1 post tagged “cross”
It was a week ago when I blog about "I like Jesus but I don't like Christians." The second half of that statement requires deeper reflection of which I have done some but not enough.
Thinking about it I recalled a time when a good friend and I went to a vegan eating establishment in Chatsworth, CA. On that day we decided to sit at the counter since the place usually filled up with all kinds of folks (Ironically, in its previous life the place used to be a meat shop!). As we sat and talked my friend noticed the rather attractive young women sitting right next him at the counter. Being single, he disengaged from his conversation with me and started small talk with her. After about fifteen minutes he remembered that I was there (mind you, I was well into my meal and very amuessed by the conversation) and decided to introduce me. What a mistake!
On that partiular day I was dressed in casual clothing with no hint at all that I am an Episcopal priest. However, at the mention of my religious title the beauty became a beast! She set on him (mostly on him since I had said nothing to her) like a lion on a fresh kill: "Christians are liars!" And the conversation went down hill from there. Her voice increased to the point that others began to wonder what was going on. My friend looked at me for help and reluctantly I engaged the young women. After a few pastoral responses she calmed down and left.
"What was that all about," my friend asked. My response is that the image that Christians have presented in the world has been something other than what Jesus has called us too. Whether it's the religious right or the religious left there has been a fervor of religious fundementalism which captures Martin Buber's thesis on the "I-It" relationship.
President Jimmy Carter says what I want say better than I can say it. Here's a quote from his book "Our Endagered Values":
"There is a remarkable trend towards fundamentlism in all religions--including the different denominations of Christianity as well as Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. Increasingly, true believers are inclinded to begin a process of deciding: 'Since i am aligned with God, I am superior and my beliefs should prevail, and anyone who disagrees with me is inherently wrong,' and the next step is 'inherently inferior.' The ultimate step is 'subhuman,' and then their lives are not signficant.
That tendency has created, throughout the world, intense religious conflicts. Those Christians who resist the inclination toward fundamentalism and who truly follow the nature, actions, and words of Jesus Christ should encompass people who are different from us with our care, generosity, forgiveness, compassion, and unselfish love.
It is not easy to do this. It is a natural human inclination to encapsulate ourselves in a superior fashion with people who are just like us--and to assume that we are fulfiling the mandate of our lives if we just confine our love to our own family or to people who are similar and compatible. Breaking through this barrier and reaching out to others is what personifies a Christian and what emulates the perect example that Christ set for us."
What began this quote(also from the same book) was another short one that should be included. It goes like this: "The present era is a challenging and disturbing time for those whose lives are shaped by religious faith based on kindness towards each other."
It would seem to me that those of us who desire the reign of God must work more ferverantly towards engendering, proclaiming, and displaying the what Paul calls the fruits of the spirit: faith, hope, love, peace, etc. Carter is right, these are hard times for those whose faith embodies the fruits of the spirit. Indeed, we have our work cut out for us. It means we must be intentional in our communities of faith in the shaping and raising up of disciples...from the young two year old to the oldest Senior citizen, our work must be much more than about numbers but rather about transformed lives.
Yours for the reign of God,
Fr. Ron
