This is a concept that has started plaguing me. I don't know when the phrase came to me, but I now know that i want to embrace it, whatever that means. Maybe I should first explain this concept.
The only way I see to explain this is through music. In simple terms, our faith needs to be acoustic. It needs to be, almost, a capella. By this I mean, our faith must be able to stand and be exhibited 'outside of our comfort zones.' That's a term my principal uses; 'outside our comfort zones.' Now, while sometimes it can seem almost hypocritical in context (not by him, but by the surroundings in which he says it: chapel at a predominately white, Christian school with a high academic record) we must take this into consideration. I am not writing this out of scorn for others, my faith is far from raw. I am writing this because of my concern for the Christians I see around me, and for those watching these Christians.
Paul was not a wimp. It did not take wimpy faith to move mountains, it took faith the size of a mustard seed. But it's like a high grade diamond or an atom; there is infinite value and power in that mustard seed of faith. It was raw faith that took the children of Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea. They parted the Red Sea, darnit, and we think that going to church every Sunday is going to cut it? How about Elijah at Mount Horeb? How can we settle for a mediocre faith when a girl was martyred in her high school for her faith, in the U.S.(yes, that is debatable but I will always believe in the 'Yes')? When has God ever asked for the mediocre? The mundane? What are words that describe God? Is 'normal' even close to a synonym for anything God is? As Christians we should want to be more like Christ, the most 'radical' leader ever, but we sit in Bible class or Sunday school and talk about Christ like a normal human being! This is angering me as I write it! We defend the music we listen to, or the TV shows we watch as being 'real' and 'raw,' but we seem to think that our faith should be different. Generation X is asking these questions about life, but even the Generation X Christians are wondering themselves or else unwilling to go out on a limb with their faith when, in actuality, abnormality is praised and admired in this culture. You can't tell me Snooki is normal and yet people are crazy about her! The subcultures that shock adults these days are a cry for help yes but also an invitation! If someone were to speak to someone in the language of 'Raw,' we would have millions of followers but no leaders are willing to be raw, themselves. And those leaders that are, are ridiculed for being too *insert current derogatory term created by right-wings here*.
Though this 'raw faith' would create problems for leaders of all sorts of Christian institutions, I think it needs to happen. Christ turned over tables in the synagogue so why shouldn't we show our passion for Christ in our churches and schools? Why should mediocre be good enough for us, a group of people that stemmed from a leader beaten and hung on a tree? Why should a sophomore in high school be the one to say this, when many adults in your church on Sunday could say it with more eloquence and social standing? Why is no one raw?
