Each and every year we all convince ourselves that this year will be the year when everything comes together and this time I will achieve those far fetched goals that I’ve never been able to achieve before.
I don’t like New Year’s Resolutions mostly because I don’t like the inevitable failure and hopelessness caused by burdening myself with expecting huge immediate changes. And I know you don’t either. Because I’m can’t be the only one. Continue reading
Have you ever been punched in the face?
I have and I’d say it’s up there with many of the most unpleasant experiences I’ve had in my life. Like the one time I stuck a knife in my eye when I was 2 and anytime Nickleback come on the radio. Continue reading
We’re fast approaching the most wonderful time of the year to quote Andy Williams and I am especially looking forward to Christmas year as my Mum, Sister and niece travel to Detroit to spend Christmas with us. A time of the year when if you are lucky enough to have a loving family, close friends and a little food, then you are doing just fine.
Yet, there are those who will not experience anything like that this year. There will be those who have no tree overlooking gifts or homes filled with laughter. It is a time where we should remember that everyone has the right to a life that brings meaning, to a community of people who surround them with love and to have the most basic of human needs met.
In short, Christmas is for everyone.
Yet this is not the message that many of you will hear from us Christians.
We will shudder at the sound of those wishing us a Happy Holiday just so they don’t offend anyone who doesn’t hold the same beliefs we have. We will villainize those who seek to strip Christ from Christmas. We will lament the loss of our Christian voice from public life. 
I have to admit that I have never been one easily offended by anything poking fun at Christianity. Maybe because it’s easy to see the absurdness of some facets of Christianity from right in the middle of it but also for the fact that our collective voices as followers of Jesus can never be restricted by labels or what message we print on our Christmas cards.
The question of who Christmas is for is an important one in dealing with the influence that Christians have in the world as a whole.
Usually, when the word ‘Christian’ comes up in the media it will refer to someone or other who is protesting some sort of loss of ‘Christian’ values. It will generally be to describe someone who doesn’t believe in gay marriage, who will be yelling about immigration or who thinks that Muslims are slowly planning on taking over the world.
These are the voices that are generally heard and the ideas that many people will take as being Christian. So when people look in at us and see us preparing for a fake war against Christmas that only exists in our minds, they don’t see the hope and the peace and justice that are the true tenants of Christianity, but a fear, paranoia and defensiveness.
But this is not the whole story. These are not the voices of all Christians. Actually, these are the views of a very small number, a number that despite it’s size still gets most recognition.
When we look back in recent years we can quickly see how we spend much of our time fighting for our rights as Christians, especially here in the West. We have been given a message that if we don’t speak up for Christian values quickly and loudly we are at the risk of seeing secularism taking over.
I’ve heard the phrase, “the Christian faith being removed from the public sphere” a lot recently.
But is this really possible? Is any faith or belief system really up to much if it can be so easily destroyed by semantics or the inability to be allowed to wear small versions of execution devices around our necks in the work place? Doesn’t belief or faith have to point to outside of itself to be truly life changing, rather work to defend itself?
The main reason that we should be worried (if we should be worried at all- more on this later) that our Christian voices are not being heard is because much of it points into itself rather than outwards into the world.
When we spend most of our time shouting down those who don’t use the word Christ in Christmas we miss the point that Christianity is only powerful when it is directed outwards.
When we spend so much time fighting for Christian values we lose the value it has for everyone. (Share this)
Because being a Christian at Christmas is not about making sure everyone uses the correct terminology for Christmas. It is not about ‘remembering the reason for the season’.
It is about our ability to welcome those who are different, who are hungry and who need justice.
Truly loving our enemies is the only way in which we will keep Christ in Christmas. (Share this)
The only stage in which Christians will lose their voice in the public sphere is when we lose our ability to love. It is not some outside force or group of people or store or Christmas advert that are the biggest risk to the true message of Christmas being lost. Christians are the biggest risk to removing Christ from Christmas.
Love is free, always and so Christian influence is not dependent on all the things we have made it out to be. Like gay marriage, or other religions or keeping ‘Christ’ in Christmas.
And Christ is too big to be contained in a word and can only truly be alive to the world when the things that were important to Him become important to us also.
If we don’t see that, we’ve missed the point.
And maybe in the end, that is what will really keep Christ out of Christmas.
The one thing that we Christians love more than quoting verses or Jesus Juking the heck out of situations is to come out with Christian cliches. We can’t help ourselves. They’re so engrained in our minds that sometimes it’s easy to forget where they came from in the first place.
The problem with cliches is that where originally there may have been some truth and wisdom in the meaning, they have become so overused that they are applied in situations which don’t require them at all. Or at least, aren’t very helpful.
