So this morning I was reading back through my notes from Encounter08, along with reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. The combo of these two things kinda sparked a lot of thought on my part...which will probably result in more posts like this in the future. We'll see.
Blue Like Jazz is probably one of my new favorite books...and I'm not even completely done with it yet. Maybe I relate to it because the author, Donald Miller, deals with things in a real and authentic way, not accepting Christianity because you should or because it's the right thing to do. I've grown up in a Christian home my whole life, became a Christian when I was 3, and still never struggled with making my faith my own or only being a Christian because my parents said to. Still, I want to know why I believe what I believe.
At Encounter08 Crawford Loritts said, "When you try and make Jesus like us, you take away who He is." I think Christianity today makes this weird and twisted picture of who Jesus is and what this "religion" should mean to us. Through all of that we forget that we are all just sinners in desperate need of a Savior. Miller writes, "I know now, from experience, that the path to joy winds through this dark valley. I think every well-adjusted human being has dealt squarely with his or her own depravity. I realize this sounds very Christian, very fundamentalist and browbeating, but I want to tell you this part of what the Christians are say is true. I think Jesus feels strongly about communicating the idea of our brokenness, and I think it is worth reflection. Nothing is going to change in the Congo until you and I figure out what is wrong with the person in the mirror."
Maybe a lot of my newfound adoration for this book has to do with the sense of complacency or normaility that I've felt with Christianity lately. I live in a Christian world, have Christian friends, go to a Christian school, have a Christian home...the list goes on. So my life should be perfect right? It's not. Miller doesn't try and pretend like life is okay, or that it even necessarily should be. He wrestles through a lot of issues in a real and honest way. Christianity isn't this perfect fairy tale or child's story. Miller puts it this way, "The magical proposition of the gospel, once free from the clasps of fairy tale, was very adult to me, very gritty like something from Hemingway or Steinbeck, like something with copious amounts of sex and blood. Christianity spirituality was not a children's story. It wasn't cute or neat. It was mystical and odd and clean, and it was reaching into dirty. There was wonder in it and enchantment." Sure, I'm sure the pristine view of God dressed in a white robe surrounded by children and lambs has it's place...but let's not forget that HE IS GOD! The beauty is that He is full of justice and wrath, and mercy and love, and power and dominion, and calm and compassion...all at the same time!
One definition of the Gospel that was presented at Encounter08 put it well: "The Gospel is that I am far more sinful than I ever before believed, but in Christ I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope." Let's not forget this...maybe then our Christianity would be more authentic, raw, and real.
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