Every so often we are forced to go to places that we find intimidating and scary. If you have ever had to go to the bathroom, I mean really go, and the only option for miles around was the restroom at a rundown gas station, you know what I mean. You think about finding a bush to hide behind, or just how embarrassing it would be to wet yourself, but your pride compels you to enter that dark, disgusting, outhouse from hell.
Well, recently I had to go to one of those places that freaks me out as much, if not more, than a gas station bathroom. I was required to go to an art and craft store. Laugh if you will, but these establishments are a house of horrors for me. All that glue, glitter, paint and Popsicle sticks...I shudder just thinking about it. I am not artsy or crafty. I possess no discernible skill or aptitude for such things. I make my living with words (and my awesome good looks). I like words and I think they like me as well. Spoken or written does not matter, I am able to create pretty much anything I want from words. Put a piece of construction paper in my hands, however, and it can get ugly. Fast.
My lack of talent was identified early on by my elementary school teachers. My artwork never won any awards, in fact nothing I drew or sculpted ever made it past the "Nice Job" sticker that everyone got just for trying. I am not blaming my teachers for my phobia of arts and crafts. The truth hurts and they had nothing to gain by pretending that I possessed even a shred of ability. At least they were kind enough to not laugh in my face.
I have recently decided that it is time to conquer my fear. So, not only did I go to the art and craft store without the security of my wife and youngest child (both of whom have significant artistic ability. Nothing like getting an artistic beat down by a 6 year old to help the old self esteem!) I also registered for an art class. I still am trying to figure out why I decided to get brave and subject myself to a humiliating reaffirmation of my dearth of artistic talent. The first night of the class was consumed by several drawing projects so the teacher could get a feel for our talent level. When she looked at my work her face betrayed no shock or disappointment, but her words said it all, "What an, er, interesting artistic rendering." I am certain that she is even now reevaluating her desire to teach the likes of me.
There are many things that I am not good at. Home improvement projects, making the bed, and appreciating any film with Hugh Grant top the list, but they are not alone. Over the last four decades I have,through trial and err, discovered many areas that are not my strong suits. I am willing to venture that you are aware of those things that you are not very good at. Sometimes we feel more defined by what we can't do as by what we can. So we tend to limit ourselves, staying away from tasks that require math or music or public speaking or even a modest understanding of plumbing. We turn down opportunities because we know with great certainty that, well, we just plain suck at what every skill is required to play basketball or knit or watch Hugh Grant flicks.
Dear reader, today I would like to affirm your inabilities. In fact I want to challenge you to spend a significant chunk of your day thinking about those many things you don't do well. Forget about what you are gifted at, I want you to make a list, and check it twice, of everything you know (and everybody else knows) you lack the skills and competency to do. Study it. Memorize it. Frame it (unless, like me, you are not so gifted at sticking a piece of paper in a frame without getting at least one corner all crumpled up). Acknowledge your limitations, celebrate your deficiencies, revel in your skilllessness. And then, get ready.
Get ready for what? Something extraordinary. See, for all of human history God has taken delight in taking people and using them to accomplish great things. From time to time God uses our gifts and skills, but God really enjoys taking our weaknesses and turning them into strengths. Illiterate shepherd boys become great kings, cowards who stutter are turned into freedom fighters, and average Joe's and Jane's are transformed into leaders who inspire others. The greater the weakness the more interested God is in using it. That is just how God rolls. With God all things are not only possible, they happen. Everyday. In and through people who have no business doing what God calls them to do.
There is one catch - you have to be willing to let God work. It is hard, I know. Our instinct is to shy away from things we are not good at. We don't want to go to scary and intimidating places. But, if you are willing to take the risk, well, watch out!
So, I want to you to do something. Look at your list of can nots. I promise you, nay I even double your money back guarantee you that at some point in your life God will use at least one of those things you really suck at and turn it into something that will change your life and the life of people you don't even know. And what a great day that will be!
Copyright © 2011, Roger Burns-Watson, All Rights Reserved
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Jesus, Democracy, and Violence
This is a sad time for the United States. Our system of government is based on the assumption that individuals in our society will sacrifice of their time, energy, and talents to provide leadership at the local, state and national levels. Rule by the people only works if the people are willing to step forward and help lead the way. Those who enter the political realm know they will not be universally liked or appreciated. As the old adage goes, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. But, and this is a big but, they should never, ever, have to fear for their physical safety or the safety of their family and staff. Now it seems that is no longer the case.