It’s time to stage a Christian cliche coup d’é·tat. (Tweet this) I’m taking back Christian cliches and all that they stand for. Beginning with these four (and probably ending with these four too if I’m honest) Continue reading
This weekend on twitter in a conversation with someone I didn’t know, I made a statement that was pretty ignorant, lazy and simply untrue on my part. To the person I was talking to’s credit they continued to engage with me and we had an open and respectful dialogue about the Asher’s case which was at the forefront of religious news in Northern Ireland last week.
(You can check out my take on it here)
But when they made it clear that what I had written was untrue, I apologized.
And I’m going to be honest, it felt amazing to say sorry. It got me wondering though why so many of us have a difficult time apologizing to each other. And when I say ‘us’, I mean Christians. Specifically online.
When much of Christianity today especially online, centers around debates on theological positions about things that really don’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things, it’s not much of a surprise that we can’t bring ourselves to say sorry.
Christians online, perhaps more than most groups of people love to be right. Our identities are so cemented in what we believe that when someone comes along with an opinion that differs from our own, instead of engaging with them respectfully and listening, our posture is one of defensiveness.
Our chests get tight, our heart rates increase and we attack our families (because that is what we are) in ways that will make our next family reunion slightly awkward.
But there has to be a better way.
I’m not saying we always have to agree. How boring would that be? But the way we engage has to be so open that we all feel free and safe to know we won’t get lambasted for our opinions.
It’s actually surprising how little Jesus is mentioned when online discussions involving Christians are concerned. The next time that friend that loves causing debate for the sake of controversy on Facebook starts a post, have a quick search for Jesus. He’ll probably be hiding somewhere embarrassed.
Nevertheless, I think in our approach to how we engage with people that disagree with us, Jesus is our best bet to look to for guidance.
What we often forget is that when Jesus did debate it was with the religious folk who were more concerned with power and maintaining the status quo than love. When it came to the people who the religious leaders said were dirty, wrong, worthless and sinners; people like the poor, the sexually immoral, the homeless and the people from other faiths entirely, He entertained them, He sat with them, He listened to and He cared for them.
Jesus did not call us to be right, but even if we are, our highest calling is always love. (Tweet This)
If He had wanted us to take correct theological positions He wouldn’t have had his best friends be a bunch of people from different belief systems, often doubtful, always confused, screw ups. He wouldn’t have spent so much time railing against the religious leaders of his day. He wouldn’t have spoken using stories that made very little sense a lot of the time. He wouldn’t have talked most highly about the people that everyone else had written off as being essentially wrong by religious standards of the day.
Even, on the evening of his arrest, when he was about to face the biggest injustice anyone has ever faced and had more of a right to stick up for being correct about something than anyone since; He healed one of his captors after they were wounded by Peter.
But…when someone disagrees with our view on homosexuality, or predestination, or money, or church, or swearing, or the use of violence, we quickly reach for our swords. To make matters worse, most of the time, it isn’t even our enemies (who we are called to love relentlessly anyway, sorry) we are attacking, but our family.
It’s almost as if Jesus first reaction to someone who was actually wrong to attack Him was to heal them. To borrow a turn of phrase from Jesus Himself, how much more then should we love those who just think differently than us and not feel the need to defend ourselves?
Do we believe that it’s up to us to save Christianity, or do we believe that it’s already been accomplished 2000 years ago?
Something to ponder.
Then, next time we decide to knock down and attack someone because we feel our belief system is being threatened it might be worth asking, was it ever that strong to be begin with?
And if that makes you uncomfortable well,
I’m sorry.
There is a song on Gungor’s “Ghosts Upon the Earth” album called “Wake Up, Sleeper”. It’s groovy, folkish, liturgical prog feel (as in what’s your favorite groovy, folk, liturgical prog band?) is interrupted about half way through by an electronic sounding baseline that seemingly doesn’t fit into the song. The first time I heard it, I was caught completely off guard. Not only was it unlike anything that Gungor had produced before it was almost as if I hadn’t really been listening to the song. But once the baseline kicked in I was alert to the song in a new way.
It took on new meaning. It took on new life. I felt an energy in the song that made me want to listen to nothing but this baseline ever again.
If it was an intentional attempt to have the music correspond with the theme of the song, it worked beautifully.
I only bring this up because I want to talk about porn (you didn’t see that coming did you?) Continue reading
So how do we reply to those that are ignorant and hateful online?
Here’s my idea. Continue reading
A couple of weeks ago I chose to unfollow someone on twitter who I disagree with on pretty much everything. It was something that I had given consideration to for a while but couldn’t bring myself to. For a variety of reasons. Continue reading
There are times when you want to hide under a rock in life and for a good proportion of mine that was Father’s Day. I know friends who for them it is Mother’s Day or Christmas or Birthdays or anytime England play in the World Cup. Continue reading
Shame and guilt are one of the ways that many people have been put down and controlled by others and sometimes by themselves. We’re told constantly that as a Christian you can let go of guilt and shame. For some people this is extremely difficult to do. I mess up and it’s there greeting me with a snarky smug smile. Almost in a strange inevitable way I knew it would be there. Continue reading
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