Living in a Bubble

I decided to do an experiment this afternoon. How many normal, real-life things could I do in a Christian way, surrounded totally by Christians, in a safe little Christian bubble?

I was amazed.

First there are Christian Midwives for birth, then there are Christian playgroups, preschool programs, Christian schools (or homeschooling if you prefer), Christian Universities and of course Bible Colleges.

For entertainment there are Christian television and radio stations, Christian movies and not one but TWO Christian alternatives to Youtube – Godtube and Gospeltube. There is an entire Christian music industry for your listening pleasure, with choices all the way from hymns to death metal.

You can go shopping online in the Christ-Centred Mall, not to mention a myriad of both physical and online Christian bookstores. There are Christian video games to play, Christian posters to hang on your walls and Christian bookmarks to keep the page in your Christian book.

You can associate with Christian friends who you met through church, choir, youth group, childrens ministry, christian camp or of course the christian school or college you attend. There are also plenty of online Christian forums and newsgroups to join as well as YourChristianSpace or DittyTalk, the all-Christian versions of Myspace. However, if you feel the need to join traditional Myspace it can be decorated with Christian Myspace Layouts or Christian Glitter Graphics. Of course, there is also Christian Email and you can even play a Christian version of Hangman, where you can sink a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee! (no, I’m not kidding)

You can eat Christian snacks and supplements and drink Christian soft drink and go on Christian holidays. You can even enter Christian Idol.

In fact, until you reach the age where a paid job becomes necessary, there is no need to associate with a single person who does not believe as you do.

But it doesn’t have to stop there. The world of full-time ministry awaits. You could work in one of the many Christian aid organisations, as a pastor or other paid church staff, or as an itinerant minister.

Otherwise, you can minimise contact with that evil world by working in the world of Christian finance, Christian credit counselling, Christian law, even Christian hairdressing. The possibilities are endless, and when you display enormous “Jesus Loves You” posters all over the windows, most heathens are likely to walk quickly in the other direction.

Of course, I shouldn’t be sarcastic, but it’s all true. We have built impressive bubble-worlds to live in, to separate us from the rest of the world. We have taken Jesus’ command to be “in the world but not of the world” way too far. He told us to be IN the world. That infers some type of contact.

He never segregated himself from humanity except when he spent time away to pray, to be tested, or to be with his disciples for a time. Shouldn’t we do the same? Jesus spent time with people who were not only not believers, but who were the dregs of society that everybody else hated. He went a step further than being in the world – he spent time at the bottom of humanity, the ugly stuff that we don’t like to see. The beggars in the street who make us feel guilty for walking past, the woman who walks along talking to herself, the man who obviously hasn’t bathed in months and the old lady with the walking frame who gets in your way.

These people are the ones Jesus came for. The ones he spent time with. They are humanity just as I am humanity. They can’t be segregated from the rest of us, and they can’t be pushed to the side by anybody who professes to be a Christ-follower.

God, please burst our bubble.