THE MOST DIFFICULT OF THESE IS...

When Martin Luther took the Church to task centuries ago, he did so because he knew the Church needed quite a bit of reforming. There was much corruption on the part of the leaders of the Church and much ignorance on the part of the people of the Church. It is hard to say either which party needed the more reforming or which reformation was the more difficult to do.

It would be easy to speculate that the more difficult task was to reform the hierarchy. Once one comes into power, one is very reluctant to give up that power and to change the order of that power. Self-security is a powerful incentive. History affirms that Luther's greatest opposition came from the hierarchy, so much so that he and his followers eventually split from the Church, although that was certainly not his original intention. He simply wanted to reform it.

But unless I miss my guess, in the end, the hierarchy was a piece of cake when compared to the job that needed to be done with the laity of the Church. Both reformations, clergy and laity, demanded conversion: a turning away from the old ways and turning to new ways or, certainly, back to the original ways Jesus laid out to live out our faith in him. It has always been that way and always will.

And no matter how much we want to make that conversion, it is never easy, nor is it supposed to be: not then, not now, not ever. It is always hard work. Luther knew this. He knew the difficulty. He once observed: "There are three conversions necessary: the heart, the mind, and the purse." Now unless I miss my second guess, I would assert that the most difficult conversion to make is that of the purse.

Conversion of heart and mind are interior conversions. Conversion of purse is an exterior conversion.  The former leads to the latter. We can have a true change of heart and mind when it comes to matters of the pocketbook. But to put that change of heart into practice is often most difficult, the most difficult conversion to make. And it is not just a matter of the heart. We must also be convinced that the conversion we need to make is the right thing to do.

We may, for instance, be intellectually convinced that we should – dare I use the word? –tithe. And we may be convinced in our hearts that that is what we want to do. But when it comes to putting pen to check, ah, that is most difficult. It is as if someone suddenly grabs are hand and makes it immobile. The mind says, "Write it!" The heart says, "It's the right thing to do." But the hand says, "I can't."

Who's in control here? Good question. I don't know why the conversion of purse is so difficult, the most difficult of all. How much is or is not in that purse does not seem to matter: Luther's followers were not wealthy. So tell me, why is the conversion of purse so, so, so difficult? Is it not so often not a matter of “I can’t” rather than a matter of “I won’t”? That pertains not only to the matter of the purse but to all conversions. “I want to. I know I should. But….”

Years ago I came across a store at an Outlet Mall: The Christian Discount Outlet. I could only imagine what was available at that store. Sales everywhere on everything. Imagine taking one-third off on Jesus's command that we love our God-neighbor-self equally. Why, at one-third off, we can take two out of three. If my neighbor bugs me today, I'll just love God and myself. If I am having a personal bad day with myself or with my God, one-third off the loving and I'm still okay.

           

Or how about a big 40% discount on the Ten Commandments: we only need keep six out of ten. And because this is an outlet, we can pick any six. What a deal! Count me in. And because this is my first visit, as a bonus I now only have to go the extra one-half mile instead of the full mile with the one who wants the shirt off my back. (And I'll bet there is even a mark down on that one too.)

It's almost too easy. Christianity at a discount. But it just doesn't seem right. It certainly is not fair, I mean, after all these years trying to walk the straight and narrow, telling everyone that they had better shape up or else, and now some wise guy entrepreneur comes along and undercuts me. It may be unfair, but it is certainly not un-American. We're into sales here, with this Christianity stuff. And if the church is going to succeed, nay survive, in this here marketplace, we'd better get with the program.

           

The program is, of course, more for less, even at discount prices. Nobody buys anything for full price anymore. A friend of mine in the retail field told me once that if we pay ticket price, we're being robbed. That's how he put it. And when we buy the big ticket items, why we really stand tall and argue for the best deal. We deal -- with the car salesman, the real estate agent, anyone and everyone in a position to cut the cost. Boy do we deal!

           

So why should Christianity be any different? Well, we all know why. Remember the story where the rich young man comes to Jesus and asks what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. When he says that he already does that and wants to know what more he can do (he obviously never encountered a Jewish Discount Outlet), Jesus tells him to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor and come follow him.

           

That the man cannot do and walks away. But notice what Jesus also did not and could not and did not say, "Wait a minute. Let's rethink this. Maybe we can make a deal. Maybe you only have to give away half your possessions. How does that sound?" No, no discounts available. No easy way out. No cheap grace.

