I am, among other things, an ambassador of sorts from Colorado Springs, standing in the gap between fundamentalist Christians on one hand and a very large military contingency on the other. And we would be remiss if we thought the presence of these two groups in the same city was in any way something that should be glossed over or taken lightly – as if one does not influence the other.

On the religious side of the equation, Colorado Springs is now home to more ministries and para-church organizations than any other city in the U.S.  It has jokingly been referred to as “The Vatican City of American Evangelicalism.”

On the military side of the equation, we are also home to ‘The United States Air Force Academy’ and ‘Peterson Air Force Base’ as well as a large Army installation known as ‘Ft. Carson.’ Taken together, both of these groups have played, and continue to play, a significant role in creating the world you and I presently find ourselves attempting to influence and reshape.

As CEO of The David Group International, I am deeply involved in both ‘inner’ and ‘inter’ faith dialogue at home and abroad. Specifically, on the international front, The David Group is opting to serve as the U.S. Secretariat for an organization known as The Global Forum – a peace and reconciliation initiative co-hosted by Prince Hassan of Jordan and Monash and RMIT Universities in Melbourne Australia.

At home in the States, we have recently entered into a long-term relationship with Harvard University graduate student Tracy Howe in establishing a New Earth Fellowship Program where we will sponsor graduate students to conduct research on many of our peace and reconciliation projects in places such as the Middle East, Africa, Ireland and South America.

The issue of peace in our time is foremost in my mind and heart. Helping others frame the Jesus narrative as one about a Prince of Peace launching a clarion call to avoid violence or suffer the consequences is principal in my teaching. So you can probably guess what I thought as I walked through a Christian bookstore in search of a new Bible and happened across one being marketed to teens – with its cover and page-edging all in camouflage!

It blatantly and unapologetically represented the essence of ‘the Word goes military,’ ‘counter-ops,’ ‘stealth,’ and ‘take no prisoners’! And it visibly embodied the idea of a cosmic war. I immediately wondered how we’d feel if it were a camouflaged version of the Qur’an for kids. I imagine the bookstore might even be picketed in protest.

It was this same merging of religion and military aspirations that brought the warnings of Jesus (and earlier, of the Hebrew prophets) to reality in the sacking of Jerusalem a generation after Jesus’ era. The thought of his people opting to dress their divine revelation in the garb of a military option, of violence and revolt, caused Jesus to weep over the city and its people, affirming how often he wanted to lovingly gather them under his arms. The thought of such an unholy alliance made him visibly ill.

And I’m thinking that the thought of marketing camouflage Bibles to our youth should produce no less a reaction within us.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

The downside to all of this was it meant I had to make a trip to the local Christian bookstore. This is not a place I frequent, and for good reasons: it’s too depressing. This time, however, I was happily surprised. Not because it wasn’t filled with the typical commercialization of Jesus [which made me want to flip over a few tables just to see if anyone ‘got it’], but because I think I came away with a couple good blog posts in mind! So that made it more bearable.

I found what I was looking for and then took a few minutes to peruse the latest in what I call ‘Jesus goes tacky.’ There were the T-shirts with the usual gambit of offensive and divisive in your face statements to clearly let the world know that Christianity is still clinging to the illusions of those who are ‘in’ versus those who are ‘out.’

It had the usual tidbits and trinkets, signs and jewelry. There were aisles filled with the latest books and gimmicks for living the good life, the best life, the ultimate life. There were books on how to love, how to forgive, how to budget, how to get rich. Some stuff was good and others seemed extremely out of place. It seemed a veritable bazaar of religion and spirituality, of stale dogma and sweet revelation. Truly a mixed bag.

But it was still all so commercialized. And it reminded me of the worse commercialization I have ever seen, which was an entire line of products being marketed under the banner of “Smiley Cross”. That’s right, crosses on cups, shirts, trinkets and bibles that were in the form of a smiling cross. How delightful. Now the cross smiles. And people buy it and wear it and communicate it to a watching world as if the cross were a pleasantry for Christians; something to smile back at, or maybe something to muse about over a warm four dollar latte.

THAT is sick. Parts, segments of Christianity really need to wake up.

The cross I see is forgiving, but far from smiling. It’s the ultimate form of refusing the way of violence that humanity might come face-to-face with its inclination to mock, to scourge, to kill the voices of peace and unity and love. It’s the ultimate choice-point of how far one is willing to go in the name of justice and mercy, of compassion and truth. And when the harsh and bone-crushing sounds of nails being driven into the arms and feet of the servant laying down his life are ringing out in the air, mixed with blood and groans and weeping, I can envision people vomiting, but not smiling.

And vomiting is what I want to do when I see some of the ways Jesus is being portrayed today. The Jesus I know deserves better. And if our world continues missing the signs of the Prince of Peace, and instead continues mixing religion with violence, our future will not be something to smile about either.