What do those of us who follow Jesus have to say to a nation in which public servants are targets not just of toxic rhetoric (which comes from all sides, parties, and news outlets) but also assassins bullets? What can we offer to a country increasingly intolerant of those who think differently than we do? Where violence, both at home and abroad, seem to be the new standard for solving political problems.
First, we must confess that the "What Would Jesus Do?" approach will be of little use. Jesus, the one who walked the earth some 2000 years ago, had absolutely no experience with what we call democracy. He lived in a hierarchical world, one in which political leaders ruled as emperors and kings and the religious establishment worshipped a God of strict commandments and rigid, top down, order. There was nothing democratic about his world, no place for the people to elect their leaders or for the masses to have any role in providing leadership. Save for the occasional revolution. Even when they succeeded (which was not often) violence only served to replace one king with another. Democracy as we understand it did not emerge until the 18th Century.
Yet, even though Jesus had no understanding of democracy, nor any agenda to set up a democratic political or religious community, he understood two things that I think are of help to us. First, he stood firmly within a religious tradition that taught that we, humans, are created in the image and likeness of God. Not some humans or most humans, but all humans. There have always been people who have tried to deny that certain families or tribes or groups were fully human, and thus could be treated in inhumane ways. But then a prophet would appear and remind folks that even though you may dislike or even hate your enemies they are still human, still created in the image and likeness of God. That means we must treat them as we would God.
To the politicians and the political commentators and the average citizens we, the followers of Jesus, have to say enough with the demonizing of those who think differently than you and have a different vision for America. This is not acceptable. It does not matter if a person is a liberal or moderate or conservative, they are still created in the image and likeness of God. Republican, Democrat, Communist, Tea Party, no party it does not matter. Everyone is deserving of respect, dignity, compassion and love. The era of hate filled speeches, of talking heads who make a fortune off of dehumanizing their political opponents, and out right insensitivity to the basic humanity of those who seek and hold elective office must end. Now. Vigorous debate and impassioned discussion are part and parcel of democracy. Treating those who differ with you as if they were somehow less human than yourself is not only antithetical to everything democracy stands for, but it is an affront to God. We the people are better than this. We the people must be better than what we have let ourselves become.
Second, Jesus understood, no Jesus proved through his own life that violence is not the way forward nor is it the way of God. Those who hated Jesus and his teachings sought to have him killed. If you don't like an idea, kill the messenger of that idea. If you disagree with someone and they will not come over to your way of thinking than take them out. That will solve the problem, or so they thought. We, the followers of Jesus celebrate the fact that through the resurrection of Jesus God said an emphatic "NO!" to violence. Death does not get the last word, God does and God's last word, like God's first word, is life.
Murder of elected government officials is not the answer to our problems. We cannot kill off the issues that we confront as a society. It is a joke and a farce to pretend that gunning down a Congresswoman, or a judge, or the President, or bombing a daycare full of children in an Oklahoma City government building will make everything right. Democracy does not work that way. God does not work that way. Nothing works that way.
Those who have taken part in polarizing the body politic will be quick to say they never encouraged or endorsed anyone to resort to violence. Strictly speaking they are correct. Yet, the constant, 24 hour attacks, false statements, blatant lies, and exaggeration of fears and prejudices help to contribute to a climate of violence. Their words and tone have helped lead us to this point. When every side in a political debate envokes the name of Hitler or the ghost of the Nazi party when talking about their rivals, violence is not far in the offing.
And those of us who listen or watch their programs or vote them into office are equally at fault. We encourage them by our tuning in or casting our votes and they tell us what we want to hear - that our problems are the fault of the other side. As the anger and the suspecion grows (and grow it has) we don't even realize how far down the road towards violence we have traveled. The young man in Arizona just got to the place many of us were headed first. Yet it is a path to nowhere.
Out of the ashes of the tragedy in Arizona God will affirm life and create life. That is what God does. The question we as a nation face is whether we will be working with God in bringing forth something redemptive from this horrible situation, or whether we will continue to delude ourselves into believing that a little more bloodshed from our democratically elected leaders will force everyone else to think and act like we do. We, the followers of Jesus, hope and pray it is the former and not the latter. Otherwise, or democracy is doomed to failure.
