Don't Be a Bubblehead

Some people have pets that just lay in their laps and snuggle. We have characters. Our latest additions to our family are no different. Bonnie and Clyde, two kittens Ashley got for Christmas, are aptly named, as they are quite the trouble makers. They play the piano at night, and between me and you, their concerto needs some work. They rearrange things for us, like ALL the books from the bookshelf that they decided looked nicer spread out on the floor in the hall. And woe to the person who leaves papers laying anywhere, because those slide on the floor, and therefore, may or may not ever be found again, wherever the kittens got bored. I'd say nothing they do surprises me anymore, but Wednesday Bonnie managed to surprise me.

Ashley and I were on the way home from piano lessons when Tim called, laughing hysterically to let me know Bonnie was in a predicament. I arrived home to find her lying in Ashley's room, happily playing with toys....with a hamster ball stuck on her head. The gerbil was safely in his cage, but it seems Bonnie decided to stick her head all the way in the ball next to the cage, just to check it out. Before we got home, she had tried to visit with Psycho Kitty, who generally is her buddy. But seeing the bubble headed monster coming at him made him completely lose his mind. He fled like the hounds of hell were after him, and Bonnie gave chase. Psycho Kitty finally made it Tim's bed, and poor Bubble Headed Bonnie couldn't make the jump. So she wandered off to play. I found her lying in the floor, playing with toys and with Clyde looking at her in pity. She was happy to scratch at her toys, but got aggravated when she couldn't get them to her mouth to bite. Clyde kept patting her head, or her bubble, confused. The whole situation was hilarious.

Before you think we are just cruel, yes, Tim did his best to get the ball off before I got home, but it was stuck fast. I oiled Bonnie's head and neck, but it still wouldn't slide off. Finally, we had to cut the ball off her head. She took all of this in stride, like it was just another day. The worst part of the ordeal for her was having to get a bath to wash the oil out of her fur. I must say I didn't particularly enjoy that either. Ever bathe a cat? It's like juggling a running chainsaw!

I wonder what Bonnie saw from within the ball. While it is transparent, it is cheap plastic, kinda wavy, and it has air slots in sections, so the view is segmented. I can't imagine it is a clear view. And yet, it didn't seem to bother her. I began thinking about how many people have a distorted worldview and how they don't notice it. Your worldview is very important. It is the lens through which you view everything and it affects your understanding, interpretation, and reactions. A person with a humanistic worldview will see things things quite differently than one with a Christian worldview. And if you see God as a benevolent grandfather type, you will think differently than someone who sees God as aloof, or vengeful, or unknowable.

Because your worldview affects so much of your life, it is important that you know what you believe, and why you believe that. Is it because it's truth that you learned in the Bible, or is it because it's how your family believes? Too many people have been led astray by just going with the flow, not making sure that what they believed was founded in the Bible's truth. Believing something sincerely doesn't make it truth. As wonderful as your own parent's may have been, that doesn't make their views truth. Just because your favorite preacher said it, doesn't make it truth. Be certain that your belief system does not contain flaws, because it really does color every decision you make. Are you certain your view is not distorted?

One Hand Clapping

There is a game show, Cash Cab, on the Discovery Channel, where they surprise people who get in the cab by having them answer questions for cash on the way to their destination. Miss three questions and you are out on the street, looking for a new cab. I watched an episode a while back that made me think. One of the questions was about an ancient question from Zen Buddhism: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”. They mentioned that it was the subject of great debate. I thought it was ridiculous to spend time debating such a silly question, but especially silly as a debate amongst religious “masters”. But then I remembered that famous question, “How many angels can dance on the point of a pin?” This debate became so big that the pope actually appointed St. Thomas Aquinas to use logic to decide if angels were material or spiritual to decide if they could dance on a pin.

People love to debate things, even things that seem to be useless or ridiculous. If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? If an author writes a great novel and there is no one alive at the time who is able to fully comprehend or appreciate it, is it still a great novel? OK, before I get a phone call trying to explain to me the actual importance of such questions, let me just say I do understand the underlying issues that actually are important, and that these debates have led to scientific thought and discoveries, philosophical and religious ideas, and that thinking is always a good thing (for most people anyway). These just aren't the questions that I spend a lot of time on. Granted, I am not a philosopher or a theologian or even a great mind, so there's no reason for me to ponder them excessively.