           

There will always be those who want to tell us about an easier way to live out our faith.  But all they are doing is selling a bill of goods that simply aren’t any good.  If we want to know what it means to be a Christian, all we have to do is think of Jesus hanging on the cross.  That’s what it cost him -- his life. In one way or another, that is what it will cost us as well.

HONESTY IS, WELL, HONEST

My 97-year-old mother-in-law: you have to love her. She is as honest as the day is long and speaks her mind whenever her minds says she should speak up. She needs no defense. When you get to be her age, you basically have free rein to say what you believe whether the hearers likes it or not. She’s earned that freedom. For instance:

As a back ground, she has been widowed twice, both husbands WWII veterans and both suffering from PTSD when it was called “battle fatigue” back then and you were just supposed to shake it off and get on with life. Some did. Many did not, at least not a life one would want to life. When Pappy (husband Number 1) came home, he was a different man. The marriage lasted to his early death but was, to say the least, often confrontational and not easy for either of them or, at times, for their children.

That’s the background. Recently, we were sitting around the kitchen table talking about old times when the subject of the eldest son’s birth came up. Pappy was in the Pacific on a supply ship while Nanny was pregnant. Word came to her [first time hearing this] that his ship was lost at sea. Her comment, tongue in cheek and probably with a shred of truth: “Shame they found it”. We almost fell off our chairs we were laughing so hard.

Well, she was honest. Of course, if Pappy had been lost as sea, I wouldn’t be writing this as my wife would not have been my wife nor would she have been, period. We’re still laughing and Pappy probably is as well. The truth is the truth and sometimes the only response we have to the truth, as much as it might sometimes hurt, is a hardy and even heartfelt roar of laughter.

Yes, the truth hurts and sometimes being honest can seem and even be very brutal. But it beats living with a lie because the lie eventually comes back to bite us and that pain can be even worse, and usually is. We often refrain from being honest with others because we know the hurt that our words will bring. But do we have a choice? Jesus never minced words of honest criticism because those whom he chastised needed to hear what he had to say even as they did not like it one bit.

Even more, when the shoe is on the other foot, when we are the ones who are being told the truth, a truth we would rather not hear but need to, the response and how that response is made is up to us. We can lash out. We can try to retaliate in some way or another, usually finding fault with the other. Or we might laugh and admit that the other person was right on and give thanks that he or she had the courage to say what needed to be said as difficult as it was to say it.

Honesty is often hard to come by, as we all know from experience. But when others have been honest with us or we with them, we have all been the better for it. It hurts at the beginning; but it the end we will be thankful and may even have a good laugh.

WORKS FOR GOD

This summer my wife and I were delighted to have our then-almost-five-year-old grandson Carter stay with us for over a week. It was twice-a-day at the pool and once-a-day in the evening at the park and movies and games in between. He wore us out, but we wore him out as well. When his Mom asked him what the highlight of his time with us, he told her that it was going to church and seeing Pap (me) up on stage.

Wonder of wonders! But what was more wondering was when he told his pre-school teacher about his trip was when he told her that his Pap “works for God.” I can live with that compliment. It certainly makes life easier than when a young parishioner years ago thought I was God!

Yes, I do work for God. But don’t we all? Or rather aren’t we as Christians all supposed to work for God? Isn’t our life in this life to be about doing God’s work here on earth? That is the only way God gets anything done on this earth. We have to do it for God or else it will not get done. God works in and though us, whether we realize it or not, whether we like it or not.

My guess is that we have it both ways. Sometimes we are aware that we are doing God’s work and take honest pride in doing so. And sometimes we know we are deliberately not doing what God would have us do and are ashamed of ourselves for our actions. But if you are like me, sometimes it takes the voice of a child to remind us what our life is supposed to be all about.

I have no idea how Carter came to the understanding that I work for God. My wife and I never said anything to that effect and neither did his parents. But, as we know, out of the mouths of children often comes very serious and profound words of wisdom and truth, words that make us pause and reflect, words that sometimes can scare the hell out of us and the heaven back into us.

My wife and I are still reliving Carter’s time with us because he brought us so much joy. My guess is that when those memories fade over time, I will never forget the truth I had not forgotten but truly had taken for granted about what my life – all our lives – is supposed to be about. It was an innocent statement from an innocent little boy who thinks his Pap hung the moon but a statement that was as profound as could be.

We all work for God and no one’s work is more or less important than anyone else’s. We God-professionals may sometimes think our work is more Godly than that of a lay person, but we deceive ourselves if we ever think that way. Each of us has a specific task in this life in this world that God has assigned to us, a task that no one else can do except us. We do God’s work every day, every moment of every day. That can be a scary thought, but it is also rewarding and humbling as well.