Can We Repair the Divot?
Often times I feel I am as good at theology as I am golf. Sure, every once and a while I’ll hit a nice shot, but most of my game consists of chasing the ball from one side of the course to the other trying to find that ever elusive hole. I hit trees, get stuck in sand traps, lose balls in water, lose balls out of bounds, lose balls out of my bag I forgot to zip up, and as you might expect my divots can go farther than my Dunlop (not that I use their golf balls, I was just enticed by the alliteration), which assumes I don’t miss the ball altogether (which I do).
Like theology, my most enjoyable times on the course are when I forget about trying to get the ball in the hole, take a step back, and look at the surroundings. The blueness of the sky, majestic peaks covered with snow, truly the greenest grass on earth, creeks babbling to ponds, the gentle breeze across my face, with the warmth of the sun on my back, all of which leads me to worship. If I take a step back from understanding theology completely, and just looking at the surroundings I am led to worship. My moment, however, is interrupted by someone yelling at me to keep moving so we don’t have to let the next guy play through . . . so life and theology must be a balance between stepping back to worship, and trying to finish the game by getting the ball in the hole.
The analogy could continue numerous ways, but let’s move on as there is something I am getting at: stay with me. Divots are flying, and I am not sure how to replace the fairway . . . let me explain.
The last few months I have asked several groups of people “How does the world see Christians?” All of the responses relay a similar theme. Hypocritical, judgmental, holier than thou, stuffy, etc . . . Whether that is a fair assessment or not, I think it is an accurate assessment of how much of the non-believing world sees Christians.
Two main things concern me. First, Jesus’ words from John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” There is something about the way Christians should love, that people will look in from the outside with awe, and think the only thing that could explain this type of love is that they are disciples of Jesus.
Am I missing something here? Why isn’t that our experience? Was Jesus speaking the truth? (Ok, that was a dumb question.)
How have we gotten to the place where the world can spot a Christian a mile away not because of our love, but because of hypocrisy and readiness to cast the first stone? Something is wrong.
As I consider that question I am led to the second thing that concerns me. Watching The Passion of the Christ made me realize that Jesus lived out His own words in Matthew 5 “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Jesus did that to the fullest extent possible with the people who were enjoying killing Him, and He was anything but a hypocrite. I must surrender to this conclusion, “What the world says about me is true.” I am a hypocrite, I am judgmental. It doesn’t take anything more than someone cutting me off in traffic, or moving my golf ball accidentally for me to lose my love, never mind the tougher issues of life. At that moment in the theater I felt like standing up and repenting in front of all those people; apologizing for being such an awful reflection of Christ. And I continue wanting to change, wanting to replace the divots that have made the once green fairway look pretty ugly. Who would want to play on this golf course?
So here we are together at the newsletter thinking about our purpose, “To love God, and love others to God.” If we start seeking to deeply love every person we come in contact with whether it is the first time we meet them, whether they are a friend or an enemy, could we change the way the people of Tigard see Christians? Could we actually love enough, with God’s grace, that we could change the culture, and demonstrate the truth of Jesus’ words . . . that we would be known for our love?
I must admit that this is a loving church, probably the most loving church I have ever been to, but I think we have a long way to go to be able to truly change our culture with love. So let’s brainstorm together. Does this reality disturb you as it does me? Do you think we need to change? How can we change? To answer those questions, or to respond to this article go to http://www.tigardfirstbaptist.com/board/ click on “Can We Repair the Divot?” and let’s start the conversation.
With an eagerness to become more Christlike as a community,
Pastor Jon
Like theology, my most enjoyable times on the course are when I forget about trying to get the ball in the hole, take a step back, and look at the surroundings. The blueness of the sky, majestic peaks covered with snow, truly the greenest grass on earth, creeks babbling to ponds, the gentle breeze across my face, with the warmth of the sun on my back, all of which leads me to worship. If I take a step back from understanding theology completely, and just looking at the surroundings I am led to worship. My moment, however, is interrupted by someone yelling at me to keep moving so we don’t have to let the next guy play through . . . so life and theology must be a balance between stepping back to worship, and trying to finish the game by getting the ball in the hole.
The analogy could continue numerous ways, but let’s move on as there is something I am getting at: stay with me. Divots are flying, and I am not sure how to replace the fairway . . . let me explain.
The last few months I have asked several groups of people “How does the world see Christians?” All of the responses relay a similar theme. Hypocritical, judgmental, holier than thou, stuffy, etc . . . Whether that is a fair assessment or not, I think it is an accurate assessment of how much of the non-believing world sees Christians.
Two main things concern me. First, Jesus’ words from John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” There is something about the way Christians should love, that people will look in from the outside with awe, and think the only thing that could explain this type of love is that they are disciples of Jesus.
Am I missing something here? Why isn’t that our experience? Was Jesus speaking the truth? (Ok, that was a dumb question.)
How have we gotten to the place where the world can spot a Christian a mile away not because of our love, but because of hypocrisy and readiness to cast the first stone? Something is wrong.
As I consider that question I am led to the second thing that concerns me. Watching The Passion of the Christ made me realize that Jesus lived out His own words in Matthew 5 “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Jesus did that to the fullest extent possible with the people who were enjoying killing Him, and He was anything but a hypocrite. I must surrender to this conclusion, “What the world says about me is true.” I am a hypocrite, I am judgmental. It doesn’t take anything more than someone cutting me off in traffic, or moving my golf ball accidentally for me to lose my love, never mind the tougher issues of life. At that moment in the theater I felt like standing up and repenting in front of all those people; apologizing for being such an awful reflection of Christ. And I continue wanting to change, wanting to replace the divots that have made the once green fairway look pretty ugly. Who would want to play on this golf course?
So here we are together at the newsletter thinking about our purpose, “To love God, and love others to God.” If we start seeking to deeply love every person we come in contact with whether it is the first time we meet them, whether they are a friend or an enemy, could we change the way the people of Tigard see Christians? Could we actually love enough, with God’s grace, that we could change the culture, and demonstrate the truth of Jesus’ words . . . that we would be known for our love?
I must admit that this is a loving church, probably the most loving church I have ever been to, but I think we have a long way to go to be able to truly change our culture with love. So let’s brainstorm together. Does this reality disturb you as it does me? Do you think we need to change? How can we change? To answer those questions, or to respond to this article go to http://www.tigardfirstbaptist.com/board/ click on “Can We Repair the Divot?” and let’s start the conversation.
With an eagerness to become more Christlike as a community,
Pastor Jon
posted by Jon Knapp at
9:29 AM
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