Becoming A Self-Centered Christian, Part One

“In the Greek/Roman tale told by Ovid, Echo, a nymph, falls in love with a vain youth named Narcissus, who was the son of the blue Nymph Leirope of Thespia. One day when Narcissus was out hunting, Echo stealthily followed the handsome youth through the woods, longing to address him but unable to speak first. When Narcissus finally heard footsteps and shouted "Who's there?” Echo answered "Who's there?" And so it went, until finally Echo showed herself and rushed to embrace the lovely youth. He pulled away from the nymph and vainly told her to leave him alone. Narcissus left Echo heartbroken and she spent the rest of her life in lonely glens, pining away for the love she never knew, until only her voice remained. Eventually he became thirsty and went to drink from a stream. As he saw his reflection, he fell in love with it, not knowing that it was him. As he bent down to kiss it, it seemed to "run away" and he was heart broken. He grew thirstier but he wouldn't touch the water for fear of damaging his reflection, so he eventually passed away by dying of thirst and self love, staring at his own reflection. The Narcissus flower grew from where he died.” – Wikipedia

Aren’t words great? To think that our national psyche finds both its hero and its definition from this ancient myth is remarkable. We are living in a narcissistic society. Narcissism is defined as: inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity. I rarely post much on this blog that would hint at political sensibilities, but I do find it amazing that one of our candidates for President – the one lacking any notable achievements or experience – has managed to write a couple of books about his favorite subject – himself. In the climate of our day, his candidacy makes perfect sense.

One of the great battles of the Christian faith is to squarely set our shoulders against the push of narcissism that attacks from within and without. The “without” is perhaps the easier of the two to combat. We can simply practice a modified form of Amish-ism by turning down and tuning out the popular culture which blares at us from newsstands, televisions and radios. But, I kind of think that even the Amish have the same problem as it relates to the - “within” - as me …which of course is “me.” I cannot seem to turn down or tune out me. “Me” is a noisy little chap that craves attention, affirmation, admiration, adoration, silence (from others), and is self-serving, self-promoting, self-centered and a host of other naughty things. For a comfortable narcissist-read: much of culture – there is no problem with being a narcissist. It is the air that they breathe. However, for people of faith, it is a serious problem to be addressed and only people of faith continue to push this rock uphill. Internal narcissism is a spiritual condition in need of a spiritual remedy.

But herein lies the problem. To fight the battle against “fascination with oneself”, where is it we go to fight the battle? To ourselves. To wage war against the decaying effects of internal narcissism it seems that we have to be imbued with a measure of self-love and fascination with oneself, i.e. narcissism, to even give it a go. Are we then running the risk of fighting the devil within us with devilish tools?

I think that we can begin to work our way toward an answer by thinking about flight safety instructions – you know – the ones we never pay attention to as we thumb though our sticky Sky Mall catalogue. There has always been one instruction that is given that is perhaps the most counter-intuitive of all instructions and it goes roughly like this: “In the event of a sudden decrease in air pressure or oxygen, your oxygen masks will automatically fall on your head.” (Or something like that). So far so good. But it is the next line that has always bugged me. “If you are travelling with an infant or small child, make sure you put your mask on first and get the flow of oxygen going before you assist your child.” I know of no parent, even a narcissistic one, that isn’t troubled by that scenario. The thought of me calmly inhaling life-giving oxygen while my precious child is thrashing about next to me, turning blue and questioning with his or her little eyes: “Why Daddy? Why are you so selfish? Why are you thinking of yourself first? And Daddy, why, oh why are you so….what is the word (cough, cough, gasp) …narcissistic?” - is unnerving.

The wisdom of the airline in giving this instruction is simple. If you lose the parent you lose the child. An unconscious mom or dad is of no use to the little one. Thus, a “save yourself first” mandate makes perfect sense.

