Yesterday as I was driving home, I saw a woman on a mobility scooter traveling down the sidewalk to the library and noticed how vulnerable she looked. She was so frail against the throng of speeding traffic. Not only that, but I've traveled that same sidewalk by bicycle and it isn't even. What if she toppled? There is no guardrail to protect from spilling into the racing stream of cars.
I would prefer a world where I don't have to fear fragile women meeting a gruesome end in a scooter vs. SUV showdown. Not only that, but I don't want to be in a position of accidentally hitting someone on a road I frequent and carrying the guilt of a death. Therefore, I believe we should begin legislation to prevent mobility scooters near heavy traffic.
Except here is the thing. If I follow this course and legislation is passed, I still get to go to the library. The woman on the scooter doesn't.
I was sent Jon Acuff's blog on yoga. Yoga has been condemned recently by popular Christian leaders. So as you might imagine, it is hard to be a Christian who loves yoga. The thing is, for the leaders coming out against it, yoga isn't actually part of their lives. (After all, I can't really see Albert Mohler or Mark Driscoll sitting around in "butterfly pose". In fact, I'm pretty sure most instructors use the sanskrit name for that pose so it has better marketing play with guys.)
While I could continue this post by listing the benefits yoga gives me (building strength, major stress relief, teaching my mind to stop focusing on my todo list); or mentioning that this month's Yoga Journal revealed research that a lot of the poses came from Dutch gymnastics importing into India in the early 1900's or pointing out that if we are against things tied to mythology of gods we lose the days of the week, planets, and a lot of medical terminology; I don't want to talk about yoga at all. I want to talk about the Christian propensity to want to create a world that lines up with what we believe in with protests, legislation, extra-Biblical rules and condemnation.
Because if you look at it, this topic is way more sticky than yoga. You see, if I oppose gay marriage it costs me nothing. (I'm heterosexual and I'm married.) If I oppose abortion, I'm not a pregnant 12 year old with no other option but to carry a child. If I rant about drug use, then those who battle will simply hide it.
I strongly believe that our mission here on earth has nothing to do with making others operate the way we wish they would. If God himself--the only One who has the right--doesn't force people to His will then it is sheer arrogance on our part to take that approach.
The story of Christ is of redemption and grace. Not force, politics or protest signs...but of service and sacrifice. The problem with living like Christ is that it always costs something of us.
I think it may reveal a lack of faith that we are more heavily invested in the world's methods of change than in the transformative power of love. Laying down ones life is never cheap. But as it turns out, it is the only model we were given to follow.
2 comments
As Ghandi said, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Great writing, Cathy.
The cost for being more like Christ...I am going to have to unpack this one a bit. I think Christ would probably say it didn't cost him a thing to live or die. It costs me nothing to give my ear, my time or even money to another person. To give all is really to have all. It's just as if we don't know it yet.
Even in this, we actually agree. To many, to give of your anything is a sacrifice. And yet Truth for all is - to give is to have. We are all one here together. While you feel on some level a fear for the woman on the mobility scooter, you inevitably feel compassion for her and those in her predicament. Understanding.
We are all learning how to let go of our human teachings which are inherently flawed by our ground-level perspective lending to our narrow perception. This is where Christians who take come in. When we take from someone their right to be mobile, gay, practice Yoga or anything anyone wills to experience, we will in the end Have nothing. . . Only our judgements, which are false no matter how hard we believe them.
I am and was completely taken by your writing and level of understanding today, Cathy. feeling gratitude for your thoughts. :)))
Deb,
I hadn't thought of it in quite that light before..."If we take from someone...we will in the end have only judgments." Thank you for taking the time to share such a thoughtful response.
--Cathy
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