JR. Forasteros - September 1, 2013
Be the Church!
Today, Beavercreek Nazarene turns 60 years old. We have a wonderful heritage, but it's time to look forward. For the last decade, we've been Bridging Church to Neighborhood. As we follow God into the future, we want to Be the Church that connects and engages the unchurched in our neighborhoods.
From Series: "The Next Right Thing"
This year, Beavercreek Church of the Nazarene turns 60 years old. Over the last 60 years, we've made Jesus famous in our community by Bridging Church to Neighborhood. As Jesus has for us, we've gone into our neighborhoods, taking Jesus' love with us and showing our community in tangible, practical ways that Jesus loves them. Now it's time to take the Next Right Step. What will Beavercreek Nazarene look like in the next 60 years? What kind of church will we become? For the month of September, we explore our new vision, imagining together how it will shape our announcement of the Jesus' Good News in Beavercreek, Ohio. We want to become the Church that connects and engages the unchurched in our neighborhoods. What does that look like? Join us as we dream together!
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I got in trouble in high school for wearing a Christian t-shirt. I was raised in Church, and I took a peculiar kind of pride in my Christian status. I had a whole collection of t-shirts that loudly proclaimed to everyone that I was a Christian. My favorite was one that said in big, bold letters on the front “DON’T FIGHT NAKED”. Then on the back, it had a cartoon of a person in full Roman armor and said, “Put on the full armor of God”.
I went to high school in the late 90s, at the height of the Co-Ed Naked trend. If you’re old enough, you no doubt remember those shirts. They featured all kinds of sports – Co-Ed Naked football, soccer, pool, etc. And they all featured a tagline that was heavy in sexual innuendo. Of course those shirts were not allowed at our high school.
But one day, when I was wearing my “Don’t Fight Naked” shirt, one of my teachers caught me in the hall and made me turn my sweet Christian shirt inside out (the punishment for wearing an inappropriate shirt). She said, “This isn’t because it’s a Christian shirt. The other teachers and I talked it over and we agreed if you can’t have co-ed naked, you can’t have naked God.”
At the time, I was sure I was enduring religious persecution. But looking back, I realized she was right.
The way I was being a Christian didn’t make me particularly different from the rest of my school.
I was treating my faith essentially as one more branding option. Other kids wore the swoosh or Mossimo or Starter jackets (late 90s, remember!) or Co-Ed Naked. And I wore Jesus.
This branded Christianity didn’t transform me. I didn’t have a fundamentally different character because of those T-shirts. I certainly wasn’t winning friends to the faith. I was just another brand.
I want to talk today about what it means to be holy – to be the people of God in the world. Too often, we treat Christianity as just another brand. Another political view. One more good option in a sea of possible ways to be human.
Too often we have a faith that is superficially different from the rest of the world, but at its core is just another brand.
But the faith God calls us to is something essentially different from the world – that’s what the word ‘holy’ really means. And when we allow God to make us holy, we’re not a source of judgment and condemnation for the rest of the world (which is how we usually think of it – no one wants to be a holy roller, I think). Rather, when God transforms us, we become an invitation to life for the whole world.