Can this idea of “saving yourself first” – the ultimate expression of a narcissist – be a legitimate pursuit of the Christian? The answer is yes. There is an extremely self-centered aspect of being a Christian that is the prerequisite for doing others any good. Without the understanding and practice of this God-bidden call to self-interest, we will be useless to God, useless to the world and useless – ultimately- to ourselves.

This is one of the many paradoxes of the Christian faith. Jesus said that the greatest commands go along the lines of: “(1) Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength; and, (2) love your neighbor as (3) you love yourself.” While we may not fully practice the first command, we can at least understand what Jesus is getting at. And the second one, to love our neighbors is a fine idea agreed upon by many even outside the Christian faith. But, it is that last part, number 3 that plays with our minds. What does it mean to love our neighbors as we love ourselves? Might I suggest that our failure to understand, much less practice the latter, could be one of the reasons Christianity has lost a substantial amount of its influence? Could it be that our lack of self-love (our lack of narcissism) makes the second command – to love our neighbors – absolutely impossible? Could it be that we have been trying to place the oxygen mask in the wrong order – hoping to help or “fix” others before we ourselves have had a good snort of clean air? Could be…could be…

We’ll pick up here next time... Be well blessed.

The Width Of Gray, Part Four

Christian freedom is lived out in the ordinary. It is not a concept that is relegated to that nebulous realm of “god-talk” and “Christian-eze” so popular in the church. When some speak or sing of Christian freedom, they often refer to some unspecified region on their insides that somehow feels better because they are now a Christian. That is hopefully true. But, what I think they are really talking about is forgiveness – the “blessed assurance” - which admittedly, is a precursor of freedom, but not entirely what the Scriptures had in view.

When Jesus said these words: “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed,” John 8:36, it was shortly after He had forgiven a woman caught in adultery. This produced a spirited debate with the Pharisees – the keepers of lists.

When Paul wrote these words in Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery,” he was aiming, just as Jesus was aiming, at the law of lists.

Both of these passages place freedom in juxtaposition against a list of rules and regulations which were so burdensome that most people could not even remember them, let alone keep them. So, while Christian freedom is certainly an inward experience, the practical outworking of Christian freedom is expressed by how we live out our lives. The law was expressed by an outward conformity to rules and regulations. Christian freedom is expressed by spontaneity of actions that are Spirit-led, moment by moment. Sometimes this exercise of freedom requires great courage and great faith because the keepers of lists still draw air and they are willing and ready to pounce on one walking in freedom.

Let’s re-group for a moment so that I am not misunderstood. The writers of the New Testament are attempting to stretch our minds and hearts with a new concept that dwarfs the dusty and stifling life of list-keeping. In writing to Titus, just after berating once more the list-givers, Paul says to Titus, “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled,” Titus 1:15. There is a freedom of movement deposited within the Christian that is nothing less than a life lived without lists. It is both a privilege and a responsibility to understand and exercise this freedom.

Christians who desire lists do so for a couple of reasons: 1) To give themselves a checklist against which they can measure themselves against others; and, 2) To press the limits of that list as far they can. That is human nature. The person desiring these lists may or may not be cognizant of these two reasons. If they are not, there is still a preservation of innocence and some hope for their eventual freedom. If they are, then their hearts are truly darkened and they are on the wrong side of Jesus.

Many Christian leaders and many churches are terrified of freedom because they have witnessed so much heartache and abuse when freedom is misused. That is understandable. But, to throw out the tenor of the entire New Testament by creating rules of behavior, in Paul’s words, “nullifies the gospel” and makes one “accursed.” Thus, if we are to err, we should always err on the side of freedom.

Now – is there bad behavior among Christians? Yes. Are there abuses of freedom? Yes. Is this pleasing to God? No. Or, as Paul would say, “God forbid!” How does God enact this freedom that many find so dangerous and, in their minds, irresponsible?

