Three ingredients go into creating a great learning experience: an inspiring subject, a wise instructor, and most importantly, student energy and ideas. Today, we are going to highlight student comments from How to Be a Crazy Christian with Michael Curry to show just how greatly student input adds to the learning experience. Here, please read students’ insights, experiences and perspectives on being a crazy Christian.
This student lives the life of a crazy Christian:
Nearly 30 years ago, my husband returned to school to become a full time United Methodist minister. Our income went from about 35,000 dollars a year to 13, 000. We had 3 teenage children, left our 4 bedroom home on 27 acres of wooded land in upstate NY, and entered the unknown. Certainly in the world’s terms that seems crazy. Yet the call to my husband to pastor Christ’s people support life long Christians and drew many others into a relationship with Christ. As his wife I left home and friends and familiar Christian community, but discovered home is where you make it and there were many opportunities to learn that God does provide abundantly for those who love him.
This student notes a common critique of Christians in the world:
I think the world already thinks that Christians are crazy, but not for the same reasons that Bishop Curry is talking about. In fact, many of the sins he listed as ones that the world might list for the Church (bigotry, etc. – think Westboro Baptist and the like). I believe that we need to get back to that Jesus/scriptural kind of crazy.
to which comment other students respond with hope:
I guess we will just have to be the other kind of crazy as a counter!
and
When I started talking about trying to live out the Gospel, some in my family thought I had joined a cult. It was a foreign concept to them, and easier to conceive of stereotypes than engage me. Over time, most came around, but it took a lot of love and patience. Many came to trust in my transformation by watching me over time.
This student offers examples of looking outside ourselves, focusing on acting the world instead of on ourselves:
It’s easy to focus on what we think we hear from God, which is often self-focused. Crazy is discerning God’s call for us to bring the Gospel into our daily life and live it. We work for God, so it’s necessary to take a stand …When I’m in the checkout line, if i am so consumed with my time and getting my things together that I can’t acknowledge the person who is serving me at the cash register with a smile or a kind word, then I am not living a life of Christ….If I don’t put myself outside the parish walls and use my unique talents to help others, then I am not living a life in Christ. if I find myself in a work situation where I know abuse is occurring and I don’t stand up and question what I think I see, even if it costs me my job, then I am not being a crazy Christian.
Take the class and add your perspectives. It is available for groups if you want to take it in a group setting with members of your congregation. Share with others your understanding of the lives of crazy Christians. For a preview of the class, click here:
