Dear fellow pilgrims,

Becky Kaufmann shared a book with me called Dangerous Wonder, by Mike Yaconelli. The subtitle is “The Adventure of Childlike Faith”, and I wonder how “childlike” the following quotes seem to you. First he quotes Episcopal priest Robert Capon (a favorite theologian of mine), “We are in a war between dullness and astonishment”. Hmm, read on.

The most critical issue facing Christians is not abortion, pornography, the disintegration of the family, moral absolutes, MTV, drugs, racism, sexuality, or school prayer. The critical issue today is dullness. We have lost our astonishment. The Good News is no longer good news, it is okay news. Christianity is no longer life changing, it is life enhancing. Jesus doesn’t change people into wild-eyed radicals anymore, He changes them into ‘nice people’.
If Christianity is simply about being nice, I’m not interested.
What happened to radical Christianity, the un-nice brand of Christianity that turned the world upside down? …What happened to the kind of Christians whose hearts were on fire, who had no fear, who spoke the truth no matter what the consequence, who made the world uncomfortable, who were willing to follow Jesus wherever He went?
I’m ready for a Christianity that … captures my heart and makes me uncomfortable… Yes, I want to be ‘dangerous’ to a dull and boring religion… (pp. 24-25).

Wow! Strong words! Becky shared that with me, and I immediately thought of the play “This Little Light” put on here by Ilona Preliou and Cheryl Smith the other night. The play was about Fannie Lou Hamer, a black woman from Mississippi who led other blacks to register to vote in the 1960s, and continued on as a civil rights figure. We heard about her trip to jail – about how she was beat almost to death, and then how she was not afraid. Not afraid?! Wow!

My emotional response was wishing I knew what it was that God called me to that was so critical, so important, and made me so “uncomfortable” (like the above quote) that I was not afraid to die for it. Can you answer that question? Are you willing to honestly ask it?

I’d like to suggest that this is the stuff and the questions that Lenten journeys are made of. Lent – and for that matter, Christianity – is not for the faint of heart. And if it’s about being nice, I’m not interested either.

The heart of this season, and I believe the heart of all Christianity is most powerfully experienced in the Holy Week and Easter liturgies. Palm Sunday (Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem), Maundy Thursday (Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and celebrating the initial service of Communion), Good Friday (Jesus’s Passion and death), and Easter Day (the Resurrection). Won’t you make those 4 – and all of them if at all possible – dramatic liturgies high priorities in your schedule? I promise you –there’s nothing “dull” about any of this. And it is Life-changing!