October 2006 Rec Connection
“Lord, Save Me from Your Followers”
While in college, I parked every day for three and a half years in the same parking lot. I walked the same path to class each day, taking a shortcut through one of the parking lots. In traveling the same path for so long, I would often see the same cars and the same people. I distinctly remember one car in particular. Or in fact one bumper sticker in particular. It read “Lord Save Me from Your Followers” and every time I saw it, I took offense. I was a Christian and thought I was a perfectly nice person, so what problem could this person possibly have with me! As time goes on, I identify more and more with this simple message.
The term Christian is pretty broad. To most church going folk it means a follower of Christ and that we’ve spent sometime in a church. But to some, this label evokes a stigma of judgment, strict rules, or hypocrisy. Being Christian covers such a chasm and encompasses so many different view points, that who knows what the Christian faith really stands for anymore. In my short life, I have encountered many “Christians” that I have been ashamed to be associated with. I think the term “Christian” has lost all meaning to me, and is just an adjective used to describe someone who goes to church, has ever been to church, or has thought about going to church. Maybe that’s why the denomination gap has never seemed larger to me. Maybe people want to be Baptist, or Methodist, or Catholic because it gives them some firm footing in the vast sea of “Christianity.” Maybe at least then they know what they are getting.
The more I think about it, I’m not so concerned with theological differences as I am with those who have hijacked the message of Christ for personal gain or political agendas. So often I see people selling God like a product. Salvation wrapped in the disguise of monetary donations. God is not a wonder drug guaranteed to shed pounds, raise the dead, and heal all wounds, but sometimes that's all we get. All hype and no substance.
For centuries, people in power have used religion as a control device to justify just about anything. Increased taxes, wars, murder, you name it. And it still happens every day, around the globe.
I look around at our family of Christians and am embarrassed at what I see. If I recognize the problem and I'm a member of the club, I can't imagine what other people think.
Rob Bell in his book Velvet Elvis provides a beautiful summary and closing to my thoughts.
"I am like you. I have seen plenty done in the name of God that I'm sure God doesn't want anything to do with. I have lots of reasons for bailing on the whole thing. I am also like you, in that I have a choice. To become bitter, cynical, jaded, and hard. Anybody can do that. A lot have. Hatred is a powerful unifying force. And there is a lot to be repulsed by. Or like you, I can choose to reclaim my innocence. We can choose to reclaim our innocence together. We can insist that hope is real and that a group of people who love God and others really can change the world. We can reclaim our idealism and our belief and our confidence, in the big ideas that stir us deep in our bones. We can commit all the more to being the kinds of people who are learning how to do what Jesus teaches us."
Yeah things can get pretty messy and the message of Christ has been hijacked by people with less than good intentions. But that should only give us cause to continue to live out the message of Christ in a way that provides hope for those of us in the club, and those who have yet to join.
Can we do that together?
Chris Jones
Director of Recreational Ministries