Christian Tourism

My husband and I spent the last long weekend being tourist in our own town. We’ve lived here for over 20 years and we didn’t know the details of the town’s history the short term visitor picks up while visiting the tourist spots. However, even though a tourist may know detailed bits and pieces about a town, they rarely know the town.

 A resident, on the other hand, does. A town is a community and if a community wants to survive, it takes care of its members. Now people don’t always agree how to do that and some have hidden agendas, but ultimately, there is a consistent goal to make the town work and look after the residents. The residents may include the homeless, entrepreneurs, recovering addicts, Olympic athletes, mentally or physically ill, Phds, high school drop-outs, gang members, military.....anyone who lives there.

I used to be a Christian tourist, not someone who goes on pilgrimages, but rather a someone who tours various flavours of Christianity.

The church I attended as a child, defined sin as doing the wrong thing, a series of rules and regulations which had to be obeyed or else God would be mad at you and you would end up in hell. It was a common parenting technique, behave or be spanked. But God’s punishment was scarier.

My teenage rebellion against parental authority included my rebellion against this version of God. My subsequent touring of different faiths led me to a place where I accepted Jesus as my Lord and saviour. My self-centred understanding of that concept made me a spiritually superior jerk ‘cause I had my ticket to heaven and anyone who didn’t believe as I did was a sinner who was going to hell’. Every encounter I had with people, especially my family, became an opportunity to preach the gospel as I knew it, whether they wanted to hear it or not.

I continued to tour, checking out a variety of one issue churches. They all had appealing facades, sounded good and, like at most attractions, the tourists were tightly controlled.

At one church, I knew a woman who was encouraged by the church leaders to leave her husband because ‘he held her back from her ministry’. I met people who were told their faith wasn’t strong enough since they weren’t healed from a physical disease or they were struggling financially. They must have been sinning because ‘perfect health and financial success were marks of God’s blessing’.

Once I asked a ‘teacher’ about the struggles and the persecutions of the early Christians and apostles, and I was told ‘if they knew then what we know now (about faith) they wouldn’t have had to suffer.’

I knew a young woman castigated for missing Sunday evening services when she went skiing after the morning service on her only day off.

I saw marriages explode because people acted the part of good Christians while, in reality, they struggled with the problems and pain which their church said would disappear once they said ‘the prayer’. When their lives finally fell apart, they felt shunned by the church since they obviously were not ‘new creatures in Christ.’

These were churches which shot their wounded, hid the bodies out of sight while the stench announced a failure of their love.

This was tourist Christianity, a place that looks intriguing but is unable to sustain life.

True Christianity requires us to love each other no matter what. As a Christian tourist, I had a self-sanctified, holier-than-thou attitude which was not conducive to loving relationships. 

As an Orthodox Christian, at every liturgy I confess I am the worst of sinners and, compared to Christ, I am. This humility is the way to loving relationships which creates community; a group of people living with, and struggling to overcome their problems, who are strengthened by the love and care of those around them. An accepting community nurtures all its members and doesn’t kill the weak and shun the difficult.

 Sure, the passing tourist may spend money but it’s the community which, in the long run, sustains or destroys the people who live there full-time.

This is my Christianity and this is my community.

Worry

Like most people, worry is a familiar companion. I worry if I miss the garbage pick-up or if someone judges me after my dog drops a load but before I can pull out the poop bag. I worry when the bills arrive and if I’ve met others’ expectations.

I’ve always had this problem. When I was a kid in school, my days were a constant balancing act between pleasing the teachers, my parents and my peers. At work, there was constant pressure to keep customers happy, the bosses content and avoid offending fellow employees.

After I married, my husband was a salesman on the road and, if he was more than half an hour late, I would plan his funeral while crying and nursing my baby. Maybe it was the hormones, maybe it was worry turning to fear.

I would worry my food wasn’t as good as my mother-in-law’s, if my kids liked me or if I was an overbearing mother. I worried over my children if they were bullied or came home crying or what other people thought of them and, by reflection, what they thought of me.

I still worry about them, even though the children are all grown adults, some with children of their own.

Obviously, if there was a situation that I could do something about, I would. But more often, I imagined the problems. I would ‘what if’ and start worrying about a possible, but highly unlikely, scenario to the point of fear.

After all, what is worry but just the seed of fear and as Yoda said “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

My worry often led to confrontation and anger, especially with my children when they wanted to do something which I feared would lead to maiming or death. I don’t think I ever got as far as hate, though, just resentment of the all imagined expectations controlling my life.

