JR. Forasteros - April 23, 2017
Wall-E
Much sci-fi is about the promise of a pain-free life. But Wall-E points out that a pain-free life might not actually lead to our flourishing. Peter opens his letter to suffering Christians by reframing how they understand the pain they’re experiencing. He invites them to see their pain as an invitation into Jesus’ crucifixion. He illustrates how God works through pain to make us whole.
From Series: "Strangers in a Strange Land"
Great Science Fiction offers visions of a utopian future where humans have achieved peace and prosperity through progress. But Jesus' resurrection challenges the assumption that humans can save ourselves. In this series, we'll examine some of the most famous sci-fi visions of the future against the image of the Church we find in 1 Peter and see how the Spirit at work in us is the true hope of the world.
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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.
