Thought for the day. Something that's been on my mind.
Is it possible to organize and arrange your life, work and religion in such a manner as to remove any and all opportunity to demonstrate "love of neighbor?"
I will testify that it is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
'Course it is. I've been doing it for years.
Joe Shmoe is a quiet sort and an avid church-goer. Considerably more than a pew-packer, Joe serves here and there.
Joe works 9-5 at a local business. He is efficient, hard-working and well-liked by his colleagues. He rarely eats lunch in the Break Room, but prefers to read his Bible during lunch. Or do a little reading on his friend's blogs. Occasionally he will stick his head out of his cubicle for meetings or to help a co-worker, but mostly he keeps his nose to the grindstone until the whistle blows.
After work, he hurries home. As fast as he can... in the traffic. Dinner is on the table by six and he'll be home before then. Monday and Thursday Nights he cleans the Church after dinner. Usually he is done by 9:30 or so. He enjoys the quiet time at the building and often you can hear him singing hymns a little louder than he does on Sunday.
Tuesday night is "Grocery Shopping Night." Like most men, he hates it but he shuffles along behind his wife, pushing the cart. (He knows in his heart he could be done in 30 minutes if he shopped by himself.)
Wednesday night is for Mid-week Study. He enjoys the bible class. These days they are studying the Minor Prophets. As he locks up on Wednesday night (he is Deacon of the Mop and the Key), he glances around to see how much effort will be required the next night.
Friday is "Movie Night at the Shmoes." After a week's work, its good to kick the feet up with his Honey, eat a little popcorn and watch cars explode. Afterall, the next day is "Errand Day."
Joe hates Errand Day. Its really "Mow the Lawn Day." To his chagrin, its also "Go to Walmart Day." Sometimes, its "Pay-the-bills-clean-the-windows-organize-the-garage-wash the-car-weed-the-garden-fix-the-showerhead Day." In truth, Joe looks forward to Mondays. Cubicle Work is sweet rest. But as Errand Day is drawing to a close, he always smells that Blackwell's Strawberry Cobbler in the oven. His reward for a hard day's work. And bed comes early on Errand Day.
Sunday is the Lord's Day. As Deacon of the Key (as his wife lovingly calls him), Joe runs up to the building early. He turns on the AC, opens the door and pre-heats the Baptistry. After Pastor Rye's sermon ends and the doors are barred, Joe eats a Chicken Fried Steak at Black-Eyed Pea and takes a well-deserved nap in his Lazy Boy. At 4, Joe and Bonnie return to the Church to open up again. And close again. And then they're home in time for 24.
Well Joe sounds just like Jesus. Except i think He couldn't be bought with strawberry cobbler. i think that's in the Good Book somewhere. Or at least something very like the "deacon of the key" moniker.
C'mon; am i right? Is this an allegory? ;)
Literary adroitness.
That is what is required to write an allegory.
Unfortunately, this is the very thing I lack. C.S. Lewis...I am not.
However...I will expound a bit.
I was thinking of ol' Joe Shmoe. He seems religious, hard-working, responsible and quiet. He apparently has no children or else they have grown and fled. His household seems to be the two-income-wife-is-working type. His days are full...so there is not much room for the heinous sin that those with free-time involve themselves in. But some things appear to be missing. He doesn't seem to have much serious contact with his co-workers, neighbors or extended family. Fellowship with the local church seems non-existent outside of Sunday and Wednesday. In fact, when he is not by himself, he is busy with his wife. He doesn't appear to have a friend beyond his marriage.
The question is: Has Joe Shmoe created this world for himself? And is this the world that Jesus would create for Joe?
I see myself pretty much the same. Except to Joe's busy schedule, I could add kids.
