Christian vs Christ Follower

This video is part of a series made by Christ Community Church. I found the series after reading about it on a discussion board at allelon.org. I know nothing about the church except from their website, and any criticism of the videos is not directed toward the church or its members.

The video borrows the format of those PC vs. Mac advertisements. These commercials basically suggest that PCs are fuddy-duddy and Macs are cool. In this version, the fuddy-duddy is the “Christian” and the hipster is the “Christ follower”. Throughout the series of videos, there are slams on Christian bumper stickers, WWJD bracelets, the contemporary Christian music genre, dressing up for church, self-righteousness, and having faith for show. The “Christian” is a cartoon character who garners no sympathy. Frankly, I want to be the “Christ follower” who dresses casually for church, listens to U2, and has a Christian walk which requires no accoutrements. Still, the whole thing smacks of “I’m better than you.”

By calling the dweeb, “Christian,” the video is attempting to be controversial. The world is full of self-professed Christians who represent the faith sometimes better and sometimes worse. All these Christians are lumped together and labeled less than faithful. We look over at the “Christian,” and say, “Thank you, God, that I am not like this dork over here.” These are Pharisees who sat at the cool kids table in middle school.

The real lesson for each of us is that the sin of self-righteousness is always near. We think debates about Christ, the church, and the Scriptures are important ones. We hold positions that we believe are correct. Otherwise we wouldn’t hold them. Nonetheless, our rightness does not forgive our arrogance or blindness to our own sins.

Lefsa is Lotus

While traveling to Ohio to visit family, we had a short layover in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Normally, airports look and feel all the same. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Walking from one gate to another, Chicago could be St. Louis. Kansas City could be Cleveland. A layover rarely allows anyone to experience the locale in any meaningful way.

This layover was different. Among the many announcements on the loudspeaker, I heard,

“Someone has left a bag of lefsa at the security area. Please report to the security area and describe your bag to claim your lefsa.”

Lefsa is a traditional Norwegian flatbread made of potatoes. With that announcement, I knew that I could only be in Minnesota.

Sadly, I could find no krumkake for the Christmas holidays. Uff-da.