paint it purple

There must be some kind of way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There’s too much confusion
I cant get no relief…
No reason to get excited
The thief he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke…

Sometimes I just get overwhelmed by the evil all around me… war, death, hunger, injustice, poverty.   And I sadly ponder…

Do followers of Jesus feel the urgency and passion of living like death is dead, like new creation is historically real and current?  I feel like american christians are just moralists… just feebly attempting to keep their noses a little cleaner than the day before — but with little success, and more fossilizing religiosity.  Doesn’t anyone believe in changing the world?  How do we really actually think this change will happen?  Through forcing everyone to be moral?  

No, we change the world via the cross — through dying to the American dream, dying to our own importance, our own fame.  The real fire of world-change, though, comes from the cross and resurrection.  The cross destroyed evil.  The resurrection is the sign of the cross’ success — it vindicates Jesus’ victory over evil. 

Yeah, I know.  No one wants to hear such dry tired words as “the power of the cross and the resurrection to change the world.”  These words are tired because they are hardly ever put into practice.  No one believes in forgiveness.  No one wants to pay that high price.  I am sad because so few followers of Jesus seem to wake up early.  They don’t wake up early because there is no reason to wake up early — nothing gets us out of bed.  No one is at the watchtower.