so what the heck is the gospel?

literally it means good news, but when i sit down and readjust my thick, culturally tinted glasses i notice some very interesting things about my gospel.

it seems my gospel here in america has the magical power of keeping me safe from harm and suffering, it helps me find a high paying job and makes sure my house is large enough so that people know my God is a big deal.

my gospel works only one day a week–sundays–and spends the rest of the week conveniently adhered to the back of my car in the shape of a fish.

and don’t get any funny ideas, because there is some serious power in my gospel… just look at the way we nuked harry potter, the da vinci code, gay people everywhere, the environment and the neighborhood athiest. of course, my gospel is not always about tearing down, but building–evidenced by the divinely inspired organizing of the nra, the religious right, focus on the family, and christian radio.

but you know, i have wondered about this “gospel,” this so-called good news.

in talking to a friend recently i couldn’t help but smile as she explained the dilemma she has limped into… turns out she has been reading some provocative literature that has produced more questions than answers and, dare i say, caused her to wonder at the true meaning of the gospel. in fact, she freaked out people around her so much so that there was serious temptation to administer the evangecube–the only tried and true measure of ensuring the gospel has safely remained in american hands.

i didn’t smile at her wanderings to taunt her but to encourage… after all what good is a christian if they can’t ask the truly hard questions?

in fact, jesus himself stated that christians are to be recognized as “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” by the people around them. christians are to be the first to stir things up, to ask and wonder, to push and pull, and to get to the heart of injustice. we have the god-given call to spice things up. think what kind of implications this type of gospel has… the atmosphere should literally change because we are there.

recently at a bible study i was hanging with a friend when we read a section of the bible where a leader in the early church quotes what appears to be a poem or song circulating within the church community:

awake, oh sleeper/arise from the dead/and christ will shine his light on you

i turned to my friend and he had the same look on his face, as if we had just been let in on the most amazing secret. he then wrote on his paper, “there are so many people with dead souls, and we need to help them find light.”

and as i read the word light, something inside of me flicked on. of course! as simple as his sentence is, i marveled at how good this sounded to me–people’s souls awakening, and their deadened spirits coming to life because of the light they are witnessing within us, the light of christ in us.

and then i thought how dangerous a thought this is also… the gospel not as formula or rules, but as mystery and untamed. god at his best work releasing people from spiritual bondage and cultural oppression. dangerous because we have very little power over such a gospel, no way to fit it into a cube or a tract, to shove it into four bullet points or recite it quickly at the end of a sermon. it doesn’t fit neatly in a repeatable prayer, or even snuggly with my own theological view.

i need to admit i don’t know the gospel as well as i should. the one i thought i knew has now been disgarded and left by the side of the road with more than a flat tire–the engine has blown up and the axel cracked. i am now forced to walk on foot.

or should i say we are forced to walk on foot–an anti-evangcube friend, a scando roommate, a few disillusioned artists, a handful of compassion-driven peeps, and a considerably large chunk of the college generation. we walk with integrity, because even if we could drive it, the old kind of gospel just isn’t worth traveling in anymore.