If you’ve been following along… you are aware that I recently switched from a Blackberry to the new Droid X on Verzion. I had been a Blackberry user for some time and was disappointed with the devices they had to offer. I wanted something sexy. Check out their latest addition to the Blackberry family! The Blackberry Torch 9800. That’s sexy! I’m happy with my Droid X for now, however I will never tie myself down to a specific OS. When I’m in the market again for a new device… I’ll go with whatever is able to deliver on what I need at the time.

This new Blackberry looks like it’s got some great potential! The UI has been cleaned up a lot and it’s pretty clear, as the video is quick to point out, that RIM is trying to show the world they can do more than just email and text. Since RIM opened up their Push API to all developers beyond just Blackberry Alliance members last March… apps have been able to be more effective at getting information to the user in real time. The new operating system, OS 6, looks like it’s finally going to allow the user to take advantage of multiple apps at the same time.

Now here’s the video review from Crackberry.com.

I have apparently been living underneath a rock for the past week. This story seems to be big news in the Christian world.

For those of you who were in hiding with me… last Wednesday, Anne Rice announced on her facebook page that she has quit being a Christian. When people quit something… it usually doesn’t create this type of stir. Jon Acuff of course has a humorously interesting take on it.

Anne Rice said;

For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

As I said [below], I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.

Wow!

If that isn’t a punch in the gut for Christians I don’t know what is! This announcement fits right in line with the perceptions we are discussing at Our Saviour’s during our current worship series Exposed. She calls herself an outsider and says her conscience will allow nothing else. I am fortunate enough to be a part of a wonderful church community where I am not made to feel like an outsider for having gay friends, or for thinking there might be something to this science stuff. I wish she was able to feel that type of inclusion at church. To me… Christianity isn’t about judging people who don’t believe the same thing you do. It’s about loving others. I want people to feel like their church is a second home. That’s the way it’s always been for me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I think sometimes Christians justify making others feel like outsiders because they believe that by telling someone they’re beliefs are wrong… they’re actually doing them a favor. Who’s to say what is wrong and right aside from God? Seriously.

Does your church make you feel like an outsider?

NO NO NO! Not that kind of exposed!

I’m talking about a deeper kind of exposed. The kind that might cause some of us to re-think some stuff.

A new worship series started this past weekend at Our Saviour’s called Exposed. A necessary, but unpopular series.

Actions drive perceptions, and the perceptions that outsiders have of Christians aren’t very good. This worship series is about looking at some of these negative perceptions and asking the question: What are we doing to drive these perceptions? And how can we change them?

If you hang out in downtown Naperville in the middle of the day on a weekday in the summer… you’ll find a bunch of kids who are bored out of their minds just hanging around the river walk, swimming at “the beach”, playing with an iPad at the Apple store, ordering frapps at Starbucks… you get the picture. Some of the little OGs like to skateboard around the parking lot of the Walgreens. The very same Walgreens I stopped off at to pick up a few supplies. I found myself lost in the following train of thought…

Don’t these kids have anything better to do than hold up parking lot traffic and loiter through the aisles of Walgreens? I can’t wait until school starts again when the ‘middle of the day’ will be ruled again by the respectable working class of Naperville.

Then I remembered that I had just made the decision to never become a suit. Meaning I don’t want to become so far out of touch with the world that I look down at it with judgmental eyes. Who am I to judge? I thought of this worship series we just started.

What kind of perceptions do we as Christians place on ourselves? Are we hypocritical? Do we live in a box? Do we always have ulterior motives?

Now it’s time to expose yourself.

When was the last time you judged someone unfairly?