Taking the Lord’s name in vain…

Gosh, Gol, Gol Dernit, Geez, Dag Nabbit.  These substitutes are only the few I could think of off the top of my head.  One of the most entertaining things in my life has been hearing the creative substitutes Christians create for “taking the Lord’s name in vain.”  Why not?  It is one of the big ten commandments.  Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.  So, we have made great efforts not to say God in anything but a descriptive or nominative way.  Using the word God or Jesus Christ in an expletive manner is strictly forbidden.  I really don’t have a problem with that.  I also don’t think its as big of a deal as what I consider to really be taking the Lord’s name in vain.

When I used to leave the house for a trip or party, my Dad would tell me not to embarrass the family.  He would tell me to remember that I carried the Fairchild name.  He was right.  My last name is the same as my mom and dad’s.  It is the same as my grandparent’s.  It is the same as generations of Fairchilds (Fairchildren?) before me.  What I do, reflects on that name.  When my wife and I were married, she took my name.    Now she is a Fairchild.  She has taken my name, so now her life reflects on that name.

When we go about calling ourselves Christians, we are literally taking on the name of Christ.  We have taken the name of God.  Now our actions and words reflect on that name.  We are now representative of God.

Have we taken that name in vain?

When we are judgmental or hurtful, we have taken the Lord’s name in vain.

When make people feel small or belittled, we have taken the Lord’s name in vain.

When we alienate people based on social or political preference, we have taken the Lord’s name in vain.

When we are abusive or hateful for the sake of our religion, we have taken the Lord’s name in vain.

How we live our lives after we have taken the Lord’s name determines whether or not we are taking it in vain.  We have been called to love God with everything we have and to love the people around us as much as we love ourselves.  Jesus himself said that was the most important thing.  When we do not express love with our lives, we are taking the Lord’s name in vain.

There are only a few months left until the presidential election.  Lets make sure we don’t take the Lord’s name in vain when we express our views.  Let’s not get into the business of determining who is a Christian and who isn’t based on their political views.  Lets not let our support of one candidate or the other drag us down and cause us to take the Lord’s name in vain.

Lets remember that before we are republicans, democrats, libertarians, etc; we are husbands, wives, parents, friends, colleagues, partners, and most important Christians first.

Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.

3 great things about Christianity (And how we’ve missed them…)

1. Literally anyone can participate.

(How that makes it great…)

The religion Christ taught his disciples to create is wide open.  It crosses cultural boundaries and political boundaries.  It is based on the universal principle of love.  Everything emanates out from that central, unifying fact.  Christ came to love, Christianity is based on love.

That central basis on love means that anyone, anywhere, anytime can participate.  There are no requirements or restrictions on who can participate in Christ’s religion.  A person does not have to dress, act, think, or speak a certain way to be a part of the Christian community.  The nature of Christianity should make church the most accessible, comfortable place in the world for a person to be.

(How we’ve missed it…)

Unfortunately, Church is one of the most intimidating places for a person to go if they don’t know anyone.  It stands above many other social situations because of the fear of guilt and judgement one may experience.  We subtly create restrictions around who can and cannot participate in our religion.

People should not have to be nervous about going to church.  We should not be known as a place of judgment or condemnation.  The Christian Church should be universally known as a safe place for people to go to be loved.

We are not.

2. The Christian message can be fit in to any culture.

(How that makes it great…)

The Christian message is universal.  Christ’s message of love was meant for all people in all economic and social situations.  The notion that God passionately loves all people and Christ came to connect us with that love has no cultural consideration.  The message can work in Orange County, California.  It can also work in Sudan.

I became a Christian because my parents were Christians.  I stayed a Christian because I came to understand the core message of God’s unending, unrelenting, passionate and free love.  I stayed because I recognized that love and salvation extended to all people with no conditions or fine print.  I stayed because I realized the Gospel was universal and could be expressed through the Culture, not in spite of it.

(How we’ve missed it…)

Much like the Jews in Galatians who preached that people needed to be circumcised to truly experience Christ’s saving work, the modern American church has mistaken our culture for Christianity.  We have spent a long time nursing a near pathological need to scripturally prove everything that we do.  This has resulted in us confusing our cultural preferences for Christian fundamentals.

Christians do this with all kinds of things.  Alcohol, dancing, manners of dress, scientific discovery…every Christian group has their own thing.  We end up protecting our culture more than we work on spreading the Gospel.

When we confuse our culture with the Gospel, we limit its capacity to work.

3. Christianity can be a positive part of the culture.

(Why that makes it great…)

At the beginning of the Book of Acts, it is said that the Church enjoyed the favor of their community.  They were so focused on helping people that even those who did not accept the religion thought well of them…with few exceptions.

Christianity should be popular.  We should be seen as a group of people who love everyone, especially those we disagree with.  We should be seen as compassionate.  We should be seen as caring, as accepting.  Christ was seen that way.  Generally, the early Church was seen that way.  Christians have the awesome ability to build real relationships with people outside our religion.

(How we’ve missed it…)

We have positioned ourselves as a negative entity that is against the culture.  We fell in love with spiritual warfare and picked a fight with the culture around us.  (We are currently losing that fight, if anyone is interested.)  We positioned ourselves as anti-homosexual, anti-abortion, anti-secular music, anti-secular schools and anti-a lot of things.  We are known for what we are against.

When we are known for what we are against, we have failed miserably.

Very few people like us.

We don’t notice because in fighting the culture and separating ourselves, we really only hang out with other Christians.  (Also, anybody who doesn’t like us is a tool of the Devil.)  We like ourselves, so what’s the problem?

We should be viewed as Christ was viewed.  People knew he was loving.  People knew he was accepting.  People knew he was compassionate.  People knew he was king.  People knew he was safe.

They don’t know that about us…but they could!

I write this because I have faith in our ability to reclaim what makes Christianity great.  It will take some work and some of us will be uncomfortable, but we can do it.  

Nothing special…

Within the Christian world, we have developed this notion that we are special.  We have created this idea amongst ourselves that we are this pillar of truth and light in an otherwise dark world.  We like to believe, as the Jews did, we are the chosen people, set apart from all others.  Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to convert the nonbelievers to our way of life and way of thinking.

But we’re nothing special.

We are not the pillar of holiness we would like to consider ourselves to be. We are broken and dirty, just like everyone else.  We have the same kind of junk in our lives.  We struggle with the same kinds of things.  We roll in the same kind of mud as the rest of the world.  Within the Church, there are drinkers, cheaters, liars, thieves, and all other kinds of degenerate sinners.

Because that is the way it is supposed to be…

We were never meant to be in an ivory tower.  There is nothing special about us.  We are human like everyone else.  Christ sat down with sinners.  He ate with tax collectors.  He touched lepers.  He walked with prostitutes.  He spent his time with the broken down, lower people in society.

He sat down with us.

There is nothing special about us.  There is nothing special about the Church.

The special one is God.  The special one is Christ.

The only thing special about us is that we have experienced the love of a Redeemer God.  We have, somehow, some way found our way in the dark to the light.  We are still broken, we are still messed up but when we connect with a loving God, we are redeemed.  That is how we are special.

Not because of our traditions.  Not because of our methods.  Because of Christ.

When we live with that kind of humility, we are able to forge real relationships with the people around us.  We are freed from the encumbrance of our own self-absorbed, arrogance that tells us we are better than anyone else.  That kind of humility allows us to really display the message of Christ to the people around us.

A message that tells others that God loves them because of who they are, not in spite of what they have done.

 

That is special.