Years ago (and I mean years ago!) Barry McGuire sang a song about the necessity of being transformed by the touch of God in our lives. The song Bullfrogs and Butterflies was about that transformation—that what a tadpole or a caterpillar is one day is not the same as their final state as a bullfrog or a butterfly.
That song’s message was the familiar Christian theme of transformation by Christ as we who follow him are touched by his goodness and become “born again,” a simple way to express the impression of our souls by the finger of God that transforms us into his children. (I could go into long detail about this further, but this isn’t church and this isn’t the point of the story. You can read more about that elsewhere from people happy to explain further.)
My take on this is that following Christ is more than habituation to certain duties and beliefs. That the life of following Christ happens because of a change in our attitudes and values and expectations. Or, as we might say in church language, we become “born again” because we are given a fresh start and a new outlook and the power to live a more loving and complete life in Jesus.
And if I read the texts that Christians throughout the ages have told me show the story of Christ, then following Christ is going to look like we do the things that he did: loving people, touching people, healing people, being with people, caring for people, comforting people, feeding people, clothing people. We’re going to be people who strenuously resist injustice and enslavement. We’re going to be people who strongly oppose religious accommodation to the national interests. We’re going to be people who want to be in community with each other to teach each other how to love more truly and honestly.
The spread of Jesus’ message in the first years of the church seems to have come from the results of people believing in Jesus & his message of liberation and love as they talked with their neighbors and families and friends, and as they did so when they moved throughout the world. Philip the Apostle had an experience in the desert where a queen’s servant reading aloud an Old Testament scripture asked a question about its meaning, and Philip was there to connect and relate and explain. And that led to that servant believing in the person of Jesus as was reflected in the word of the prophet Isaiah. Priscilla and her husband Aquila were married and shared their beliefs as they traveled in their life’s journeys.
It was a somewhat ordinary thing to be a follower of Jesus and tell your neighbors and friends of what you found in Jesus. Not everyone was Paul shouting in the marketplaces. Most Christians connected to those around them through ordinary acts of human relationships: serving, cleaning, working, repairing, building, caring.
Christianity (and Christ himself) didn’t make them into people who forced themselves upon others. It seems from the records that the Christian faith released people to be loving, caring, hope-filled humans. And that was the attractive element. That Jesus brought hope and love to people caught under the cruelty of an oppressive empire.
And then there are those who live “for Christ” as evidenced by how loudly they demand that we listen to them, and who demand that a faithful Christian must do exactly as they do.
We were as a family in downtown Seattle yesterday just visiting the sites and seeing the sights. Pike Place Market & the “Flying Fish.” The waterfront. The Great Wheel. All the touristy fun stuff that you can go do for a day for enjoyment.
As we were walking back to the car late in the afternoon, a contingent of people with signs and bullhorns were marching on the sidewalk telling everyone that Jesus loved them and that Jesus was lord and all the rest. It was a curious thing to see.
I suppose it can be frustrating to people who think that their faith is ignored because people don’t really hear it, so they then demand to be heard by using bullhorns. I suppose there is a need by some people to feel important by causing a ruckus so that they get pushback and feel “important” and “persecuted.”
But for the life of me, I don’t understand why it is that some Christians feel that the way to bring people to Jesus is to shout at them with bullhorns, block sidewalks with signs, and make a spectacle of the worst behaviors of ill-mannered people.
What is achieved by that kind of Christianity? What does it prove? How is that a way of discipleship?
What I saw wasn’t Christ or Christ-followers. What I saw was the demand that some Christians get to have their way to the detriment of others, and that everyone must submit to their kind of Christianity so as to be “saved.” I saw dominionism and religious supremacy and the very, very wyte characteristic that wyte people be centered and prioritized.
Frankly, I think that’s nonsense. It’s not a way to build a faith or to create people who follow Jesus in love and justice. It builds an us-them mentality that “we” are right and “they” are all wrong. It’s foolish, prideful religiosity. And it’s a waste of time.
If you want to build your faith up so that you honor Jesus and you draw people to Jesus in your lives, might I suggest you do it the way that Jesus did, and simply be with people and share your transformative life with them?
That seems to be way more in line with the example of Jesus than bullhorns and signs and shouting.