Charisa Stories

Tag: culture

  • Am I Crazy?

    Am I Crazy?

    I smiled as I typed the title for this week’s musing. Those who know me have probably already answered.

    Have you met Dave?

    I have often conceded that my brain wasn’t wired to factory specs and one way that manifests itself is finding spiritual insight in secular song lyrics.

    Case is in point is this week’s offering inspired by Alison Krause and Union Station. Alison Krause has a voice like an angel. She is an artist that I can listen to no matter what my mood might be. Today my satellite radio landed on a song titled Crazy as Me.

    The lyrics are talking about a series of failed relationships. The lyric that Alison Krause sings that resonated with me are these words.

    Some folks seem to think I only got one problem
    I can’t find nobody as crazy as me

    Without question I have way more than one problem but let’s put that aside for awhile. When this lyric came up I thought about my journey with Jesus. Some people who know me well think I am a little crazy to believe what I do about Christ. I get that but the bottom line for those of us who believe is a bit disturbing. Shouldn’t all Christians be a little crazy if we are really following the teachings of Jesus?

    I don’t mean drooling and ranting crazy. I am talking about doing things that make absolutely no sense to the world crazy.

    • The world says to look out for number one.
      Jesus says to look out for the least of these.
    • The world says to spend time with those who can help you advance.
      Jesus says to spend time with and help the disadvantaged who can do nothing to make you more successful or reach your goals.
    • The world says that the one with the most toys wins.
      Jesus says the one with most treasures stored in heaven wins.
    • The world says get even and exact revenge.
      Jesus says to love your enemies and (I really don’t like this one) pray for those who persecute you.
    • The world is fearful of disease and the future.
      Jesus says to not worry about tomorrow.
    • The world says to build your financial security and you will be happy.
      Jesus says to build on the solid rock or your happiness won’t sustain the storms of life.
    • The world says we need to put programs in place to give us hope.
      Jesus says our hope is in Him.
    • The world evaluates us by our title, power, and stuff.
      Jesus says we are evaluated by the fruit of our lives.
    • The world says to never judge everyone’s path to spiritual path.
      Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
    • The world says your truth is your own.
      Jesus says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
    • The world says cancel and destroy those who are not towing the cultural line.
      Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

    So I guess if I actually live this counter-cultural lifestyle that Jesus taught the world will think I am crazy.  Paul acknowledged that to the church at Corinth.

    But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
        Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
    (1 Corinthians 2:14-16, NLT)

    It all sounded foolish to them. I used to think exactly that about the crazy Jesus people. Now I am completely committed to things I once thought foolish. Who knew? Like Paul noted above I want to continue to mature so I can understand these things and begin to have the mind of Christ. In my humble opinion there is nothing crazy about that desire.

  • Weekend Wildcard – Vanishing Grace?

    Weekend Wildcard – Vanishing Grace?

    Philip Yancey always challenges me with his writing. He is the writer I want to be when I grow up. I have recently started his newest book Vanishing Grace : Whatever Happened to the Good News?. As usual, Yancey does not disappoint.

    I learned about the book from an interview in Christianity Today. Philip Yancey has written over a dozen best selling books and one of those is What’s So Amazing about Grace? I found the first question of the interview fascinating.

    Why did you choose to revisit the subject of grace?

    I know why the interviewer made the inquiry. You want “new” material from an author. Why plow the same ground? But I think that question is a mirror to one of the big problems in the Christian community. We never get past our daily need to revisit grace and the Good News of the Gospel. Martin Luther said that “you should preach the Gospel to yourself daily.” Why? Because you and I forget the depth and the power of grace everyday.

    Yancey’s response was thought provoking.

    Sociologist and researcher Amy Sherman has said that Christians tend to have three models for interacting with society: fortification, accommodation, and domination. To put that in layman’s terms: We hunker down amongst ourselves, water down our witness, or beat down our opponents. For many reasons, those aren’t New Testament models.

    So what should we be? We need to create pioneer settlements that show the world a different, grace-based way of living.

    That is brilliant both in diagnosis and prescriptive cure. Can you imaging the power of truly grace-based living in this wounded and desperately thirsty culture?

    His next observation parallels the message that I have awkwardly been trying to communicate in my decade plus of writing.

    We hear nowadays about Christian groups losing university recognition or public prayers and Christmas displays being banned. We feel on the defensive and that we’re the outliers. But much of Christian history has been lived this way, like it was during the Roman Empire, when a small number of Christians modeled another way to live. In a culture like ours, we need to demonstrate first how faith in Christ makes a difference in how we live.

    Simply put, when we encounter people resistant to our message we must show them grace and the source of that grace, Jesus. I wrote about how this ragamuffin band of Jesus followers went from cultural curiosity to world changing movement in my book When Bad Christians Happen to Good People. One key component was selfless service.

    Remember that the early Christians lived in a pagan culture that featured infanticide and gladiator combat. The early church’s revolutionary view of the value of life was sacrificially demonstrated during the two great plagues that devastated the Empire in the second and third centuries. While pagans avoided any contact with the sick and even cast them into the streets while still alive, Christians nursed and cared for the sick even though it cost some their lives. The selfless service of the early church won many converts to the fold.

    Against all odds and with no cultural advantage the early followers of Christ made a difference. Yancey concluded his interview with this thought.

    We’re tempted to rely on passing laws and winning arguments, but in the end, they’re not the greatest powers. The greatest power is what Jesus did. He died and rose again. That’s where it all started. The more we act like Jesus, not beating people down but showing a better way to live, the more outsiders will look back and say, “Those Christians are different.”

    There is a better way to live. Lord Jesus, give us the grace to show it.