Radical

This is the "catch-all" phrase found in Christian thinking today. It's the popular phrase that illustrates some people's awareness of how things should change.

Here's the question, though. When will "radical" become just like the word "epic" or "awesome"? The original meaning of those words encompassed huge ideas and a sense of shaking reverence... Like saying "WOAH...." all the time. Now, they are at the same level as "cool" or "great." How did that happen? This is just a thought, but overuse seems to fit the culprit description.

I'm reading two books right now (reading in a sense that I pick up the books when I have time): "Radical" by David Platt and "Radical Hospitality" by Lonni Collins Pratt and Daniel Homan. When I starting reading the latter, I felt like the word "radical" was the right term. Some of the concepts hit my head like a suction cup, just sitting there until I tried to wrap my mind around it. Then, I came home from school for Spring Break and my parents told me I had to read this book "Radical." An alarm went off in my head. Wait... I like all of these "radical" books. What does that mean?

All I can say that I know about this is that I don't want to use the word radical. This word makes me sad more than it encourages me now. How did the Church get to the point where living in the example of Christ is considered radical? And with its frequent use, it will become a catch-all phrase, one that people will throw around and not understand. "Yeah! Let's get radical!" Okay...cool. What does that mean? You're saying one thing and I don't see any different actions.

I know that we are humans. (Yeah. Crazy, huh?) As humans, we cannot be at our peak performance all the time. We fall and fail and crash and burn. (Maybe a little to emphatic on the failure?) So, allowing for there to be room for disappointment, I realize that we do not follow through with the things we say. I realize that some people just say things to make it seem like they are going to be better... With all of that realization, I cannot help being disappointed with the cultural influence I find intertwined with Christianity. The notion of being radical is counter-cultural. Yeah. That gets me excited! We are supposed to be in this world and not of this world. That line is hard for us to see, though.

The biggest part of this issue is money. How do we, as Christians, and, more specifically, "young adults" deal with this? I personally do not have any money to speak of. I owed money when I filed my taxes. Here's the best rationale I can come up with: The entirety of my money belongs to God. He has entrusted me with it and whatever I spend it on should glorify him and not me.

That seems pretty simple until you start thinking: Well, does a decorated apartment glorify God or me? Does painting my nails or getting a nice haircut glorify me or God? There are so many other questions and I struggle with placing myself on the radical scale. If it ranges from 1 to 10 (10 being the most minimalist you could get), I would want to be above 5, maybe even 7, but I am realizing that in order to be "radical" in the truest sense of the word, the phrase "die to yourself" assumes another meaning. That idea, dying to oneself, is not one that I like all the time. Sometimes, I feel so miserable in this earthly skin that it's a pleasant thought to give up my decaying self. Other times, I'm content with the material blessings and I rely on them too much to give "dying to myself" another thought. Where do I fall on the "radical" scale? Wanting to be between a 5 and a 7 doesn't mean I actually there. I might actually be a 3.

I guess all of this is to say that in the midst of this newest "fad" in Christianity (and it pains me to say fad, but I have a feeling that this will come and go in American evangelicalism just like the "Emergent Church" idea), I wish that people would follow through with their words. If being radical is speaking from the pulpit and telling the congregation how great they are at giving and how the surplus has helped the little poor churches, then I don't want any. If being radical is cutting back on our own material desires and sacrificing some of that cultural allure in order to pour into a community, then count me in. Don't talk about it and make the congregation feel like they're being patted on the back. Encouragement is great, but giving the surplus of your already-over $3 million budget isn't that much of a sacrifice. In fact, I choke everything I try to swallow the idea of a $3 million budget. Money is the language Americans speak. American Christians are one of the best at speaking money. So, here's a suggestion: be radical with your money. Think about how you are using it and pray about how you SHOULD be using it. I'm going to have to struggle with that for a while longer because I don't want to think about sacrificing a comfortable living style. Sacrificing is uncomfortable. Giving up a theology of celebration is uncomfortable. I hope that the idea of "radical" does not lose its steam and that it prods people to pursue the uncomfortable and dig for answers rather than accepting the words of an earthly authority figure.