As Christians, we like to think of ourselves as radical. Often, we hear the word thrown around at church camps and campus ministry retreats. Mostly it's at times in our lives when there's a lot of pressure to conform to whatever the dominant culture is. Thank God we have these strong disciplers to remind the youths that we don't need to be cool or fit in because, after all, we have Jesus.
In the spirit of rejecting dominant culture, the guy on stage at these shindigs typically sports a youth pastor beard, skinny jeans, and a Jesus is Dope sweatshirt, and boy, can he use the word countercultural in a sentence (or four)! And when he starts talking about how radical it is to do this and not do that, we get PUMPED. We're thinking, if this is what radicalism looks like, it is hella attractive.
The thing is, underneath the alluring rhetoric, what that guy's describing is not all that radical.
First, a vocabulary lesson: radical is the "fundamental nature" of something; it gets back to the reality at the root of things and does, in fact, also refer to what proceeds from the root of a plant. Radical can also relate to social and political reform. It is always complete, comprehensive, thorough.
So let's set the record straight.
We are not radical for hosting Bible study on Friday nights--even while our peers are at the bars. We aren't radical for sharing the gospel with ten of our non-Christian friends, relatives, coworkers, and the rando we just met at Kum n' Go who really needs Jesus. We aren't radical for abstaining from sex until marriage. We aren't radical for going to church every Sunday or for memorizing Bible verses. We aren't radical for listening to Christian radio instead of rap, for confessing to and praying with our accountability partners every time we use God's name in vain, lust, or cause our brothers in Christ to stumble.
All of the above are things we may choose that others in our culture do not, but that doesn't make us radical. These are things we do that the rest of the world understands (and frankly, doesn't care about) because they are the "Christian things to do."
Radical is when we do something that the rest of the world does not understand. Radical actions are those things that make the world ask, "Why?" They are actions that provide the opportunity to explain with hopes to transform. And when those transformations happen, they are complete, comprehensive, thorough. Radical actions that lead to transformations are not localized and confined to personal purity and morality. They are global.
Indeed, radical Christianity* is not when we participate in systems of individual purity but rather when we participate in systems of social change. Because radical has to do with the roots--or the basic realities--of the world, truly radical actions--rather than maintaining a distance through absorption with self and self-morality--confront those realities. They demand a complete overhaul of the world.
When we live in community, sharing our cars and washing machines with those around us even when we don't have to, that is radical. When we give up something simply out of solidarity for those who go without because they have to, that's radical. When we share our presence with the sick and dying who would otherwise be alone. When we mindfully consume because most consumption comes at the cost of fairness. When we challenge our communities to talk about (or better yet, listen) racial injustice and gender inequality instead of pretending it doesn't exist. When we acknowledge the privilege we possess, we open up space for and redirect attention towards those who don't, and that is radical. When we extend grace to everyone. When we take up our crosses and follow Jesus. But most importantly, when we open our eyes to the crosses that others bear, choosing to see Christ in the least of these--that is radical. That causes change at the roots.
*Christians do not hold a monopoly on radicalism.
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