the faith of fools

“I quickly found that the American church is a difficult place to fit in if you want to live out New Testament Christianity. The goals of American Christianity are often a nice marriage, children who don't swear, and good church attendance. Taking the words of Christ literally, and seriously, is rarely considered. That's for the 'radicals' who are 'unbalanced' and who go 'overboard.' Most of us want a balanced life we can control, that is safe, and that does not involve suffering.”

                                         Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

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It seems all too clear

We have made Christianity about cultural norms

Rather than about Jesus

We have made it a comfortable thing

Where we simply affirm the status quo

A faith where we can claim allegiance to God

And pay lip service to Jesus

While simply settling into our affluence

Our privilege

Our power

Perfectly happy to not only accept things the way they are

But eager to keep things the way they are

But following Jesus will never be comfortable

If it is in fact really following

To follow Jesus means to see the pain

To follow Jesus means to see the injustice

To follow Jesus means to see the inequity

The hate

The greed

The lies

To follow Jesus means to see it all

And then

To do whatever it takes

No matter how scary

Not matter how costly

To respond to those things that violate

The Kingdom of God

To follow Jesus means to give of what we have

It means to risk

It means to speak out

It means to challenge the status quo

It means to fight for justice

Even if that costs us popularity

Safety

Money

Position

To follow Jesus means to love others

And serve others

The way Jesus loved us

And served us

And Jesus love and service

Took him to the cross

Christianity is not meant to be comfortable

It is not meant to be a matter of gathering in lovely buildings

Singing lovely song

Listening to lovely words

It is not meant to be about domination

Or wealth

Christianity is to be costly

And difficult

And dirty

And messy

And lived out on the streets

And in the alleys

Our faith in Jesus is to take us into the places

Where the poor live

And the mentally ill struggle

And the immigrants are detained

And the aged linger between life and death

Our faith is to take us into all those places

Where we are to engage with all those things

With all those people

Where we are to empty ourselves for others

But who am I fooling?

American Christianity has watered down the faith to

The easy and comfortable adherence to cultural norms

Taking the words of Christ literally, and seriously?

Not to be considered.

“That's for the 'radicals' who are 'unbalanced' and who go 'overboard.'

That is for snowflakes

And libertards

That is for fools

(We have become a spectacle to the whole world, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ,  I Corinthians 4:10)