Last week I wrote this meme about some of the common perceptions of Christians and what Christians should be known for. This meme has spread quite a bit and while the perceptions differ, there is a common thread in what people say Christians should be known for. Love.
Too often Christians aren't known for love. They are known for making stances against things, protesting for "family values", and for showing anything but love for others.
Well I am sick and tired of hearing about Pat Robertson, Ann Coulter, James Dobson, or worse, Fred Phelps. They are no more representatives for Christians than Osama Bin Laden is for Muslims.
Today I'd like to highlight a friend of mine who people should think of when they think of Christians.
Last year Jamie Tworkowski found himself spending five days helping a girl that a treatment center wouldn't take and who was struggling with addiction, depression, and suicide. Since then, Jamie has accidentally founded a non-profit organization, To Write Love On Her Arms, to bring hope and help for young people dealing with depression, self-injury, and suicide. I'm not going to attempt to retell the story; Jamie has told this girl's story here.
This week Jamie was interviewed by AbsolutePunk.net. I love what Jamie says about how his Christian faith influences what he does:
"How is faith and spirituality incorporated into what you do at TWLOHA and how big of a role does it play?
Jamie: The language of what I believe (personally) is pretty obvious in the (TWLOHA) story that I wrote. But we surprised some people in that we, TWLOHA, don't call ourselves "a Christian organization". I think the language of what I believe has been grossly abused. Today, the word "Christian" offends a lot of people. It means things I wish it didn't, so we're trying to acknowledge that and use language that is inviting, comfortable, honest. And i think I knew we were going to have to choose our battles, so the one we're putting at the top of the list is that we want to meet people where they are, as they are. We want to help people, encourage people. The last thing we would ever want to do is push people away.
I will say that my faith plays a huge part in my life, why I am the way I am, how I see the world. And in my own battles with depression and seasons of hopelessness, my faith helps me keep going.
I am a huge fan of Bono and U2. He is my favorite example. He is a man of faith, bent on seeing the world change, but he is also very honest and real. He admits his demons, his questions. He wears it all on his sleeve. I like that. And you don't see anyone calling U2 "a Christian band", because that's a stupid phrase that doesn't really mean anything."
Comments
Thank You
beautiful...just beautiful
I humbly disagree. =]
I think I understand what you're saying concerning what I'd simply call "culturally engaged conservative Christians". The more consistent among them, I think, would be in total agreement with you on the importance of loving others. In effect, I'm left puzzled as to why you would think these interests to be mutually exclusive? Does being an advocate for so-called "family values" logically imply the negation of loving kindness in our everyday lives?
I still have not seen anything resembling a reasonable argument to support such a view. My suspicion is that the sort of kind-hearted and selfless acts which we aspire to do never have been prone to receive the sort of limelight that scandal and political controversy do. When Christians are content with staying on the periphery of important cultural developments, we're easy to ignore.
But when Christians (or anyone, for that matter) begin to draw closer to the center of public influence, the harsh light of scrutiny may uncover what has long been festering for decades. I think if Christians go on to earn greater influence in culture, what we're witnessing now may in time be described as a slow revolution still in its infancy stages. After all, we've not enjoyed the sort of illustrious political heritage secular liberals have dominated with and honed over the last 100 years of American history.
No one can doubt the level of their political and media-savvy sophistication, and they've earned it through determination and perseverance. In contrast, I blame our current missteps not on our audacity to have ever come out of the political closet, but for having absconded in there for so long in the first place. In my opinion, Fundamentalism, or the refusal to engage in responsible cultural and political engagement for fear of reprisal has worked to weaken Christianity in America more than the Religious Right has done in the last two decades.
I Humbly Agree..
