I got a call from a friend today. This is my friend who is in rabbinical school, and she was coming home from the high holidays. She started off the conversation saying she was just getting off one of the most interesting plane rides. Her next words were ones that I am never quite sure how to react to.
"I sat next to a man that was church of Christ."
Slight pause... "Oh really." "...and how was that?"
"Kara, we had the most interesting conversations. We talked about everything from homosexuality to abortion. "
I think that I was still holding my breath at this point.
"It was so good Kara. "
I let out a deep sigh and continued to listen to her excitedly tell me about more of the conversation.
"I know that it is the kind of thing that I'm going to really have to think about and digest for a couple of days, and it will probably involve a conversation longer than you have time for right now, but it was strange, Kara. I mean, I left the conversation feeling Jealous of him."
The word bit me. Like a cheetah springing out of no where, it just ran up and took hold. What an interesting word for her to use.
"He was just so consistent. I definitely didn't agree with him on everything. Actually on most things we disagreed, but he was consistent in everything that he said......
... I was not able to find any hypocrisy in him."
Another bite. Another blow.
"Everything was so clear to him. Everything was black and white, and he was living out what he believed. I just realized that I don't have to be scared of people like him."
"I didn't ask him if he thought that I was going to hell because I'm Jewish. I'm sure that he does, so I thought it best not to ask him. But I bet he would say it in a respectful way."
I talked about how sorry I was for the lack of consistent Christians that she had met in the past. I spoke of how if we who claim to believe what he claims to belief really believe it, then that type of consistency should be the rule, rather than the exception.
Forgive us Father when we have failed to be consistent. Forgive us when we have displayed hypocrisy. Forgive us for defining a social culture of Christianity that is not always consistent with the gospel.
3 comments:
There is a real appeal of certainty found in fundamentalism -of Churches of Christ or any other group that has it all tied up neatly.
Consistency is admirable - evidence of a coherent system. Sad, though, that fundamentalism or all its systematic clarity lacks both the mystery of God and messy things like mercy, grace, generosity . . .
You're right. It's hard to be consistant and still be breathing. Humanity is inherently riddled with imperfections, hince the reason that it can look so inconsistant to so many. I have a feeling that were she to get into this man's life...follow him for a few days, weeks, months, years, she would see that though we often strive for the kingdom and kingdom values, the target is often missed because of our "self."
Oh me too! I once sat next to a man that was the Church of Christ, also. Ironically, he was one of the most talented one-man-bands in the entire region. Then I figured out that when he introduced himself to me saying he was the "Church of Christ"....he mumbled the last part, "of the Latter Day Saints" with the mouthpiece of his tuba.
....Then I thought, well, that explains it.
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