A Time For Actions and A Time For Words

"Preach the gospel always and, if necessary, use words."

This has long been one of my favorite quotes, commonly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. It's a necessary corrective for the Pat Robertson's and Jerry Falwell's (and Kester Smith's) of the world. For those of us that might be tempted to preach more than we practice, Francis offers an important reminder.

But lately I hear this phrase popping up in conversations in which the actual sentiment seems to be "never use words." As is often the case amongst Christians (and human beings, for that matter), we are tempted to overcorrect.

You know the joke about how every racist joke starts (a quick look around to see who's listening)? My friend, Jeremiah, recently told me that's how all Christian testimonies begin too.

Now, I get where this is coming from. We don't want to be perceived as another Robertson or Falwell or Dobson. We want actions to speak louder than words. But what if the time for words comes and we miss it? Is it possible that we don't think the good news is very good? Could it be that we're so embarrassed by those associated with Jesus that we hesitate to associate with Jesus himself?

The overcorrective is described as a desire not to impose our beliefs upon others, but I'm not sure that isn't a copout. We don't mind telling people who they should vote for or that the war should end or even what should have won best picture this year. We impose our beliefs upon others all the time. But, for some reason, when it comes to THE thing we believe, we turn shy.

I'm not advocating for street corner evangelism. I'm not saying that the first (or second or third) question out of our mouths should be "have you made Jesus your personal Savior?" I'm just saying that this is the truth that we most strongly believe. This is the news that we claim as THE good news. So why are we so adamant about keeping it to ourselves?

So, Apparently I'm An Evangelical

The denim shirt and beard come together to form a very "Grizzly Adams" look.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/24/0224faithful.html

Stuff White People Like

If you haven't seen this blog, you really should check it out:

http://www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com

I enjoyed most of these. Of course, this was a personal favorite:

Religions Their Parents Don't Belong To

White people will often say they are "spiritual, but not religious." Which usually means that they will believe in any religion that doesn't involve Jesus. Popular choices include Buddhism, Hinduism, Kabbalah and, to a lesser extent, Scientology. A few even dip into Islam, but it's much more rare since you have to give stuff up and actually go to Mosque. Mostly they are into any religion that fits well into their homes or wardrobe and doesn't require them to do very much.

It should be stated that I see this as a knock at "the religion of me" and not at other religions. Certainly, Christians have been just as guilty of using religion as an excuse for apathy and lethargy.

Something Approaching Reality

I am increasingly sad for Britney Spears. I don't tend to pay attention to the tabloids, I don't get into celebrity worship, I don't ever read US magazine, but the news on her is hard to avoid. The borderline joy that so many seem to feel at watching this trainwreck of a life is all the more depressing.

Lately, I have thought that the best thing for folks like Spears would be to be taken in by the most normal of families and to have to live by their real life and everyday lifestyle and rules.

So, here's my idea. I need feedback on whether this makes matters worse. I realize that reality television only contributes to the problem, but I'm not sure how else to make this happen...

It's a show called "Something Approaching Reality". We find a very normal, very centered family and move a different celebrity into their house every season. Maybe it's a different family every season, in order to keep the families themselves from becoming wrapped up in celebrity. The celebrity has to abide by house rules. They have to be normal. But the point isn't to try and create chaos. This isn't "The Simple Life" or whatever the crap that show is called. This is people who need to detox from the celebrity life.

Thoughts?

I just want this girl to get well.

LOST

There's a lot of talk lately about the gospel as narrative. That the Bible wasn't meant to be a rule book or a self-help book, but a story of who God is, who we are, and how one informs the other.

I not only find this to be true, I also find it very appealing. People aren't looking for a new set of rules. They aren't looking for the next self-help book. They are, on the other hand, looking for a better story to find themselves in.

There's a lot of talk lately about the TV show Lost. It is touted, by many, as the smartest show on television and maybe the greatest television show ever made. I wouldn't know, and here's why. I didn't watch Lost from the beginning. So now, when the praise of friends I trust becomes overwhelming, I give an episode a shot. By the end of said episode I am, as the show's title promises, extremely lost.

