Faith Works 10-14-17
Jeff Gill
Things I Am Upset About
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Large amounts of indignation are being flung around these days about all manner of things, and grave objections raised to what other people are or aren't doing. Let me put my own pet peeves forward, to join the swelling chorus.
Yes, I am indignant. What's going on in the world makes an impact on me, in my thoughts and feelings, such that I find myself forced to a certain sort of indignation, such as:
I am indignant that I so rarely stop to wonder how things look from the perspective of others. I have to work at it; it does not come naturally or easily. Compassion is not an automatic response for me, it takes effort.
I am indignant that my respect for others or regard for those around me usually takes a back seat to my bemusement and even resentment over their poor choices -- in clothing, body ink, hygiene, facial expressions, choice of t-shirt slogans or buttons with quips on them. I have trouble getting past all that without conscious intent.
I am indignant that love of country and community is generally something I get to after I've tended to my own comfort and concerns. There are opportunities for service that come my way every day, and while I can't do them all, I tend to size them up first by how involvement suits my own interests first.
I am indignant that my own practice of religious faith, as a committed Christian believer, is still such a fragmentary and occasional part of my sense of self, requiring the external reinforcements of calendar reminders and weekly worship and personal disciplines I skip more than I fulfill.
I am indignant that what other people are doing tends to occupy more space in my personal and prayerful reflections than what I have done, and should be, myself.
Yes, this is all a bit of a contrived way of putting things for the purpose of a newspaper column, but it is also, at the same time, utterly sincere. I'd rather be a better person myself than spend so much time irritated that others are worse than they could be. Yet I worry about what people around me are thinking and saying and doing, when what I actually can control are my own thoughts and words and acts.
I wish I were doing a better job of living up to the goals and aspirations I hold dear in my better moments. But when I let myself get peevish and resentful and unhappy about life in general, and people around me in particular, there are many things that trigger my dissatisfactions. What those impressions do, however, is make me more aware of my own shortcomings as a compassionate, forgiving, and welcoming servant of a holy and loving Lord God.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton is said to have been asked by "The Daily Telegraph" in 1908, as part of a special feature, to join other secular and sacred writers in responding to the question "What's Wrong With the World." He's reputed to have offered the shortest response, by writing back simply "I am. Sincerely yours, G.K. Chesterton."
That is a very Christian response, I'd argue. Not to abase or humiliate oneself, but to admit that in the process of redemption, the core question is what are we going to do about our own sinfulness, and not what's to be done about yours. Or – excuse me! – someone else's. Our own sin and separation from God's will is what most needs attention, and what we can most credibly address. What needs healing in this world? "I do. Sincerely yours, Jeff Gill."
Do you need healing and wholeness? I suspect the answer is yes, but that's not my concern. I should help you find the gates of righteousness, the doors of hope and forgiveness, but it's not up to me to shove you through them. I should make sure you know how to find them, and then it's up to you to decide whether to pass through, or move along.
Oh, and flags left out 24/7 without direct lighting, left up in the rain when there's a halyard and cleat so that anyone in the house or business could come out and take it down, for pity's sake . . . yeah, that's a pet peeve, too. Oh, I've got opinions!
That's part of what I need to repent . . .
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County. Tell him about what you abhor about yourself at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.
