I’ll be in Birmingham the first weekend of June. It’s almost Annual Conference time again. I just booked my hotel room. I plan to, once again, journal during my time there. Then I’ll post my notes here (Just as I have for the past 3 years.)
If you happened to be one of my Birmingham readers, let’s hang out. I’ll be in town Thursday night through Saturday afternoon. June 3rd-5th. I have a standing “date” of sorts with Heath Mixon that Friday night. Anyone want to go to lunch on one of those days? If so, holla!
I scanned some more old pictures today. You can find them on my Facebook page.
Here’s one of my favorites:
That is my mom and my grandmother (her mother) from around 1980. I remember those curtains. I love those curtains. I think they are the same fabric Maria used to make clothes for the von Trapp family.
Yesterday I posted an article from the Huffington Post (10 Ways Christians Tend to Fail at Being Christian). First of all, I forgot to say thanks to Ryan Karr for tipping me off to the article. Thanks, Ryan!
Secondly, I wanted to respond to a comment I got on the article. I thought about responding in the comment section of yesterday’s post, but I’m not sure it would be seen there. So I decided to respond as an entirely new entry.
If you have not, you should read the article first. (Click the link above.) Then you can come back and join the discussion. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Done? Good.
I got this comment yesterday from my friend (and Pastor of our church,) Eric.
Eric said...
I read the "10 Ways..." post. All of his points are really good. Some of them featured in recent sermons; one just yesterday.
Though not given to defending Church for its many and obvious warts, in this instance I feel I must at least state the obvious. Mr. Shore's complaints are over-broad to the extent that he should have named the article "10 Ways We Fail to be Human." Each of his points could be applied to most of what passes for any civilized culture these days. Compassion is scarce, generosity rare, and humility nearly absent. Empathy springs from these (in part), and while empathy lacks we have bunches of pounding screamers.
Golly. It looks like I'm in a dyspeptic funk. Back to my point; the church is filled with the people of the world, and we, the people of the world, are all a bunch of (yes, I'm going to say it) sinners, inside the pious halls and out. The thing the church has going for it is grace. And forgiveness. Oh, often not enough from those attending, but abundantly from God. We offer, sometimes better than others, the thing that saves humanity from utter despair, and that is hope - hope that we can in fact be accepted and forgiven by our maker. And that is something we all need.
Eric, I agree with you. For the most part.
You’re right. The characteristics the author rails against are true of most of civilized society. Especially American culture. I won’t argue that.
I agree that the church is made up of people. The same as the people “on the outside.”
But I think he gets his criticism of the church 100% right. Why? We, as the church, are supposed to be “better” than the rest of society. We are supposed to be more compassionate. We are supposed to be generous. We are supposed to be humble.
We’re supposed to be different. Instead we are indistinguishable in our apathy and our ambivalence. When we do stand out, though, it’s not because of our over abundant compassion or generosity or humility. It’s because another prominent Christian figurehead said something stupid or got caught doing something stupid (or just something they’ve spent years preaching against al a Ted Haggard) or because of another molested child.
When I read Mr. Shore’s article, I didn’t read it thinking, “Yep, and so does the rest of the world.” As I read I thought, “He’s right.”
As I read Eric’s comment I thought, “He’s right, we’re no different. But we should be different!”
Now, how about some discussion? What say you?
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I have to agree with Scott on this one. Humans, in the general sense of the species, don't follow the example of a particular person the way we, as Christians, purport to follow and strive to be like Jesus.
ReplyDeleteHis article was right on the money in the fact that it highlights ways in which we fail to be like Jesus. The only way I can find it lacking is in not providing more evidence similar to his first point about his ideas on how Jesus would want us to be.
For instance, on the subject of homosexuality, I don't believe Jesus would be smiling down on us in our condemnation of either their lifestyles or the persons themselves. Didn't he break bread and spend time with tax collectors and other "sinners" of the day? Wasn't he criticized by the pious folks of his day for doing so?
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like much has changed in 2000 years. Thank God that God hasn't given up on us yet.
You are right, Scott. And Jamie. It just feels like he is piling-on. I don't have any argument with what he's saying about the church, though I do think he's being over-broad.
ReplyDeleteThat said, what IS different about us from general society? Other than "should."
For the sake of conversation I'll stop there.
The problem I see is the big broad brush used to paint with.Lets face it to talk about whats wrong with Christians is just that talk.Anyone can opine on the issue but action is personal and I dont see many examples of Christians saying this is what I am going to do,and I hope its a good example.Its easy to state what is wrong with a group but less comfortable to state what is wrong with me.You can only change after Jesus changes your heart.Have you ever seen an article "10 Things I Fail At As a Christian"? I guess the question is what are YOU going to do about YOU or I going to do about ME because really thats where it begans.
ReplyDeleteAnon - That may be my favorite comment on this blog ever.
ReplyDeleteWhile I tend to whine and moan about the current PR situation surrounding the Church (eg - pedophile priests, a hate spewing church from Kansas, talking heads speaking out of their arses on a regular basis, etc.) I'm not sure I've offered any resolution.
In my ranting and in Mr. Shore's article I think the "Church transformation via personal transformation" is implied, but not explicit. It needs to be stated explicitly.
As for the "10 Things I Fail At as a Christian" article, you've given me a great idea for a blog topic. It will be written!
Yes Jesus did fellowship with sinners and I am reminded of the woman at the well with many relationships "go and sin no more ".I am not the sin police but is sin real? what is sin ? and who defines sin?.Did Jesus party with sinners just to be cool or did he have other reason?Maybe to show grace and forgiveness of sins.If there are no sins then no forgiveness is needed,and no Jesus is needed.
ReplyDelete