The cushy island known as American Christianity can be a dangerous place.

Filled with pretentious trendiness, superficial authenticity, and plastic spirituality.

It’s the worst kind of prison because it’s one you never want to leave.

The artificial trees never need watering.

You’re always well fed.

And every one around you looks and acts like you.

Have we traded something real for something sanitized?

Perhaps its time for Stepford Christians to rage against the machine.

What if we escaped the island and swam to the shores of authentic Christianity?

What if we became refugees from the comfortable life…

and followers of the dangerous footprints that Jesus left behind?

Discovering we’re all diverse jewels within the treasure chest of God’s love.

Remembering the grace of God is not just a gift we are given, but one that we share.

Returning to the life less ordinary we find in Jesus.

What if we showed this broken world that Christ came to save jacked-up people like us?

Not hide our brokenness behind our well-crafted masks.

What if we left behind our religious creation and simply swam to Jesus?

The Founder and Perfecter of our faith.

Reading through the gospels, it occurred to me that Jesus wouldn’t be accepted by much of the Christian culture of today. Most churches wouldn’t hire him, conferences would overlook him, bloggers would take shots at him, evangelicals would be offended by him.  He would be criticized, rejected, or ignored by the establishment for being too much this or not enough that.

Surely we’ve evolved in the last two thousand years? But alas, it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Here are some things off the top of my head that would get Jesus in trouble today:

• His idea of leadership was to serve. (Matthew 20:20-28, John 13:1-17)
• He mocks and talks harshly to religious leaders in public. (Matthew 23)
• He was alone with a woman he was not married to. (John 4:1-42)
• He befriended and partied with hookers and drunks. (Luke 7:34)
• He was arrested. (Matthew 26:50)
• He wasn’t us vs. them.  (Matthew 5:13-16, John 17:15-18)
• His ministry didn’t launch large in a big city. (Mark 1:16-20, Luke 1:46)
• He let his feelings show. (John 11:35, Mark 14:32-36)
• His passion was more for the one who was lost than for many who were found. (Luke 15)
• He didn’t see politics as the primary way to create change. (John 18:28-40)
• He didn’t choose the best and brightest to be in his circle. (Luke 5:1-11)
• He was homeless. (Matthew 8:20)
• He cared about meeting the tangible needs of this world rather than escaping it. (Matthew 25:31-46)
• He elevated the status of women in society and ministry. (Luke 10:38-42)
• He wasn’t big on dressing up to look more sophisticated and impressive. (Mark 12:38)
• He was more shock jock than he was politically correct. (Matthew 21: 12-13, Mark 8:33, Luke 9:41)
• He didn’t have a five-year plan. (Matthew 6:34)
• His words weren’t always easy to understand. (Luke 18:34)
• He didn’t go to seminary. (Matthew 21:23-27)
• His measure for success was not popularity or attendance. (John 6:60-70, Matthew 25:23)
• He was controversial (Luke 6:1-11)

What do you think? Am I wrong? How do you think Jesus would be treated by the Christian community today? Could he be a pastor in your church? Is there anything to be learned by this?

For years, evangelical leaders proclaimed that Christians shouldn’t read Harry Potter or watch the movies. Lest his superpowers provoke our children to become witches and wizards. (Curiously, the moralists aren’t outraged by the magic in Chronicles of Narnia or the powers of Superman.)

The real issue is a lack of imagination. The ring in Lord of the Rings isn’t really about the ring. The Veggies in VeggieTales isn’t really about the vegetables. The magic in Harry Potter isn’t really about the magic.

It’s art.

Art (and stories) often use symbolism and metaphor to communicate something else. This is what makes the fantasy and superhero genre so popular. People enjoy searching for meaning. And there’s plenty of it in Harry Potter.

That said, I’m not going to say yes or no to Harry Potter. I’m not a moralist. I’m a Christian. I would say go with your conscience.

I do believe God is a big God and that every story, intentional or not, is wrapped up in his story. We just need the eyes to see it.

Besides, the real danger of Mr. Potter doesn’t lie in his magic.

It lies in his influence on culture through fashion:

The dark-rimmed glasses.

Its obvious there’s a grand conspiracy and no one is safe.

Especially the hipsters.

This atrocity must stop.

For the sake of the children.

There’s a great lie floating around our culture.

That some things are secular and other things are sacred. It’s perpetuated by church-going and God-rejecting folks alike. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Psalm 24:1 tells us the earth is the Lord’s along with everything and everyone in it. God’s a big God. He doesn’t look at his creation and see a slice that he doesn’t control. Neither should we. Yet Christians do this all the time. Secular work. Secular music. Secular films. Secular schools. Blah, blah, blah.

And culture lets them. It keeps them out of their hair.

But it’s all a lie. Everything is sacred.

This world is full of sin. Things aren’t as they should be. Yet Jesus stepped right into the mess.

I sin a lot. I am not as I should be. Yet Jesus stepped into my mess too.

Thank God Jesus didn’t act like many Christians. He didn’t see me as secular and avoid me.

He loves me, redeemed me, and is changing me.

What would happen if we started seeing everything as God’s? Whether it was intended for him or not. Culture. Work. Politics. Food. Places.The internets. Everyday things. Everyday people. It’s all his.

Every story is about him. Every song longs for him. Every philosophy is searching for him.

Look for it. hen you learn to see God in all things, even ungodly things, it will rock your world. Because you begin to get a glimpse of the hugeness of God. That he’s bigger, better, and more sovereign than you can imagine. He’s working through things many Christians would not approve of. He even works through the messiest of people.

People like us.

Stop splitting your life into slices. By what you think is God’s and what’s not. The truth is this: If you’re a follower of Jesus, God gets the whole pie of your life. Not just a slice. You are free to be whole. You don’t have to pretend to be any more or less than you really are.

Stop believing the secular/sacred divide lie. Stop living it too.

You’ve got better things to do.

A couple of years ago, my daughter asked to go for a walk.  We went outside, I reached down my hand to her, and she reached up her hand to mine.  As I glanced down I was struck by this image.  I thought, “What a picture of God and us!”

I pondered this image more and began to see how it was also a beautiful illustration of prayer.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 to pray to Our Father.  His hand is always there reaching down to us and all we need to do is reach our hand up to him…and walk.

I love what Dallas Willard said in his great book, The Divine Conspiracy. “I believe the most adequate description of prayer is simply, Talking to God about what we are doing together. That immediately focuses the activity where are but at the same time drives the egotism out of it. Requests will naturally be made in the sharing with God my concerns about what he too is concerned about in my life. And of course he is concerned about my concerns and, in particular, that my concerns should coincide with his. This is our walk together. Out of it I pray.”

The scriptures say, “pray continuously.”  In the rhythm of our life, as we go, all the time. Taking hold of our Father’s strong, yet loving hand, and walking, talking, asking, confessing, venting, and listening.  A divine conversation so to speak.

Let me encourage you to take hold of your Father’s waiting hand and walk (pray).

It’s the most supernatural act we can partake in.