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul gives us a simple, straightforward answer. As we read what he says, we have to pay special attention to the order in which he phrases his words. Listen to this: “But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires (lusts) of the flesh,” Galatians 5:16. Again, note the order. The mistake the church has made time and again is to reverse the order so it reads: “Don’t carry out the desires (lusts) of the flesh and you will be walking in the Spirit.” In other words, if you do this, this, and this – you will be a Spirit-filled Christian. It is a game of spiritual addition.

It doesn’t work that way. God’s Spirit is not meant to come upon us after we have fulfilled a list of do’s and don’ts. God’s Spirit is the prelude to a life well-lived – always. Our lists will always fall short of His righteous demands and the excesses of love, forgiveness, generosity, creativity and mercy that He asks us to demonstrate. To use a base analogy – He fills our tank before He asks us to drive. To do the opposite leaves us in the driveway making pretend car noises.

And, don’t forget this – the Spirit’s first name is Holy. The Holy Spirit is incapable of leading us to a place that is ever in violation of God’s desire for our lives. While the church has been busy creating and enforcing lists, it has missed its true calling – to teach people how to live in moment by moment dependency on the Spirit. Such dependency will lead us safely as we navigate the width of gray.

The Width Of Gray, Part Three

What is the width of gray – that area of freedom and responsibility given to the Christian that falls in between the solid lines of demarcation that say: “This is a non-negotiable wrong and this is a non-negotiable right?” It is an important question. Whole denominations and movements and sects are founded on this question.

In some denominations, women wear head-coverings because of, in my view, a misunderstanding of what Paul was communicating in I Corinthians 11. Ronald Sider relates a story in his readable and wonderful book, Genuine Christianity, in regard to the brutal conflict that sometimes arises between denominations when they brush too closely to one another. In Jerusalem, the church of the Holy Sepulcher, is a place where all Christian denominations gather to give honor to the place where Jesus was crucified, prepared for burial, and the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, where Christ was laid. It seems that there is so much infighting between the Christians about who is the rightful steward of this holy site that a Muslim man has been given the responsibility of keeping the key to the door that unlocks the church. Dr. Sider once witnessed, during an Easter Service being held by the Roman Catholics, a priest from the Greek Orthodox Church march through and snuff out all of the Catholic candles. His reason? “Because the Catholics are using the wrong calendar and candles are not be lit until the proper date – which is found on our calendar!”

Such theological oddities bemuse and confuse the non-Christian world around us. Actually, such actions bemuse and confuse those who are Christ-followers as well. The faith “once-given” seems fractured beyond repair. What it takes to meet the requirements of church membership in various denominations necessitates not only an embrace of the orthodoxy (right doctrine) of a particular church, but also those things that have become elevated to the place of doctrine – the orthopraxy (right practice). One might believe all of the right things that one church preaches to get oneself to heaven, but if you happen to be toting the wrong translation of the Bible to church, or if you take a sip of wine with dinner, or if you go to an “R” rated movie – you are out.

Why do churches do this? There are many reasons that I could name – from a spirit of legalism, to theological ignorance, to mindless tradition, etc. Each of these would be simple enough upon which to elaborate. But my suspicion, having been on the inside of such subjective criteria, is that it has more to do with spiritual laziness and control.

Control is the easier one to define so I will begin with it. If a group of people have stacked hands on a code of behavior that to them “looks Christian” it is much easier to bend the teaching towards those goals. And, moreover, it is much easier to spot a slacker. “He is not like us,” is a common theme in many churches. Most often this judgment is dealt with, not in a direct way, but by the devil’s way, i.e. gossip and backbiting.

But what about the spiritual laziness which I believe to be the real culprit? What is that? Spiritual laziness is the practice of trading God’s voice in a given situation for a prescripted code of behavior. As I have walked with Christ now for many years, I have come to believe that there are many practices that are not necessarily right or wrong in and of themselves. I have also come to believe that there are many practices that are right or wrong based solely upon the situation. The only way to know the proper course of action based upon this area of gray is to hear God’s voice in the moment. Since it is easier to teach a prescripted code of behavior than it is to teach a person how to hear the voice of God – churches opt for the lowest common denominator. It is much less of a hassle. Let’s look at a couple of examples.

