A book that changed my life accepted my quote

Ever had a book that just changed your life? 

Me too. 

That is not 100% accurate. There are about a half dozen books that changed my life. However, one of these books is Ched Myers' Binding the Strong Man (Orbis Books: 1988). 

I was notified by Myers that he used words I sent him in 2011 about Binding the Strong Man in a blog post celebrating the 25th anniversary of the book. 

And so I join in with Myers in celebrating this great milestone. I know that everyone recommends books they feel would change other's lives and you will probably not read this book. But the fact of the matter is I do not have to recommend this book for you to read because if you have read or heard much of my own thought then you have been exposed to the wonder of Binding the Strong Man.

I echo Myers when he says, "I’m still trying to embody the discipleship vision of Mark’s gospel in my life and work."

Fairness - a Red Herring in the Church

“What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. ”

— Micah 6:8

It may be an argument in semantics, but I believe there is a difference in fairness and justice and too often we in the Church are content with fairness to the detriment of justice. 

What is the difference? Fairness is a subjective call. Take a look at some of the ways we use the word fairness in our lexicon:

"That is not fair"

"It was called fair"

"That sounds fair"

"fair enough"

Notice that all of these come from the point of view of the individual. Everyone feels their actions are fair and it is the other person(s) who is not fair. We know that fairness is partial and from our perspective so we have to put qualifiers to describe that we are talking not just personal fairness. This is why there are phrases like "fair and impartial" and "fair and balanced". On some level we all know that fairness is in the eye of the beholder.

The thing about fairness is that is looks and sounds like a good thing. So we set up systems built on the pursuit of what is fair. But because fairness is in the eye of the beholder, there will always be an argument on what is fair. That is to say, there will always be the argument that there are people who work harder than others and should then get more while those who are lazy are freeloading jerks. There will always be the childish conversation about what is fair, but these are just sophisticated arguments for us to each get what we want without real concern about others. As long as we get what we want, we will no longer pursue fairness.

Black Friday shopping is built on the idea of fairness. If you get in line first then you get the best deals. If you fight the people in line you can wrestle the item away from the others. That is fair.

Perhaps you are thinking, "No, that is not fair" or perhaps "Jason you are not being fair to the goodness of the ideal of fairness." If so, this actually proves my point. How one feels about what is fair is exactly why fairness is a red herring in the Church. It distracts us from seeking justice.

The Church is not built on seeking fairness. The Church is in pursuit of justice. But because justice is more difficult to obtain, we settle for seeking fairness.

Justice is impartial. Justice has no favorites. Justice sometimes requires a greater sacrifice for some and no sacrifice for others. Justice is something that is not comfortable for us rich folk and we are more comfortable with fairness. 

Church for adults

Today I was speaking with a member of the church I serve and this member told me something that struck me. He said, "I tell all my friends that do not like Church that they need to come to my church because it is Church for adults." 

This member went on to tell me several quick examples of what they meant.

"When Rev. Estee asked us one Sunday if we ever have any doubt and then when on to say that she has doubt and that doubt is essential to faith. Well that just blew me away. I have been in church for 40+ years and never have I heard from the pulpit that the preacher has doubts. I have never heard from a preacher that doubt is okay." 

This member shared a few more examples that expressed his point that this is a Church for adults. Which made me smile and which made my heart hurt at the same time. 

I have listened to people tell me why they do not attend church any longer and I have heard people in the church tell me they do not share their beliefs because they are "wacky" or "borderline heretical". 

So for all the adults in the room, for all those who have "wacky" or "borderline heretical" beliefs, for all those who have doubts and questions, for all those who feel uneasy to say some of the things that you feel or believe: 

You are not alone. You may be surprised to know that most of the things that you think or believe are held by someone else - even the wacky beliefs. And, I promise you this, that there is no belief system that is too wacky for this minister to hear. 

Because chances are I have already thought about it, heard it or believe it. You cannot say much to preachers in the "Church for adults" that we have not heard before. You cannot say much that will shock us. You cannot say much that we have not read in a book or heard from someone else.

The "church for adults" is a church that understands that we stand in a 2000 year old tradition and, chances are, someone in the course of that time has thought/believed what you do. 

You are not alone. You are not weird. You are not crazy. You do not have "wacky" beliefs. You are just like every other disciple of Jesus that has come along. So let us work toward greater openness and honesty about our beliefs - who knows we may just discover that we all desire to be in a "Church for adults."