Defining a New Christianity

Tonight, I went dancing with a few friends at a local bar. While the jazz band was taking a break, we sat at our table and sipped water. One of my friends, an atheist, asked me what I was doing this weekend, to which I replied that I was going to Wisconsin. I didn't immediately say why, so she probed. Finally, I admitted quietly that I was going to help plan a youth gathering. I said it quickly, almost under my breath. I wasn't ashamed of my involvement...or was I?

When you ask me what I am, I will often reply that I'm a writer or a filmmaker or a student or Albino Black Irish. I make it a point not to introduce myself as a Christian, though. In fact, most of my friends go years before they find out I go to church. But why all the subterfuge?

The moniker "Christian" once meant rebel. It identified you as a a committed follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Today, "Christian" means collaborator, bigot, or ignorant. So, what changed? Did Jesus' message change? Or did we change?

The church is broken. Centuries of brutality and bureaucracy has transformed a few pockets of zealous free-thinkers into a monstrous organization that, in many ways, ignores its founding principles. The public by and large sees Christians as backward, intolerant hypocrites and the reputation is well-earned. When I tell someone I am a Christian, I risk losing my credibility and their respect. That is a tragedy.

Today, there is no blood, but people in pews have fallen into a safe routine where they are called upon to do nothing more than sit, stand, sing, and put money in the offering plate. There has got to be more to it than that.

I shouldn't have to be ashamed because I believe. I dream of a new Christianity that gets back to the root of what it all means. Loving our neighbor (all of our neighbors). Caring for the sick and the needy.

There are needy people among us. Not just on the streets, but in the sanctuaries. There are people in need of a new, more spiritually-fulfilling Christianity — a Christianity that is not afraid to get its hands dirty to do what is right; a Christianity that doesn't fear questions or dissenting viewpoints. The church of the future should show the world that it practices what it preaches.

I am not a Christian. I am a Christian-in-progress — a flawed human being who wants to follow Jesus' example, who wants to be a good man, but struggles to get there. The church, while broken in many ways, is also a work-in-progress, but there is hope. We may have strayed, but our shepherd will guide us to greener pastures. We are saved by grace, even from ourselves.