Two of Those Christians
I appreciated the wisdom and sentiment expressed in a recent post by a colleague of mine about a new avenue he has for proclaiming his faith: "One of THOSE Christians." Having recently "outed" myself at a conference, I can certainly resonate with where Bruce is coming from.
The fact of the matter is that the world is watching. What will they see in our words, our actions, our vocations, our pursuits? Are we indistinguishable from others? Are we indistinguishable from the negative archetypes that so easily come to mind? Or are we compelling in our faith, our peace, our activism?
If Christians have a bad rep, we largely deserve it. And if those who are watching us cannot see traces of our Savior, shame on us. Would that our Refiner continue to refine us, until He and others can see His image reflected in our lives.
Comments
That's a simple question, but it's really made me think about my role in the field of planning that I'm hopefully entering. One thing that I've experienced both in Charlottesville and Missoula is that the Not-in-my-backyard phenomenon is nearly ubiquitous. It's common to see someone move out into a rural area, and then the moment it looks like a neighbor might show up, they're in city hall quoting Aldo Leopold on the importance of stewardship of the dwindling natural landscape. This pattern is repeated over and over for all different land use decisions.
Last year, a member of our church out in Missoula heard that the local homeless shelter was looking for land for a more long-stay rehabilitation center. The shelter had to fight relentlessly for the site they are now on, and had no real hopes that another site would be attainable. This man decided to sell the shelter a chunk of the property his home was on, and he personally approached his neighbors with information about what the shelter was going to be doing.
Typically, for zoning purposes, homeless shelters are classified in the same category as toxic waste dumps. Neighbors will come out in droves to oppose them. But here was a Christian gladly asking to be a neighbor.
I thought this was a pretty profound example of how the church can be different. I wonder how many people have connected their faith to these kinds of decisions.