Christ Church of Ballenger Creek

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Safe ...

I finally figured out why I dislike Christian bookstores … they make me feel safe. That probably requires some explanation on my part. “What’s wrong with safe? I thought safe was a good thing.”

Safe’s not a bad thing, I guess. You want to feel safe when you are relaxing in your home. You want to feel that your kids are safe at school or at the mall. That’s a good kind of safe. What I don’t like (and what Jesus never promised) is that we should be safe from divergent opinions, conflicting ideas, and challenging people. Safe has become equivalent to “isolated, protected, and sheltered.” It shouldn’t be.

To my mind, nothing represents that sheltered and isolated attitude more than a Christian bookstore. Certain books, certain authors make it to the shelves. Nothing that could possibly be seen as offensive is permitted; writings from a very narrow and defined stream of thought are acceptable, others are not. We don’t have to worry about our presuppositions being challenged. We don’t have to worry that someone may question our traditions. We don’t have to worry that some Democrats’ book will cross our path. We only have to look at what we can be reasonable sure we will already like and agree with. And while we’re there we can get some Christian breath mints, some playing cards with Bible characters on them, and some trash bags with Scripture verses to witness to our garbage collector. Where’s the chance to grow in an environment like that? It’s an extremely safe environment; but one that almost guarantees nothing of substance will emerge.

Church history seems consistent in its witness that the church doesn’t grow (spiritually or numerically) in an environment of safety. Instead it thrives in the midst of threat, risk and danger. The need to feel safe is a very human one, but not necessarily a very godly one. The call of Christ should lead us into the world. We are called to encounter it, engage it and challenge it. We can’t do that from a distance, we have to get close up and risk getting our hands dirty.

Jesus promised his followers that they would be persecuted, that they would be misunderstood. He promised them it would be a struggle every step of the way. We are never promised we’ll be saved from any of it; we’re promised that we’ll never travel that dangerous road alone.

Safe means that I’m fine, but the rest of the world is on its own. Safe means that I never have to worry about making a case for my faith. Safe means retreating from the world of ideas and isolating myself in my “Christian cultural cocoon”. Safe means I never have to come face to face with homelessness, poverty and injustice. Safe means I’M safe.

If that’s the price to be paid, I don’t want to be safe!

Godspeed,

Pastor John

Mid-Week Musings

An Occasional bulletin from Christ United Methodist Church

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