Over the years, I’ve realized worry and fear don’t help and can actually make a situation worse.

If you have ever made and played with cornstarch ooze you’ll have an illustration of what I mean. It looks and feels like a liquid, but if you squeeze it hard or strike it, it feels solid. Stop squeezing and open your hand and the ooze will flow through your fingers like liquid. The more energy you apply to the liquid, the more solid it will become.

Quicksand is the same. Thrashing around in quicksand causes it to clump and solidify making it harder to escape. But relaxing, with minimum movements, keeps the quicksand liquid allowing floating and gently swimming to safety.

Fear and worry are my quicksand. The more I worry, the more I fear, the more I struggle with the problems of this world, the greater the likelihood I will sink and be overwhelmed. The demons tempt me with situations. They want me to worry, to fear and rage against the world so they can get stronger while I get weaker. They have no power within themselves, only what I give them. My resistance, my anger, my worry, my fear is their strength which drains me, leaving little room for love.

I once had a poster reading “Let go and let God.” It is a very succinct way of expressing what I, as a follower of Christ am supposed to do. When I recognize my worry, I need to stop and relax, let go of the situation and trust in God. If instead, I struggle with the worry, it grows stronger and I become paralyzed with fear and will drown in the anger. Relaxing allows me to float and keep my eyes on God, secure in His love. Without worry to build on, the demons will flow away like water, unable to stand against the embodiment of perfect love in Jesus Christ, the one who casts out fear (1 John 4).

Phillipians 4:6 “Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God.”

Worry should not lead to fear, worry is a signal it’s time for prayer and to ‘let God’.

Be a Fractal

God is a mathematician. Really. From spiral galaxies to cyclical time, from geographic formations to plants, from seashells to snowflakes, we find fractal patterns that can be described by chaotic equations. Fractal patterns repeat themselves. Examine a fractal pattern, look at its component parts and you will see a nearly identical smaller copy of the whole. Which leads me to my point; God doesn't just do things on a macro scale, He repeats the event on a smaller scales as well. In other words, everything He does in the world, He also does inside of us and He expects us to repeat the pattern.
This applies to Christmas.

Every year in December I hear people cry, 'Put Christ back into Christmas' and 'Jesus is the Reason for the Season' and I wonder don't these people realize that Christmas is more than just words? God become flesh and dwelt among us. Christ came to redeem humanity which bemoaned the weight of evil since Adam. So we, in repeating the pattern, redeem our neighbours, by mitigating the evil in their lives.

We are repeating the pattern of Christ when we give to charity, spend time with the family, either physically or listening on a phone. We repeat the pattern when we bring joy by singing in nursing homes, pack food hampers, serve at soup kitchens and feed the homeless. All these things are smaller identical patterns of Christ's coming to redeem mankind. Christ came to restore the relationship between all of mankind and God. When we mend and strengthen relationships with each other, we are to restoring mankind's relationship with God. When we serve others, we are serving God. When we love others, we love God.

Anyone and everyone who does anything to help others is celebrating the birth of Christ by becoming part of the pattern. Whether or not we consciously acknowledge Him, if we heal the brokenhearted or set the captives free, we celebrate His coming.

Christ hasn't just been born into the world, He has been born into all of mankind, into every single man, woman and child on this planet. This just happens to be the time of the year when we put aside our selfishness as we start to catch a glimpses of the image of the Christ child in those around us. Christ was, is and will be born into the world, bringing light to pierce the darkness, peace to replace the hatred and joy instead of sadness. Why else did the German and English troops lay down their weapons and celebrate with each other in No Man's Land during Christmas 1914?

This is the pattern of Christ. The winter solstice is the time of light returning to the world. Christ is the light of the world. We, in turn, bring light and peace and joy to those we meet. This pattern re-occurs every year to remind us of His message.

Let us put Christ back into our hearts and not just on the sign.

Let us be part of the pattern of Christ year-round and not just at Christmas.

Faith Alone

I saw a poster which read "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you and rose again, does." Now I have a problem with this statement because it doesn't define 'believe.' Even the demons believe but are they saved? How to believe was also debated during the apostles time and James answered fairly definitively;

“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them ' Go in peace, be warmed and filled' without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has not works, is dead.
But some one will say, 'You have your faith and I have works.'Show me your faith apart from your works and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well, Even the demons believe... and they shudder.” James 2:14-19 RSV

Belief is only the first step, by itself, it is not sufficient. Belief needs right action. The depth of our belief and our relationship with God is demonstrated by our relationships with the people He brings to us, not by the things we claim to do in His name.