Is it wrong to drink wine? Before you answer that with a positive, remember that Jesus produced, in a moment, gallons and gallons of the stuff and then imbibed: so much so that He was called a glutton and a drunkard. If you don’t agree with having a glass of wine but happen to wear one of those “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelets, then I can rightly question your discipleship... Sinner!

How about the Sabbath? I was once torched up by a deacon who accused me of blaspheming the Sabbath because I announced that the youth group was going to play some football on a Sunday afternoon. He even went King James on me: “Ye shall remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.” I guess it was okay to watch others play professional football on the Sabbath because the whole deacon board talked about that incessantly. We went ahead with our game but I never received more than an icy, judgmental stare from this brother until I graduated from college and left that church. Paul’s take on these subjects was and is reasonable and freeing when he wrote: “Do not let anyone act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath Day.” Colossians 2:16

Why do we opt for codes of behavior over learning to hear the voice of God? Spiritual laziness is one reason. It takes effort to learn the art of walking in and by the Spirit of God. But there is another thing and I believe it has something to do with fear. What if I really begin to hear the voice of God? What inhuman thing might God ask me to do or to give up if I get so cozy with Him that He is actually leading me, moment by moment? C.S Lewis picks up this idea in his little book entitled: Letters To Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer.

"Much of our backwardness in prayer is no doubt due to our sins…And also to the very worst kind of “fear of God.” We shrink from too naked a contact, because we are afraid of the Divine demands upon us which it might make too audible. As some old writer says, “Many a Christian prays faintly lest God really hear him – which he – poor man, never intended.”

To explore the “width of gray” means committing oneself to grow up – to no longer be content and imprisoned with codes set forth by others. I am not preaching an immoral license to go and do anything one pleases. I will clear that up in the next post. What I am saying is that God is God and He will lead you and me in unexpected ways that press into that one great purpose of which the Apostle Paul spoke so eloquently in I Corinthians 9:20-23:

To the Jews, I became a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those under the Law, as under the Law, though not myself being under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the Law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it.”

If you really grasp what it is Paul is saying, you mind find yourself being asked by God to either turn water into wine – or to pick up a bottle on your way to your friend’s house who doesn’t yet know Jesus. See you soon…

Rocky Mountain High (kus)

I had some not so good news today regarding the death of a friend. As I processed, mumbled and rumbled before the Lord, an odd thing occurred. The Lord seemed to say: "Write some haikus...you seem to find yourself pretty amusing." (In case you have forgotten 7th grade English - the haiku is a pithy form of Japanese poetry that consists of three lines of five, seven and five syllables respectively). I did a spiritual double-take. How odd. Was that really the Lord? I couldn't escape the thought. I remembered how my buddies and I in Junior High would write some rather ribald haikus about teachers, coaches, school lunches and other stuff. It was addictive. I decided to act upon this impression. The experience was goofy, sophomoric, mildly challenging and distracting. But most of all, it was child-like. I was thinking about how I used to do that sort of thing with my own kids when they were small and in some kind of funk or hysterics. I would simply re-direct their attention and their energies to something different. It was often a successful ploy. As I learn more about the Father heart of God, I find myself surprised time and again at the familiarity of some of His ways with me. He fathers me not unlike how I fathered my own children. In the book of Proverbs there are two verses pretty close together that say this: "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit." (15:13); and, "All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast." (15:15) For God to distract my mind and my heart with a harmless return to a good memory was a gift. Joy and peace are the default settings of the believer’s heart no matter the circumstance.

Enjoy – and kindly forgive - the hideous poetry that follows. If you visited this post for depth of theological insight, please consider reading previous efforts. This one is just for fun. Feel free to count the syllables. Actually, you probably will not be able to help yourself in that regard. It is a bit maddening, that. For best effect, read slowly and out-loud - pausing briefly after each line. Here we go...

