You're Different

I had an interesting conversation recently about church. Let me share with you a little context.  

Being a pastor is great; I love my job. But when I travel and meet people there’s a part of me that dreads the question. You know the standard question that most people use to engage in conversation which is, “what do you do for a living?” Alright, I admitted it, sometimes I don’t want to be known as the “spiritual guy.” I’m authentic wherever I am but putting the pastor card on the table can change the dynamics of a conversation. My favorite is when someone has a colorful use of language then the question. Talk about a back pedal. Awkward! Back to the conversation.

So I’m on vacation at the beach, sitting under the carport of our rented duplex, drinking a beer, watching my kids swim, and our neighbor walks over for a conversation. We exchange pleasantries and then the question. “So, Craig, what do you do for a living?” Scratch the record, hit the brakes, drop the mic…… “I’m a pastor.” To which he replies, “Really? You seem pretty normal to me.” I prefer the more hipster word, relevant, but I went with it. As I processed, I began to internalize the statement and asked myself why Christians are perceived to be so un-normal and pastors a whole other level of weird? There is that thing about us being aliens in this world. I tried to stay focused while little U.F.O.’s flew through my head.  

We went on to have a good conversation about God, faith in Jesus, and the Church. Maybe it was the beach vibes or the beer, I’m not sure, but for some reason this man was eager to hear as we had transparent dialogue about faith. Like Austin, Christians are just going to be a little weird; it comes with the territory when you follow a man that lived 2000 years ago, died, and was resurrected. Being different is a part of effectively living out our faith, but one statement in our conversation pierced my heart and it was this, “I wish the Church was a little more willing to meet people where they are.” Turns out this was a guy that had had an experience with a church and it wasn’t good.

As I reflected over the following days, these words troubled me. At what point does our differentness, which is intended to attract people to the gospel, become an impediment? Our differentness can easily slip from that which is intended to be attractive to that which is repulsive when we use our differentness as a mechanism for superiority and shame. I don’t think we intend to do this but when Christianity is such a part of the culture we can easily drift from relationship to a religion used to distinguish our value from others. I too have been guilty of this.

Jesus calls us to be different and I think most would agree that Jesus was a little different. But something about His differentness attracted those deemed far from God and infuriated the self-righteous. Read through Mark’s Gospel when you get a chance and take note of Jesus’ circle. He influenced the most unlikely of people not by becoming like them but by attracting them with a different way to live life. He didn’t focus on behaviors but went straight to the heart with undeniable love.

Grace and truth are interwoven concepts that compose God’s love not opposing ends of a continuum. It’s pointing people to God’s better way from a posture of being for people not against them. I pray that God would use our differentness to attract others to God’s unfathomable love and fill our lives and churches with messy people intrigued by the love and hope of Christ.