Shadowgraphs is a column written from a progressive Christian perspective, based on a concept for an essay from Kierkegaard's work Either/Or.

Today we all woke up. Our bed was communal; we woke with the sun, opened our eyes and looked around. Those experiences were very personal but were done as a group. Perhaps we ate breakfast. Some of us drank coffee, some of us showered, some of us put mail in our mailboxes, some of us smoked cigarettes, some of us watched television or listened to the radio or let our pets outside.

We all had a few expectations for the day ahead. We all expected a few responsibilities to one another and to ourselves, a few opportunities to interact with each other both for survival and for optimistic visions of the future. We thought about sex, and failing that, thought about relationships. We thought about the weekend.

Our similarities have no end. We are intrinsically like one another whether we find comfort in that or not. Like so many Christians, I thought about Jesus today--and that beautiful thought of a loving and tender God set me momentarily apart from many people. And rising from the communal bed, I felt nauseated at the fact that I experienced such joy
and easily transmittable joy at that) while realizing that so many of my fellow sleepers were not.

So I have to say this, I just have to say it; I cannot keep my mouth shut any longer: Say yes to Jesus.

I want everyone to feel the same joy that I feel when I wake up in the morning, the joy that remains solid and unshaken under the greatest maladies and stands firm against my greatest fears. I want everyone to share in the joy of being an eternal being, of striving towards God on the path that has been so mercifully revealed to us. The knowledge that love always wins.

Say yes to Jesus, not because I am telling you to do so or because you have felt inclined to be 'a more spiritual person' or any such nonsense. Not because you are afraid of death or because you like to think about God or you saw Gibson's movie and liked it. Not because of DC Talk or rock climbing retreats or conservative politics. Not because of tasteless and pornographic pro-life posters or the Spanish inquisition or the riots in Northern Ireland. Not because of any of that crap. Vanity of vanities, wrote Solomon, all is vanity and vexation of spirit; this nonsense will continue forever and have nothing to do with any of us.

Say yes to Jesus, because deep down you know that what He said was true, that the Gospels conform to every bit of historical and scientific evidence except in the portions where man has erred. Say yes to Jesus because you realize that without Him the world is tragically devoid of all meaning. Say yes to Jesus because His story is so extraordinary, so out-of-this-world, so fantastically divine that you cannot help but be enchanted by His life and actions and words.

Say yes to Jesus because you have traveled so far and learned so much about Him...not because of the culture of Christianity and all of its faults, but because of the unflinching power of the omnipotent, loving God.