Here & Now

As I journey through Lent, I’m discovering the freedom that comes from letting Jesus be Jesus instead of me trying to manage who he is, as I understand my life and the life of others. Previously and currently, I want to make Jesus palatable for those triggered by previous bad, even traumatic experiences of churches that use Jesus as a weapon. On the other end of the spectrum, for those curious about Jesus, I want to show off who this Jesus is, almost in a faddish zealous way. And then I realize it’s not up to me to “show off” Jesus, one way or another. Jesus is Jesus. And if I sit within the Gospel stories, I discover that Jesus has something for me, you, and our world, and it’s not up to me to convince anyone.

When I first read this piece below, I wondered if I might need to hide in a closet to even consider a perspective so counter to what I’ve experienced growing up in my faith tradition. Could there be another way to encounter this Jesus the Christ? After many years of familiarity with a Jesus who became somewhat of an Elf on the Shelf, ^[1] I’m intrigued by this provocative Jesus who doesn’t let me sit comfortably in my way of thinking and being. There is a call to something deeper within me, even in the disequilibrium of this Jesus.

For those of you who have participated in Living From the Heart, our previous Selah core course,^[2] you may remember a piece by Beldon Lane called: The Image of Christ: Who is Jesus Anyway?! ^[3]