Matthew 7:21-23 RSV “Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.”
Jesus elaborates on this teaching with the parable of the goats and sheep in Matthew 25 :31-46. Both groups addressed Him as Lord, but only the group which helped those in need were commended, the others were separated from Him for eternity. Jesus tells us when we help anyone, we help him.

We need our initial faith to believe in Him and accept what He has done for us, but we have to keep renewing that faith daily, hourly, minutely. (“Lord, I believe, help my unbelief' Mark 9:24 KJV). Thinking our initial acceptance of God's grace is going to last the rest of our lives is like thinking our one and only introductory, free visit to the gym is going to keep us fit for the rest of our lives. Following Christ is hard work and maintaining faith is difficult, it's a work out. But we persevere and as we get stronger in faith we are expected to do more. As Jesus told his disciples “Freely ye have received , freely give.” Matt 10:8 KJV
Salvation and works are joined together.

“Once saved, always saved” is a heresy which can lead people to selfishness and separation from God. Our salvation is ongoing. Any time we are free to reject all that which God wants for us. No one forces us to accept the gift and no one forces us to keep it. We demonstrate our acceptance or rejection by our actions... everything we do in relationship to others.

'Saved by faith alone.' is also heretical. Martin Luther developed that dogma at the time of the reformation. He also wanted to ignore the Book of James because it contradicted him. The only place in the Bible where 'faith' and 'alone' are together (at least in the KJV) is James 2:17 “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”

Authority

Authority is a word that a lot of people don’t like. When these people think of authority, the words oppression, dictatorial and abuse often come to mind. Unfortunately, these are all results, not of authority itself but of the abuse of authority. True and non-abusive authority brings peace and stability.
When I received my commission in the military, I was rather uncomfortable. There I was, a twenty-one year old full lieutenant. The men who knew, trained and verbally abused me as a wet-behind-the ears officer cadet were now calling me "Ma’am", and saluting me.

These were men who had sweated through ten or twenty years of hard work to obtain experience in their trade and the respect of their co-workers and they became accountable to me. Me, an inexperienced know-little who by the power of a piece of paper with BSC on it plus three summers of classroom work was made their boss; men who had more military knowledge in their little finger than I had in my whole body.

I authorized their work and took responsibility for it. I was in charge, at least within the confines of my section and I was granted my position of authority by those who were in authority above me.

I was in authority because I was under authority. Unless I obeyed my superior officers and did what was expected, I would have had no authority. I was also responsible to those under me; to protect them and to assist them complete their assignments. A good officer takes care of his men first and then himself.
Nearly two thousand years ago, a military officer approached Jesus and asked Him to heal his servant. The officer was a Roman centurion, a man who commanded 100 other men. He could tell his men to jump and they would ask "how high?". He was a man who knew discipline and expected obedience. He was a man in authority.

When Jesus agreed to come and heal the servant, the centurion stopped Him and told Him it would be unnecessary for Him to come to the house, all He had to do was to say the word and the servant would be healed. The centurion went on to say that he recognized the authority in Jesus to do this because he, the centurion, was also a man under authority. Note, he did not say IN authority, he said UNDER authority.

He knew he only had authority because he was under authority, just like Jesus had authority because He was under the ultimate authority of God the Father. Being under authority did not make Jesus less than His Father, it meant He was in submission to His Father.

Our problem today is that we are too quick to view authority from a hierarchical position, a worldly position, where those with more authority are somehow considered superior to those with less. Biblical submission and authority does not imply either inferiority or superiority.

Having authority means being brave enough to delegate the authority and taking responsibility for the results. Authority used properly, should be a co-operative venture, where different people assume different roles, all roles being equally important to the project at hand and recognized as such. Yes, some one person is designated to make decisions, but if all are truly working for the Lord, then there should be no resentment from those who do not make those decisions.
Being under authority doesn’t mean giving up your opinion and identity. Rather, it brings fulfilment of your potential as you co-operate and do your part towards completion of a goal. Being under authority can also bring greater authority and responsibility. As our Lord said, 'show yourselves to be faithful in small things and you will be given charge over many'.