And my friend fans aren't helping. Anytime we're together and the topic of the show comes up, they immediately engage in a lot of insider talk. Occasionally one of them will see me beginning to tune out and will say, with a look of condescension or pity, "you really should watch the show."

I think that a lot of us within the Christian faith are like fans of the show Lost. Lost may, in fact, be the second greatest story ever told, but we take an insider attitude which implies that if you haven't followed the story since the beginning, you'll probably never catch up.

Of course, there are those who want to lend me the seasons on DVD the same way I might lend a friend a personal Bible study, but I never seem to get around to watching them. Better to have me into your home so that we can both begin at the beginning. Better to create opportunities for me to jump in. 

It isn't enough to know that it's a great story. Help me see a reason why I need to hear the story. Create opportunities for us to engage as friends around the story.

That way maybe I won't end up so lost.

The Easy Way v. The Right Way

This past week I met with a group of guys that I do Bible study with and we discussed passages from the beginning of Genesis. In looking at the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve, the question arose; doesn't it seem like this whole thing is rigged? Why make a perfect garden and then put a poisonous tree in the middle of it? It made me wonder again, as I have in the past, whether the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was something that God never meant for them to have, or simply something He didn't mean for them to have yet.

Last summer, our family went for lunch at Austin eatery Shady Grove. Shady Grove has a grassy area out front that is fenced off from the street and perfect for little kids to run free in. I took my son, Harry, who was then 2, out to play. As soon as I set him down, he immediately sprinted for the one place he couldn't go -the parking lot. I picked him up and told him that he could play anywhere on the grass, but not in the parking lot. I set him down and watched him quickly run for the parking lot. I picked him up again and reiterated that he could play anywhere he liked, except for the parking lot. After setting him down a third time, I immediately realized that he was going to have to leave this little Eden. He did so kicking and screaming.

Now, it's not that parking lots are inherently bad places, they're just unsafe for kids. Lots of things that are ultimately good (a glass of wine or sex) are things we keep from children. If you experience these good things in the wrong way, they cease to be good things.

Juxtapose the temptation of Adam and Eve with the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Once again, the tempter is Satan. Once again, he tempts with food and with the desire to be like God. Once again, the things he offers aren't inherently bad things. Satan's trick is sometimes to tempt us to do what is wrong. Oftentimes, maybe more often, he tempts us with getting the right thing in the wrong way. 

Satan is an "ends justify the means" kind of guy. And Jesus continues to say to Satan that the how and why you do something is as important as the what you do. 

Satan is king of the quick fix and the easy out. Jesus continues to call us to a right way that demands difficulty and sacrifice.

A therapist friend of mine once told me that the key difference between those who are addicts and those who aren't is that non-addicts will pray for the strength to endure pain, addicts simply want anything that will stop the pain.

In John 16:33, Jesus makes a rather intense promise; "In this world, you will have trouble." Not you might. You will. He doesn't follow this up by saying, "but if you take this pill or fudge this detail or quiet your ethics just a bit..." What He says is, "but take heart, I have overcome the world."

Jesus' promise isn't that His Way will be the easy way, but that it is the right Way. If we follow Him, we cannot be people who will do the wrong thing for the right reasons or get the right thing in the wrong way. We must be wary of those who place the words "necessary" and "evil" too closely together. We must resist the temptation to use Satanic means to reach Christian ends. If we don't, then the ends themselves will cease to be Christian and the way we follow will not be His Way.

When He's Right, He's Right

I may not often like what Bill Maher has to say (or, more often, how he chooses to say it), but when he's right, he's right.

"Let's be honest. [My] generation doesn't do real sacrifice or even pay for our own wars...that's what grandkids are for. No, we do flag pins and bumper stickers -and not even bumper stickers, bumper magnets, because stickers are tough to get off and we might change our mind about never forgetting." -Bill Maher

Not that the same couldn't be said for my generation. Or for myself. Too often, we bicker over symbols and lose the substance. Not that symbols don't have meaning. They just aren't worth sacrificing that meaning for.