“What is grey, has a furry tail, and collects nuts for the winter?”

“I know it sounds like a squirrel, but since this is Sunday School, the answer must be Jesus,” answers the eager student.

Yeah, I know you know the joke. The story is so familiar, most of us can jump over the punch line and joke about Jesus vs. the squirrel answers that dominate our religious-speak. But the thing is, sometimes the answer is a squirrel-plain and simple.

There is this habit of talking in spiritually coated words when we are in church or around other Christians. Whether in leadership meetings or in the pulpit, we struggle to talk plainly about the issues staring us in the face. We gloss over ugliness with candy-coated optimism. We speak of tragic dilemmas with platitudes. We attempt to be cheerleaders for God’s reputation. We rarely call a squirrel a squirrel. Sometimes our spiritual lens coatings are so thick, we don’t even see the obvious in front of us.

Behind it all is a deep-seated dualism, a man-made divide carved between the secular and the spiritual. We operate as if church-related activities, (Bible studies, church services, small groups, mission teams, etc.,) are spiritual and therefore good. Then we treat everything else in life, (doing laundry, going to work on Monday morning, paying bills, family vacation,) as secular and therefore second-class, only a necessary evil, not necessarily bad, but not truly good.

However, there is one Lord of ALL heaven and earth. He is not only the sovereign of so-called spiritual life, He is the beginning and end of all life. As a result, all of life is deeply spiritual. There is no secular-sacred divide. All work is spiritual. All creatures are holy. ALL of life is a sacred created thing. Every vocation is a holy calling-a chance to live on mission in a broken world.

Following Christ is a journey into reality not away from it. Jesus was never interested in disconnecting from the tangible issues of life that surrounded him nor did he urge his followers to do anything less. He talked about and engaged the real stuff. It is part of what made him so attractive. He was truly one of us.

It’s no wonder that people who live outside the bubble of Christianized vocabulary don’t see our faith as a relevant answer to a complex world. We would connect with that broken world and the people trying to navigate through it far better if we learned to speak directly about the things right in front of us. Let’s call conflict conflict. Let’s be honest and straightforward about our emotions. Let’s voice our confusion or hurt or fear without conditions attached. And, let’s celebrate without apology when life calls for it.

I think it’s time for leaders who’ll champion the squirrel.