Confession: Understanding the Real Thing

I’ve been reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller for the past couple weeks. There are a lot of really great anecdotes and thoughts in it. It’s not a book you only read, but experience. Don makes you feel like you’re his friend and he’s sharing his life with you so you can learn something from what he’s learned.

I’m a little jealous of Don, not only because he’s the kind of writer I’d like to be, but because of how he’s experienced God. It’s the kind of way I wish I’d experience God, and the way Don came to faith in God through a series of conversations and events is how I sometimes wish I’d have come to faith in God.

I accepted Christ when I was 5, so God is all I’ve ever known. Or rather, I guess there is this idea of God that I’ve only ever known. My experiences and conversations with people have in some ways changed that view. I’m learning new things about God that are making me see Him differently. Not in a bad way; I feel like I’m beginning to see God the way He’s always wanted me to see Him, as someone relevant and unconfined to this box my ideas have put Him in.

Donald Miller’s writing is refreshing. It’s convicting. His writing makes me wonder about what it really means to be a Christian and if I’m representing Christ well or just falling into stereotypical “Christianity.”

I’ve thought about not calling myself a “Christian” anymore because I feel that society associates Christianity with things that were never meant to be thought of as “Christian.” For example: “anti-gay,” “anti-democrat,” hypocritical, racist or judgmental.

A couple weeks ago a well-known syndicated columnist, Cal Thomas, spoke at my church in Omaha. He is a very strong Christian and talked about how Christians are viewed as “anti” things, but Cal said he’s not “against things”; he’s “for people.”

This made me wonder what effect Christianity would have on our culture if Christians stopped being against things and for people.

Donald Miller’s chapter entitled “Confession” is one of the most powerful chapters in Blue Like Jazz.

To set the scene, Don is attending Reed College, a college known for its wild students who drink, do drugs and a number of wild things. Don and a small number of other Christians on the campus wanted to “come out of the closet” and let everyone know there were a few Christians on a widely un-Christian campus. They thought a good time to do this was during Ren Fayre, a time when the whole campus is shut down so students can party.

Don pitched the idea of building a “Confession booth” in the middle of campus, but he wasn’t really serious. His friend Tony, however, thought it was a great idea, only instead of accepting confessions from students they would be the ones confessing.

Tony said: “We are going to confess to them. We are going to confess that, as followers of Jesus, we have not been very loving; we have been bitter, and for that we are sorry. We will apologize for the Crusades…for televangelists…for neglecting the poor and lonely, we will ask them to forgive us, and we will tell them that in our selfishness, we have misrepresented Jesus on this campus. We will tell people who come into the booth that Jesus loves them.”

I feel like “Christians” have had it wrong for so long: we’ve been trying to defend a faith that means many different things to many different people, and often, they aren’t good things. Why would I want to defend something that people associate with negative things? Christians have been missing the mark: we’ve been trying to “sell” Jesus and make people agree with us, but people are never going to agree with something that seems condescending and hypocritical.

Don says instead of talking about Christianity, he would rather talk about Jesus and how he came to believe that Jesus exists and that He likes him. Don would rather talk about the spirituality that goes along with a relationship with God.

Don said he’d been defending Christianity because he thought to admit any wrong was to discredit the whole religious system. It isn’t a system, however, it’s a people following Christ, and “the right thing to do, was to apologize for getting in the way of Jesus.”

I’m not good at defending Christianity, but I love talking about God. I love talking about His love for me and how He’s been an important part of my life. I like letting other people talk about their feelings and thoughts about God.

The reason I still call myself a Christian is because I hope, that in each interaction I have with individuals, I can in some way restore the right name of Christianity. I hope that when people think of me and how I’m a Christian, they will associate Christianity with something that is good and loving and for people.

If you’ve ever felt hurt or judged by someone claiming to be a Christian, I truly am sorry. I hope that you will not discredit the entire Christian faith because of it, but that you will take a closer look at Christian spirituality and who God is, not the God so-called Christians tell you He is.

The Secret Service studies real money to recognize counterfeit money. People need to study the real God to recognize who is a true follower and who is counterfeit. Christians are supposed to represent God, but we are human and we make mistakes and we don’t entirely know how to live the righteous life we’re called to live. If you want to know who God is, don’t study Christians; study the real thing.

I’ve said all I can say for now. You should pick up a copy of Blue Like Jazz for more of Donald Miller’s insights. But that’s all it is: insight. It shouldn’t take the place of reading God’s Word; it might help you see His Word a little more clearly, though.