I'm so thankful for TWLOHA and the method of approach. The word "Christian" and the characteristics of "Christ" have been so dissolved, Diluted and distorted that it has left a filthy stain stain and a very bad taste in our culture. But over the last 2 years i feel God( defined as father, holy spirit, Lord and Savior)has been bringing people to the front line in an attempt to reclaim his name and all that it means. I Agree that there is a Slow revolution happening in the body and those that are listening are being pulled to the front lines. NEVER did the apostles speak to bind people in fear or Turn or Burn, the message is Grace and that message has been wrapped in human elements for to long. LOVE is the movement...it was from the very begining. Thats the Gospel(Good news). Our culture thinks "Christians" can do what they want, Sin all they want and just repent for it and keep doin the same thing. This is NOT true. When we understand Grace and Forgiveness, out of our love to the father we should want to obey and do good. The messages in the bible are soaked in Love!Recently in one of my quiet times, I asked the question to God " did you know when you created Lucifer that he was going to Rise up against you and deceive your greatest creation and you were going to have to Send your son as a sacrifice to redeem us( Propitiation)"? about a week later I was sitting still and I heard in my head " I'm ready to answer your question", knowing this was the Lord, i got my pencil and wrote this down:"My Son, I knew you before you were born, I knew the revolt that was to come in the heavenly's. I knew you...my greatest creation, before I created Adam. I knew my sons death and redemption plan before i created Lucifer. I LOVED you at this time. This Fellowship, Agape Love so deep for you is worth the price paid. Yes, I knew what was to come and what had to be done and I still created you so you would know my LOVE for you and live with me forever. This is how it is to be." That is the ultimate act of love right there. I fully support what this organization is doing and I thank you for it! God bless you!
To Love is God's Law
At my church (a conservative Regular Baptist one) we're often reminded of the "double-love" command. Jesus said to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
A lot of fundies like myself miss this and adopt a "censorious spirit" toward those who don't observe the mores of their tribe. No less than the Puritan Jonathan Edwards pointed out that this attitude is just about the opposite of what Jesus had in mind when he spoke of the most important commandment. (You remember him, he's the "Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God" fellow.)
Christians must live with a tension between love of our neighbors and respect for God's law. A lot of beastly behavior is perpetrated by my coreligionists who substitute their opinions and traditions for God's law, then apply them in a censorious, or unloving fashion. This beastliness is very hard to root out. Please be patient with us. At least we're not lopping infidels' heads off.
i LOVE twl♥ha. this is
i LOVE twl♥ha. this is everything i belive. and many christians don't belive that the word "christian" does offend a lot of people and is not always associated with a good picture. so amen. <3<3<3<3<3
i am an atheist and therefor
i am an atheist and therefor when i try to speak out about how i feel.. i too am associated with a terrible picture... i'm glad that i have the freedom to express this, but the term christian doesn't offend me in the least.. the term atheist has a much more downward affect on most people. it's due to close mindedness.
there are bitter atheists and there are indifferent atheists and there are good people who could classify as "good christian"(what ever that means) who are in fact atheists. there are people who know what christianity is and gleem with pride in being a part of that faith, there are people who claim to be christian and don't do a thing with it.
there's no stipulations on love, so love me like i am your neighboor. if you'd focus on what you personally believe and not how other people view you, then the christian faith would be as valid as you're stressing over it to seem. ultimately people are going to believe what they want, and see what they want. the people who gave christianity a bad "rep" shouldn't concern a true christian. if we could all open up our eyes and just love then this world wouldn't be in such turmoil. religion had become the battle ground.
i am an atheist and therefor when i try to speak out about how i feel.. i too am associated with a terrible picture... i'm glad that i have the freedom to express this, but the term christian doesn't offend me in the least.. the term atheist has a much more downward affect on most people. it's due to close mindedness.
there are bitter atheists and there are indifferent atheists and there are good people who classify as "good christian"(that ever that means) who are in fact atheists. there are people who know what christianity is and gleem with pride in being a part of that faith, there are people who claim to be christian and don't do a thing with it.
there's to stipulations on love, so love me like i am your neighboor. if you'd focus on what you personally believe and not how other people view you, then the christian faith would be as valid as you're stressing over it to seem. ultimately people are going to believe what they want, and see what they want. the people who gave christianity a bad "rep" shouldn't concern a true christian. if we could all open up our eyes and just love then this world wouldn't be in such turmoil. religion had become the battle ground.
i also think part of this faith that i'm trying to learn more about is learning to love others who don't have the same beliefs as you. you expect someone like me to respect your beliefs, and i do. i think it's absurd to prosecute either.. this fundamental idea is what founded our country. love is a compromise, just like our forfathers compromised government to have the foundation we have today.
this hits home 4 me... i
this hits home 4 me...
i was a christian looking 4 answers....
i have struggled w/ cutting, drinking, and drugs, i hated my life i was alone... all i wanted 2 do was die, i attempted suicid more than twice, i never looked 4ward 4 2moro bc i didnt kno if i was goin 2 b there 2 c it... i was known as the mistake the problem, no1 cared abt me no1 knu... no1 saw the scars or the blood stained clothes no1 cared... then i found jaymee, nick, krystal and doug... they were all christians and they saw my pain and they saw the scars and they stayed up w/ me all night they cared... they all prayed 4 me and they didnt think i was a mistake and they knu that God would get me thru this and he did... God is real and he is w/ u ever sec of every day... he will never leave u or forsake u... he loves u... and he loves me...
