When it comes to your faith,
why would you want to be normal?

I’ll let you in on a little secret. Christians want to take over the world. It sounds like a revolutionary idea when I put it like that doesn’t it? Well the idea is revolutionary. At some times and places, the track record looks pretty good. After all Christianity once conquered the Roman Empire. But now it feels like our once great Christian nation is losing long held ground. What happened to the revolution?

As Christian leaders look for innovative ways to share that good news that God loves us and wants a relationship with us, we have to use some words to describe the people we are trying to reach. Do you want to know how Christians talk about non-Christians behind their backs? We use words like “lost” and “unsaved” to describe the non-Christians as someone with a need. Or perhaps we call them “heathens” or “pagans,” but those terms are dated or misused when applied to all non-Christians. Then there are words that come with assumptions. You can call a non-Christian an “unbeliever,” but that assumes that non-Christians do not have other beliefs. Or you can call him or her “unchurched,” which assumes that everyone not in church is a non-Christian.  You can also refer to them as “pre-Christians,” which assumes that all of them will one day come to know God as he is revealed in Jesus Christ.

I’ve always preferred the term “seeker.” I have been a spiritual seeker myself and I know what it is like to know that you are looking for something, but you’re not sure what. Often seekers know they have a God-sized whole in their heart and lives and are sure that they won’t find the solution in church. But still they seek.

I just ran across a new way to describe non-Christians. Todd Hahn, of Warehouse 242 in Charlotte, North Carolina, has suggested the term “normal.” I think the idea has a lot of merit. Calling non-Christians normal assumes that Christians are not normal. I like that assumption. Should not we Christians, who know the power of God’s love live lives so changed by that ongoing experience that we are viewed by others as not being normal.

Is it normal to live a Christ-like life? Not exactly. It wasn’t normal behavior for Galilean fishermen to drop their nets and walk away from everything they ever knew to follow Jesus. And yet those far from normal fishermen became fired-up Christ followers who were sent out to change the world.

Calling non-Christians normal takes the stigma off them and puts it on us Christians. I think that’s a much better starting point. People who do not yet know how much God loves them and how a real relationship with the triune God can give them a deeper source of strength and peace are the ones who are normal. We Christians are abnormal. We give the control of our lives to a God that we cannot see, but who we can feel and know. Giving up control of your own life is not normal. It is liberating. But it is not normal.

Living out a Christ-like life is also not normal. It’s not normal to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. It’s not normal to love even your enemies with a self-giving love that doesn’t care if they love you back. None of that is normal. But it is at the heart of living as Jesus Christ lived.

While we are looking at labels we put on non-Christians, we need to remember that they have words they use to describe Christians. One of the main words non-Christians use to describe Christians is “hypocrites.” A common adjective to describe Christians is “judgmental.” It’s easy to earn those labels. Talk the Christian talk without even trying to walk a Christ-like walk and it can happen. Of course, none of us can be perfect, but any of us, me included, can try harder to live out our faith.

Do we Christians really want to change our world? Do we really want the whole world to come to faith in God through the person of Jesus Christ and experience the power of the Holy Spirit? If so, then we will have to stop acting normal. We will have to treat others as if they are normal and act like people transformed by God’s grace. Who wants to be normal anyway?

(The Rev. Frank Logue is pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland, Georgia.)