Ruminating on yesterday's post, I think it's pretty interesting that I barely mentioned Jesus in any of that.
I've spent a lot of my adult life attempting to modulate my Jesus vibe so as to not scare the heathens and pagans around me.
I used to think it might be because I was ashamed of Christ, but that's just self-flagellatory Bible-talk people use to try to make you feel bad. It's not true. I don't even know what that means. I've never been ashamed of Christ. I've never had any reason to be. I just didn't want to scare anybody off.
So I would talk about love, sacrifice, and forgiveness but almost never in a way that acknowledged Christ as the source or goal of that goodness.
The people close to me knew the standard Christian line, I think. They didn't need me to wave the Jesus flag to know what I was talking about. Besides, I hated seeing the uncertain, trapped-animal looks in their eyes when I brought up Christ explicitly.
But now I think I need to wave it more. Not acknowledging Jesus sort of... leads to fuzzy thinking.
And, I'm more at peace now with the discomfort brought by talking about Jesus in public. People might get the trapped-animal look when I bring up Jesus, but the best solution to that is to talk about him, and then continue being a normal person. In fact, that's probably the best rule of thumb for American Evangelicals I can think of: Mention Jesus, and then don't be loony afterward.
I doubt this new inclination will affect my demeanor. It'll probably take a few years to settle in. I'll likely forget about it as a discrete concept within a few weeks. But as part of Advent, I hope to try to interact with Jesus like he's active instead of a figurehead.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
What's a Bushel?
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2 comments:
It could be worse. They could be getting the trapped animal look when you talk about football. Or your grandkids. Not that you have grandkids, but you know what I mean.
Oh, and my word verification for this is "ohhduh." That amuses me.
Yeah, but I think... I think Jesusness is different. Because if I'm talking about my 16th level tauren shaman, and I see that look, I can suss out, "This person is not interested in World of Warcraft. I will not talk about that around this person." The end.
But as a tentative "Evangelical," the mental note not to talk about Jesus doesn't fly. In fact, I have a clear directive to talk about Jesus. It's the last thing he said before he got ate by clouds.
What then (besides staying away from clouds)?
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