Spiritual Hiccups - (Not So) Practical Advice

After Paul has shared something of his theology with the Christians in Rome, he begins to speak of what it looks like to live as one who is "in Christ."  My Bible has a heading over today's lectionary reading that says, "Marks of the True Christian."  And if you've spent much time in church, you probably heard some of these. 

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; ¹⁰love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹²Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. ¹³Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. ¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. ¹⁸If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." ²⁰No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

It strikes me that when taken as advice, a lot of these are not terribly practical.  Feed my hungry enemy?  Surely not.  Never avenge myself?  Where's the fun in that?  Bless those who persecute me?  I don't think so.

The US presidential campaign speaks of Christian faith often.  Barack Obama spoke of his at a prayer breakfast last week, and the Republican candidates spend a great deal of time cultivating a conservative Christian base.  And yet American politics is about as mean and nasty an enterprise as there is.  The name calling and accusations are sometimes enough to make a sailor blush.  I suppose all the candidates missed that line about mutual affection, the call to "outdo one another in showing honor."  Imagine that, a political campaign where the candidates couldn't stop saying nice things about each other.

We all know that won't happen because you can't get elected that way.  (If we really needed proof that America has never been a "Christian nation" in any deep sense of the term, here it is.)  There are a lot of Jesus' teaches that don't generally lead to the things our culture says are important.  Loving enemies, forgiving people repeatedly, and happily suffering and sacrificing for others' sakes do not often lead to success, comfort, or prestige.

I don't think I've ever known a Christian who didn't modify the life Jesus recommends for practical considerations( though I've known some who did very little such accommodating).  Theological doctrines have been developed to allow some of this - the notion of "just war" for example.  But I suspect that most of it goes on with little theological thought.  We simply presume that Jesus doesn't object to our normal way of doing things.  How else could Christian politicians treat opponents the way they do, and how else could I be so attracted to money and the things it can buy me?

It's interesting that while we live in a time when politics increasingly demands ideological purity and sees compromise as a dirty word, most of us practice a faith born of many compromises.  We have all sorts of practical reasons why we can't do this thing or that thing Jesus says to do, even as we latch on to a few litmus test issues where we will not budge, insisting that they are required by our faith.

Perhaps if we all thought a bit more about our own compromises with Jesus' teachings, we'd be more understanding and forgiving.  Perhaps we'd find it harder to "see the speck in (our) neighbor's eye but... not notice the log in (our) own eye."  

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