Proclamation and Authenticity

"You know that joke that goes 'how does every racist joke start?' and the punchline is a turn of the head to see who's looking? I feel like every testimony starts that way too."

My friend Jeremiah said this to me some months back, and it has stuck with me. The concern was with a new trend in Christian circles, a desire to stay under the radar in order to avoid being pigeonholed as "one of those" or simply for fear of being labeled a hypocrite when life doesn't reflect beliefs or even because it just isn't very hip to be a Christian.

The thing is, another big trend in Christian circles is constant use of the word "authentic." Our conversations are peppered with it. Every church wants to be an "authentic" church.

What we mean is real and raw and deep and meaningful. And we are right to want that authenticity. But we're wrong to think that proclamation and authenticity are mutually exclusive.

The problem is that, for too many of us, sharing a story of faith and belief was taught in a sort of car salesman style that was anything but authentic. It felt forced or sappy or fake. It was anything but authentic. So, for fear of being inauthentic, we've opted for our right to remain silent.

(*sidenote: we have taken the powerful teaching of Francis "preach the gospel and, if necessary, use words" and used it as an excuse not to use words. When the opportunity to talk about Jesus and the good news of the Kingdom arises, we get all sheepish on the subject, something Francis would never have endorsed.)

The fact is that faith struggles are a part of any faith walk and so have to be shared in order to be authentic. Sin is shared as a part of our story. And I don't want to encourage anyone to share a "rah! rah!" gospel straight out of the latest "come to Jesus" tract and call that authentic. But if you've heard and experienced good news, why not share it? If you believe Jesus is the Son of God, why not tell people? If you once were lost and now are found, why not spread the news? What if other people are lost too?

Being sheepish about being a Christian because some Christians are overbearing is like being sheepish about being married because some married people are obnoxious. Imagine if a close friend of mine said, after knowing me for even a month, had said, "I didn't know you were married?" and my response was, "well, you're single and I didn't want it to be weird."

I'm not looking for us all to get back to tracts and door-knocking. I'm not advocating street corner evangelism. I'm still convinced that walking the walk is more important than talking the talk. But sometimes talking the talk is a part of walking the walk. My wife should know I love her because I show her, but part of how I show her is by saying so.

The question we have to ask is whether we have good news or not. If not, then the point is moot. If so, than it is time to start being as authentic about that as we are about everything else in our lives.