First Sunday of Lent: Through the Looking Glass
energy.'>I've been thinking a lot these days about what it means to be a Christian, and what it means to be a Catholic, and about how I think about being those things has slowly changed over the last few years.
There's a saying, that it's much easier to be a Christian when you're at rock bottom because it's the only thing you've got to cling to. It's much harder to believe in God when everything's going right because you want to absorb all the credit.
I don't know how true or untrue those things are, but I will say that I'm not at the greatest point ever in my life, but I've certainly been in worse places, and I think I'm suffering from a crisis of faith.
Only it's not really a crisis of faith. It's a crisis of energy.
It takes a great deal of strength to be a Christian today.
And before you start laughing about how Christians are in the majority today, really think about it. How often are Christians positively portrayed in the media? At best we're a joke. At worst, we're the serial-killing nutjob whackadoodles hiding in the basement.
So many of my friends will say "I'm a Christian, but..." And then they follow that up with things like "I'm not that kind of Christian". Okay, but what does that mean?
Christianity is supposed to be a religion of inclusion. Christ dined with people whose lifestyles he very much disagreed with: prostitutes, tax collectors, unbelievers. Yet my father can't understand my willingness to look the other way when it comes to the lifestyle choices of my best friends who are gay. (That's assuming that being gay is even a choice, which... c'mon. Yeah right.)
By the other token, I'm surrounded by these people who say "I'm Catholic, but I'm pro-choice". Well, okay. But then they're angry that the churches they attend are pro-life. That's because Rome has some pretty strong things to say about abortion. I won't deny that I think it's an evil, horrible choice for someone to make. I'm as pro-life as you get. But I also think that we should be telling girls about sex realistically and in age-appropriate way from very early on. (For instance, I once taught a two-year-old whose mother had taught her to use the word "pookie" for her vagina. I mean... c'mon.) That way, we don't have as many teenaged pregnancies, and thus, less abortions. If we reduce the need for the crime, we'll reduce the crime... and then we can actually treat it like one.
Side trip was a massive side trip. What does it mean to be a Christian? And how necessary is it to have those around you who think like you do? I mean, I love all of my flisters to death but I won't deny the sometimes inevitable frustration that comes from knowing that, at a fundamental level, we just don't view the world the same way.
On Bones (go with me here), the issue comes up fairly frequently. How does someone who lives in a world like I live in -- where there's more in heaven and earth, Horatio -- relate to, and have a positive relationship with, someone who sees the world through the lens of a skeptic, or an atheist? For that matter, how do I relate to a Buddhist, or a Hindu? Christ tells me to love them. Which I do, profoundly. I don't think I can express in words what my friendships with all of you mean. But at the end of the day, part of me worries that you're going to think less of me because of how I view the world... because I don't think people of faith are that often thought positively of.
After the death of Mother Theresa, it was discovered that she had a crisis of faith for 50 years. For 50 years, she was unsure of the love of God. People of faith said: Absolutely, I have been there. Other people said: What a hypocrite.
Who's right? I don't know.
I do know this. I could wish for more love, more understanding, more unity, more respect, for humanity. I mean, I think we can all agree that being human gives you a certain worth. You are worth my time, attention and love, because you are a human being. Regardless of race, creed, color, orientation... you are a human being endowed with inherent dignity and worth. And I will, tonight, pray for all of those things.
I'm also going to pray for strength to keep my beliefs, to stand up for them when I think it's right, and to not give in to the little voices that tell me it'd be easier to give it all up.
There's a saying, that it's much easier to be a Christian when you're at rock bottom because it's the only thing you've got to cling to. It's much harder to believe in God when everything's going right because you want to absorb all the credit.
I don't know how true or untrue those things are, but I will say that I'm not at the greatest point ever in my life, but I've certainly been in worse places, and I think I'm suffering from a crisis of faith.
Only it's not really a crisis of faith. It's a crisis of energy.
It takes a great deal of strength to be a Christian today.
And before you start laughing about how Christians are in the majority today, really think about it. How often are Christians positively portrayed in the media? At best we're a joke. At worst, we're the serial-killing nutjob whackadoodles hiding in the basement.
So many of my friends will say "I'm a Christian, but..." And then they follow that up with things like "I'm not that kind of Christian". Okay, but what does that mean?
Christianity is supposed to be a religion of inclusion. Christ dined with people whose lifestyles he very much disagreed with: prostitutes, tax collectors, unbelievers. Yet my father can't understand my willingness to look the other way when it comes to the lifestyle choices of my best friends who are gay. (That's assuming that being gay is even a choice, which... c'mon. Yeah right.)
By the other token, I'm surrounded by these people who say "I'm Catholic, but I'm pro-choice". Well, okay. But then they're angry that the churches they attend are pro-life. That's because Rome has some pretty strong things to say about abortion. I won't deny that I think it's an evil, horrible choice for someone to make. I'm as pro-life as you get. But I also think that we should be telling girls about sex realistically and in age-appropriate way from very early on. (For instance, I once taught a two-year-old whose mother had taught her to use the word "pookie" for her vagina. I mean... c'mon.) That way, we don't have as many teenaged pregnancies, and thus, less abortions. If we reduce the need for the crime, we'll reduce the crime... and then we can actually treat it like one.
Side trip was a massive side trip. What does it mean to be a Christian? And how necessary is it to have those around you who think like you do? I mean, I love all of my flisters to death but I won't deny the sometimes inevitable frustration that comes from knowing that, at a fundamental level, we just don't view the world the same way.
On Bones (go with me here), the issue comes up fairly frequently. How does someone who lives in a world like I live in -- where there's more in heaven and earth, Horatio -- relate to, and have a positive relationship with, someone who sees the world through the lens of a skeptic, or an atheist? For that matter, how do I relate to a Buddhist, or a Hindu? Christ tells me to love them. Which I do, profoundly. I don't think I can express in words what my friendships with all of you mean. But at the end of the day, part of me worries that you're going to think less of me because of how I view the world... because I don't think people of faith are that often thought positively of.
After the death of Mother Theresa, it was discovered that she had a crisis of faith for 50 years. For 50 years, she was unsure of the love of God. People of faith said: Absolutely, I have been there. Other people said: What a hypocrite.
Who's right? I don't know.
I do know this. I could wish for more love, more understanding, more unity, more respect, for humanity. I mean, I think we can all agree that being human gives you a certain worth. You are worth my time, attention and love, because you are a human being. Regardless of race, creed, color, orientation... you are a human being endowed with inherent dignity and worth. And I will, tonight, pray for all of those things.
I'm also going to pray for strength to keep my beliefs, to stand up for them when I think it's right, and to not give in to the little voices that tell me it'd be easier to give it all up.