COMensarations
Monday, May 15, 2006
God Talk Makes Minister ‘Nervous’
Did this man choose the wrong ‘profession’?
In his column last Sunday, Jack Wilson, a “psychologist and Episcopal priest”, has problems with people who talk overtly about God.
And I’m having trouble understanding the nature of his problem.
Maybe he’ll provide additional information.....
People who talk a lot about God make me nervous.
I can understand that. Especially if you’re not particularly ‘close’ with God. There are LOTS of people like that. Indeed, you’re probably in the ‘vast majority’, so to say. However, as the tag-bio of this article indicates that you’re an Episcopalian minister, I’m rather concerned. One would think that a man in that position [see the last paragraph in blockquotes for details] would relish talking about the living God. He is one of the most exciting topics of discussion one could possibly imagine. Think of it....
...what can you say about someone so BRILLIANT as to create ALL of what we see every day?
That is, unless, there is some form of ‘hidden agenda’ at play here.
I don’t mean like when God is the topic of a conversation, unless someone determined to make a point or convert me to his or her way of thinking turns the dialogue into a zealous one-way harangue.
Do tell us, minister, WHEN is NOT an appropriate time to mention God? When we’re eating? When we’re discussing what we experienced during the course of the day; for better or for worse? When we’re driving a car....on the interstate and a big 18-wheeler is coming up on us at 20+ mph over the posted speed limit? When we’re about to go to sleep at night? When we wake up in the morning? When our boss gives us an almost impossible task to accomplish?
When?
Even bringing God-talk into an ordinary conversation doesn’t bother me when it is thoughtful and relevant.
Good coordination is always pleasant to witness. It shows a sense of artistry in conversation that is missing from most of contemporary discussion.
Preachers talk a lot about God; sometimes they make me nervous. Did you ever come away from a sermon wishing it had been a dialogue, so you could ask the preacher what he or she is talking about?
I find THAT report very odd. Especially considering your reputed background.
Now, I admit there have been times I wish I could have a heart-to-heart discussion of what a minister has said from the pulpit with the minister. But that’s easy enough to arrange. Especially in an evangelical congregation. I know. I’ve done it oft enough where I’ve gone to church. Maybe that’s different where you had been. But I can’t speak to that.
Most times such discussions have been beneificial, one way or another.
Even joking about God is OK, like when I had lunch with a rabbi friend and I ordered a ham sandwich. His jibe, “God’s gonna get you” cracked up the waiter. I doubt that offended the Almighty.
True. But you have to consider (1) the source, (2) the context, (3) perspective and (4) the droll sense of humor.
But, the rabbi IS correct....God WILL ‘get you’, eventually.
It was a nice quip on his part. I recommend you tell him the one about the two Hasidic Jewish diamond merchants who met on the streets of New York....[contact me, via e-mail, for the details and hilarious punch line.]
The kind of talkers-about-God that really make me nervous are the ones who gratuitously drag God into conversation as an expression of their personal piety. Like the man who told the car salesman he was going to pray about which vehicle to buy. No kidding, I was there!
Is it their “personal piety”?
The last car WE bought, we prayed about whether or not to purchase it RIGHT IN FRONT OF the salesman.
The answer WE got was ‘do it’. We’ve never had a more pleasant and effective vehicle in either of our lives. God alone knows why. We’re just enjoying it; 1997 Toyota Celica convertible. It’s a true joy to own and operate. Hardly any maintenance, save that which is required for keeping it in fine trim.
Go fig....
Or are you suggesting that going to God with serious questions about which course one should take is ‘wrong’?
There’s a hoary joke about a farmer who was showing the visiting pastor around the farm, pointing out the improvements he had made in the short time he had owned the place. When the reverend commented that the credit belonged to God, the farmer retorted, “Why? You shoulda seen the mess it was in when God had it by himself.”
Cute joke. But then again, as the ‘hoary’ comment goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
The question becomes, who is the beholder. And in what condition is his/her ‘vision’? As Paul commented, there are things that are seen and there are things that are unseen; corporal and spiritual. Which is more important?
It may be a visceral reaction to the shallow spirituality I encountered during my fundamentalist days, but there is a kind of witnessing for the faith that is really thinly disguised bragging about one’s own righteousness. It’s a total turnoff.
Shallow? Fundie daze?
There probably IS a “thinly disguised bragging” about self-righteousness. And it could well be a complete and “total turnoff”. However, I’ve not encountered such in quite some time. What did YOU encounter recently that brought about THIS particular diatribe? What brought about this blasting that comes across as a reproach to any form of speaking of God?
To paraphrase what the Newsboys asked in their hit single Shine, “What’s YOUR ‘motivation’?”
Only you can answer that. Well...I’m certain that God could too. But I think He’d rather have YOU answer that question.
I get a lot of good column ideas from friends via the Internet, like this one from a former parishioner who is also a police officer. It’s probably apocryphal, but its point is right on target.
A stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard was tailgating a careful and rather slow driver. When the light turned yellow just in front of him he stopped at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the car horn, and eloquently profane, she extended her middle finger in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection.
She was still in mid-rant when she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer, pistol in hand, ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed and placed in a holding cell.
After a couple of hours she was escorted back to the booking desk, where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, “I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, cussing a blue streak at him. “I noticed the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk.
“I assumed you had stolen the car.”
Cute joke. And apropos, from the perspective of someone who has a situation problem relating to practicing what she ‘preaches’. But we’re all human, don’t you think? Each of us has an off-day. You, yourself, couched the scenario as someone who was ‘stressed out’.
But what does that have to do with the alleged topic of this column? Nada....at least as far as I can descern. And I discern a lot.
Pueblo West resident Jack Wilson is a psychologist and Episcopal priest. He may be contacted at .
If you feel the same as I do about this column of his, I suggest you take him up on that last line....