WLJ Finale: Zombies

OCT 31 - NOV 6 2010  — WLJ Finale: ZOMBIES — ISSUE 178

WARNING: This issue is not for the squeamish. (Hence the title) So readers beware. <insert eerie Halloween music and maniacal laughter here>

Normally two disciples discussing ministries and their relationship with God is pretty standard at gatherings of the body. Have the female wearing a fake beard, cornrows, baggy clothes and a matching thug walk while impersonating a male, and then have the other dressed head to toe in an authentic FedEx uniform while wearing a glow-in-the-dark biker skull and suddenly this conversation seems a bit off. But such is the way at a church Halloween party. Vampire nurses talk to walking cue-tips, creepy hooded, glowing-eyed monsters get deep with war heroes, and Wonder Woman shares a spiritual victory with two chain-gain workers. Man, I love this Kingdom.

Now onto that squeamish stuff I was blabbering about.

Zombies. Most of us are at lease vaguely familiar with them. Traditionally (ignoring current trends of tampering with their behavior) zombies are the walking dead. Lifeless beings who drag legs, limbs, and whatever else that's hanging, slowly along as they search for a still living victim to devour. They're slow enough a small child could outrun them on a tricycle, and their communication skills are about as good as a newborn lama's. Only a well placed head shot can bring these creatures to a halt permanently, and they can often be found traveling in packs along roads while moaning loudly, or hiding quietly in closets waiting to spring to life (so-to-speak) in the moment you least expect it. They're not that smart, but they can recall certain motor skills at the worst possible moment, allowing to them open doors or windows when you least want them to. They're kind of a terrible party guest, but they are a surefire way to get the military to blow up half your town in case you're looking for a lively Friday night. (So I guess that's a positive?)

As Christians, we understand we have to die to live. Our old selves must be buried in the waters of baptism so we can be raised anew with Christ. (John 3, Romans 6, etc.) For all intents and purposes, we become the living dead. This is where the similarities should stop in our comparisons to those often called the undead, though.

JOHN 10:10 -

Having life to the full doesn't sound a lot like a boring, ho-hum existence. In fact, everything we've been reading through the Gospels about Christ and the way He lived and how His followers are to live should make it abundantly clear that Christians are to be a vibrant color in a world of dull gray. Being "salt" and "light" cannot translate into dull, boring, or indifferent. So why then are Christians often so much like the fictional undead? Him-hawing about, traveling in exclusive packs, aimlessly wandering in search of someone they can try to save, communicating poorly do to underdeveloped faith and a lack of knowledge, attained through study, of how Jesus, or lead example, shared salvation, or lying in wait in some closet hoping someone will wander into their direct path so they can spring out and try to share their faith. Why are Christians often dull, depressed, and seen walking and behaving with no emotional triumph, no eternal security, no real purpose?

We are not zombies. We are to reach out to a lost world who are dying, not act more dead than them. We're to be that light, that salt, that bright spot of positivity on a dark day of worldly stress, that motivated, purpose driven and swift-moving hero in a crowd of helpless, lost and wondering zombies, that poignant and deep conversation in a world filled with useless, meaningless moans and grunts, that glowing skin tone among a sea of pasty, nutrient-deprived faces.

We are Christians, and we want to walk like Jesus. We died to live and live to die. Isn't it time we showed it?

Brett "If you prefer silence over conversation, and don't ever want to hug, hold hands, or slow dance,  you should date a zombie" Hibbler