We Write Our Own Script

Melodramatic plays have a fairly standard formula: a heroine in distress, a hero who comes to her rescue and a villain who wants to wreck everything. In the end, no matter how bleak the situation appears, the heroine is saved, the hero is victorious and the villain's plans are foiled. All along the way, emotions are exaggerated and improbable circumstances keep cropping up, usually for comedic effect.
 
After having recently been involved in a melodrama, I was thinking how convenient it would be if life had the same standard outcome, with good winning out over evil in such obvious ways, and all of us learning to keep a good sense of humor about bumps in the road. But in the real world, good doesn't always appear to triumph, and defining good isn't always even possible. As much as we would like to think it's true, not everything can be broken down into absolute right and wrong. Murky areas persist.
 
War in the name of justice is a prime example, but closer to home for all of us are questions of loving those around us. How do we do that? For instance, there's the balance between disciplining children and giving them freedom to make mistakes on their own, of providing for them without going overboard. There's the call to love our neighbors and deciding if that means giving them what they need or helping them get what they need on their own. If we are "taken advantage of" by someone who appears to have misused what we've given them, do we never help them again because it could be "casting our pearls before swine," as scripture mentions?
 
There is no right or wrong answer to many of life's questions. We make decisions based on the circumstances at hand and hope we don't make a situation worse. When our motivation is based on our impulse to help someone who is in distress, when our desire is to place the needs of others ahead of our own, that's about the best we can do. Not every situation will always be summed up neatly like it is in a melodrama, life's too messy and unpredictable for that, but we can't let that stop us from trying to do the right thing, helping where we see a need. We're writing our own script as we go, we might as well learn to enjoy the plot twists and turns along the way.

Technicality Nation

Why have we become focused on technicalities? Looking for loopholes to push an agenda or ruin someone else's plans seems to have become a new national pastime. It's especially prevalent in politics, but everywhere you look, it would seem someone has made an art of getting what they want by the use of petty and strict interpretation of an often obscure rule or law. Many people seem to have no qualms about making a point or getting their way at the expense of others by twisting the rules.

 

Unfortunately, this line of reasoning has extended to Christianity. My goodness, the ideas which have become focal points for those claiming the name of Christ are mind-boggling. Waving away the commands of love and compassion, large segments of the church world have become zeroed in on a few issues which, in many cases, were never mentioned by Jesus in his recorded teachings. Even worse, in other instances, we have become quite good at doing the exact opposite of what Jesus taught.
 

The fruits of the Spirit -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control -- have rotted on the vine of many branches of the Church, leaving a reeking mess of finger-pointing, turmoil, greed, strife, fear and hate. As James says, in reference to blessing and cursing coming out of the same mouth, "these things ought not to be this way." (3:10)
 

Can we please just get a grip on the character and nature of Jesus and stop letting our own agendas, biases and overblown religiosity get in the way of his work? I have never believed God is nitpicky. If his desire is that all should be saved and none should be lost, then it does not seem, and I believe scripture bears this out, he is looking to exclude people from his kingdom based on trivialities or technicalities. I have said it before, will say it again and it will continue to be my call for myself and for all believers: Adhere to the simple, compassionate, peaceful Way of Jesus and change the world for the better.