Writer’s block, you are just a horrible, horrible thing. Not only do you prevent me from actually be productive but you also force me to play 2048 in hopes that something in my creative brain will spring a leak and I’ll finally get the ambition to either get up and leave or just write something. And how fickle she is with what will spark the fuel.
Facebook. I spend so very little on Facebook when I’m not working on SSEM stuff or trying to fall asleep and I get bored easily on it. But I do like to post interesting things, and when I see Vince Gilligan is making a show that has the same name as my home town (Battle Creek, which I assume is Michigan because a crime show about Battle Creek, Iowa is going to be about as exciting as Corner Gas), I had to post it.
After that, I looked a bit and I saw a Methodist pastor friend of mine had posted a short guide to a Wesleyan approach to social media and the first rule was “Do No Harm.” I’ve also been bingeing on House, M.D. (thank you Netflix) and that whole ideal pretty much gets thrown out the window constantly in hopes of diagnosis and healing. I’ve also had the Westboro Baptist Church in my mind, both their hatred and some of the positive response to their hatred (and negative response), and I’ve wanted to address that whole method of evangelism.
I think it sticks in my mind so much because my goal with every sermon is, first and foremost, to “Do No Harm.” Whenever I’m writing a sermon and I come up on something that is going to poke the congregation in the eye with a sharp stick – which I do like to do – I always consider the ramifications beyond forcing thought and questioning. I don’t even really mind offending people but just offending people for offense sake is going to do nothing for their soul. There is no reason for me to kick the souls of those who are gathered there to worship on Sunday just because I want to be edgy and whack all of the preconceived notions they hold in their hearts with a flaming sledge-hammer as violently as possible. There is not point or reason for that unless those preconceived notions are actually harming them in a way that is comparable to the harm I am doing to their psyche by doing this. I am not that arrogant.
The one big thing that I am always stuck on is the harm that can be done around death and mourning. I tell people their being jerks, their being judgmental, or that their views on sin are all sorts of wrong with only a slight amount of trepidation but even mentioning death and dying makes me want to fall into that path of no resistance. If I can just get “Jesus loves you” across without saddening anyone too much, I think I’ve won. In that moment of mourning, it is so incredibly easy to lose faith; trying to use that moment as a springboard for a prophetic word is basically forcing people away from God.
But the prophetic words are necessary. We have 4 major prophets and 12 minor prophets that get their own book in the Bible. We are sinful and we need those who have a prophetic word to share to actually share it with us and guide us back to a path of righteousness. It is necessary and good, but it also should be intentional, timed well, and should focus on the glory and goodness of God and not at all on the goodness of the messenger. “You’re evil and I’m good!” is not a prophetic message, as much as those who preach would like it to be.
No matter the message, and no matter the messenger, there are times that a prophetic message will do harm and no good. I think about the prophetic messages in the Bible and I cannot think of message that was given in a time of mourning. There are plenty that came preceding and telling of times of mourning, plenty that basically told the Jewish people that what was coming was brought upon them by themselves, but it was never delivered once they were mourning. People don’t hear those messages in times of mourning. Christ taught a lot of prophetic things and yet he simply mourned at Lazarus’s death (then brought him back to life, but that’s a bit off topic).
A prophetic word given specifically in terms of a death will do nothing but drive people away. Even if the person was (insert horrible, disgusting sin that the community believes will send them to Hell), that moment is not the moment to remind people of Hell and condemnation. The funeral of a 14-year-old son of a minister and grandson doctor is certainly not the time to give a universal prophetic of how the United States is going to Hell because of homosexuality and holding funerals.
Trying to not get pointed but can you see the flaw in their logic? This boy probably loved everyone around him, his father has dedicated his life to teaching Christ’s message, his grandfather dedicated his life to healing, and they were shot in cold blood. The Jewish people mourned and held services to honor the dead. Christ’s body was to be prepared by Mary Magdalene.
Disagree with the theology around having a body at a funeral? That’s fine. Think we worship the dead a bit too much? I agree with you. Think the funeral of a 14-year-old boy who has friends who need to cope with the senseless loss of life and need to see a body for their psyche to accept that his death is real is the place to protest funerals? No, it isn’t.
Do no harm. No matter what your theology is, what your message is, there is no where in the Bible we are called to do harm. If we take Christ as an example, especially on this Maundy Thursday submitting himself to the priests to become the sacrificial lamb for humanity, we should also be submitting ourselves, sacrificing ourselves for others and looking to life them up, not tear them down.
Do no harm. I’m also struck, though, at the hatred that is shown towards people of this nature. I’m not surprised by it – heck, I’ve even joyfully participated at times – but I am struck at how easily we hate them because of the sins they commit.
Have you thought about what kind of room in Hell Fred Phelps is sitting in right now? Because I have, and I am shamed by that. I have had a serious shift in how my theological stances express themselves in a practical manner and if I am going to stand by the ideal that there isn’t a sin that is uniquely capable to condemning you to Hell, I have to stand by that. Condemning anyone, judging anyone, and glorifying yourself are each sinful, but so is gluttony and sloth. If my sins don’t condemn me to Hell because of my faith in Christ and recognition of my sin, then I cannot begin to claim that he is in Hell when I am saved.
I posted this sign before but I am going to post it again. I’m going to be working with the “What Not To Do” when talking about sin but I think we need to worry about what to do, as well. So in practice, the inverse of “Do No Harm” is “Do Good.” So if I wanted to do good with this, this would be my option:
Do good. I wonder why people don’t offer them food and drink, feed them and make sure they are healthy. I get the counter-protests, I get the desire to drive them away, but we should be like the Good Samaritan. Even if they are the most detestable group of people to us, we should be loving them like we love each other.
“Do No Harm”
To loving each other,
– Robby
Red Shoe Pastor 