It's funny how that happens. ["Funny" as in odd; not the sort that evokes a warm chuckle.--ed.] That's just the sort of scene i've been mulling o'er lately. i find myself wishing for a little more free time with which to involve myself in a bit more heinous sin. Or loving people. Whatever: anything that's a tad more sociable than what i'm presently engaged in. i do have friends outside my marriage, but they live largely in Greenland. i think Heaven will heavily involve getting to have friends that don't require telecommunications of any sort to stay with.
Right; well. i'm off to delve into another glib intellectual exploration of what happiness might look like-- in the event that it were to exist-- with the Greenlandians. At any rate, i do feel yer pain.
This might be a better Joe.
Joe Shmoe is a quiet sort but he genuinely craves godly fellowship. He's considerably more than a pew-packer, Joe loves the Body.
Joe works 9-5 at a local business. He is known for his efficiency and hard work and he is well-liked by his colleagues. He often eats lunch in the Break Room with his co-workers. He seems almost mute, contentedly chewing unless conversation turns to truth or religion or God. Then his eyes light up. He occasionally reads his Bible during lunch or he'll do a little reading on his friend's blogs. Truthfully, work in the cubicle is bothersome to him because of its impersonal nature. But he keeps his nose to the grindstone until the whistle blows - except for meetings or to help a colleague and such.
After work, he hurries home. As fast as he can... in the traffic. Thankfully, Joe carpools with Brother Mike. Mike Jones lives 3 blocks from Joe. They work in different companies but they get off at the same time. Joe is grateful for the company, because the commute can sometimes take over 45 minutes. Dinner is on the table by six but they'll be home before then.
Monday nights Joe and Mike and a couple of other brothers clean the church building after dinner. Usually they are done by 8 or so. Joe enjoys the time with the brothers at the building and often you can hear them talking, debating,laughing and listening to Audio Adrenaline...cranked to eleven. Afterwards, they usually sit and chat or visit Home Depot or other manly things.
Tuesday night is "Grocery Shopping Night." Like most men, Joe hates shopping. So Bonnie and the next door neighbor, Rita usually go together. Joe and Bob (Rita's husband) play football with Bob's kids in the back or help them with their homework. Sometimes they'll clean their garages together or mow the lawns or something. Bob is not a Christian but Rita is.
Wednesday night is for Mid-week Study. He enjoys the bible class. These days they are studying the Minor Prophets. As he and Mike lock up on Wednesday, they usually spin through the building and straighten up. Working together, they are done in less than an hour.
Thursday night is usually free. Joe likes to spend a little time studying and reading. Sometimes he'll get together with a couple of rowdy teenagers across the street and Jam. He plays bass. And sometimes Joe and Bonnie will bike over to Pastor Rye's house to chat for awhile.
Friday is typically family night. Just Joe and Bonnie. In all the world, there is no one Joe likes to talk to more than Bonnie.
Saturday morning is always eaten up by errands. But usually Joe and Bonnie are finished in time to grab a burger for lunch. After lunch, they'll go to watch some of the kids in the Body play Little League or Pop Warner. Quiet Joe becomes Joe the Fan. That night, some of the "Sports Crew" will go get some fajitas, the guys will get a beer and the women will say, "Beer is so gross." But its great fun and fellowship for Joe.
Sunday morning is the Day of Lord (as some count it.) Joe looks forward to the worship. Usually, he rises early, goes to the church building and "opens for business." Its a nice quiet time to sit and relax and meditate and pray. After Pastor Rye's sermon, Joe and Bonnie usually go to eat at Black-Eyed Pea with some of the brothers and sisters. Usually Rita comes to. (Sometimes Bob will meet them at the restaurant.) Afterwards, the men will go to the home of whoever has the best couches, or pool or ping pong table. After Sunday night worship, Joe locks up the building and he and Bonnie make it home in time for 24.
I get it. Pastor Rye's...pasteurize.
"then they're home in time for 24"
Sounds like my kind of guy.
I suppose "24" doesn't actually run on Sundays, but I dig it.
