So something interesting happened the other day. A few weeks ago I had to go to the hospital (SPOILER ALERT: I'm fine). I took an elbow to the head in basketball, five days later I was still in pain, parents convinced me to go to the ER, so I went.
Once I sat on the bed the nurse came in to ask me some questions. She started off with the normal questions, height, weight, celebrity look alike (I saw her pencil in Brad Pitt). Then a question I haven't normally heard in these types of situations came up. "Do you have a religious preference?" I'm not sure why, but I was taken back by the question and wasn't sure what to say. The first thing that came to my head was, Christian, but I hardly ever use that word to identify myself (I normally say that I am a follower of Jesus). The next thing that came to my head was to say, follower of Jesus but I wasn't sure if she had to check a box or write my answer in, and I was pretty sure there was no box that said, "follower of Jesus." The whole situation was getting too complicated in my head so I simply responded, "No, I don't."
We moved on as usual and I am guessing that she never caught the subtitle of the book I was reading which read, "What is Jesus worth to you?" The nurse exited after asking me everything she needed to know and I was left with my thoughts of why I had reacted in such a strange manner to her simple question and why someone who works in ministry identified as having no religious preference. I came to realize it is because the word Christian doesn't mean to the world what it means to me.
According to a very scholarly source (wikipedia) 76% of Americans identify themselves as Christians. To me, to be a Christian is no simple identity to take on. Peter Rollins writes a parable in which the world is in a battle with Christians. In his story, a man is on trial for being a Christian, which in this world is illegal, and the world holds the following stance; "The court is indifferent toward your Bible reading and church attendance; it has no concern for worship with words and a pen. Continue to develop your theology, and use it to paint pictures of love. We have no interest in such armchair artists who spend their time creating images of a better world. We exist only for those who would lay down that brush and their life, in a Christlike endeavor to create a better world. So, until you live as Christ and his followers did, until you challenge this system and become a thorn in our side, until you die to yourself and offer your body to the flames, until then, my friend, you are no enemy of ours."
That very last line really gets me, "Until then you are no enemy of ours." I get that and that resonates in my heart. To be a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus is to be an enemy of the world (see 1 John 2:15, Romans 12:2). If people heard the word Christian and were afraid of what it might mean, I might want to use it. I do have interest in reclaiming the word, but the last thing I believe that Jesus and his followers were was normal. I believe they were different in a challenging way, after all, most of them got killed.
I don't think that everybody needs to feel the same way that I do. However, that word means just about nothing in my mouth. If I could go back to the situation with the nurse, I wish I would have said something to the effect of, "well I am a follower of Jesus, but you can just write down Christian if you want."
Hopefully it's not too creepy that I saw this post (thanks to facebook) and actually read it.
ReplyDeleteDisclaimer: this is just my experience and I respect whatever direction people have chosen with titles.
I used to have a problem calling myself a Christian because the title has been devalued or it actually has more of a negative connotation to some - one of hypocrisy and elitism. Neither of which I wanted to be identified with. However, in talking with some people about if a few years ago they challenged me with the idea that if all of the people that consider themselves genuine Christians opted to not call themselves "Christian," they reinforce that title holds no weight. So they challenged me to call myself a Christian and help redevelop what the title actually means... and after some prayer I decided to go ahead and go for that.
Nonetheless, I hear what you're saying... and understand the direction you've gone. But perhaps if all of the followers of Jesus and people that authentically identify with Christ took back the name of, "Christian," it's weight and value could be revived.
:-) Good thoughts.
I agree with a lot of what you say here, to an extent. Like I said before, I do have some interest in reclaiming the word, but words are just words. I have been thinking a lot about all of this since I wrote the post and what I am landing on is perhaps that we shouldn't let any set of words define us but define ourselves by our actions and change in Christ. If we have really died and been made new in Jesus, people we shocked by our actions. I suppose that I just want the title that we have to a bit more shocking than the word "Christian." I don't think that most people hear the word Christian and hear "against the empire." It is my fear that they hear "with the empire."
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts, Kim.