When we first moved to the UK in 2003 we lived in North Watford.  It made sense since we were working with the Soul Survivor congregation in that area and we’d found a great little home to rent.  It was all the better when we realized that loads of the Soul Survivor gang lived in the road and roads surrounding our little neck of the woods.  We took to affectionately calling it “the ghetto.”

It was meant as a joke but most of us who used the term also realized there was something not quite right about the way had intentionally or unintentionally created an escape from the neighbors around us who were completely ignorant of Soul Survivor and its mission.  We knew we were meant to engage differently but it was just so nice and easy to stay “within the tribe.”  We knew in our heart of hearts that “ghetto” stood for “escapism.”

One of the themes of Jesus’ teaching is the creation of a people that would stand as a “light” to the culture around them.  Light as a metaphor signifying illumination, guidance, understanding.  It seems that there is something about this “people” that Jesus intended to affect the world around in a way that gave clarity regarding some of the lies that were misdirecting them and insight as to their true purpose and the ways to be most “alive.”  His followers were built FOR that world around.

There are many ways we can relate to the cultures in which we live.  We can avoid it and seek safety and solace in our “ghettos.”  We can confront it and stand in conflict with it, pointing out all of the things that God would be against.  Or we can compromise with it and take the position that The Scriptures cannot be applied to a world two thousand years later.  H. Richard Niebuhr’s classic book Christ and Culture explored many of these possibilities half a century ago as the Church in the West was seeking to escape from its own “ghetto” of fundamentalism.  If we are going to emerge…. What does that mean?

This is a huge question.  One far too grand for a simple blog post.  But one thing seems to me to be crucial to the solution here…  Jesus’ “kind of life” should be understood by His followers as an insightful and profound declaration of the Life in which we humans were designed to flourish.  Humanity is built for Jesus’ Life. 

So much of our difficulty with interaction culturally comes from the sinking suspicion that Jesus’ path is one of sacrifice and stoicism.  I guess it is some kind of hangover from the Monastic take on discipleship.  But Jesus was viewed as a glutton! People who lived lives of debauchery felt MORE alive in his presence an flocked to his side.  The monks?  The religious kill-joys?  He drove them nuts!  They were offended.  There’s got to be something in that.  The ones who were seeking Life (and had unfortunately looked for it mostly in the wrong places) were most drawn to Him. 

If you find that you are more of “ghetto” person and would love to engage more.  Perhaps a first step is to stop being intimidated by the ideas of “the good life” around you and to start appreciating the “GOOD LIFE” that Jesus is asking us to follow Him into.  Paul certainly seems to be contending for this as he addresses the Ephesians in chapter 5 verses 7 to 18 in his letter.  Stop apologizing! Stop feeling inferior as you engage with the world around you!  Human flourishing is found in HIM. It's like Peter says in John chapter 6 when most of the followers desert Jesus and he turns to them and asks if they are going to leave as well.  Peter's response is THE WHOLE ENCHILADA:  "where will we go?  We know YOU have the very words of Life."  Bam!  That's it.  Jesus knows Life. 

Another thing that I find helpful in Peter's response is that he is saying this at the same time that he is actually just as confused about what Jesus is saying earlier in chapter 6 as the ones who are bailing!  Of course we do not yet even begin to understand all that He has to teach us about His Life and so we stay well clear of the triumphalistic know-it-all-ness of too many Christians.  There is still so much mystery.  But enough with timidity!   Enough with the apologising.  This man is the source.  Open the pages of Scripture and allow yourselves to feel the powerful and profund wisdom about this gig that our Jesus carries.

Maybe, just maybe, we can start to see those around us intrigued and inspired by people who are finding in Him the keys to doing more than merely surviving... but are actually ALIVE.  Jesus knows Life.