Of Christ and Kermit

The whole DC day by day thing lost a little steam. But here's something and a little something more!

The other day the little bros. and myself were wandering from art gallery to art gallery when something caught my eye: An exhibit on Jim Henson! Someone had taken some of the most important pieces of my elementary development and put them in a museum! Such pure, untainted joy ran through my body!

We ran downstairs, and there he was, in his photograph free glass case: Kermit the Frog, sitting there, happy to see me. Around the corner sat Rolf, the piano playing dog, kiddy corner to him sat Bert and Ernie. I couldn't believe it! I was so happy to see these hollow, felt creations that just sat there, lifeless. But I knew how animated they could be. I knew how entertaining Sesame Street and The Muppet Show were to me as a kid. It meant something! I had to think, walking around with my little brothers. They had never watched Sesame Street 

(WHAT?!). They had never seen The Muppet Show right before they had to go to bed, the last program before Nick at Night. In twenty years, will Hannah Montana's wig be in the Smithsonian? Will there be an exhibit on Pokemon? I hope not, but at the same time, that's selfish. Their history should be preserved to, no matter how much it might annoy me. 

Then I started thinking about Jesus! (Hang tight. I don't really have a transition, but... I want to talk about it and it's my blog, so...) I had gone to my family's new church the Sunday before and had enjoyed the quaint service very much. The sermon, however, was a somewhat shallow fluff piece about giving yourself to Christ without much substance as to why outside of 'you'll be happy' (True, but it means so much more! It's so personal, so interesting, so adventurous!) It was peppered with a Southern style flair that was very enjoyable and blended with an extended sports analogy, but it got me thinking about something totally different, something I would like to call, 'The Greeting Card Jesus.'

The only Jesus that I could imagine while he was talking was the blank faced, white skinned, wavy haired, blue sashed Jesus. Is there anything wrong with this image? Not necessarily, besides the fact that Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi, and was probably rather short and definitely not white, but I'm not going to complain about aesthetics. What I realized, though, is that there is obviously a Jesus product these days. I'm not talking about "The Man" and making money, though no doubt there's that element, what I mean is that I am rather tired of my Lord being something I by at a bookstore. I wanted the real Jesus, not one that had been morphed into a comfortable image. I wanted to see the real Jesus, who has a sense of humor, who got angry, who loved with sincerity and probably gave the best hugs in the history of the world. 

I wanted the substance. I wanted the cake, not just the frosting. I want the real Jesus who loves without ceasing, who always has the time to listen to anything and everything you have to say, who challenges you to love everyone, who asks you to forgive everyone because he's perfected the art. I've decided to look for Him with all I can. 

On a side note, sometimes when I try to imagine a modern day Jesus, he's always wearing a leather jacket (though probably faux leather. He's not too down with the whole 'killing for fashion' thing). It's funny, and you know what? I'll put a lot of money on the table that says he thinks it's funny too. 

I'm going to leave this one up for a while, so I'll see you guys later.