Moles
Moles beneath the ground
A tortured ride on mower
Bumpy on rumpy

A Suspicious Accusation
My wife says I snore
More and more and more I snore
But offers no proof

Physics & The Answer To A Mysteriously Messy Garage
Second law affirmed
Thermodynamics is true
Witness my garage

An Ode To Joe (a balding and graying friend)
The hair not turned gray
Is quietly turning loose
Follicle traitors

Election Year (2008)
Elephant trumpets
He and she donkeys braying
Oratory gas

My Money-Making Scheme
Credit card offers
Submitted at one sitting
Charge each to the max

Moe
An ugly dog he
A smelly & toothless mutt
Our much beloved Pug

A Cat Massage
Declawed cat purring
Massaging contentedly
My willing tummy

A False Accusation
Poisonous air
The man blames the dog again
The wife rolls her eyes

My Back Itches
Back that needs scratching
A begging look at wife’s nails
When will need meet nail?

Bad Breath Conversation Between Dudes
Give me some space dude
Something has died on your tongue
See my nose flaring?

An Apparition In The Mirror During My Morning Shave
New lines line my face
A long gaze in the mirror
I shave my grandpa

The Width Of Gray, Part Two

In the last post I talked about the problem with lists. There seems to be an innate tendency within believers to reach for a definition of spiritual health that distills a relationship with God to a list of things we can and cannot do. The problem with lists is that they limit God, cheapen grace, and miss completely the trajectory of freedom which the New Testament offers. The prevailing message of the New Testament is that the law, the ultimate list, failed to make men and women right before God. That was not the function of the law. All the law could do was demonstrate the righteous and just claims a holy God could expect of willing followers. The law could not erase sin, it could only define sin.

I am an amateur carpenter. One of the tools I carry around is called a plumb bob. A plumb bob, or a plummet, is a weight with a pointed tip on the bottom that is suspended by a string and is used as a vertical reference line. One use of a plumb bob is to help a person determine whether or not a wall is straight. A plumb bob does not lie.

Imagine then for a moment you are holding the plumb bob next to a brick wall you have just built. As the plumb bob comes to a standstill, you notice that from the top of your wall to the bottom there is a 7 inch gap. You say to yourself, "By golly, I have built a crooked wall. I have erected a mini leaning tower of Pisa." But, not to worry – you have in your hand your trusty plumb bob. It has done a splendid job of pointing out that your wall is crooked. The question is this: Can a plumb bob now make your wall straight? The answer is: No. A plumb bob's use is one-dimensional. It tells an accurate story of crookedness. It offers nothing by way of correction.

So it is with the law. The law, held up against our lives, tells an accurate story of our crookedness. It demonstrates the violence our lives have accomplished against God's law and rightful expectations. God has told us to: place no other gods before Him; to keep the Sabbath holy, to honor our fathers and mothers, to not steal, to not bear false witness, to not want other people’s stuff or position in life, and so on. Jesus seems to put the law – this list of commands – on steroids by saying that if we fail these commands even in our hearts we have sinned against God. An honest person, even a good honest person, will have to admit that they have failed God in regard to this expanded definition.

And that is the point. God has made it impossible for us to climb our way into heaven. He has so raised the standard of righteousness that we have all, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “…sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” The list was good. It stood silently like a plumb line against our lives – sure and accurate – as we erected a crooked life of lies, gossip, backbiting, lust, greed, arrogance, coveting, hatefulness, unforgiveness and such. All of us have done these things. We are all little “Leaning Towers of Pisas” and the law offers no relief – only diagnosis.

The entire epistle to the Galatians is dedicated to this issue. I quote at length from chapter 3:1-5:

Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of His death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the Law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it? I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.

