right or good?

I’ve been contemplating this question for some time now. Evangelical Christians, especially here in the US (I know this type of Christianity best) are concerned (and rightly so) about correct belief. We spend inordinate amounts of time studying and proving ourselves and our doctrines right. After all, it’s what someone believes that is important, right? We’ve all heard the statement, “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere” and we know the answer: “You could be sincerely wrong.”

We devote entire ministries to proving creationism right and evolution wrong, writing books proving the historical accuracy of the Bible, websites to disproving a heretical tenets of particular groups, whole denominations to protect our earnest beliefs in one interpretation of a biblical concept such as the baptism in the Holy Spirit or social practices deemed sinful such as smoking, drinking, dancing, singing alongside instruments or voting Democrat.

Christians are obsessed with being right.

Too often, we’ve forgotten how to be good.

Unfortunately, being good and being right don’t always go hand in hand. In striving to be right, it is all too easy to develop an escapist mentality and disappear into judmentalism – to live our lives south of grace.

When Jesus was approached, he was asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to be saved?” (Mark 10:17). Good teacher, not right teacher. Perhaps it was already understood by the questioner that Jesus was “right”; he was, after all, asking Jesus an incredibly important question. But this is significant: the young man recognized Jesus as good.

In Matt 25:23, Jesus will address those entering His Kingdom as, “good and faithful”. Notice what comes first: good.

Think about it. Are Christians known for being good in our world? If you were to ask random people on the street what they think of Christians, what do you suppose their typical response is? Would they answer, “Christians are kind”, “Christians look out for others”, “Christians care about the poor and oppressed”, “Christians are loving”, “Christians open their arms to everyone”?

Or do you imagine another response?

“Christians are bigoted”, “Christians are narrow-minded”, “Christians think they’re better than me”, “Christians are hateful and exclusive”.

Though there are wonderful exceptions, the rule is that we are better known for our attempts at professing to be right than we are for our actions to be good.

There’s a world out there that needs good Christians: Christians who are good to those, even, who we consider wrong. Jesus’ goodness was not only extended towards those who accepted His message, to those who were His disciples. He fed the 5000, many of whom may have cried out, “crucify him!”. He even said, “Love your enemies, and do good.” (Luke 6:35).

Yet, in all He did, He did good.

May we be more and more like our Good Teacher.

gated christian communities

You’ve seen them – from outside the key-coded gate. Maybe you’ve even tried to slip behind a resident and get under the gate before it closed on you. You know who you are…

Gated communities.

They keep people out: undesirables, less-affluent, more-affluent, those not-on-the-approved-list. They just do. They are safe-havens, isolated and intentional communities, a pick-your-own-neighbor life.

But this isn’t about the merits or downfalls of gated communities. No matter where on that continuum it falls, it is nowhere as insidious as the gated Christian communities.

You know what they are. You’ve seen them. You might not be aware if you are in one, but you sure as anything know if you aren’t. And these communities are sometimes harder to break into than physical gates. These gates communities have multiple gates.

You’ve attended church services and felt out of place. Or you have neighbors who claim to be Christians. Whether a Christ-follower or not, you know when you feel on the out of something in. And sometimes, no matter how how many gates you get through, there always seems to be one more. Here’s a few I am thinking of.

Gate #1 The Language Barrier: We Christians have our own lingo. We go to a church service; during that time we like to praise and worship; some of our favorite words in praise and worship are hallelujah or hosanna. After church we fellowship in the foyer (or lobby or vestibule – or the worst, the narthex); on Sunday nights we go to small groups (or life groups or home groups); in Bible studies we talk about spiritual warfare and principalities and powers…any of this sounding a little familiar? Then we talk about salvation and justification and getting saved or being born again. Learning this language can take years!

Gate #2 The Christian Smile: This is what you meet when you walk into the church and are handed a bulletin (this language thing is going to get messy, I can tell). It’s also what you see when you drop your kids off at kid’s church. Then you see it on faces when you finally locate a seat in the santuary (does anyone else hear Quasimodo bellowing in the recesses of your mind?). You’re first thought is, “dang, these people are happy.” Everyone you greet with a, “How are you?” returns a, “Great, thanks! How are you?”, which naturally begs you to return the same response. That’s when the smiles start to seem like plaster. Sure, there are a lot of genuinely happy people in church, but as my pastor’s wife says, “these people are bleeding all over the pews and no one knows it.” Then you try the experiment: when someone asks you how you are, you decide to respond, “Terrible, thanks. How are you?” And you answer this at least 4 times before someone realizes you said, “terrible”. Good luck getting the passcode for this gate.

Gate #3 The Christian Inside Jokes: This hit me in a brief service planning meeting that I had with our senior pastor and associate pastor. After talking about a few things, I said something christianese like, “the Bible companion guide to the pseudopigrypha.” We all laughed, and then I realized that no one outside our elite group would have got that joke. Did it make me feel good and superior? You bet! Did it make me feel woefully inadequate to interact in normal, non-churchy conversation? Nope. Should it have? Maybe. But come on, admit it: pseudopigrypha is funny!

I’m going to stop with those three gates. Heck, one is too much, and I’m mildly depressed having written all that about barriers to Christian community. There’s got to be a different and better way. Sure, we’re goign to stick out and seem a bit exclusive – every group does. Perhaps we need to understand the way we as the Church, as Christians, look and work hard to counteract that.

Let’s start a movement: NMGCC – No More Gated Christian Communities.

mud, oil and sugar

This broke my heart.  The International Herald Tribune wrote this heart-wrenching article on Haiti and the world food crisis.  What got my attention was page one: a father told the author that his children had two spoonfuls of rice two days prior, with no food since.  They keep saying, “Papa, I’m hungry.”  And he has nothing to give them; all he can do is turn away.

I cannot imagine this.  No, I can imagine this.  I have a 2 year old daughter and it would break everything in me if I could not provide for her, if I had to watch her slowly starve to death.

Hunger is real.  We don’t face it much here in the USA – and when we do, we’re insulated from it, from the real, gut-painful hunger.

Then this gem on page three, a testament to the ignorance our country has largely paid to this nearby country: “the one business booming amid all the gloom is the selling of patties made of mud, oil and sugar, typically only consumed by the most destitute.”

One citizen in his twenties was quoted, “It’s salty and it has butter, and you don’t know you’re eating dirt.”

Did you read that right?

He is eating dirt.

Mud pies.

Like we used to make as children, only this is for real.

I don’t know what can be done, I just know that I could barely get through the article.  Something must be done.

whale diving

This incredible feat occurred in sub-zero water (yes, water below freezing – in the arctic). Before diving in, Julia Petrik, had to cut through ice a foot thick! Check out the story here.