Today,
Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery preached at
Glide as a part of the 45th anniversary celebration of
Rev. Cecil Williams' ministry at Glide. It was awesome to have a living legend of the civil rights movement provide us with the Word. And what a word it was! Of the many inspiring things he said, one thing I have been pondering was what he said about how those who pour themselves out as agents of God's love and justice--the saints--are pretty crazy people. But--as Joe reminded us--just as there is such a thing as good cholestorol and bad cholestorol--there is good crazy and bad crazy. Saints are good crazy. Rush Limbaugh is bad crazy. And Willie Brown, according to Lowery, is bad and good crazy.
I believe that the goal of the Christian walk is to be good crazy. After all, following Jesus is a pretty (good) crazy thing to do. It is a (good) crazy counter cultural activity which upsets the status quo as it makes the first, last and the last, first. It is (good) crazy in the way we are called to love our enemies and offer forgiveness when we've been wronged. It is (good) crazy to speak truth to power. It is (good) crazy to think of everyone, EVERY ONE, as our brother and sister.
So my new spiritual discipline is to be crazy...good crazy.