Authority provides structure and structure provides stability in all areas of our lives. Without authority, without voluntary submission, without accountability and responsibility we build a self-centred world without laws, without conscience and without compassion.

In short, we build a world without God, the source of all authority. This is a world where we look out for number one, where ‘if it feels good, do it’, where there are no absolute truths and where chaos reigns.

Jesus said, "He that would be greatest among you must be the servant of all."
Many want authority, but only those who submit to being under authority will have true authority, the authority that God gives.

Wax or Clay

 A few years back, I heard about a family from South Africa who had moved to an area in Canada specifically because of the lack of sunshine. The children suffered from, what was in essence, an allergy to the sun. They were unable to spend time in direct sunlight. Needless to say, this made life difficult for the family.

I wondered at this situation. I don't often think about the sun and actually probably take it for granted. I relish its every appearance during the dark days of winter and complain when the sky has been overcast for too long. I garden and play and relax in the sunlight, but when it gets too hot, I complain. To think that something so necessary to life can be painful and even deadly to some people is paradoxical. But then we need to realize the sun itself hasn’t changed, just a person's response to it.

Over the years, I've heard a lot of comments about the passage in the Old Testament where it says God hardened Pharaoh's heart so he (Pharaoh) would not let the Israelites go. There were people who said that wasn't very fair of God, hardening someone's heart like that and others who used the passage as a justification for predestination. Similar arguments were put forth about Judas. “These people can't be blamed for their actions if God made them like that!” Believing that everyone has a choice about accepting or rejecting God, these passages also confused me.

Then after I read about this family, things started to make sense. God is like the sun, He never changes. He is Who He is and my relationship with Him is entirely dependent upon my reaction, my response, to Him.

The same sun can cause either pleasure or pain depending upon the person. The same sun can both melt wax and harden clay. The same God can inspire either love or hatred.

I realized my response to God is entirely dependent upon my choice. Am I open to Him or am I resistant and want to do my own thing? Am I struggling to draw closer to God or to run away?

I realized that when the Bible tells us God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it doesn’t mean that God purposely caused Pharaoh to spurn Him and to persecute His people, it means Pharaoh chose to ignore the presence of God and pursue, instead, his own goals. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened in the presence of God instead of melting and giving into God. Judas was the same. Instead of acknowledging God’s presence through Christ, he chose to follow his own agenda and thus betrayed Christ. His heart was hardened by the presence of God.

Am I wax or am I clay?

I know of people who claim to be Christian but who knowingly lie and cheat. They continue to do what they want to and when questioned, reply ‘I believe in a God of love. He loves me and will forgive anything and everything I do.’

In essence that’s true. God truly does love each and everyone of us. He wants to forgive us all and reconcile every single person to Himself, so much so that He sent His Son Jesus to do exactly that, but we have to co-operate. We just can't say we love God, we have to act like it as well. Ultimately, as my mother used to tell me, 'your actions speak louder than your words'. I can say I love God as often as I want, but in the end, my words mean nothing while my actions mean everything. I can say I'm sorry, but I need to show it by repenting and not repeating or continuing the behaviour which separates me from another person and, ultimately, God. I am foolish if I expect full forgiveness without true repentance, which means changing my actions.

After all, if I knowingly sin and comfort myself by saying 'God will forgive me', I am building up a resistance to God. I am, in essence, developing an allergy to Him and His love. The more I choose to follow my own wants and desires, the more I'm pulling away from Him, and if I don't want to be close to God in this life, how can I possible enjoy His presence in the next? If I turn my back on God now, will I be able to face Him later? I've been given time in this world to prepare for my life in the next. How I respond to God now will determine my place in the next.

Just as it is a painful, burning experience for someone with a sun allergy to be in the sunlight, so it is for someone with a God-allergy to be in the presence of God. Unfortunately, we can't hide from God the way we can from the sun. Since God is present everywhere, He, in His mercy, prepared hell so the pain of being in His presence for those who don't want to be, wouldn’t be as great. Hell is not a complete separation from God, but rather it is a ‘distance’ from Him.

God does not punish someone by sending him or her to hell, it is a destination determined by each person's choices in this life. It is inevitable that I will eventually be in God's presence, but whether I rejoice or suffer in His presence depends upon me and my actions in this world here and now.

