Faith Venture

Traveling this week. At the airport yesterday I experienced twice incidents where I (we) could make a judgement drawing a conclusion from the appearance of someone’s story, only to find out the rest of the story and come to a startling different conclusion.

Today is Mardi Gras–in English, Fat Tuesday. It is a final day of eating and drinking before entering Lent. Lent is a time of inward looking, fasting (for some), penitence, preparing our hearts for the victory of resurrection.

So maybe we see someone tonight partying, eating rich foods, perhaps an extra glass of wine. Then tomorrow we see them with ashes on their forehead. If we saw only one or the other would we have their story?

Or perhaps we need the rest of the story. We need the inner discipline to refrain from the rush to judgement about other people. Or even ourselves.

We have to walk that lonesome valley,

We have to walk it by ourselves.

Oh, nobody else can walk it for us.

We have to walk it by ourselves.

–Jesus Walked That Lonesome Valley, American Folk Hymn

What a joy for a child when he can tie his own shoe laces, she can button her own shirt. It’s a sort of freedom.

We grow up. We come to expect others to do for us. A guru bestows truth on us. A doctor gives a magic pill.

We become fit without feeding ourselves nutritious food. We become fit without exercising. We think someone else will do the work.

We expect someone else to do the hard work of spiritual practices and then bestow the truth of enlightenment upon us.

We have to walk it by ourselves.

For most of my life, I have been a Methodist or United Methodist. Dad once told me that I was fourth generation Methodist.

When I was a youth, we were “strongly suggested” to sign a pledge card saying we would never drink an alcoholic beverage. The Methodist Church was historically a temperance church.

Now…we have pastors drinking Jack Daniels…

When I was young, a man who divorced his wife could not remarry in the church nor be in leadership.

Now…men who have divorced wives in order to have the latest model not only are remarried in the church, they are serving in leadership roles…

I’m not saying this is bad. In fact, as a general rule, there is good in this.

This week, a special gathering of the United Methodist Church’s governing group, the General Conference, came together to decide how to work out a way for two diverse groups with tightly held opinions on the role and status of homosexual people to live together.

Looking at history…

Although many use words such as love, forgiveness, and God, they often are like the fish in the ocean. “Pardon me, I am searching for the ocean. Can you help me find it?”

Then one day they awaken. They become aware of God and of love and of forgiveness. Opinions are jettisoned. And they cease to speak. They’ve awakened.

Marie Kondo is all the rage right now. She even has a TV series. Simplify, organize, bring joy.

Similar to the book Make Time that I just reviewed. Instead of scurrying around trying to check off the most items from your todo list, make sure you focus on one important thing every day. Perhaps if you finish that, you might have time for a second.

Another book traveling a similar path is Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Gregory McKeown.

Thinking about these ideas leads to an inescapable conclusion. None of these consist of simple checklists. These are all lifestyles.

Similarly we can think about diets. A “diet” to lose weight works only in the short term. We all know that. I was astonished to learn that people are on keto diets now. When I was introduced to the concept, practitioners were cautioned to do this intermittently. Raising ketone levels (yes, they do burn fat) has many deleterious effects on the body. Diet, rightly considered, consists of a balanced nutritious blend of essential elements for sustaining a fit life–a balance of carbohydrates and fat for energy and protein to build cells. Oh, it’s actually a lifestyle of nutritious eating.

Then I thought more deeply. Take this following Jesus thing. This also does not consist of a checklist of things to do. Nor is it the simple repeating of a mantra–“I believe, I believe.”

Rightly considered, following Jesus is a lifestyle. Like the old folk song “I have decided to follow Jesus…”, we make the decision and then we live the lifestyle.

And like all of these examples, often we get it wrong. But the times we get it right are satisfying and joyful. And the more we practice, the better we get.

A team developing a Web application named itself Curious George. You know, the mischievous monkey who was adopted by The Man in the Yellow Hat.

I thought, “How cool is that?” A constant reminder to work that particular muscle.

Ever notice little kids? Maybe from 1-1/2 to 4 or so? Take a walk with them. They are curious about everything. They’ll stop and study a leaf. Or a bug. Or a worm.

What about us? When we take a walk, do we puzzle over things we see?

What are you curious about? What would you like to learn?

What a great name for a team exploring new business ideas. Or expanded ministry ideas.

“I’m on the Curious George team. We’re always exploring for new ideas.”

That’s cool.