In closing, let’s return to our working metaphor – the color gray. I said in the last post that many want to cast the Christian life and spirituality in black and white terms. I used to believe that. I no longer do. I believe that there is an enormous amount of freedom – what would be called gray by some – in which a Christian not only has the freedom to move, but also carries a responsibility to move. I will say much more about this in a future post.

My concern at the moment is this lure to add copious "black and white lists" on top of the grace discovered through the work of Jesus on the cross. Jesus did not come to abolish the law; He came to fulfill the law. Our participation in His death, received by faith and enacted through baptism and communion means – joy of joys – that we have fulfilled the law as well. We share, according to the Word of God, His righteousness and His victory over sin, death, and the law. For those keeping score – that is a really good deal.

In my next post, I will show how the list mentality is the single greatest contributor to a failed and joyless Christian life and a powerless church.

The Width Of Gray, Part One

For John didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, “He’s possessed by a demon.” The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks and you say, “He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!” But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.
-Matthew 11:18, 19

To the pure, all things are pure… - Titus 1:15a

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery (i.e., the law). - Galatians 5:1


One of the great temptations of being a leader within the church is to create lists for people, consisting of do's and don'ts, who seek structure and direction for their lives. Lists are helpful when making a trip to the grocery store. Lists are not always helpful when trying to craft a soul into the image of Christ. Living out a list-free life places us within the trajectory to which Jesus and the epistles clearly point. He and other New Testament writers would equate list-free living with spiritual maturity. Conversely, spiritual immaturity would be evidenced by a life that is defined by a series of lists.

I would like to begin a conversation that lobbies hard for lives that are free of lists. What I will say in the next few posts will either be welcomed as good news or reviled as heresy. Either way, I suspect that whatever side you fall on you will enjoy the ride. To each camp, and those in-between, I say, “Welcome aboard.”

A list is simply another word for laws or rules. The New Testament goes to great lengths to describe for us a redemption that has set us free from the ultimate of lists – the law. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2) Paul would say this to the church at Colossae: “You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules [lists] of this world, such as: ‘Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!’? Such rules [lists] are human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules [lists] seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.” Colossians 2:20-23.

This last verse begins to shine the light on why living by lists is problematic. Paul says that lists “seem wise.” It must be true. Go to any Christian bookstore and you find hundreds of titles that have some combination of lists that promise to: set you free from a variety of addictions; make you rich; make you healthy; make you a good leader; make you a good lover; make you Spirit-filled; etc. Each author has set forth a carefully prescribed list of must-do sequential steps that one must master to achieve the golden ring of success that is promised. I am not saying that the outcomes are not both godly and good, or that the author’s intent is malevolent. I just believe that there might be a better way to go about achieving good outcomes without mastering a plethora of lists. (We’ll talk about the “how-to” in a future post – sans list – I promise).

But back to it: Paul says these lists “seem wise.” Why does list-living seem wise? I suspect it has something to do with having in my hands an empirical tool by which to keep score. If I can report to you that at the end of the day I have checked a series of boxes and have kept to the list - then I experience the pride of accomplishment. Lists measure progress. That seems wise.

But the nagging question that surfaces in the Scriptures is this: “Do your lists go far enough?” Let me speed things up for you: The answer is always no. Instead of expanding the horizon of wild possibilities of what God in His creative ability might accomplish through a Spirit-led and empowered believer – a list becomes a limiting, lowest common denominator ceiling. The reason that the New Testament takes such a dim view of lists is that: 1) They will eventually limit what God is up to; and 2) They will make us dependent on the list rather than God.

There is one other thing that lists do that is even more troubling. Lists have a nasty habit of creating a judgmental spirit. Oftentimes, those who live by lists judge “list-free” lives as worldly. Those who know and adhere to a certain list become “clubby.” Those who do not know or practice the list are offered no admittance, i.e. no relationship, with those in the club. One’s worthiness of relationship is predicated upon one’s allegiance to the list. To be ignorant of or to outright reject the list alienates a person from the list-keepers.

