“I think [Christians] are called to candor, to being honest about our own confusion.”

This line, delivered off the cuff by author David Dark (The Sacredness of Questioning Everything) in a poorly lit interview with some no-name Toronto journalist, sent me to the floor. Sometimes the line that you need just reaches out of a YouTube clip and slaps you in the face.

In the first seven words, Dark illuminates the criticism I have of the church—all church—after 31 years (and nine months) of attendance: we are afraid of our own humanity. And in that fear, we dishonor the God that calls us—created us—to be truly and honestly human.

In the small private school where I’ve spent the last ten years of my life, I’ve dealt with parental concern over many of the texts I teach: murder by flamethrower in Fahrenheit 451, Willy Loman’s foul mouth in Death of a Salesman, false gods in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, Juliet’s tightly clad, heaving bosoms in Franco Zeffirelli’s film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

Ultimately, these concerns aren’t related simply to the content itself—the violence, or the language, or the boobs. I know this, because the students and parents constantly consume media that contain similar (if not more extreme) versions of the stated offenses. Rather, the concern comes somehow from the simple fact that the content is being delivered in class. The problem seems to be that music, movies, and television are meaningless entertainment, whereas schoolwork—novels and poems and plays—are meaningful.

It appears that parents are fine with their children consuming media full of sex and language, because they expect that of their entertainment. But trying to teach young people about life and humanity and God through the vehicle of a novel containing sex and language somehow muddies the water–even though sex and language are normal components of life. It erases the line between the meaningless entertainment out there and the deep, serious meaning in here.

And that’s where we like to keep our meaning in our churches (and our private schools): in here. In here, where we’re pious. In here, where we tithe. In here, where we’re righteously certain of our own righteousness. In here, where God is a clearly-defined being, and his actions are clearly labeled, explicable and comprehensible.

But the notion that something from out there could somehow have something to say about what goes on in here…that’s insane. Because the corollary would then be that the stuff that happens in here is somehow supposed to connect to what’s out there. It’s supposed to alter our existence in a real world, concretely full of sex and language and false gods. And that is really, really going to cramp our style.

*****

I have a recurring fantasy in which I sing Derek Webb’s “Wedding Dress” onstage during my church’s regularly scheduled Sunday morning service. I call it a fantasy, because, as my friend James tells me, “You can’t sing ‘whore’ and ‘bastard’ in church.” I am frustrated by this. James is frustrated by this. Both of us are increasingly disgusted by the line we draw between our lives and our petty services. But, sadly, we both also know you can’t sing ‘whore’ and ‘bastard’ in church, even if the song makes a necessary and damning critique of the way we approach God.

All of this culminates in one of the most meaningful passages in the Bible for me. It’s the short, simple line, where Paul tells us “It is for freedom that Christ died to set us free.”

So here’s to freedom. Here’s to David Dark, reminding us that God calls us to be honest. To be candid. To be confused. Here’s to Derek Webb, who reminds us that, at some point, we’re all the whores that left God and the bastard children he inexplicably cares for. Here’s to every author who writes about humanity in all its glorious, shameful, stupidity. Here’s to Christ, who calls us to freedom.

And here’s to any church that finds a way to knock down our self-imposed fences and embrace that kind of freedom. My prayer is that my church can become that kind of church one day soon.

Your thoughts?

Jay Adams is the dean of Cornerstone Christian School. You can read his blog here. Or follow him on Twitter here.