AirOne is a Christian radio station out of California. I was driving around recently when I heard this commercial/promotion that they had. Here is basically what it was. A lady had called in to AirOne and told a little story. She said that she works at an office with a bunch of unruly co-workers. These co-workers are not Christians, and sometimes their conversations can get pretty rough. She said that whenever her co-workers were doing this, she found AirOne online to be a great blessing and escape from these people. She would sit at her desk while they were talking all around her and put on her headphones and just listen to the Christian music of AirOne on her computer. After relating this story to the people at AirOne, the head announcer stated "This is exactly what we want AirOne to be for people".
Are you serious? Ridiculous. That is not what Christianity should be all about. I mean, it might be what it is all about right now - but that is not what it should be about.
The image that this story provides is something that Christ never intended for his people. Can you just see it? The woman is sitting at her cubicle with her headphones on with a look of perfect contentedness and oblivion on her face - like she has just saved herself from this horrible situation of conversing with her co-workers. While the entire time, her co-workers just are looking for a friend to talk to and some help and hope for their lives. That picture of Christianity is a picture that we see all too often. Too many times we escape into our own little Christian worlds filled with Christian music, Christian t-shirts, Christian friends, Christian churches, and Christian everything else. Too many times we live our lifes with our Christian 'headphones' on so that we can distance ourselves from the world.
But these headphones make us into solitary and un-relevant people. There is a world out there that needs us. There are people out there who are seeking help, hope, and friends. There are co-workers, classmates, and family members who - even though their speech and actions might be rough - need to find connections and need to find Christ. We cannot go through life with headphones on. It is a selfish move to live your life with headphones on - oblivious to the needs and lives of people around you.
And it is even worse that Christian leaders are encouraging these behaviors! I am so disappointed that AirOne believes their radio station exists so that Christians can escape the world to live solitary, Christian-specific lives. I mean, for real? Your radio station exists so that Christians can listen to your music instead of getting out there and interacting with real people's lives? You are missing the point. Mr. Leader and Ms. Leader over at AirOne - you are incredibly missing the point of what Christianity should be and needs to be. You are discouraging Christian love and connection for a lost world rather than encouraging it.
Christianity should not be lived in a box. It should not be lived with headphones on. It should not be our goal to constantly escape and hide from the world around us. True Christianity is full of love, connection, interaction, help, and hope. Granted, we should not be a part of the world: sin, greed, selfishness, lust, hate, etc. But we have to be a part of the lives of the people in this world. We have to put down our headphones and get out of our Christian worlds and bubbles in order to get our hands dirty with the lives of those around us. Christianity should be all about love.
And love doesn't hide. It doesn't escape.
Nope.
It helps. It connects.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
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