I thought you might like to join Joe and the boys on Monday nights, Anthony. They listen to "Audio A...cranked to 11." That's a quote from the Houseplant Song...one your favorite songs from one of your favorite bands.
:)
What you said is right, John.
And I like Joe Shmoe V2 better also. I am beginning to realize that our contemporary religious structures are going nowhere. With technology and advancements in convenience, our lives are becoming more busy...not less. With this in mind, we will have to make every effort to accomplish what is necessary to live in our culture. We all have chores, lawns to mow, soccer games, cars to wash and children to raise in sanctity. Somehow our lives must be structured (through prayer, faith, truth and love) so that we can accomplish these things together.
When you sit down to "consider how to spur one another on to good works" or how to "encourage one another daily...while it is still called today," you have to plan, structure and decide to love. We must redeem our time. Buy it back. Use it for our purposes.
I understand the whole "nothing in common" bit. But Life experience is the great leveler...the Commonality Builder. Not everyone is interested in Art, Rock-climbing and mission trips to Slovakia. :) Crazy, but true. But the day-to-day experience of accomplishing life's tasks together is a great bond.
If you had asked me ten years ago, "Would you be interested in web-design? Accoustic guitar? Ping-pong? Badminton? Card magic? Christian Rock music? Learning another language?" I probably would have turned them all down. But here I am doing that kind of stuff all the time. And each introduced by a brother. I even really like Graphic Design now. Woohoo!
But I have found that we need our brothers and sisters, not only for encouragement in Christ, but to richly enjoy life on this planet.
J-to-the-D-to-the-T,
You are right about the hobbies. I sort of misrepresented myself. Never done that before. :)
I was just using hobbies as an example. You will rarely say to Julie, "Well, the kids are in bed, I'm head'n' over to Jack's to play X-Box." However, the fact that you are willing to sit down and actually shoot the arms off of aliens, may mean something to someone else.
As you alluded, hobbies are just superficial niceties in the grand scheme of things. Theological differences, differences in practice of raising kids, variations in religious background, strange "ministry" ideas - these are the things that often have to be wrestled through. Its easier to jump on X-Box, than to tackle sin, ADD kids and semi-Pelagianism. But as people talk, share, confess, eat together, play together and experience life together...these hard things become that much easier to deal with. You guys are good at this.
As long as the differences are not canyons (i.e., the so-called brother rejects the clear teachings of Christ - not all are clear - or is involved in gross, unrepentant sin), differences can help us keep balanced. I don't necessarily like the term "balanced." To use a Cody Lewisian phrase, our differences can become that all-important dialectic. Where there are "no differences" we often find cultic and/or legalistic behavior. It is a good thing that our church is full of people from different races, backgrounds, denominations, cultures, ages and economic groups. This keeps us sharp, gives us a rich experience in Body life and gives us more opportunity to love in ways the world will never love. As believers, we have to open our hearts and our lives. Not only to God's will, but to the church itself.
But its hard. God give us patience.
P.S. Lisa and I don't do any hobbies together. But I still love her. :)
Hello, guys. I have really been thinking about the whole "love thy neighbor" lately. Our next door neighbors are drug addict/alcoholics, as well as some others a few houses up. I often hear yelling and cussing and see plenty of activity in and out of the houses. Renee, our neighbor, has come over a couple of days this last week to use our phone. She said their's was disconnected. I let her use the phone, but I didn't let her in. Well, today I heard yelling and cussing and shortly afterwards she showed up at my door. She was crying and said her boyfriend had just beaten her up and tried to strangle her. She wanted to use the phone and Cody let her. She told me she already called the police and they were going to pick her boyfriend up at his parents house. (Keep in mind that they are in their late 30's, early 40's.) How interesting that she doesn't have a phone, but already called the police!?! She called several people and someone finally came and picked her up. After she left, I went and met some other neighbors across the street. They filled me in on some history since they have lived on this street. Apparently, Renee and Tony have been constant troublemakers for years.
