Jenny wrote a great post the other day about our freedom in Christ. She pointed out how we stupidly label things as more or less christian.
Here's a taste in case you haven't seen it yet.
Here are some sweeping generalisations that I've experienced in my time as a mum.
Homeschooling (more Christian). Working mother (less Christian). Daily family devotionals (more Christian). Strict sleep routines (more Christian). Child watches television (less Christian). Immaculate house (more Christian). Lunches from school canteen (less Christian). Perhaps you've had experiences of this in your own context. And each context has it's own subtleties.
But as Paul has reminded the Galatians, there isn't a more or less way of being a Christian. You either trust in Jesus or you don't. It's free. It's simple.
Here's my question. Why do we do this?
1. A natural tendency that many of us have is to be busy-bodies. It is right for us to be interested and involved with one another's lives, but we often overstep - especially in the name of 'ministry'. The choices that my sister makes are actually not my business.
2. Seeing others make the same choices as us makes us feel justified in our decision. Seeing someone make different decisions is threatening. It makes us question whether what we chose was right. Rather than face this feeling, we shoot down the person who is different. Pretty insecure, huh?
3. It is easier to be 'all-one-in-control-crying' (or attachment parenting, or homeschooling, or public schooling or whatever) than to be all on in Christ. We mistake uniformity for unity. Maintaining unity in the context of diversity is hard, but it is profound and wonderful.
4. Here it is. I'm going to say it. I think women's ministry has a lot to answer for in this. More on this in another post.
Looking forward to the next post....
ReplyDeleteI think as women, we also have a natural tendency to compare ourselves with others, especially if we're feeling insecure within ourselves (as I often am...). If we feel like we're the only ones doing something, it's easy to feel like maybe we're doing it the "wrong" way.
I liked your comment about mistaking uniformity for unity. Maybe that's the point I was trying not too successfully to get to in what I wrote?
Here's a goody: I had a discussion with some ladies after church in Australia about how we struggled to get our kids to stand up during the songs. (This was a point in time where we were in different churches every second Sunday.) Yep, one lady said it nicely, but basically said, "It's a bad testimony if they don't." Slam dunk.
ReplyDeleteLess Christian if your kids aren't perfectly behaved in church?
I forgot to mention that I think too that the decisions/choices made by the pastor's family can sometimes be viewed or even promoted as being the more Christian way to live....
ReplyDelete