Bullshitting Jesus
I am going to sound really irreverant when I write this so forgive me. My intention is not to be disrespectful, but honest and brutally so.I hate religious language. I think Jesus does to. Or I could think that because sometimes the things I am really passionate about I think that he is just as jacked up about too.
Back to hating religious language...yeah I hate it. It feels so fake to me. I think that there are people out there that truly do love Jesus, but they put on this "prayer voice" or use religious jargon to communicate God's truth to people. I think that we all have different expressions of who God is, and that each of us makes up his body, but I guess the expression I have of Jesus is a bit more...raw.
I have a really hard time when I talk to people and they use words like,"Seek the Lord's guidance," or "We have to share the Good News" or "He needs to be Saved.' Yes with an emphatic capital "S", like it is something to be obtained and once you have what my friend Trissa calls your,"Get out of jail(hell) free card", you are in and now it is your job to share the "Good News" with all of the other "lost" souls so that they can "know that Jesus is the Lord and Savior."
There is such a productive salesperson approach when this language is used. The productive salesperson must inform as many people as to why that product is the best for their needs, and if the product is purchased how it will revolutionize your company or your life. It makes me sick that we have reduced the Lover of our soul to a tract or a three-minute pitch on how to obtain ever-lasting life.That is not to say that people that use this approach to God and to the community around them are not valid...they are just not people that I relate to.
The way that I engage with God is different. I talk to God like my best friend, my lover, my father, my counselor, all with the foundation of non-fakiness. I lay it all out, I tell him when I am pissed off, I yell at him and tell him that I think he is being unfair.
The Jesus that I know is not impressed if I come to him with holier than thou language. In fact there are times where I feel like I have done that and I feel like Jesus bitch slaps me(convicts me) to a place of laying it all out before him(repentance). I told Rebecca last night,"Yeah I don't feel like I can bullshit Jesus."
I don't think that in order to "Seek Guidance" I need to sit down and pray for 30 minutes. I have him as my Guide, all day long. Even in the moments where I am so frustrated with the screaming child that all I want to do is yell, that he is guiding me toward understanding and patience(sometimes).
I don't think that in order to share the "Good News" I need to lay out a sales plan to someone as to why they should know Jesus. I think that being the incarnation of Christ, wherever I am at, that I am sharing the good news. McClaren describes it as a dance. You are in a love relationship with God, and as people watch this dance, people hear the music, you cannot help but want to join in. I think that Jesus is captivating enough to woo his own people...I just have to the vessel in which his love flows through.
I do believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, but I think that at times we get so caught up in worshipping one part of God, that we often overlook other amazing parts of God. I think over the last year I have really been worshipping the Creator/Inspirer, Counselor, and Intimate Lover that God is.
It is amazing how much we change. Words that once were apart of my venacular are now gone. I wonder if they were every truly there. I wonder if they ever really sunk into the core of who I am. I was taught several ways to preach, teach, love, and care for people. Now I see that these things were just a part of the whole that I am becoming. I see how each experience good and bad made me the person I am.
I think like people, their are many different flava's(attributes) of God, and that in any relationship if you focus on one or two traits and overlook the others, you are not holistically able to love a person.
I want to love God holistically, even though I will never be able to grasp the fullness of God, I want to at least while I am here on earth, try to grab on and experience the Ride that He is...
posted by Kat @ 2:05 PM
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