This subject is broad and tricky. I fear saying things in print that I will later regret. I fear offering ideas that will be misunderstood and then exploited. But before we close this post, let me offer the challenge before us with a working metaphor. I will pick the color gray.

The color gray is an absolute heresy for those who live by lists. Gray has been associated with ambivalence, mediocrity, and uncertainty. I have heard many a sermon preached along the lines that: “Everything is either black or white – there are no shades of gray.” Usually these sermons are delivered in the color of red – that being the face of the preacher. I have also heard mushy sermons which seem to suggest that almost every moral issue is gray. These sermons are skin-tone in delivery because they are usually very fleshly.

What I am interested in discovering is not so much the question of black or white, but rather this: “What is the width of gray?” To tip my hand early and say that I believe the width of gray is an oscillating thing – sometimes narrow, sometimes wide - is to run the risk of allowing your mind to run ahead of where I intend to land. Be that as it may, I urge you to wait it out and not prejudge or try to pre-guess where our journey is going to take us. When we discover together the width of gray, we may find ourselves living in a freedom and an assignment that we never before thought possible.

Be blessed...
CJ

Marketing

Many of you know that I recently attended a writer’s conference in Redding, California. Many of you also know that I have been home for about three weeks and haven’t written a thing. Part of that has to do with the fact that I decided to identify with popular culture by participating with the virus that has swept La Plata County. In addition to record snow, slick streets and the daily video-game experience of avoiding cavernous potholes – our little piece of heaven has decided to host an unruly bug that sets every joint on fire and has made 80% of La Plata County a personal phlegm factory. Did I mention that the second conference I attended in Redding had, as part of its focus, how to pray for sick people? I doubt that my name will appear on any marketing material. (Promotional Brochure: Comments from Redding attendees! CJ from Durango writes: “I have had writer’s block since I attended your writer’s conference…The healing conference made me sick.”)

I have just presented you with a marketing problem. What are you to do when there is a disconnect between a great product and a poor spokesperson? Good question. Let’s look at another marketing problem…

We have all experienced a menu that is well-packaged, sometimes with mouth-watering pictures, only to be served a pile of food that bears no resemblance to what our hungry eyes have been promised. In this case, the product that was promised looked great but the received product turned out to be hideous.

So, how many chances do you give a restaurant to provide you with good service, tasty food, and a reasonable bill? If your answer is: “More than once,” then I do not want you to pick a spot for us to eat. Mercy has no place in the choice of food establishments. Why pay for misery? In this example, you have a bad product that you are trying to cleverly market and that is known as a pig in a poke. (Note: “Pig in a poke”, an old Scottish colloquialism, is equivalent to the Latin “caveat emptor” i.e. “buyer beware”. A poke was a small bag roughly the size that would hold a small pig. To purchase the bag without seeing the pig led to another colloquialism, i.e. “letting the cat out of the bag.” I have come to believe that almost every dining experience is a potential pig in a poke – especially if it involves sushi.)

Let’s restate these two examples in a different way. The first could go something like this: Great Product + Poor Delivery = Confused Customer. The second: Bad Product + Overstated Delivery = Angry Customer.

And we come to this: Jesus has a marketing problem. The problem He has is a sort of toxic alloy of each of the marketing problems just mentioned. Our equation would now look like this: Great Product (Jesus) + Poor Delivery (Christians) + Bad Product (Christians not acting like Jesus) + Overstated Delivery (Current forms of confrontive & judgmental evangelism) = Confused & Angry Customers. Got all that?

I was recently asked to review a movie entitled: “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers.” It was written and produced on a shoestring budget through the efforts of a thoughtful Christian by the name of Dan Merchant. Dan is not a Pastor. He comes from the world of marketing. His underlying question in making this movie was this: “Why is the gospel of love dividing America?” I liked the movie very much. I liked it so much that our “wee” Celtic ministry decided to host a public viewing of it at the Abbey Theatre here in Durango.

