Jesus Is Our Following Jesus
Speculum- ... so I was so overcome and convicted by my own role in that whole stinkin' process that I bought as many newspapers as I could and ripped that picture out- I mean the picture of that dad crying over his dead little girl's body just overtook me- and so I ripped it out- out of each newspaper and wrote "This is the face of our sin" on each one with a magic marker. So I'm running up and down the street-
The Curator- Like a crazy person?
Speculum- Like a crazy person- and giving these- I guess flyers, giving these flyers to everyone and finally, you know a group starts to gather around me, and so I just ask myself- I ask us all- I ask how we cannot confess this as ours? I just ask why we say this is necessary and good- how we can live with ourselves if who we are depends on this kind of death- I mean this death, even this one specific death- if who we are is worth this one little girl let alone how many countless others, And I say, "we have to know this little girl, we have to know what we've done to her"-
The Curator- And you don't think that was a bit extreme?
Speculum- ... well...
The Curator- Do you think that's what people wanted to see? Do you think that picture was going to get people to listen to what you had to say?
Speculum- I don't know if it was about getting people to hear me... I thought it was about- I dunno I was just confronted with what it means if i seriously think I'm following Jesus
The Curator- If it's not about getting people to hear you then why say anything? You do want people to hear you. You have a very important message to offer them, but you will only drive people away with this...
You have to remember the heart of your message- the heart of our message: Jesus is our peace.
Speculum- Yeah but, well I guess, yeah Jesus is my peace, it doesn't seem like I'm not saying that-
The Curator- But you might be turning people off though, right?
Speculum- I suppose-
The Curator- And how will people hear your message if you've turned them off. How will they know that good news if you've sent them away? Our message is Jesus.
Speculum- Sure, right. I don't suppose they could- but... Well no. Isn't their being turned off a matter of their being committed to death? I mean if we're going to turn from death-
The Curator Jesus is our life.
Speculum- What? Yes. No- wait, there's going to be a bit of feeling bad- I felt bad when I was confronted by this picture- I don't see how I couldn't if it's a matter of really being confronted- if it's a matter of sin being overcome-
The Curator Jesus overcomes our sin.
Speculum Sure, but I don't think you would say "Don't confront a man whose beating his wife because he'll feel bad and won't want to listen to you"-
The Curator Jesus is our response to domestic violence.
Speculum What?
5 comments:
WTF?
Perhaps I should say this is not a conversation between any two actual people though I suppose it could be.
... that's about it. It's supposed to be kinda' WTF-y, or however one makes WTF an adjective but more pointed at myself.
This conversation is like a constant buzz mercifully trashing the evil illusion of perfection.
It reminded me of Anthony Bloom's heartbreaking honesty at the end of this post.
These lines: "Maybe I'm coming at this situation pessimistically, but, really, we're not Christians. We confess faith in Christ, but we've reduced everything to symbols. So, for example, I'm always struck by our Good Friday service: instead of the cross on which a living young Man dies, we have a wonderful service that can move us but that actually stands between us and that rude and ghastly tragedy. In place of the cross we've substituted an icon of the cross. In place of the crucifixion, we've substituted an image. In place of a retelling of the actual horror of what happened, we substitute a poetic/musical reworking of the story."
resonate with me in a way that I perhaps wish it didn't.
In the words of the facebooks:
"Sean likes this."
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