. It is hard to explain. It requires sacrifice. It most often journeys through pain. The Jesus freak tradition asked my mother to leave the church when she divorced my father after years of attempting reconciliation. The Jesus way meant God walked with her every step of the way, weeping and holding her up, celebrating the reconciliation that happened in different ways, even though the marriage was not restored.
I practice my faith in a Christian church that works to live the Jesus tradition, not the Jesus freak tradition. It is hard work. It demands patience and prayer and choices to stay in relationship every minute of every day. It is utterly joyful at times when the Kingdom of God breaks in. We live in the promise that our attempts to live as Jesus lived will bring about that Kingdom more fully every day, whether we can see it or not. There are troublesome passages that you can always quote that make Jesus look more like the freak side than the grace side, but looking at the whole witness, the patterns are clear.
If I had a mountain top from which you all could hear me, I would shout at you...I am NOT a Jesus freak. I AM a Christian...one trying to live the way I see Jesus living in the biblical text. I actually read and study the text, struggle with its difficulties, seek to listen to what God is calling me to do, and live my call in relationship to a community that keeps me grounded in the reality of life, in the difficulty of faith, and in the joy of experiencing the grace of that community and doing my best to share grace with them--and with the world around me.
If I had a TV show, that's what the Christian would look like. If I had a movie, well, you get the point. Just know this, Christianity as Christ practiced it is far different than we see in the media. It's time we claim our real identity and stop cringing and hiding because someone who doesn't know what they are talking about defines identity for us.
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