I'm a Christian. I don't know
I'm a Christian.
I don't know what comes to your mind when i say that, but i do know what being a Christian means.
It means i believe in Jesus. I believe that He saved me, by dying for me. And i believe He saved you too.
But you probably know that, because it's pretty commonly accepted as the 'Christian faith.'
What you might not know is that I don't hate gay people. I don't hate girls who get abortions. I'm pro-choice. I believe in evolution. I don't want to throw bibles at you, or send you to church if you don't want to go. I don't think you're cynical and bitter for not believing in Jesus.
What i'm trying to say is i don't judge people anymore than the next guy. And it's not just me, there are tons of Christians who feel the same way.
Sure, there are some extremely right winged, conservative, eveangilical, bible basher Christians out there who say "You're all damned to hell, living in sin, ignorant and close minded people who need to accept the truth and go to church today or else Jesus wont love you and God wont accept you and the Holy Spirit wont want to come be a part of your life." And they want to scare you into submission. Well those people aren't representing 'Christianity' any better than Osama is respresenting Islam. I love that this book gives that example!
Apparently we as Christians, 'hate Muslims' because they are a 'terrorist race.' Well that's wrong. They are not a terrorist race, and we can not judge them based on one man.
For example, if i dress up like someone else, and commit a crime, would you put that other person in prison? No. You would put me in prison. So why put the rest of the Muslim people in 'prison' when really it's Osama we should blame. Just because he kills in Islams name, does not mean we should blame Islamic people.
It's the same thing for Christianity. Sure, there are some crazy Christians out there who judge everything in their sight - but the Christian faith speaks of love, and compassion. Two things that judgment is not.
This is why it baffles me, that Christianity is seen as such a 'judgemental' religion. We are called to love and to hope. Not to judge and convert.
That's why i love TWLOHA. It's about love. God's love for us. And through His love, we can love ourselves.
i live overseas right now, in a small Islamic country. i was raised in a wonderful Christian home by parents who prayed for my faith to become my own, instead of something they taught me. But living overseas starting with i was just 10 forced me to suddenly stick up for things i didn't even know i believed in, and defend a nation that i actually knew very little about.
It was because i left my 'american Christian' bubble in the states that i truly found Jesus. And it's because of living here that i have a relationship with Him.
I'm never going to tell you to go to church.
I'm never going to tell you to read the bible.
I'm never going to tell you you're wrong, or bad.
I'm never going to hate you for disagreeing with me.
I'm simply wanting to inform you, and ask you to forgive the many Christians before me, who have given you this false look into the language of faith that i speak. And i'm asking you to accept the fact that i believe in something, the same way you may ask me to accept the fact that you do not.
Please read about TWLOHA, and do not be scared away because the founder is a Christian.
It's not an organization that's going to force you to believe or go or do something bible related..
No, it simply wants to love the loveless. Because love is the movement.
To Write Love On Her
To Write Love On Her Arms
Pedro the Lion is loud in the speakers, and the city waits just outside our open windows. She sits and sings, legs crossed in the passenger seat, her pretty voice hiding in the volume. Music is a safe place and Pedro is her favorite. It hits me that she won't see this skyline for several weeks, and we will be without her. I lean forward, knowing this will be written, and I ask what she'd say if her story had an audience. She smiles. "Tell them to look up. Tell them to remember the stars."
I would rather write her a song, because songs don't wait to resolve, and because songs mean so much to her. Stories wait for endings, but songs are brave things bold enough to sing when all they know is darkness. These words, like most words, will be written next to midnight, between hurricane and harbor, as both claim to save her.
Renee is 19. When I meet her, cocaine is fresh in her system. She hasn't slept in 36 hours and she won't for another 24. It is a familiar blur of coke, pot, pills and alcohol. She has agreed to meet us, to listen and to let us pray. We ask Renee to come with us, to leave this broken night. She says she'll go to rehab tomorrow, but she isn't ready now. It is too great a change. We pray and say goodbye and it is hard to leave without her.
