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Christian you say?

 It seems like everywhere we look we see folks using the word "Christian" to further their agenda.  It is used to legitimize arguments throughout many spectrums of belief and many arenas of influence.  Politics, businesses, social norms, governments, ideological debates, music, books, TV, charities all use the label Christian as a sort of flag to further their cause.  I don't choose the flag metaphor lightly.

When we use the Christian label and/or Jesus name to further our personal causes or beliefs we are buying into the idea of Jesus as a political messiah.  This of course is not much different than the 1st century Jews idea of the Messiah.  A militaristic savior to conquer the oppressors (or opponents) for their own good and prosperity.  If you are on the side of the messiah in this scenario this sounds really good.  There is just one problem; Jesus never came to be this type of messiah.  

When we read in the Gospels about who Jesus is and what he did it was a different kind of Messiah.  One that came to heal us where we are.  One that came to cross every line we draw and to confront us in our judgements in convictions so we could see our enemies as neighbors.  Jesus healed folks, he didn't shoot them.  Jesus spoke AND listened.  Jesus rendered to the powerful what was theirs and NEVER staked a claim to any of the above mentioned domains.  His claim was to God as his father and to the Kingdom of God.  

The label "Christian" does not describe how a group of people looks, what they buy, where they live, how much money they make, political party, where they shop or what they eat.  As Derek Webb famously said, "when the word Christian is used to describe anything other than a person it is a marketing term."  Christian shouldn't ever be equated with perfect, moral or holy either.  If we truly call ourselves Christians, we should be humble enough to know our limits and see our need of others.  We should be Compassionate enough to see past ourselves.  We should be Gracious enough to allow for others faults and mistakes and aware enough to know that we will never be how we "should be".  We need to let go of our hold on influence, power and policing of morality.  Let's tear up every mental ticket we have ever written and begin to see our neighbors because that is the Kingdom of God our king laid out for us.  

Forgiveness, compassion, grace...these are the currency of the kingdom of not self righteous folks, but of ragamuffins who have been called saints.  We aren't sinners saved by grace but as the book The Cure puts it, "we are saints who still sin".  Not the golden polished saints of unrealistic perfectionisms wet dream. The real saints with muddy clothes, drinking problems, anger issues and short tempers.  The Saints that try and try again only to fall in the arms of their savior at the end of the day screaming, Jesus are you crazy?

Those are the saints of this Kingdom that God has brought to earth.  So if we find ourselves carrying a flag, lets just remember that our "enemies" are actually our neighbors and Jesus is standing with them waiting for us to see them as he does. 

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