Jesus the Humanist

Jesus is possibly the greatest humanist to every walk this earth. He came not to burden people with rules and laws, but to free us to be truly human. While Humanism rejects anything supernatural, it is impossible to be complete as a human without the supernatural. It is Jesus who looks to all humans, no matter what their condition, class, or culture and affirms them as worthy of salvation. It is only through the cross that one can become fully human, something which would not be possible without Christ.

Taboo

Christians, as the people of God who should be assisting in the redemption of creation in Christ, have some difficulties to face. One of those is cultural taboos. There are many things which are considered taboo which we as Christians need to participate in. Our culture tells us that the homeless are on the streets for a reason which they caused and that we should not acknowledge their existence. Yeah, it is o.k. to give to the Salvation Army or volunteer at a soup kitchen around Thanksgiving. But actually acknowledging the homeless as people, that is something different.

The Healing Game

Here I am again

Back on the corner again

Back where I belong

Where I've always been. . .

I'm back on the corner again

In the healing game

Van Morrison's song The Healing Game is a heartfelt tale of an Irish singer returning to the streets to sing the long lost songs of oral tradition. As I was listening to this song the lyrics really began to resonate with me and I felt as if God was speaking to me through this song, and possible speaking to the entire Church through this song.

How Can They Get Involved?

Sitting around dynamic Church leadership meetings, church board meetings, church staff meetings, and the question almost always comes up, "how can we get people involved?" It seems that a problem exists in churches everywhere, a problem of Christians not stepping up and serving. I have another question to ask, it is not how can we get people involved, my question is "how can you not get involved?" Is it really possible to "take up my cross" and "present my body as a living sacrifice" if I am not involved?

The problem, seems to begin with church leaders. They are asking the wrong question. They should not be asking, "how can we get people involved?" They should be asking, "how can we get people to become followers of Christ?" Christian leaders (myself included) have greatly missed the point. In many cases we have come to the conclusion that if people are involved they are walking with God. It is not our role to get people involved, but to help people develop a relationship with Christ. If people begin to develop a strong relationship with God they will get involved. Our focus should not be on getting people involved in ministry but getting involved with Christ.

Windows

Windows are intriguing things. Think about it, windows are pretty humble. A really great window is one which never wants to be looked at, never wants to be noticed, and never wants any attention. A really great window is looked straight through. A really great window clearly shows what is on the other side of it, without getting in the way. Although not all windows are humble. Stained-glass windows for example, they are never looked through. A stained glass window is always drawing attention to itself, to its broken shards of glass. As Christians what type of windows are we?

As a Christian I am called to show Christ to others. I am to be a window of sorts. A window through which Christ is revealed. It is tempting to be a stained-glass window. Often times I want people to look at my life and see what Christ is like. I try to order the broken pieces of my life in such a way as to create an image of Christ. The problem with this is that people only see me. They see my broken pieces, even if they are beautifully placed together. They do not actually see Christ, they only seen an image of Christ. Even if Christ is really behind my life, all that will be seen is his shadow through the colorful glass. As a stained-glass window I draw attention to myself and become a barrier between others and Christ.

I should desire to be a standard window. A window which people look at and see Christ. My life should be transparent, not so people are looking at me, but so that people see Christ. I desire that people see right past me into the face of our Lord. To do this I must ask myself why I do the things I do. Do I do them so that others look at me or so that others look at Christ. Am I concerned more with my reputation, or the reputation of Christ. I need to ask if I am acting in such a way as to draw attention to myself or through myself.

I pray that we and our church leaders would desire to be standard windows and not stained-glass windows. Transparency should not be the revealing of my inner thoughts, secrets and skeletons in my closet but it should be the revealing of Christ through my life.

Following Jesus

We (Christians) often speak of being followers of Christ. But, how far are we really willing to go with that statement? How far will we follow Jesus?

If we are willing to follow Jesus anywhere that he goes we will find ourselves in some undesirable locations. It is easy to follow Jesus to church on Sunday. It is easy to follow Jesus to a midweek Bible-study. It is easy to follow Jesus to your bed in evening prayers. But is it easy to follow Jesus everywhere that he goes?

If we are willing to follow Jesus wherever he goes we will have to go to the sick, poor, and oppressed of this world. We will have to go into gang infested neighborhoods of Southern California. We will have to go into the starving villages of Africa. We will have to enter into the world of the sex-slave trade of Eastern Asia. We will have to go places which will make us uncomfortable. We will have to go places which will cause us harm. We will have to go places which will get us killed!

Are you willing to take up your cross and follow Jesus? Am I willing? Will we truly risk our lives for the sake of following after Jesus? Will we risk shame for the sake of following after Jesus? Can we really be called followers of Christ, with how we currently live our lives?

It is my desire that this post makes you and I think about what it means to be following Jesus. I desire that that thought would then turn into action, the action of following Jesus. Will we become Christians?