Pretty Much

I heard someone say once that there is no such thing as “Christian’ music. She was substituting for a regular teacher at the Bible institute I attended, and this statement went against the grain and culture of the school. I remember completely agreeing with her.

I repeated that statement to a friend a couple of years later. At first I just said it. He didn’t agree. Then I told him who said that, and he said he would think about it.

I don’t necessarily like labeling things as ‘Christian’ because to me it can be a dangerous practice.

I’ll be point blank.

I don’t like labeling myself as a ‘Christian’ necessarily because there are people who have been terribly hurt physically, emotionally, and in every way known to us by other people who called themselves Christians (this could very well lead into yet another discussion about how Christians are people too and make mistakes and won’t be perfect, yada, yada. I know that. I do understand that). Here’s the thing – that word means different things to different people.

I know a family who call themselves Christians yet choose to ignore one of their children while doting on the others (what I mean by ignore is that the ignored child they only see once maybe twice a year because the parents don’t want to deal with the issue at hand). So to this child, the term ‘Christian’ paints a bad picture. A picture of abandonment, rejection, guilt, and all kinds of stuff.

A little bow that is beaten up by his father or was yelled at (like Simon Birch) by a Sunday school teacher, both of whom considered themselves Christians, could have a very bad a opinion of anyone who calls himself a Christian.

People can make ‘Christian’ movies that can be terrible because the production and whatever else wasn’t done well. The same is true of music and pretty much everything else.

I’m not just aa Christian wife. My friends aren’t just Christian mothers, singers, or writers, friends. I’m a wife, a daughter, a sister. They are mothers, bosses, teachers, actors, UPS drivers, and everything else. They are my family, and they are my friends. We live passionately to love. Some of us know God and love Him. Others don’t.

Let me tell you this – I’ve had many spiritual experiences outside of church, ‘Christian’ music, Christian school and even outside of ‘Christian’ people. I’ve had spiritual, God-experiences at what the ‘church’ (and church is yet for one more blog) would call ‘secular’ concerts.

Church people say all the time, “…if God can use a donkey, He can use anyone.” I don’t think many people really believe that because God-forbid transformation taking place in my heart when in conversation ‘non-believers.’ God forbid I find worship in Him when listening to a song by someone not proclaiming to be the “C” word. That’s devil music! (*Susy rolls eyes*)

Rob Bell says this, “A Christian political group puts me in an awkward position: What if I disagree with them? Am I less of a Christian? What if I am convinced the ‘Christian’ thing to do is to vote the exact opposite?” I agree with him there. Awkward position.

Someone I dearly love often will say to me, “I want to do something spiritual, something for God, ministry.” What he doesn’t realize is that he does it every single day. He takes care of the family God has given Him. He goes to work to provide for them and spends time with them. He loves and serves them. Serving. That’s pretty much as spiritual as it can get. His job as a father isn’t secular; it’s sacred.

God is omniscient. God is everywhere. He’s in the slums. He’s in my home. To say that He’s not at a place outside of anyone’s man-made box is denying He can bring order to whatever or wherever chaos may be. He’s there; people just may not see Him. It’s up to me to make Him seen and known. It’s up to us to point Him out where He can’t be seen.

(Note: this is not to say that things can’t be corrupted and used for not-good purposes.)

An author pointed out this concept in one of his books by saying that when it comes to missions, we’ve sometimes got it wrong. We say things like, “We’re taking Jesus to Timbuktu…” Jesus is already there.

God is the creator of all and even said that He’d reveal Himself somehow to everyone. People have come to know Him by observing the magnificence of his indescribable creation. They may never have heard of His name in the depths of nowhere, Timbuktu, but that doesn’t negate the fact that they can come to believe in Him through His creation. (I know, I know. I’m gonna get all kinds of emails about blah, blah blah. And that I’m becoming new-age or hippie or something.)

Back to my point. I think the issue lies in our boxes. I do it all the time – I try to place God in this box and allow Him to operate only within it. Anything outside of that is ‘secular,’ not of Him. (I say ‘try to’ because really He just doesn’t fit in it.)

But I don’t believe that’s right. For years I’ve been trying to learn from the example of my husband not to place God in my box. The more I let God out of my box, the freer (more free) I am to be and do what I’m created to be and do. It’s funny – I let Him out of the box, but I’m the one who’s free. Is that what they would say is ironic?