I wonder what it is to love your neighbor in this situation. I would like to reach out to them (May God show me how), but I have two small children and am home alone 3 nights a week.
I guess this is off the body life neighborly talk, but "who is my neighbor?" The man beaten, robbed, and left for dead did not expect his neighbor to be a Samaritan. It's scary getting involved in drug addicts' lives. We have worked with a lot of them from the inner-city ministry my brother worked with. But these people need the love of Christ. If we don't show it to them, who will? Do we let fear and safety control us? Or, do we hand it over to God and say come what may, even if in our eyes and to others it seems unwise because it puts ourselves and our children in potential danger? We just watched End of the Spear. A line that stuck with me is, "Son, we can't shoot the Waodani. They're not ready for heaven, but we are." They sacrificed their lives so others might be saved. They left the comfort of their families and gave their lives to share the love of Christ. Oh to be so bold! I must admit, I am scared to be so bold with my next-door neighbors. I am afraid they will be high and drunk and come knock my door down and, what, kill us. But they are not ready for heaven. Am I? Yes. Therefor, I should not be afraid of what might happen, right? I fear more for my children than for myself. But, then I think, what am I passing on the them? To fear the world? To not trust God? I pray I will teach them to trust God and love thy neighbor.
Well, I think I have exhausted my thoughts. Please share yours.
Steph
[i wrote the first 2/3ish of this a few days ago, but haven't had a chance to finish. i don't know if i still agree with all of it, but why should that stop me? At the risk of going on longer than JW's original post, i publish...--ed.]
Well if Steph didn't already shoot this here horse in a vital organ, then by golly, i will. This is the stuff i'd blog about if i had the power to hold anyone's attention for more than a single paragraph. And here's a ;-) just to cap it off (the first paragraph, i.e.)
"But I have found that we need our brothers and sisters, not only for encouragement in Christ, but to richly enjoy life on this planet." [JW 6:6]
i'd like to submit that a few thimbles-full of encouragement in Christ would richly contribute to my enjoyment of life on this planet. Here's the problem i have: (1) if "life experience is the great leveler...the Commonality Builder..." (which i think sounds fair enough) then your would-be co-exister would need at least some rudimentary life experience to qualify for that levelling. (2) If "the day-to-day experience of accomplishing life's tasks together is a great bond," then it seems like a perfectly reasonable prerequisite that the two (or ten) of you would need to have at least an infinitesimally similar notion of what having accomplished some of "life's tasks" will look like come time to tuck it in for sundown.
(1) i think there are people with no life experience. That's not to say that nothing's ever happened to them; only they've never realized a life-diverting experience. There are people whose "education" culminates in knowing when and where to "amen" and nod; who seem to respond to challenges, but who are never really challenged because they were never really distracted from their distractions in the first place. They'll furrow their brow and rub their chin like they're contemplating responding to your living assault on their lifestyle, but if you break eye-contact it's back to the idiot-box. Take Steph's crack-heads for an example. (we had a talk about them earlier.) i'd like to think that if Speedball threatened my family, i'd have what it takes to be like those guys in "End of the Spear." But i don't think i do. The dumbass is a zombie when he's on the pipe, and i'm not sure i could muster the "Logos" in the heat of the moment to see that sacrificing my family might somehow be beneficial to him. i 'spect i'd think of it as "death-therapy" and i'd shoot him 'till he quit twitching. i don't know if that's correct or not, but i don't know if the alternative is either. The point is, if the other is unwilling to experience anything, if he will only choose to be a self-serving animal-- never a co-learner on any level— how do you fellowship with him (or her)? For sure, the crack-head example is a little extreme (is there a living human in there?), but there’s some crossover value: it’s necessary in many cases to do what it takes, to be malleable enough to be “all things to all men,” but there’s also a point where you’re fellowshipping the heck out of a brick wall; if the other wants to be a swine, then that’s what you’re throwing your pearls before.
