Overheard

This morning, on a christian radio station promo spot:

"I don't have to worry about turning the radio down," said a mother's voice...

"I don't have to explain the songs to my kids."

Super!

Because I would hate to have to step away from myself long enough to explain songs to my kids. Or even think about them! Why talk about the impact and perspective of secular songs when we could just turn on the box marked "Jesus"? The one which, apparently, doesn't require any explanation or discussion about impact and perspective.

We live an insular faith. Which begs the question.. is it even possible to "live" an insular faith? Does such a thing exist? And it's not just about having our own version of YouTube, MySpace and Wikipedia. Although we do. (Double Super!) It's about never rubbing up against anything, including each other, and quite possibly the God that we claim to love.

This Sunday I went to a church that I've only been to once before. There are thousands of people who go there--it's literally swarming with bodies. And they have a great band, and cool lighting... video, glittery-robed choir, charming and personable pastor... But it struck me during the service that a person can quite literally go through the entire process of attending this church without participating in it one little bit.

Now, if you count showing up in the same room, singing the same songs, and drinking your juice at the same moment as "participating," then this is where our paths will diverge, I guess. Because I don't. When I can walk from my car, through the doors, to the bathrooms, to the sanctuary, be ushered to a seat, and then go through a service, communion, get back up and repeat the process.. and the biggest interaction required is a friendly nod and an uncomfortable handshake.. I think we're working with a model that's inherently busted.

Following Jesus is a participatory process. God participates within himself--a neat "triune personality" trick, and if you can pull it off please stop reading now--and so completes himself. And when God invites us, calls us, to be saved, he invites us to join the circle. To be participatory with him and like him. This is no accident. This is a necessary piece of a transformative process. And transformation is all-too-obviously necessary for us to be complete in a way anything resembling God.

Transformation doesn't take place from within. Even if you're of the "all I need is the Holy Spirit and my Bible" camp, the tools of your purported transformation aren't of yourself. We don't come with the Spirit pre-installed and a copy of Strong's Exhaustive Concordance strapped to our back. Iron sharpens iron, but only if you've got two pieces of iron. And, regardless of whether you've got the Spirit and/or a clever hinging system that's still not what Jesus taught.

According to Jesus, there's a better way to live. There's truth and community and transformation. Do we want to be changed? Do we want our world to be changed? As long as "going to church" or even "listening to the radio" are christian activities we do in a vacuum, that's not going to happen.

Christianity isn't about the self; it's about the other. Because it isn't the self that changes us.