"There's No Jesus on Your FB Page" - A Rant

Yesterday, I got a message from a girl I knew in my Campus Outreach days at Berry College. We were part of a Summer Beach Project in Panama City Beach, FL more than ten years ago. I haven't spoken to her since then. I haven't even thought about her since then. Anyway, she found me on FaceBook. Apparently that's easy to do, easier than I'd like, and she decides to write a message on my FB page.

Here's her message to me after we haven't talked in over ten years:
"Hey! How are you doing these days? I see you are in Arizona, which is way cool! What are you doing out there? I'm looking at your profile and I can't figure out something. I don't see Jesus anywhere. I'm surprised. When I look back at my huge spiritual turning point, you are in those moments, pushing and challenging me. Please tell me what's going on with you these days."

My initial reaction: WTF!

After not being part of my life for quite a long time, she makes an assumption about my relationship with God based on my Facebook page? It doesn't sound like her concern is for me. Instead it sounds like she has some image of what she remembers of me and what I "should" be like now. What would it look like anyway, to see Jesus on my page? Would I have some sort of flair with Jesus on it? Would my comments need to mention God every fifth word? I don't feel like I owe her an explanation at all or like I need to justify what is or isn't on my FB page. But let me offer a little bit of insight for the sake of making a point... despite being on FB, I'm very private. You won't find anything about my deep struggles or deep joys or deep desires on my FB page. Though FB is a public forum, I do not choose to make everything about me public. Neither do I make everything public here. Further, the group of people I am "friends" with on FB cover a wide range: old CO folks, Berry and Kennesaw teammates, Navy friends, teacher colleagues, fellow grad students, past and current professors, past and current students, immediate and extended family... the list goes on. Most of those people (most of us-- I'm obviously in this category too)have varying hangups (understandably) about Jesus and/or Christians, some of which are based on the way other Christians have related to them. Regardless, most of my friends on FB, who are my friends face-to-face in real life, would be highly offended and guarded if I had "Jesus" on my facebook page. As would I. I simply can’t stand the sort of consumer culture of Christianity that insists that it always be marketed and flaunted and sold in some way. I have no Jesus t-shirts, no Jesus bumper sticker (although I do love a crummy church sign), and no Jesus fish or anything else that would outwardly indicate to anyone else anything about me or about Jesus. (I don't even like having a Navy Reserve tag on my car because I think that's too much information for people to know at first glance.) I say all this not to diminish the urgency or magnitude of our need for Jesus (we all need saving from ourselves), but rather as an indictment on the way we Christians often go about wooing others to the heart of God. I'll be the first to admit that the older I've gotten and the more shit I've seen and the more I've been through, the slower I am to verbalize anything about Jesus. Partly, I think it is out of compassion and seeing how difficult it is for us to make our way. Partly, it is a kind of apology that acknowledges that Christians have done things badly for a long time. Partly, it is fear of losing or offending close friends, a risk I should probably take much more often than I do simply because I genuinely believe that my friends and I need the forgiveness and hope that Jesus offers far more than we need each other. Partly, it is because I know that God is not undone by who we are. Partly it is a trust that God knows what he's doing and that he is doing far greater things beneath the surface in others and in me than I often recognize. Those who are closest to me (whether they are Christians or not) know my heart. I hate to think that anyone would associate me with a version of Christianity that is so insecure that it needs to constantly make a show and a spectacle. Why would I put “Jesus” on my FB page? Who would that be for? Not for me. I know. Not for him. He knows. Not for my friends. They know. So for whom, then? For what purpose?