The Bible leads any thinking person to questions we could never answer. How is it possible for God to have always existed? How can He not have been created? Where did He come from if no one made Him? Oh wait, He didn't come from anywhere because He always existed. OK, He could always exist because He created time...before He created time, there was no time, so there was no “time” for Him to have not existed in. But wait, if He created time, to us there would be a time before time was created, but to Him, not being bound by time, is there such a thing as a time before He created time?Uh...moving on. What did He do before He created us? Did He have other projects? Does He have other projects now? Is there another universe somewhere with other beings He created, maybe even having their own time that is different from ours? (OK, the time thing bugs me.). Why didn't the termites eat a hole in the ark? Where is the garden of Eden? What happened to the flaming swords and cherubim who were set as guards when Adam and Eve were evicted? After they were evicted, did Adam and Eve ever stand outside looking at what they'd lost and wish for the good old days? Did their children or grandchildren ever try to go in, and thus encounter the cherubim or swords? And what happened to the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? OK, now my brain hurts and I need to go rest it.

It may be interesting to ponder such things, and even debate some of them. For the most part, it is harmless. It only becomes a problem when we let it divide us as Christians or we let it take the place of more serious Bible study and time with God. So let your mind ask questions you can't answer on the small stuff, but be certain you have a firm understanding of what and why you believe the big things: who God is, how to be saved, why Jesus came, etc. And if you figure the whole “time before time” thing out, let me know so my brain can rest.

photo credit: darkmatter via photopin cc

Loving the Unlovable

Last week, I talked about a lesson we could learn from a difficult situation my children and I are encountering. I discussed how the actions of a church member reflects on their church and on Christianity in general. This week, I'd like to look at a lesson we can learn from being on the other side of the behavior...the victims, as it were.

As I mentioned last week, a group of us are being treated in a way we feel is extremely unfair and unkind. It's always surprising to be mistreated, but when it is at the hands of other Christians, it seems shocking to us. How could those who claim to love Christ treat others in such a way? And yet, one only has to look a short way into the history of Christianity to find us hurting one another. It's not a new phenomenon, and sadly, it continues. A few years ago when I had been absolutely crushed by a couple of Christian women, a friend sagely told me that “Christian soldiers are the only ones that stab their own in the back.” The fact that that's a saying is telling, and it's not a good story it tells.

After “the last straw” event occurred in the situation I mentioned last week, and we had to go back to that place the next week, (and again, I apologize for the ambiguity, but I have no desire to disparage either the people or the church I am dealing with), Ashley and I had a good talk. She really didn't want to go, and I honestly didn't either, although I was trying to mask that feeling for her sake. She was upset that we had to go back to a place we obviously weren't wanted. She was angry at being mistreated. She was hurt and disillusioned and all the other feelings that come with being ten years old and having experienced so little of the world's ugliness to this point. As I explained that we still had to go, Bible verses started coming to me. Thank you, Holy Spirit! Luke 6 tells us “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” We read this to our children. We preach it from the pulpits. We spout it to others who are in distress. But do we live it? Ashley and I talked about what it means to do good to those who hate you, and to bless those who curse you. We talked about treating people with grace, even when they don't deserve it, because of course, that's when they need grace. We talked about God's grace extended to us all. And that led to something beautiful.

Unfairness. I think the unfairness of the situation is what was the real sticking point here. If we have a disagreement with someone, if we have done something back to them, if we have contributed to the situation in some way, we can understand being treated badly. But when we really have done nothing at all that we can see, it just feels more unfair. And here's where the Holy Spirit really stepped in to give me words. We may not have wronged these particular people. We may not have actually contributed to the dispute this time. But we have wronged people. We have hurt others, sinned against them, sometimes accidentally and sometimes fully on purpose. We are sinners. Jesus, on the other hand, never once sinned. He never once wronged anyone, and yet he was treated beyond unfairly. It hurts us in a special way when we are mistreated and we feel we were right, but imagine if you'd never, ever, wronged anyone. Ever! Jesus' whole life, His very human existence, was an exercise of grace and mercy to save the very people who hated him. He never sinned, and yet people spit on Him, threw things, hit Him, beat Him, said the vilest of things to and about Him. They placed the crown of thorns upon His precious head, they pounded nails in His flesh, they hoisted Him up on the cross, and they continued to hurl insult and blasphemy upon Him. And He responded, not in indignation or anger or despair, but in love and forgiveness. Even as they continued to mock Him, He implored His father to forgive them. We read these words, we know the stories, and yet, saying them aloud, trying to convey to Ashley how unfairly He was treated, and how minor our injury is compared to His, was so powerful. Tears snaked down my face as I tried to express the emotion to her. No story is more powerful. Hatred and fear and evil met love and forgiveness, and grace prevailed. We need more love and forgiveness, and less righteous indignation. We need more mercy and grace. We need more Jesus.

