Sometimes God decides to reveal himself to you in a way you've never seen and you are forced to rearrange your whole idea of what Christianity looks like. I think sometimes this is hardest on those we the oldest and deepest faith. A few nights ago I was the sole witness to one such rearrangement.
Last Sunday evening we had a band come and play at the Shelter. The band was called, "The Psalters" and they are a Christian band with a tribal rock feel. All of the members are blackclad, tatooed, pierced, and dreadlocked. A friend of the band lovingly refered to them as "dirty hippies." They don't look like your typical clean cut, bible belt Christian.
At the hostel we also had a number of people from a missions organization staying with us. I was working in the cafe the night of the concert when a woman from this missions group comes up to order. She was extremely demanding and very rude to me. I did my best to remain polite, although i was very upset. At this point i didn't know she was from the missions group. About 30 minutes later she comes back into the cafe and pulls me aside. Here is the conversation that followed:
Her: I'm sorry i was rude to you. i didn't mean to take our my frustration on you.
Me: It's okay.
Her: I was just disappointed because I thought this was a Christian hostel.
Me: What do you mean? (I'm really worried at this point b/c I'm thinking, 'What did i say?")
Her: Well, I thought this was a christian hostel, but then i saw this band and i was just disappointed.
Me: Um, well, you know that they are a Christian band, right?
(Silence) She stared at me in shock for a moment. You could see in her eyes that she was trying to fit these "dirty hippies" into her realm of christianity. I think her entire view of Christianity was being rearranged right then and there.
Her: Oh....(another long pause).... well, i guess that teaches me not to judge.
We continued to talk for a little while and i told her more about the band as well as the ministry here in Amsterdam. After that she was really really nice to me. I'm glad that I got a chance to talk with her because I was able to stop being mad at her and forgive her. Honestly i felt bad for her because i know how shocking it can be when you are forced to rethink what a Christian looks like. But i think her story illustrates an important point: Christianity doesn't look the same in every place and culture. Christ is for all people and the church adapts according to culture. Obviously there are things that as Christians we must not compromise on, but there are many more that we must. In Amsterdam Christianity sometimes looks like a "dirty hippie" with dreadlocks and piercings or a girl with pink hair and 17 tatoos. We can't judge, that isn't our job. If we want to reach this culture and this generation then we must broaden our view of what "Christian" looks like.
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It's interesting to me that the same thing applies to congregations - some of us just don't "look" like the others. So we struggle with being accepted by fellow congregationswho are uncomfortable with who we draw in or how we worship.
The Bible says to became all things to all people that we might by all means save some. The church is described as a body with different parts and purposes...and we all know how different our bodies and parts of our bodies look.
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