Snob Kabob

You know those moments when God deals with your inner brat? I remember one time when I was verbally abusing Thomas Kinkade, painter of light, in front of my friend and his wife. I used words like “corny” and “cheesy” and generally acted as if I had a Picasso above my mantle. Naturally, the first time I was invited to their home, I learned that she was a Kinkade enthusiast in a matter of seconds. His framed prints were hanging in almost every room. I stood in the middle of all those streams of light and felt like each one was skewering me. My friend teased me about it for years, but never in front of his wife.

I used to have conversations with another friend, Ed, about these elitist tendencies of mine. I would look at him and say, “Who really wears chartreuse pants?” to which Ed would calmly reply, “That’s why there are vanilla and chocolate and 29 other Baskin-Robbins flavors,” as if chartreuse was a perfectly normal color and it could be served on a sugar cone.

The word “tolerance” has become a bad word for some Christians. Unfortunately, it has become associated with selling out, or failing to defend truth in the midst of a truthless culture. I’d like us to reconsider.

Christians should be the most tolerant people in the room. We should not only endure the screaming child on the airplane with patience but we should be the best listeners on the planet. I do not mean the kind of listening that includes thinking of a rebuttal while the other person is still talking. No, I’m talking about the kind of deep listening that hears what people are both saying and not saying, the kind of listening that leads to understanding.

One of my favorite pastor buddies sent me a fascinating quote that I’d like to share with you. My friend is reading Doug Padgitt's book, "A Christianity Worth Believing.” Here is what he offered me:

"That goodness extends into our integration with other people. Because each of us is connected to God, we are connected to each other as well. Christians like to talk about community, yet the dualistic assumptions surrounding our theology make it almost impossible for us to experience true community. As long as we hold on to 'us' and 'them' categories of seeing the world, we live behind a barricade that prevents us from joining in with God and others in real and meaningful ways. And it doesn't really matter who we decide 'them' is- the non-Christians, the sinners, the liberals, the conservatives, the Jews, the Catholics, that weird church on the other side of town. Division is division, no matter how righteous we want to make it sound."

Our insistence on defining and categorizing may just break God’s heart. I also suspect it leads to defending, which further separates us from one another. Jesus just may have meant the things He said about judging those who look, think, and live differently. WOW - what if He actually planned to change the world using love?

We have an inner brat. I think God wants to take a stab at it because it's a little tough to tolerate.