She has known such great pain; haunted dreams as a child, the near-constant presence of evil ever since. She has felt the touch of awful naked men, battled depression and addiction, and attempted suicide. Her arms remember razor blades, fifty scars that speak of self-inflicted wounds. Six hours after I meet her, she is feeling trapped, two groups of "friends" offering opposite ideas. Everyone is asleep. The sun is rising. She drinks long from a bottle of liquor, takes a razor blade from the table and locks herself in the bathroom. She cuts herself, using the blade to write "FUCK UP" large across her left forearm.
The nurse at the treatment center finds the wound several hours later. The center has no detox, names her too great a risk, and does not accept her. For the next five days, she is ours to love. We become her hospital and the possibility of healing fills our living room with life. It is unspoken and there are only a few of us, but we will be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to meet her needs, to write love on her arms.
She is full of contrast, more alive and closer to death than anyone I've known, like a Johnny Cash song or some theatre star. She owns attitude and humor beyond her 19 years, and when she tells me her story, she is humble and quiet and kind, shaped by the pain of a hundred lifetimes. I sit privileged but breaking as she shares. Her life has been so dark yet there is some soft hope in her words, and on consecutive evenings, I watch the prettiest girls in the room tell her that she's beautiful. I think it's God reminding her.
I've never walked this road, but I decide that if we're going to run a five-day rehab, it is going to be the coolest in the country. It is going to be rock and roll. We start with the basics; lots of fun, too much Starbucks and way too many cigarettes
more
Thursday night she is in the balcony for Band Marino, Orlando's finest. They are indie-folk-fabulous, a movement disguised as a circus. She loves them and she smiles when I point out the A&R man from Atlantic Europe, in town from London just to catch this show.
She is in good seats when the Magic beat the Sonics the next night, screaming like a lifelong fan with every Dwight Howard dunk. On the way home, we stop for more coffee and books, Blue Like Jazz and (Anne Lamott's) Travelling Mercies.
On Saturday, the Taste of Chaos tour is in town and I'm not even sure we can get in, but doors do open and minutes after parking, we are on stage for Thrice, one of her favorite bands. She stands ten feet from the drummer, smiling constantly. It is a bright moment there in the music, as light and rain collide above the stage. It feels like healing. It is certainly hope.
Sunday night is church and many gather after the service to pray for Renee, this her last night before entering rehab. Some are strangers but all are friends tonight. The prayers move from broken to bold, all encouraging. We're talking to God but I think as much, we're talking to her, telling her she's loved, saying she does not go alone. One among us knows her best. Ryan sits in the corner strumming an acoustic guitar, singing songs she's inspired.
After church our house fills with friends, there for a few more moments before goodbye. Everyone has some gift for her, some note or hug or piece of encouragement. She pulls me aside and tells me she would like to give me something. I smile surprised, wondering what it could be. We walk through the crowded living room, to the garage and her stuff.
She hands me her last razor blade, tells me it is the one she used to cut her arm and her last lines of cocaine five nights before. She's had it with her ever since, shares that tonight will be the hardest night and she shouldn't have it. I hold it carefully, thank her and know instantly that this moment, this gift, will stay with me. It hits me to wonder if this great feeling is what Christ knows when we surrender our broken hearts, when we trade death for life.
As we arrive at the treatment center, she finishes: "The stars are always there but we miss them in the dirt and clouds. We miss them in the storms. Tell them to remember hope. We have hope."
I have watched life come back to her, and it has been a privilege. When our time with her began, someone suggested shifts but that is the language of business. Love is something better. I have been challenged and changed, reminded that love is that simple answer to so many of our hardest questions. Don Miller says we're called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world, to stop the bleeding. I agree so greatly.
We often ask God to show up. We pray prayers of rescue. Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive. I might be simple but more and more, I believe God works in love, speaks in love, is revealed in our love. I have seen that this week and honestly, it has been simple: Take a broken girl, treat her like a famous princess, give her the best seats in the house. Buy her coffee and cigarettes for the coming down, books and bathroom things for the days ahead. Tell her something true when all she's known are lies. Tell her God loves her. Tell her about forgiveness, the possibility of freedom, tell her she was made to dance in white dresses. All these things are true.
We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don't get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won't solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we're called home.
I have learned so much in one week with one brave girl. She is alive now, in the patience and safety of rehab, covered in marks of madness but choosing to believe that God makes things new, that He meant hope and healing in the stars. She would ask you to remember.
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