I won't mislead you and say all the hurt went away in that moment. But it lessened. And it continues to lessen as we continue to focus on loving others, even as Jesus loves us at our most unlovable times.

Examine Your Reflection

My kids and I are currently dealing with an ugly situation. I'm being purposely vague so I apologize for the lack of details, but the point here is not to identify the people who are acting in such a way, but what we can learn from it. The basic situation is that our group has to use another church's building. Even though we pay them for the use of the facilities, over the last several months, a couple of staff members of that church have become progressively more hostile and unkind. Last week it got bad enough that something had to be done. I don't know how it will all play out, but for the time being, we are still meeting there. There are dozens of lessons we could talk about relating to this situation, but I want to cover just one this week, and it's an important one.

How we as church members act reflects on our entire church. I will admit that I have very hard feelings at this point toward the church in question. The staff members we have dealt with have treated us like second class citizens at best. They have made us walk in the rain to enter a specific door, rather than the one that was open for them. They have left ugly signs on doors. They have left us standing in the cold. I won't say more, but it goes on and on. In speaking with the other people in our group who are experiencing this treatment, we all feel angry, hurt, and disgusted. We feel like we've gone above and beyond to make the situation work, but we are getting nothing from the other side but meanness. It is very easy to paint the entire church as hostile and unfriendly. But you know, I realized the other day, when I finally got my emotions out of the way, that we really don't know how many people in the church even know this is happening. There had been talk of “I can't believe their preacher lets them treat people like this,” and “I wonder how they welcome visitors here.” There was even some mocking of the church's motto which is prominently displayed on a sign out front, because it certainly wasn't being lived out by those we encountered. But emotion aside, we really don't know if the preacher knew what was happening before we finally had enough and he was contacted. We don't know that a single church member other than the two staff we'd dealt with had any clue this was going on. My point, however, is that it was very easy to think that they all were like the ones who are unkind. Whether we like it or not, as members of a church, we represent our church to those we encounter. They base their opinion of our church on those they meet. When they go to lunch and overhear folks trash talking the other church members, it makes a bad impression. When they hear you talking to your friend about how long winded the preacher is, how you don't like the music, how the Sunday School teacher doesn't study enough....those things do not make them want to visit your church. And if they do visit, and no one speaks to them, or conversely, they feel like they are being interrogated, that certainly doesn't encourage a repeat visit. Our behavior may be keeping them out of church. It's easy to say that folks will use any excuse to stay home, and that can be true, but that doesn't give us free reign to act like heathens, literally. We are supposed to be Christ-like, at all times, to all people. Cattiness, hostility, or indifference to people has no place in any Christian’s life.

In an even bigger sense, we represent Christians in general. Westboro Baptist Church has done enormous damage to the view others hold of Christians, because their behavior is decidedly not Christian at all. But they are the ones that show up on the news and everyone sees, and that's who they base their opinion on. All Catholic priests are not pedophiles, but non-Catholics judge the entire Catholic church as if they were. All televangelists are not adulterous money-grubbing thieves, but those who are tarnish the image for all. We must remember that we represent Christ to those in the world. What image are we projecting?

The situation with the church I mentioned above will get worked out eventually, one way or another. And I am praying for God to remind all of us to extend grace to one another. I don't want to harbor resentment or bitterness. It will take a little time for the damage to be mended, but I want to use it to grow in grace and mercy. And I will take the lessons to heart and remember that my behavior reflects on my church, and my Lord. I only want to reflect His love.