These are delicate words. Probably easy to be misconstrued. I expect they might be. Part of me wishes they will be.
I think I’d like to be unChristian.
It’s such a messy word. The word itself is sharp like a knife but unlike a sharp knife, it tears and leaves crumbles, mess, ooze all around it.
I probably find more sympathy with the Messianic Jewish community, the Catholic community and I have major admiration for the Mennonite community in regards to how they perceive and practice spirituality in the midst of a bigger story. I have learned much from my Muslim friends and from those who do life without any kind of faith.
I’m still trying to detangle the threads of Christian.
Spiritual, yes. Creator & creation (creative evolution more likely), yes. Hope, yes. Meaning, absolutely. Faith, yes. I think I’d like to be unChristian because I just don’t know what you think that means.
And it’s too messy a word to get in the way of who I am, meeting who you is… and telling part of the Story between us.
It’s just words, right… but these tools of definition are carving out a map in your mind before I speak them or unwrap them, giving them context.
I want you to see what is beautiful in me, along with the faith and hope in me. The love of beauty in me is spiritual and sensual. I am all taste, touch, sight, sound and scents. I am telling a story with these muscles and flesh, words and songs, this art I am making with my body and my life. Because I am sensual – I am awake to the creator in me, the Creator with me
Eventually, I’d like to think you might know the darkness in me too. That we would be be people who truly listen to each other and doing away with categorization as methodology of understanding people – you know, that “oh she’s one of those” type of thinking.
I am something alongside something bigger than me. We all are, whether we call it humanity, fate, karma, the Universe. But for right now, I am something, or someone alongside you.
And it's too messy a word to get in the way of who I am, meeting who you is… and telling part of the Story between usDont we as Christians have an obligation to atone for that name?I think there is something to be said for calling yourself a chrstian, its a claim to flaw, failure, and redemption
I like this piece and thinking, you haven't written like this in ages.
i like this. i think we can become so wrapped up in being so spiritual and coming across as everything's great that fail to be real. we fail to show that we have flaws and it's only through God's grace that we're forgiven. maybe we should all strive to be more "unchristian" and simply show God's love.
Ever since the first people who followed Jesus were called “Christians”, the term has meant “little Christ’s”. If we are Christians, it is because we behave, think, believe, speak all who Jesus is – and that is possible through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus said to His 12 disciples, “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you” – and He was referring to the Holy Spirit, who will remind us of everything He said (all His commands) and give us the words speak before all mankind about salvation through Jesus.
To confuse the behaviour of self-proclaimed Christians” who may not be saved, with those who manifest the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, is exactly the same mistake that atheists and Muslisms and every other faith makes about what a Christian or Christianity is.
Don’t judge on outward appearance, based on how some might behave, but be seek to be conformed to Christ inwardly by the transforming of your mind (through surrender to the Holy Spirit, in other words.)
That’s the good news all the world needs to hear.