Copyright © 2011, Roger Burns-Watson, All Rights Reserved
What do those of us who follow Jesus have to say to a nation in which public servants are targets not just of toxic rhetoric (which comes from all sides, parties, and news outlets) but also assassins bullets? What can we offer to a country increasingly intolerant of those who think differently than we do? Where violence, both at home and abroad, seem to be the new standard for solving political problems.
First, we must confess that the "What Would Jesus Do?" approach will be of little use. Jesus, the one who walked the earth some 2000 years ago, had absolutely no experience with what we call democracy. He lived in a hierarchical world, one in which political leaders ruled as emperors and kings and the religious establishment worshipped a God of strict commandments and rigid, top down, order. There was nothing democratic about his world, no place for the people to elect their leaders or for the masses to have any role in providing leadership. Save for the occasional revolution. Even when they succeeded (which was not often) violence only served to replace one king with another. Democracy as we understand it did not emerge until the 18th Century.
Yet, even though Jesus had no understanding of democracy, nor any agenda to set up a democratic political or religious community, he understood two things that I think are of help to us. First, he stood firmly within a religious tradition that taught that we, humans, are created in the image and likeness of God. Not some humans or most humans, but all humans. There have always been people who have tried to deny that certain families or tribes or groups were fully human, and thus could be treated in inhumane ways. But then a prophet would appear and remind folks that even though you may dislike or even hate your enemies they are still human, still created in the image and likeness of God. That means we must treat them as we would God.
To the politicians and the political commentators and the average citizens we, the followers of Jesus, have to say enough with the demonizing of those who think differently than you and have a different vision for America. This is not acceptable. It does not matter if a person is a liberal or moderate or conservative, they are still created in the image and likeness of God. Republican, Democrat, Communist, Tea Party, no party it does not matter. Everyone is deserving of respect, dignity, compassion and love. The era of hate filled speeches, of talking heads who make a fortune off of dehumanizing their political opponents, and out right insensitivity to the basic humanity of those who seek and hold elective office must end. Now. Vigorous debate and impassioned discussion are part and parcel of democracy. Treating those who differ with you as if they were somehow less human than yourself is not only antithetical to everything democracy stands for, but it is an affront to God. We the people are better than this. We the people must be better than what we have let ourselves become.
Second, Jesus understood, no Jesus proved through his own life that violence is not the way forward nor is it the way of God. Those who hated Jesus and his teachings sought to have him killed. If you don't like an idea, kill the messenger of that idea. If you disagree with someone and they will not come over to your way of thinking than take them out. That will solve the problem, or so they thought. We, the followers of Jesus celebrate the fact that through the resurrection of Jesus God said an emphatic "NO!" to violence. Death does not get the last word, God does and God's last word, like God's first word, is life.
Murder of elected government officials is not the answer to our problems. We cannot kill off the issues that we confront as a society. It is a joke and a farce to pretend that gunning down a Congresswoman, or a judge, or the President, or bombing a daycare full of children in an Oklahoma City government building will make everything right. Democracy does not work that way. God does not work that way. Nothing works that way.
Those who have taken part in polarizing the body politic will be quick to say they never encouraged or endorsed anyone to resort to violence. Strictly speaking they are correct. Yet, the constant, 24 hour attacks, false statements, blatant lies, and exaggeration of fears and prejudices help to contribute to a climate of violence. Their words and tone have helped lead us to this point. When every side in a political debate envokes the name of Hitler or the ghost of the Nazi party when talking about their rivals, violence is not far in the offing.
And those of us who listen or watch their programs or vote them into office are equally at fault. We encourage them by our tuning in or casting our votes and they tell us what we want to hear - that our problems are the fault of the other side. As the anger and the suspecion grows (and grow it has) we don't even realize how far down the road towards violence we have traveled. The young man in Arizona just got to the place many of us were headed first. Yet it is a path to nowhere.
Out of the ashes of the tragedy in Arizona God will affirm life and create life. That is what God does. The question we as a nation face is whether we will be working with God in bringing forth something redemptive from this horrible situation, or whether we will continue to delude ourselves into believing that a little more bloodshed from our democratically elected leaders will force everyone else to think and act like we do. We, the followers of Jesus, hope and pray it is the former and not the latter. Otherwise, or democracy is doomed to failure.
Copyright © 2011, Roger Burns-Watson, All Rights Reserved
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