Friends,

The things that people post on social media baffle me.

In my formative years, the concept that the internet could be used by foreign governments to influence citizens of other countries was beyond comprehension. Now this is commonplace and a cost-effective means of weakening the enemy that you can’t afford to go to war with. My freshman year of college was the first year that Facebook was available, and it was only available to college students of select Universities. You could only register with e-mail addresses from those universities, and it was a scandal the following year when some High Schoolers managed to get on. In these golden years, the internet was mainly used for sharing videos of cats, and it was glorious.

How far we have fallen. There is a lot to be outraged about now, and we often do not have the words to describe how and why we are outraged. Some seem to find solace in reposting memes that articulate how they are feeling about very important topics. Generally, this is a sentence, or short statement overlaid a provocative image. Regardless of whether I agree with the sentiment, I am against the use of these memes. Boiling down important issues to the shortest means of communicating a feeling is a formula for provoking outrage and doesn’t help further the cause the meme is seemingly championing. The other day I was shocked to see an old acquittance post a meme condemning Christian rhetoric in the executive branch, claiming that they were followers of an “ancient death cult”. With the death cult, being Christianity.

Seeing who it was from gave me whiplash. If I remember correctly, they were super into Young Life and other Evangelical things, while I was a wannabe provocateur of leftist politics and anti-religious sentiment for a big chunk of High School. Did we switch? After I recovered from the whiplash, I realized that calling Christianity a death cult isn’t entirely wrong.

Cult is just a word for a new religion. They typically are horrible and don’t stick around for too long, but when they last a few hundred years, people start calling them religions. As for the death part, we worship a God who became incarnate and ultimately died on a cross for our redemption. In his death, he destroyed death. In his death, we have hope of eternal life. Paradoxically, it is in our hope for life that we emphasize the death of Jesus, the Christ.

All the Gospels are written in the shadow of the cross. All paths lead there, and from the beginning they should be read knowing where the story leads. The cross informs every teaching, parable and miracle. The cross is omnipresent in the Gospels well before it is mentioned by name. Death is something that we all must face. All our stories will lead there. We have faith our story will not end there, but eventually we will find ourselves in that chapter. How can you have a religion without addressing this universal condition?

Back to the issue of my former classmate’s meme, are we a death cult? We are a community that comes to terms with our mortality through the hope and tragedy of the life, death and resurrection of our God made incarnate. So, maybe? This is why memes are horrible. If they touch on a truth, there’s no room for discussion that doesn’t lead to outrage. Outrage sells so much better than understanding.

If we are a religion all about death, we certainly seem to embrace life. Emperor Julian tried to restore paganism in the 4th century and bemoan Christians as they cared not only for their own poor, but the poor of pagans as well. In the game of political favor among the masses, they’re cheating by feeding the hungry. If you live a life in the shadow of the cross, there is no time to lose. No one shows up to your wedding banquet? Open the doors and let everyone in. Feeding people is innately good thing, but people don’t gather to eat just to eat. This is a community event. Eating creates bridges. Needs, fears, joys and frustrations are all articulated. Meals together draw out the needs of the community, and the needs of our community may be more than you realize.

When we do burger nights, grill nights, Easter vigil receptions or distribute communion, keep in mind that it is done in the shadow of the cross. People come for respite from all sorts of things. Taking a break from cooking or wanting to make or see friends is reason enough, but some come for respite from harder times. You will not be able to tell the difference between someone looking for a one-of-a-kind burger, and someone who knows more of the shadow that you do, so be gentle.

When we gather, don’t let your language sound like memes. Let understanding and not outrage be your goal. The evil of this world will speak for itself. You do not need to give it voice. When people find themselves in that shadow, bring those in need of shielding to our meals, and return them with to-go boxes of Lou and Bradley’s chili-cheese burgers. This is one way we show our love.

-Nick