Oct
16
Written by:
host
10/16/2009 7:00 AM
Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. (1 Peter 3:15-16, The Message)
As a writer, it's easy for me to hide behind the glow of my laptop and type away about my faith. I have the luxury of carefully choosing my words, pondering some witty or thoughtful response to a question or writing only about the topics of interest to me. But in "real life" conversations, the right words often do not come to mind, and I kick myself later for not having said something brilliant. Here's a recent example.
I visited what is probably the most conservative congregation in my community as part of my ongoing effort to attend worship with every faith group in town. This particular church uses the King James Bible in worship, has a hymnal that dates to 1972 (filled with the kind of songs you'd hear at a tent revival), and sends out people to knock on the doors of recent visitors like myself to ask questions like, "If you died today, are you a million percent sure of where you'd be going?" (Yes, that's an exact quote!)
The day I visited, the church had a guest preacher, a missionary who was going to move to Ethiopia to start churches. (His wife was likewise present, but she only participated by chatting with people at the display. There's probably something about that in the Bible somewhere in the King James Version.) After showing us a professionally-produced video about Ethiopia and its religious groups, the missionary went on to preach for a half hour about the country's "spiritual darkness" (he claimed it's half Muslim, half Orthodox Christian; his statistics were off) and how they were going to help people "see their sin."
After the service, I greeted the couple in the hallway by their display. Having recently read an incredible book about AIDS orphans in Ethiopia, I was determined to engage them in a bit of conversation. "You know, Ethiopia has a tremendous amount of poverty, hunger, and AIDS. Are you planning to work on alleviating issues like that while you're there," I asked.
The missionary stammered, "Um, ah, yeah, we'll be…doing that."
"I hope so," I said. "I really think that needs to be an important part of your ministry."
"Well you know," the young missionary replied, with great boldness this time, "those issues are all because of sin, too."
I'm pretty sure at that moment my jaw dropped down far enough for him to see my uvula. Stunned by his coldness and concern only for the eternal destiny of the people of Ethiopia, and aware that people in line behind me were listening in, all I could say at that moment was, "Mmmm. Well, good luck to you both," and I made a beeline for the exit. Then I kicked myself for my inane response. At the very least, couldn't I have quoted something from Matthew 25?
Where was my courage, my wisdom from those dozens of progressive books I read during seminary and since, and my compassion for the poor? I don't have a good answer to that question, but I'm sure of this: I hadn't taken the words of 1 Peter to heart. In that particular moment, I was not ready to defend, in the words of the NRSV, "the hope that is in [me]."
I haven't done any statistical surveys or anything, but I feel pretty confident in saying that most Christians in progressive congregations have a difficult time talking in a humble, gentle, and reverent way about their faith, especially with those who are ultra-conservative believers from churches that put a high emphasis on faith-sharing to those in "spiritual darkness." In situations at work or in our own families where religion comes up, we often feel as if we're speaking another language and have no interpreter to help us out. Conversations too easily turn into shouting matches or efforts to prove another person is just plain thick-headed.
My approach to "fixing" personal quandaries and problems (including theological ones) is often to figure out a technological solution that can help me later on. In part, what I plan to do is to begin keeping quotes of my own or from books and websites or scripture I've read in a special Evernote folder called "Always be ready." These snippets of text will be something I'll review once a month or so, with the hope that I'll gradually absorb their truth and be able to call on it when needed.
Give some thought to your own comfort level with talking about matters of faith when you are confronted with bad theology—and consider that of your congregants as well. Many of them are likely engaged even more frequently than you are in conversations like the one I had. Your solution to the necessity of "being ready" might be to keep a daily journal of your faith-related conversations, to offer a series of sermons on "conversations that bless" (see 1 Peter 3:8-9), or to create a special workshop called "Talking about progressive Christianity." In this time when it often seems we collectively sit on the brink of economic, political, and ecological disaster, it's essential that we live and speak with a "unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind" (1 Peter 3:8).
~ by Tim Gossett