authenticity..

i just bought a copy of "blue like jazz" by donald miller. the first time i heard about "blue like jazz" was a few years ago when i was living in honduras. mark connell told me the book was great, that i would love it because it shows perspective on christianity that is different from what i've grown up with. i didn't buy it then, i don't know why, i just didn't.. i ended up getting "searching for god knows what" about a year ago, it was another one of miller's books and i immediately connected with his writing style and loved the book. he spoke at lipscomb pretty soon after i read that, and after hearing him speak i bought "through painted deserts." he speaks in simple terms and clearly defines what he thinks, but it doesn't make you want to believe exactly what he believes, it just makes you question what you believe, which i think is a healthy way to grow in your faith. if you never question what you believe, you're saying that you have it all figured out.. so i got a gift card to a book store (for those of you who know me well, you might laugh at this gift, as i'm not much of a reader, per say...) and i bought "blue like jazz." i'm not doing some sort of book review that i didn't tell you about, or preaching the gospel of donald miller, but i would recommend reading his stuff, especially "blue like jazz."
i'm a little over halfway through, and somewhere in the middle he is talking about his church, the things he loves about it, and he said a word about it that made me think about myself, my friends, family, and churches that i have attended: authenticity.
for some reason recently i think the spirit has put a ministry focus on my heart. i don't mean that i'm going to start preaching from a pulpit, just that i think we are all called to minister to everyone we come in contact with. this is something that i haven't done well at in my life. if i don't know you, i might come off as a jerk, or someone who just doesn't care. but the truth is, i care very much, and i'm working on making that more apparent to the people i come in contact with. i think someone, or some group of people, would have enormous success ministering if they were authenic about their lives. i have been to few, if any, churches who are a group of people who are completely authentic with their faith. i'm not saying that they aren't good places to grow spiritually, or that they aren't good people. but if we face the reality of life, we are broken people with more problems than we let on. in a church of 400 members, you can bet your bottom dollar that there are 400 people who struggle with loneliness, greed, envy, lust, alcohol, trust issues, family problems and the list goes on. but how many of those people come to the building on sunday morning and lay it all out there? not many, if any. we all come in our sunday best, put on the show that we're happy to be there (when sometimes we know good and well that we'd rather be at home) and that everything in our life is wonderful.
i have 2 problems with this. actually i have more, but 2 for now. first, how can we minister to eachother if we can't be honest with eachother and share our struggles, concerns, doubts and fears, hopes and aspirations? how can you pray for my problems when i don't tell you what they are? and for that matter, how can i tell you i'm struggling with this or with that, when it seems that you don't struggle with anything, let alone the things that i struggle with? god gave us community to share and lean on eachother to build strength and faith. my other problem is, that we need to be very aware that the world around us doesn't have the same sentiments about god, jesus, or christianity. people believe what they believe for a reason, and for good reason. maybe they have been wronged by a christian, who didn't act in a christian way. or maybe they are tired of seeing hypocrites saying they are christians and not serving the way a christian should. we don't need to know their specific reason for believing what they believe, but we do need to be aware of what they believe. and a defensive response to someone saying that all christians are hypocrites is natural, but guess what: it's true. i'm a hypocrite, you're a hypocrite. not that we should embrace that fact as something good, but it's the truth. i don't want to ruin the book, because it's a pretty big part of it, but a group of christians set out to minister to people by confessing to them. not saying "we're holy, tell us your sins" but saying "we're broken, we apologize for sinning against you. we're sorry for being judgmental and arrogant, but not living out the lives that jesus called us to live, and claiming that we are doing exactly that. god called us to love everyone, and we haven't loved everyone. we're sorry." maybe this isn't the best way of bringing people closer to a relationship with god, but maybe it is, or maybe it's a great idea. are the broken pouring in the doors of your church? are non-believers asking you to tell them about your jesus? if they are, tell me what you're doing. i think that a non-believer is more likely to listen to me if i say "i'm a sinner, i fail god everyday, but i still believe he loves me and wants me to be with him. jesus is my savior and my friend, and he died for me because he loves me." rather than "homosexuality is an abomination. repent and be baptized" or "you should come to my church and see how happy everyone is."

i don't know. just some thoughts. i'm not authentic that much of the time. i should be.

NCR