Pre-thanksgiving thoughts pt. II

I feel stereotyped but defiant.

Labels mean a lot these days, even as we attempt constantly to cast them off. They're powerful enough that entire judgments are made about a person based off of a simple adjective. I'm thinking, of course, of the adjective 'Christian' used to denote a person, event, organization, etc. that seeks to identify itself with Christianity... whatever that means. Things that are 'Christian' have a bad reputation, it seems.

Wes has likened our problem to that of the fraternities on campus. A lot of the recent comment war on the Daily Gazette articles stemmed from what seemed to be inherent prejudice against Greek life. Coming into play was this mental association of frat brothers with drinking, partying, slacking off, white male privilege, discrimination, and lots of other negative things. We at SCF don't have the same reputation, of course, but people are wary around us, too. Christians today and in history have been exclusive, oppressive, intolerant, unreasonable, stingy, hypocritical, and downright unattractive.

Pre-thanksgiving thoughts pt. 1

I feel jerked in two directions.

I know, I eschew dichotomies as much as the next person, but ideas have grown increasingly black and white over the past few weeks, and I don't know why, but this is what it's been sounding like for me...

On one hand, there is a kingdom of God that is small, like a mustard seed. (Today's sermon at Renewal was based off of Mark 4:26-34.) It has humble beginnings, and it grows slowly, but inevitably. It requires patience to see the fruit of this plant. Pastor Charles encouraged us not to lose the faith, even when Christianity became "boring". It isn't all about the mega-churches, the revival meetings, or the deadlines of a generation of results-oriented, perfectionist American Christians.