Thursday, November 28, 2013

0.27% Thankful!

For those who know us, we've tried the last several years to work towards a debt free existence. And, once the student loans are paid, we will accomplish that.

But even that has been a struggle. We've had to endure the critiques of those who feel our humble, yet paid for mobile home is "not good enough", or that the vehicles we drive (also paid for) do not "measure up". Today, in fact, my daughter got a well meaning but misguided text from a friend offering to sell her a car for a sum of money we don't currently have. The reason? She needs a "reliable" (read: prettier) vehicle. And while her current car isn't fancy, it's not the wreck that some seem to think it is.

And that really brings me to the crux of my frustration with the church. On the one hand, they're extolling the virtues of wealth building, while teaching workers to be content with wages falling against inflation and simultaneously failing to instill them with the principles that can help them find that contentment. They're not teaching families how to mend their own clothes, how to garden, how to gather and hunt, the kinds of things that working families knew how to do for thousands of years. They're encouraging the kind of runaway consumerism that's killing our culture...and then excoriating the faithful for not making enough to have everything that the culture expects them to have.

We are a culture that is 0.27% thankful. On one day a year, we consider ourselves thankful...and even that day is being eroded by consumerism as shoppers line up earlier and earlier to buy cheap goods that they don't even need! Driving the people who can least afford it dollar by dollar closer to bankruptcy.

True gratitude is not expressed when you're trying to get that latest gadget, the newer car, or the fancier house. True gratitude is expressed when you realize that you probably have enough, and should probably focus more on getting the most out of what you have.

Let's work to create a counterculture of 100% gratitude. One where, instead of focusing on building wealth, we focus on happiness, focus on community, and on our legacy. If you take care of the big things, the little things have a consistent way of falling into place.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Being Christian, but post-"Church"

I am writing this in one of my "down" moods. Anyone with any type of social anxiety disorder will understand: it's that period when you need a lot of self talk just to confront the day to day tasks.

It's not exactly depression; it manifests differently, and it's easy to control, when you know how. But it's also something I've had to spend a lot of years learning how to control. Unfortunately, more often than not, WITHOUT the help of others.

And it's a large part of the reason I consider myself post church. This has had some pretty harsh consequences in the past when I didn't understand it, and one major turning point in our life came after I had discussed the issue with a pastor of a church we had attended for several years. He dismissed my concerns, I left a good job at the time with a lot of uncertainty (and the way I left, I left a lot of PTO days on the table), and ultimately we made the move out of the area. Not my best time. But it marked the first time I actually tried to reach out to someone.

When I came to Christ, I saw a lot of answers in the Bible. Building one another up, building a faith community, that sort of thing. None of us were meant to walk alone, none of us were meant to bear these burdens alone. It's hard to explain to someone why when you have everything you've always wanted you have to face nagging mountains of self doubt. Why sometimes you just can't pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

I can't blame the church, of course, and I don't, for not meeting my needs. But it's not just my needs I see neglected. The church where I live is amazing in their ability to meet needs of single situations, and they've shown it time and time again. They truly are wonderful people, despite what outsiders think of their political views. But they're not being led, being taught, being nurtured to be proactive and to help each other out BEFORE these needs become pressing, last minute concerns. And as the sanctuaries empty out, there is more emphasis on multimedia, professional worship teams, and the spit and polish of Madison Avenue marketing.

Jesus didn't meet His followers on Madison Avenue, though. He met them at their boats, in their steets, up in trees, in their infirmaries, at the temple gates, and even in their graves. He ministered to them who they were and even in the depths of their depravity and depression. That's the Jesus I want to serve, not the Jesus who wants you to pile up mountains of debt in order to become a millionaire. That's the Jesus that's real, and that's the Jesus I find people on the streets wanting to worship.

THAT Jesus understands we aren't always on our A game. That Jesus understands our need for each other, our need to vent, and our need to rest. That Jesus wants us to unite in purpose and in common belief in Him, even if our worldly politics may differ. That Jesus is not impressed with the elaborate, showy offering of Cain or of the Pharisee, but of the simpler offering of Abel or of the poor widow.

And THAT Jesus will bring people back into your church, if you will allow HIM back in your church.

If I were the only one saying this, I'd be inclined to dismiss my feelings as just the social anxiety talking. But I've talked to the unchurched; I've talked to the agnostic, I've talked to the atheist, and I've heard them saying pretty much the same thing. Sure it's great to think that some fad prescription would suddenly erase all of these issues; but it's even greater, even more assuring to know that the Healer is more than capable, and He has commissioned His followers to be as well.

Think about this. I'm not criticizing the church for what it isn't; I am trying to exhort the church to be what God intended. Stop trying to be successful in the eyes of the world, and start trying to be successful in the eyes of God. Take care of the big things, and the little things will fall into place.