Posted by Helen on: 01.02.2008 /
I ran across a new blog the other day: Cream Crackers. It’s the blog of a 19 year old university student in the UK called Claire.
I found it because Claire’s first blog entry mentions Off The Map. It begins
I’ve been feeling pretty, well, un-faith-filled of late. My life’s gone pretty pear-shaped, and I’ve ended up completely stopping attending CU at uni, basically stopping attending church meetings, and my relationship with God just doesn’t seem to be there any more. To put it bluntly, I don’t want to be a Christian.
It’s not that I have particular trouble believing in God (although sometimes I’m skeptical and as I’ve said I don’t feel it right now), or that Jesus lived, was amazing, and even rose from the dead two millenia ago, but I hate the culture of mainstream evangelical Christianity, it makes me feel sick to my stomach and I don’t want to be associated with it. I know they’re doing their best, but all I ever seem to see is the damage and hostility their good intentions cause. If that’s really what the Christian faith is all about then my faith is dead, as I want no part of it.
Fresh hope has come for me tonight in the form of the concept of ‘Otherlyness’, put forward by Jim Henderson et al (see: www.offthemap.com).
In Claire’s latest entry she writes
Strange [] how the only people I feel really comfortable with are non-Christians/those that Christians’d call non-Christians. Surely that shouldn’t be the way things work. Although I guess it was the same for Jesus, the religious people were really judgemental of him and he spent most of his time with people that they didn’t accept. Not that I think I’m Jesus.
I like Claire’s blog - she’s thoughtful and articulate. She’s also about 18 years ahead of me in realizing what’s wrong with ‘the culture of mainstream evangelical Christianity’.
Comment by: kathyescobar
1 01/2/08 8:32 AM | Comment Link |beautifully articulated by a 19 year old! thanks for sharing helen. the reason i like to pop by your blog is you communicate so well the idea of “something is awry”…i am so glad that she felt some hope knowing off the map was saying things she resonated with. i have felt the same way. thanks for the hope!
Comment by: Helen
2 01/2/08 10:36 AM | Comment Link |Thanks Kathy :). Happy New Year!
Comment by: glenn
3 01/2/08 10:51 AM | Comment Link |Helen ~ I really like Claire’s blog. Thanks for pointing it out!
Comment by: benjamin ady
4 01/2/08 12:36 PM | Comment Link |Hooray for OTM–providing hope for disenchanted christians. we rock.
Comment by: Stephan
5 01/2/08 8:35 PM | Comment Link |I love this:
I think that’s what most Christians miss out on. The church has become what the pharisees were in the New Testament. If Jesus were around today, I don’t think he would spend much time in church.
Comment by: benjamin ady
6 01/3/08 1:33 AM | Comment Link |I guess Jesus and me would get along on this point at least =)
Seems to me that even some of the kewlest people get all wierd and … unbearable when they are “doing church”
Comment by: joe
7 01/3/08 8:49 AM | Comment Link |In case anyone doesn’t know, Cream Crackered is slang for knackered - ie very tired.
Comment by: Karen
8 01/3/08 12:25 PM | Comment Link |I thought cream crackers were something like a cookie?
Comment by: joe
9 01/3/08 1:23 PM | Comment Link |Yes, they’re a biscuit you eat with cheese.
Comment by: Helen
10 01/3/08 4:08 PM | Comment Link |Joe thanks for that info - I had never heard the phrase ‘Cream Crackered’. I guess I’ve been away too long! :)
Karen, they’re savory - the closest I’ve had to them here in taste and texture is matzos. They are flaky and crisp and wheat based like matzos but smaller and thicker.
Comment by: Amy Black
11 01/3/08 7:52 PM | Comment Link |My favorite Christians are ones like Claire. People who are not self-conscious about their Christianity. Maybe one way to describe it is people who are human beings first and Christians second.
Cream Crackered- never heard that one!
Comment by: Helen
12 01/4/08 3:58 AM | Comment Link |Thanks for your comment, Amy. Welcome to Conversation at the Edge!
I like the idea of human beings first, no matter what comes second :). I think that’s what Off The Map is getting at in saying it wants to help Christians learn to be ‘normal’.
Comment by: Paul
13 01/4/08 6:50 AM | Comment Link |shame on you Helen being associated with something that’s giving all these christians at the end of their tethers hope ;)
Comment by: Claire
14 01/7/08 7:32 AM | Comment Link |Hey, I just thought I’d comment that I’ve never heard of cream-crackered as knackered, although it’s quite apt for my blog really…
Comment by: Barb
15 01/8/08 11:43 AM | Comment Link |Hi. Just reading in 1 Peter about how they were to live and respond to one another and to live in their world.
I believe that Peter has a lot to say about what we need more of and less of. Maybe we can glean a thought here. The instructions given to wives is in the context of how to live before one’s spouse if they don’t know Christ’s grace. Have a look at 1 Pet. 3:1 :
“…if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.” Re beauty–gentle and quiet spirit. Husbands “in the same way…” Finally, all of you “live…” Then, “Be prepared to give an answer”
Primary: Live your faith. Secondary: Be able to articulate it. This order indicates a good plan.