The Abbey Theatre is a quaint turn-of-the-last-century theatre that is given to providing a movie-going experience for those who enjoy artistic and off-beat movies. As you enter the theatre lobby, the first thing that grabs your attention is the snack bar. I am reasonably certain that you haven’t seen one quite like this at the local Multi-Plex. This snack-bar carries the standard window display with all of the ginormous cartons of Milk-Duds, licorice, pop-corn and such. What catches you off-guard is the fidelity to both words: snack and bar. Yes, a full-on bar with a real live bartender stands ready to quench adult thirst with adult beverage.

Upon entering the theatre you sense that the proportions are somehow off. The theatre is small, which makes the projection screen seem enormous – a mere twenty paces from the back of the theatre to the front. The chairs are all scattered about. A semi-circular balcony surrounds the bottom floor. It reminds me very much of the famous Ford Theatre in Washington D.C. where my wife, Jan, and I saw “The Fantasticks.” You can just imagine John Wilkes Booth shooting his revolver, shouting: “Sic simper tyrannis” and jumping from this balcony. Jan and I have a favorite spot where we sit – down in front and to the left side - where we can put our feet up on a concrete pillar and get a really good slouch going in our chairs. It is simple, unadorned and we love it. Such is the Abbey Theatre.

The movie is a difficult one for Christians to watch because of the issue of marketing. It seems that when we stop talking for a moment, listen, and allow the world to process for us the message that is actually being heard – we find equation #1 very much in play: Great Product + Poor Delivery = Confused Customer. Those who are outside of the church, outside of Christianity, are baffled by the difference between us and Jesus. When asked to share a word that came to mind when they heard the name “Jesus”, the responses were: Forgiving, compassionate, loving, magic, kind and the like. But when asked the same type of question with the word “Christian” being the trigger, words like: Hypocritical, angry, crusades, unforgiving, judgmental and such won out.

It gets uglier. There are actually two products involved in the faith exchange. We are called Christians, i.e. Christ-likes. We are a sub-product of the main product. In other words, the Christian message teaches that we as believers are to resemble the very Christ that people on the street still find attractive. Think of it this way: When was the last time you saw an info-mercial for an exercise product being hawked by a fat man, or the praise of a hair-growth product being sung by a bald man? If the product hasn’t transformed the spokesperson it raises serious questions.

The strength of Christian witness is the evidence of a transformed life that matches in good part the quality of word, tone and acts of Jesus. When that is missing, we have: Bad Product (Christians not acting like Jesus) + Overstated Delivery (current forms of confrontive & judgmental evangelism) = Angry Customers. Putting it all together, we have angered and confused the world around us because of the disparity between popular Christianity and the One who described Himself as meek and humble of heart. His life was marked by healing the sick and giving dignity to women, children, the poor, unfair politicians, immigrants, the disabled, soldiers and the scandalized, and by laying down His life for mankind’s rebellion toward God. His simple command to His future followers was to just keep it going.

The exposure of this marketing problem was very wounding as I tried to unravel what was genuinely Christian in me and what was cultural and political conditioning. I’m still sorting it out.

But the movie was also very healing. As it progressed, it revealed the spirit of Christ in such disparate people as: Rick Warren – a world renowned author and pastor who serves his 30,000 member congregation for free and who donates 90% of his book royalties to fighting AIDS in Africa; Bono – a world-famous rock star and Christ-follower who leverages his fame to help ease the plight of the world’s poor; and, Marshall Snider – a not so famous pastor who sold his church building and meets under a bridge in Portland with the homeless. Each of these brought me great hope and great joy. And, perhaps more importantly, each of these representatives of Christ was met with great enthusiasm and regard by those outside of the Christian faith.

God is up to something. He still believes in the product. When it is handled with the honor with which it was given – amazing things can still happen.

Be Blessed,

C.J. Alderton,

Patrick Crossing