If I'm searching for God now and doing my best to emulate Him, no matter how feeble the effort, if I sincerely try to love all those around me, to humble myself and to lift others up, I am doing well. If, on the other hand, I concern myself with myself, seeking pleasure, considering others as stepping stones to my own desires or ignoring them completely, then I am developing an allergy to God.
God can and does forgive me. But how can I draw close enough to accept that forgiveness if I can’t stand to be in His presence because I've spent a lifetime running away from Him?

Jesus tells a story of a man who asked his two sons to go into the field to perform a task. One said he would not go, the other said he would. However, as the day progressed, the son who had said he would go, never did. Meanwhile, the son who had said he would not go, changed his mind and went and did the task. Who received the father's commendation? Daily, I have to ask, which son am I most like?

I know I will spend eternity with God but it is my choice, here and now, as to whether it will be in agony or in ecstasy.

Image of God

I have never visited Rome, it's on my "Places to See before I die" list, (now known as a Bucket List, according to my children) but I've read a lot about it and have been fascinated with its history.

One place I would really like to see is the Vatican. These buildings have been standing for centuries and have been the destination for millions of people. Michelangelo is one of them.

In fact, Michelangelo was hired to paint the massive ceilings of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. It took him fours years to complete the work but when he was done, visitors could see his vision painstakingly illustrated on the ceiling in brilliant colours. Biblical figures, angels, demons and God Himself, were caught in one freeze frame of each of their stories.

But time wasn't kind to that work of art. Years of grime, soot and natural pollution dulled the brilliance of the colours, distorted the images and, in some places, even covered them completely. What we saw on the ceiling of the cathedral in the 20th century is not what Michelangelo painted nearly 500 years previously. But even though we couldn't see them, the images were still there.

'So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female He created them.' Genesis 1:27

I knew that Bible verse. It was probably one of the first I could quote. As I grew in faith, I began to gain understand it more. I realized it meant not only Adam and Eve, but each and every of us has been created in the image of God. In other words, every person in the world, past, present and future, has God's image within. No where in the Bible does it say God's image has ever been revoked from mankind or from a single person. God's image exists within every single man, woman and child ever created.

This was a revelation to me especially when viewed in the light of how I treat people. There were a lot of people out there whom I would consider less than Godly, and if I was honest, I would be one of them. So where was this image of God in the people around me? Where was it in me? And how could I make it more visible?

The answer was revealed to me in an article about the restoration of the Sistine Chapel. Just like Michelangelo's work of art, years of sin and spiritual pollution have darkened the image of God in all of mankind and within each person individually. The darkness varies from person to person, sometimes God's image may be quite apparent in someone. Other times, there may only be a rough outline or just the occasional a flash of its brilliance. And sometimes the image may be so buried under the grimy layers of sin that we wonder if it is there at all.

It is.

Michelangelo's paintings have been painstakingly cleaned over the years and marvellous things have been brought to light. There are colours no one even imagined existed back then. Figures and details hidden for centuries under layers of grime and soot have gradually emerged in all their brilliance. It is taking longer and involving more people to restore Michelangelo's original painting then it took for him to create it.

That was my revelation; the Sistine chapel wasn't restoring itself, there were dozens of people working to bring back the original images in all their glory. God in His wisdom has provided me with all the restorers I need to uncover His image within me. They are all the people I meet daily, not just those in the church, but those at work, on the street, at play; every single person is brought into my life to help my restoration, to help my salvation.

And there is more. I am not only responsible for helping to restore the image of God within myself, but also responsible for restoring it within others. They help me while I help them. Which means I have to work doubly hard to refraining from hiding God's image even more.

When I get annoyed and impatient with someone, insult them either verbally or mentally, or stereotype people, I am not acknowledging the image of God within them, I'm covering it up.

When I treat a group of teenagers with suspicion just because they are teens, when I'm impatient with the elderly and brusque to a telemarketer, I'm adding layers of grime to the image of God within each of them. But even worse, I'm adding double layers to the image within myself.

I think one of the hardest things to do is to see past the grime and the sin and seek out the image of God that exists within each and every annoying and scary person, and then to react accordingly. I figure the more I look and act like I see God’s image in every person I meet, I will be helping to restore that image, and not just in the person in front of me, but within myself as well.

We are talking hard work here. Restoration is hard work but unlike the restorers of Michelangelo's paintings, we don't have to guess at about the original image. Jesus Christ is that image and He is master restorer. As part of the Body of Christ I am supposed to help; to help restore myself and others around me. Fortunately, I've been given a life-time to do it.

And, man, do I need it.