(2) Most of life, including fellowship, comprises accomplishing life’s tasks. You marry someone because you think, “Huh. This’un’d be a pretty darn good person to accomplish some of life’s tasks with. You betcha.” Then the Suckiness Tornado of No Common Interests hits full force and you close your eyes and click your heels together and say, “i really do love her… i really do love her (or “him” if you are, for example, my wife.) But you find a way through it; you find some kind of common ground or you make some up. i think there are (to stay with the “couples” analogy for a second) couples out there who never do find anything in common—and never bother to make anything in common—but stay together anyway: call of duty, i think. There are couples who never do anything together—hobbies or, well, anything else. But they always fill in that gap with something, and no matter how they file their taxes, they are not married. Likewise, i think it is possible to be “in fellowship” with folks with whom you have nothing in common, but there is a point whereat you are not really fellowshipping with them, even if you sorta generally like them and hope good things on their heads. And it may very well be that you’re not fellowshipping with them because they are not possible to fellowship with. (Except maybe in a superficial way, like posting on their obscure blog.)
i’m really not trying to throw a wrench in yer gears jd; fact, i'm talking to myself as much as anyone. Also, i'm not trying to come up with an excuse to not fellowship with people unlike me (which, far as i can tell, is a set populated by nearly 7 billion people). Like jw said, our differences create that infinite dialectical ground on which we learn what love is and what it means to love. (Ok, he didn't actually say that, but he meant it.) The point is, if it shakes you up inside to think of leaving-- like you'd be doing someone some damage-- then maybe there's something there that you haven't seen yet, even if the perfect m.o. hasn't revealed itself yet; the relationship's not dead. If, on the other hand, you could slope off to, say, the Rockies for a few years without anyone raising an eyebrow imploringly in your wake, then you might suppose safely that there's not a relationship there out of which to hammer some kinks.
i'd also like to say that i appreciate what you guys have had to say about martyring yourselves for the cause. That's inspiring. i think once upon a time i was ready to take a spear or a bullet without a fuss to prove my faith. Now i spend a lot of time thinking of reasons why it'd be better not to. That makes me mildly naseous with myself; but i'm glad for the nausea. i'm glad i can still wish i were better than i am.
"the Houseplant Song...one your favorite songs from one of your favorite bands."
Haw haw. They're breaking up, btw. Stuart's losing his voice, perhaps like the authors of some newer Bible versions...? Perhaps not.
"We have to pursue and cultivate relationships in the church just like we do with our spouses"
Problem is, you always reach a point at which you realize that one of you wants it worse than the other. That's when the shizit hits the fan. For some reason, this works in a marriage but nowhere else.
"without a forced discipling pyramid"
Have you tried Amway?
"Would you be interested in ... Christian Rock music?"
Careful! It's a short step from Christian rock to satanic metal!
"differences in practice of raising kids"
A mere nothing.
"Son, we can't shoot the Waodani. They're not ready for heaven, but we are."
That's a wholly different subject, and needs to be dealt with thoroughly with more time than I have here.
Hey j.d.
i think that's a very good way of saying it. The guys in "the Spear" didn't shove their families in with them and they also didn't exactly go to be martyred; they just knew they might be. i of course didn't take you to mean you were looking for the quickest, cleanest method of shedding your family. we've had sleepovers with crackeads and homeless drunks on a few occasions, and i've wondered if was wise, but then i spend maybe 363 days a year trying not to think about what the Father would have me do so i can sleep more peacefully. (Not, incidentally, that i do.) And i wonder if there's any wisdom in that either. i s'pect not. At any rate, i get awful sick of contemplating just how violent i'd get if someone were to bust into our house. i think i spend way more time pondering that scenario than ajr's preemptive strike, as i construe it: namely, i'm not out there giving the guy what he really needs before he breaks into my house to take what he thinks he needs. So yeah, i think some things would get a lot clearer if i spent more time like Jesus would do 'em; did do 'em.
Post a Comment