Fool for Christ

I have been throwing around ideas all morning for a message I will be giving at Chapel on March 25th. I keep coming back to the idea about being a Fool for Christ. When I heard Bart Campolo speak a few weeks ago he brought up the idea to the teens that it's ok to be different and doing radical things if you are following Jesus. But to be prepared because the world will think those things are "foolish". I want to get that idea across to my kids as well. I'll never forget when my dad did a confirmation retreat using the movie Patch Adams (where the Doctor shares the medicine of laughter and humor with his patients and not many people approve). He then came into church and for confirmation Sunday he preached a sermon about being a Fool for Christ. The kids came up to the altar and were confirmed and before they turned around to be presented to the congregation my dad had them all put on red clown noses! As they turned around the congregation erupted in laughter. Yet if those kids walked around with the clown noses on all the time, I doubt they would get the same warm and joyful laughter, instead they would hit criticism and bullying. I am sure the kids didn't realize how profound of a statement they were actually making at the time. But they processed out that day acting like Fools and starting their walk with Christ off right!

I love these 2 scriptures, but at the same time I think they are some of the hardest scriptures to actually live out. It is hard to be different, it is hard to stand up for what is right all the time, it is hard to be something that the world says is foolish. Like the scripture says, We're the Messiah's misfits! Or the title I like is we are Radical Ragamuffins! Obviously back in the early church many were treated as fools or misfits, but now I wonder if we are really living out our faith enough to gain that title. My prayer for us all today is that we can embrace our faith and passion for social justice and peace enough that we will be called misfits and ragamuffins. Be a fool for Christ!

1 Corinthians 4:9-13 (The Message)
9-13It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We're something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street. We're the Messiah's misfits. You might be sure of yourselves, but we live in the midst of frailties and uncertainties. You might be well-thought-of by others, but we're mostly kicked around. Much of the time we don't have enough to eat, we wear patched and threadbare clothes, we get doors slammed in our faces, and we pick up odd jobs anywhere we can to eke out a living. When they call us names, we say, "God bless you." When they spread rumors about us, we put in a good word for them. We're treated like garbage, potato peelings from the culture's kitchen. And it's not getting any better.

1 Corinthians 3:18 (The Message)
18-20Don't fool yourself. Don't think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. Be God's fool—that's the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It's written in Scripture, He exposes the chicanery of the chic. The Master sees through the smoke screens of the know-it-alls.