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Recently a friend of mine, a guy named Bob who likes to stir up trouble, posted this little conversation starter:

“The power of His church is in the pew, not necessarily in the Pulpit.”

My initial response was to think that this statement (which is a very Bob statement) has the power dynamic backwards. I get that he’s concerned about a Christianity that is all formalism and no action. When I read though I immediately thought that the real power is the Holy Spirit and I responded in such a manner. And while I think that is true, Bob’s statement has been running around in my head during conversations I’ve had since.  I want to reflect a bit in what I think Bob was pointing to.

If you claim to be a Christian and that makes no difference in how you live your life in this world then something is definitely wrong. 

Watching the debates around evangelicalism unfold in the US this past week leave me struggling to find Christ in what is going on. Compound this with a conversation I had this morning with an old friend whose interactions with a very dogmatic Christian leave him wondering where the relationship with God is for the guy peddling a strict form of neo-Calvinism. My own observation is that the people who are the most uptight about their faith, the most dogmatic and hardnosed, also tend to be assholes in real life. I know there are exceptions, at least I hope there are exceptions, but this is sadly the case I’ve run into over and over again. Please prove me wrong.

I feel like I’ve been there too. I remember an incident years and years ago when I found myself reaming out a parishioner for not wanting to be part of our evangelistic outreach. I was a real asshole to him. And he wasn’t the only one. When my faith was built on a tenuous structure of hardnosed beliefs I found myself defending that faith by belittling others. I’m sure I can still get that way although I try my best not to. Even Jesus’ disciples got that way from time to time – which is why I think Jesus took them to have the encounter with the syrophoenician woman. (Take a look at what happens to the miracles before and after that encounter, then look at how the disciples behaved.) The point though is that Jesus did things to show his disciples how they were acting, I worry that we are not always listening to what Jesus might be showing us about our actions.

What I really find troubling is when through our self-righteous attitudes we treat others like crap. Especially those who we do not think know that we are claiming to be Christ followers. Being a Christ follower doesn’t mean you are perfect, but it does mean you probably should stop being an asshole. My friend was telling me stories of his crew (not Christians) who go into the homes of Christians to do work and find that they are some of the worst of the people out there. Why is this the case? What makes us think that being a Christian makes no difference in how we treat others, especially when we think they might not realize we are Christians? Why does it not disturb us more that as soon as they see our Jesus bumper sticker they have that aha moment as to why we’ve been an asshole to them?

I get that not everyone will care to hear this. I hope some will. I myself am trying to be a good witness in all I do, and yes part of that is carefully choosing my words in this post. The bottom line is that claiming to have had a life changing encounter with someone like Jesus must mean more than just walking around feeling like you have one up on everyone else. Following Christ is costly, it will cost you your right to be an asshole.

Thanks Bob for the food for thought.