Gentle Reader,
Why you gotta be so rude?
Don’t you know I’m human too?– Rude, MAGIC!
I confess I haven’t got a lot of energy today. Whether it’s the new joys of perimenopause (what a wonder) or just a wave of exhaustion because that’s what happens with me sometimes, I don’t know. Maybe both. The lack of physical energy isn’t that much of a surprise. If only I could curl up and sleep until I woke up naturally, feeling refreshed. Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I felt that way. And there’s always something that needs to be done. So I drag myself through the day’s unending task list. I know I’m not the only one doing so. How long we can sustain this “go, go, go-ness” of ours remains to be seen.
Again, that’s normal. The task list is unending, but there’s ebbs and flows to it, especially in ministry. This week is different from last week and next week will be different still. I haven’t quite got a handle on that yet, but I’m learning. Slowly.
What isn’t normal, and what led me to pull the opening quote, is the intense, ongoing temptation to nastiness. We talked about this some in my class last Monday night. The world is a mean place. People are rude. The sad thing is, we find this in the Church. Instead of the Church offering a different way to the world, a way of peace and kindness, the Church has adopted the nastiness. (Broadly speaking, of course). Christians can be some of the meanest folks you’ll ever meet. Here we could debate whether or not someone can be mean and be a Christian at the same time. But I think that’s missing the point right now.
The meanness lurks just over my shoulder, prompting me to be fearful and aggressive. To believe the story that the world tells, that my neighbor only ever wishes me ill and I need to hunker down with folks who think just like me. That I need to attack instead of being attacked. It’s a moment-by-moment battle to ignore that temptation, to turn from it and choose again to beg God to grace me with a heart that loves as deeply and as meaningfully as God’s own heart does. But I don’t always make the good and right choice. Even if it’s just me in my car telling the driver in front of me that they’re “stupid” for driving too slowly. Even if it’s a meanness that nobody but me and God ever knows about.
My soul aches today. It’s not possible for me or you or anyone else to live without context. To be Christians without culture. We’re born where we’re born, we’ve got the accents we’ve got, we’re shaped by geography. That’s just how it is. But if we keep going along unquestioningly with that culture, if there’s no evidence that Christ makes a difference in our lives – what are we doing? Might as well pack it in, sell the church building, and be done with it.
Yes, it’s a battle. But we have to fight. Not with others. Not against others. We have to fight ourselves. We have to place ourselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit each day. And the Spirit will never lead us toward rudeness and meanness.
That person who you think awful things about or treat poorly is a person whom God made and loves. You’re not better than them. They’re not your enemy. By the grace of Jesus Christ, you and I get to navigate the world and all its issues differently. With hope.
But we have to want to.
Why don’t we want to?
GRACE AND PEACE ALONG THE WAY,
MARIE
Image Courtesy of DNK PHOTO