Speck-tacles

My friend's blog has been bothering me lately. She keeps asking the question "what does Christian unity mean?" or, "is it alright to criticize other Christians?", or even to be angry at them? These questions have bothered me because I've rarely thought twice about criticizing Christians who I feel aren't getting it right or twisting beliefs I hold sacred. I've even pretty regularly read magazines dedicated to such criticism or listened to Christian music that often turns a satirical eye on its own community. But I guess deep down I believe that I'm both right and wrong in the way I do this and these questions about unity and criticism have forced me to realize I've never really set any boundaries in this area.

So I've done some thinking about what the Bible says on the topic. Jesus says judge not lest ye be judged. Jesus says take the plank out of your own eye before pointing out the speck in someone else's. Jesus spends a lot of time putting religious leaders in their place. Paul talks about being unified with other believers. Paul spends 1/2 of the New Testament telling other believers what they're doing wrong. This could be discouraging, but I actually find it encouraging.

What does it mean to judge? If I wanted to sound smart I'd dig into the Greek and all that, but I never took Greek, so I thought about the English meaning. A judgement is something final. It says "You are this" or "You are that" - you are guilty or you are innocent; you are going to jail or you are free. Jesus says that God is the only one who gets to make those kinds of judgements. Who we really are, in an absolute sense, is inside of us in a place only God knows. It is not for us to tell people "You are a bad person", "You are not loved by God", "You are not really a Christian", "You are going to hell", etc...

But at the same time as we're not supposed to pass grand judgements on people, I don't believe we're supposed to completely close our eyes and our mouths to things people do, just because they do it in the name of Christianity. Even when it's not some huge glaringly obvious wrong like killing or abusing people, I don't think we have to bottle our sensibilities in the name of unity. During my time in the retail world I got to take a short management class where I learned some basic skills for talking to unhappy, or soon to be unhappy, employees. The suggestions are really good for any interpersonal relationships and I think for how we deal with our fellow believers. The main guideline - use "I" statements: "When you do this, it makes me feel this way", "What you are doing does not fit in with my beliefs about Christianity", "When you handle snakes on Sunday morning, I fear for your life and wonder if we're reading the same Bible", "I read your Left Behind book and it doesn't fit in with my beliefs about good writing or good theology". You get the picture. These types of statements don't pass judgement on a person - who they are deep down, what their relationship with God is, or what their eternal destiny might be. When we keep the conversation focused on our feelings and our beliefs, it leaves room for both parties to dialogue, and learn about each other. I know there's a fine line between "I" statements and backhanded criticism (and one or two of my examples certainly walk that line), but this approach goes a lot farther than telling someone "I can't believe you would do that and call yourself a Christian", etc...

I certainly don't mean we have a free pass to express every feeling we have about anybody or anything the second we have it - we should be slow to speak about these things, looking for the planks in our own eyes on the matters, deciding whether dialogue on the issue is necessary or potentially fruitful. This is where I fail constantly. This is where I need boundaries. We are called to speak the truth in love, and I think the boundary I need to work on is not speaking if it's not in love, not out of real concern for a person or a situation. Not speaking when it's only to say "look at those idiots". I think the bottom line is that "unity in Christ" means the ability to love in spite of differences. Not the ability to put them all aside and pretend they're not there and never speak of them.

More Words Than Deeds

Sermon series at church this month on prayer. And while I appreciate what the pastor has to say (currently looking in-depth at the Lord's Prayer), it strikes me that we Presbyterians can spend more time in a worship service talking about prayer than actually praying. I think it would actually be scandalous if the pastor got up and said "today instead of sermon about prayer, we're just going to spend the time praying" and lead us in a time of directed prayer. Or have us spend time praying with and for each other (but this might be uncomfortable for the guests and the "seekers"). People always respond when you break the mold - that response may be to get up and leave and write nasty e-mails, but at least it's a response. If the pastor and the leadership always only play it safe in their roles and their faith, how can they expect the congregation to go to new places?

Happiness is Next To Godliness?

So the first line of today's Prayer of Confession at FPCE was something about Jesus having given us the key to happiness (but us not taking it or something). My stomach almost turns when I hear a line like that! It is so unscriptural and so contrary to life and experience. Christianity and faith do not exist to provide happiness - Jesus and the apostles said quite the opposite. There's way more talk about poverty, suffering, and persecution than about feeling good.

This reminds me of a poster on the wall in the PYGS lounge that drives me nuts - it's divided in half with one half a sad face that says "life before Jesus" and one side a happy face that says "life after Jesus". Incredibly trite, incredibly wrong. For one, there are plenty of people who don't know Jesus who live pretty happy lives. Sure, they may have that God shaped hole, or whatever you want to call it, deep down, but on the surface they have their great days just like anyone else. (If you're not sure about this, read Ecclesiastes.)
Second, this poster sends the message that if you're not happy, you must not know Jesus, or there must be something wrong with your relationship with him. It is too often our tendency as Christians to spiritualize the ups and downs of our days - I had a bad day today, it must be because I didn't have my quiet time; I'm sick, I must have some sin I haven't repented of. In this view, God is meting out good times or bad times for us based on our spiritual works - an idea which grace is completely opposed to. God's blessing in our lives is not based on our deserving of it, or even our ability/willingness to notice it or thank him for it (thus those who don't know God can still be blessed by him!)