Creepy Christians

A few years ago I attended a church for a pre-interview that later turned into an interview for a church that I considered pastoring. My aunt, who never went to church, came with me. While she was there, she cried almost unceasingly. When I asked her what was going on, she later told me, "Churches are just scary and creepy to me." Churches are scary, creepy places for lots of people. Even more creepy are the mysterious strange sounding creatures that inhabit these places, Christians.

Becca, in her blog, talked about how she was offended by the portrayal of Christians in the media, particularly the reality show Wife Swap. Yet, the emotion I identified with in her blog was grief. Grief is carrying around the name Christian.

You see, although the portrayal of the Christian on the show that Becca watched is not kind and may have been edited to be that way, it is also very truthful. (Maybe the editing was infact "fractal") Many Christians are really as creepy as they appear on TV. Some even more so. Especially American Christians, because we have created a narrative that says that this country is a Christian nation, and it is our destiny to rule it, and through it bully the rest of the world into being just like us. In doing so, we betray the name of Christ we profess as Christians, and settle for a poor substitute for the way of Jesus. So WE ARE as creepy as people think we are, and the prejudices toward Christians are often well deserved.

This struggle is natural. Why? Because there are so many people out there who call themselves Christians, but are really creepy. Like walking horror shows. I don't say this to be judgemental but discerning. Lord knows there are lots of times where I am more of a pain in the ass to the kingdom than I am a help. The thing is, most of us do not realize it.

Last summer I walked through the Gay Pride celebration a couple of blocks from our church. Across from the park they were gathered in were people holding signs telling them how evil they are and how they are all going to hell. The Christians were red-faced and screaming. Of course my tempation was to turn and yell back at them. But I did not. The kids from Iowa were promoting for the VBS block party we were having. When they found out that the people there were gay and lesbian, they ran the other way. Our church members and their leadership affirmed them in their decision. We would not want to have people LIKE THAT around, or the people in power in the church might get mad.

We buy into so many lies of the world. One is that a person is completely defined and understood by their sexual behavior. In our hatred of sexual sin, we have become as overobscessed by sexuality as the rest of the world. We add rules to our rules until our unique moral stance on sexuality becomes a funk instead of a fragrance.

Another lie is that faith is about power. Wrong. The way of Jesus is the way of a servant, and the one that would be great among us must be the servant of each one he meets. A movement that claims the name of Christ, but chooses to bully, control, and rule is no Christianity at all. A faith that does not trust God to change people, but instead forces them to change or be less than honest when they do not share Christian belief, is not a faith at all, for it is not about trust and mystery but power and control.

So where does that put me? In a place where on one hand my faith makes me different from the world, and yet on the other hand where my relationship with Jesus leaves me in a much different place from much of the "Christian" folks around. Yet something tells me, as creepy as that seems, that is where I am supposed to be.