My friend, Brit Windel, over at Stuff Jesus Wouldn’t Say is challenging how people are viewing Jesus with his thought-provoking tweets. I was able to interview Brit about why he put this together. Here is our conversation:
1. What inspired you to start @stuffJesusXsay?
I have been posting from my twitter account the theme of ‘Stuff Jesus Wouldn’t Say’ for a while now. What got me started was thinking about the things we say and do as Christians, as pastors, parents, children, leaders and so on, and the difference in what Jesus actually said and did in His life. It is very tongue and cheek in its nature. As I heard the students and parents I worked with say things totally outside God’s thoughts yet wrapped in a Christian blanket of understanding I started thinking ‘What are some things Jesus wouldn’t say and wouldn’t do that we do on a regularly basis because we just don’t understand Jesus’. So I began shooting off a few tweets here and there early this year after spending a time during the season of Lent looking at the life of Christ a little more intently. They began to become more pointed the more I heard and read how ministers and churches where doing things outside of what Jesus would say & do.
A few months ago theses thoughts and tweets started going around on the web. I was getting emails from folks both praising and cursing what I was doing. Not everyone likes the sarcasm behind the tweets, and others greatly enjoyed how it made them think. I had churches asking for material to go off of, the purpose and premise, and others asking if they could use it for youth group. That in its essence is the purpose of this ‘project’, to cause us to stop and really think about how Jesus lived and what he said and did in His life here on earth. Once we do that we then hold that mirror up to our own life and see where we are in our own life here on earth.
I feel with the style I use it comes across kind of passive. I have chosen this because Jesus like the lion he is invites us to come close, be torn asunder and walk away wounded but forever transformed by his power and love to live a life that can only be found in and through him. Our culture has neutered the Gospel and Jesus in so many ways. This style I use I feel invites folks to come close to the lion thinking he is weak and wounded and to then be transformed once they see the ‘truth & life’ that is found in his “way’ (John 14.6)
Our tag line for this is “In a culture where Jesus words are misused or ignored…we gain clarity through things Jesus wouldn’t say.” I look at what he did and didn’t do in the Bible and through applying that to quotes I see just how we miss the mark sometimes with how we are called to live in our own lives.
This is a process for me of working through how as a culture we have totally moved away from the actual words and life of Jesus and do what we want, say what we want with no regards to the fact that Jesus is the model, the mirror, the Savior and living King for us all.
2. What inspires you to come up with the different sayings?
The inspiration really comes from the moment. If I recall something I read in a book, something I am reading in scripture, something someone says, a conference I am at, you name. It is anything that jars me deep in my soul that causes me to stop and hold that mirror of life up to my self and ask ‘Wait, What about Jesus?”.
Most of my inspiration comes from how as staff we operate in ministry. The things we say and do. The expectations we have for others and our selves that are totally not biblical all rolled up in the expectation of ‘excellence for Christ’.
3. Is there anything big coming up for @stuffJesusXsay?
This is going to be an ongoing process of working through some project ideas for this concept of ‘Stuff Jesus Wouldn’t Say’. My hope and prayer is that this concept/movement/idea spurs us individually, in community, and communally to really look at what Jesus does actually say about some things.
I am still processing what it all needs to look like as well. Should I be posting just #stuffJesuswouldntsay or give more content and thought behind each post? I am not sure yet. So it really is a process of trail and error.
As of right now my goal is to keep the website up with regular posts and having folks play with the idea and share their thoughts on the blog and on the facebook page.
4. Where can people get involved with @stuffJesusXsay?
You can come on by the blog, which posts weekly, StuffJesusWouldntSay.wordpress.com And via our Facebook. Be warned the Facebook group is a free for all!
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