At the Wheel

When I was younger, my parents would usually take us snow skiing a couple of times a year. One year, we took one of our days and went to a different mountain, partially because my parents wanted to eat at the Blue Spruce Steakhouse that night. While we were polishing off our steaks, the snow started falling, and kept falling. By the time we took to the treacherous road home, there was quite a bit of snow on the road.

That night my father drove our old Ford Econoline van through near white-out conditions over Berthoud pass. He said that we could have skied down the road. They also said we had to move very slowly to avoid sliding off the mountain or into it. However, the reason I have to rely on what “they” said is because I was not conscious during this endeavor. I was asleep in the back of the van.

May be there is something about being young that makes it easier not to worry. Now that I am grown, it is kind of hard for me to imagine what it looks like to live up to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6:25-34. He says that we should not worry about our lives, but we should seek him and have faith that God will meet our needs. 

I struggle with this idea on a daily basis. Usually I feel that if I do not actively attempt to meet my own needs, they go unmet. No one watches me closely to make sure I am eating healthily, sleeping enough, or being nice to my friends. My full laundry basket will be waiting there for me until I get the motivation take care of it.

Despite my feelings of agency, I know my independence is an illusion in which seeing the truth is hard. God is good to me and he has been my whole life. I have not done anything to deserve anything. I wonder if God still sees me as a kid in a van, but now that crazy kid will not stop reaching for the steering wheel.

I Lek You A Lot

Have you ever been tooling around facebook and noticed that young single women seem to love traveling to foreign countries? It seems like half of the girls I meet list traveling as one of their interests, much more than other activities. 

Back in the late 1990’s, some researchers utilized data from social surveys in the United States and Europe to study this phenomenon. Based on the data, they found that single women were more likely to travel internationally than single men, but the difference disappeared for married men and women. 

The researchers suggested that gender differences in determinants of attractiveness may account for this discrepancy. They call it “Lekking,” which is a term from zoology used for how members of one sex “show off.” Specifically, the main determinants of female attractiveness to men appear to be physical and universal. Men from Africa, New Zealand, or Cleveland recognize female physical attractiveness very similarly.

In contrast, the main determinants of male attractiveness to females are much more culturally bound. For example, a woman from another part of the world may not be impressed by the logo on a man’s suit, because she would be less likely to know the meaning of that logo. It seems it may be much harder for a man’s attractiveness symbols to translate, since he is judged more by what resources he has than how he looks.

In light of this research, it seems to me that Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 7:19 - 24 may be the most counter-cultural teaching in the entire Bible for men today. He says that we should not store for ourselves treasures on earth, or try to serve both God and money. 

This is a tough lesson because we know that people we meet (including prospective female mates and others) will judge us by our lekking (i.e.title, paycheck, or degree). Having material success in life also impresses our families and friends. To discontinue our seeking may appear to others (and ourselves) as a failure or a lack of ability.

I definitely do not have the answer to following Jesus’ teaching and fitting in with the world. However, I think it might involve taking a serious inventory of our strivings and the condition of our hearts.

The Tripping Point

In his best-selling book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talks about how trends start and spread throughout a culture or society. The theoretical tipping point comes when an inciting event leads a trend to spread widely. However, the opposite must also occur. At some point, these so-called “epidemics” of cultural trends are replaced by something else. I would call it the “Tripping Point.”

I think it occurs when a trend gets too excessive or moves too far from it’s roots. For example, the baggy jeans trend in the late 1990’s may have hit a literal tripping point. It seems to me that when the jeans were made so incredibly massive that you could not see the person’s shoes, that was the beginning of the end. At that point, no only was the trend widespread, it got so excessive that there was only one direction to go for those on the forefront of the trend. Now the normal jean leg width has swung in the other direction.

In statistics, we would call this “regression to the mean.” It is a natural and social phenomenon that tends to reign in excess, creating balance. Humans have a natural tendency to adjust to our surroundings, which involves moving back and forth from eccentricity to normality.

In Matthew 6:11, Jesus quoted a proverb within the Lord’s prayer when he said “Give us our daily bread.” Proverbs 30:8 says something similar, but it seems to have a different meaning than we may have assigned to it when reading it in Matthew. Getting our “daily bread” might be interpreted as depending on God to feed and sustain us. However, the writer of the Proverb took it to another level, praying that God would provide and sustain, but not in poverty or excess.

For some reason, our culture seems to have trouble with embracing the concept of balance. I feel like it is something you rarely hear discussed in Christian circles as well. Instead we move back and forth to extremes, turning around when we meet the tripping point. How different would our lives be if we prayed for God to give us balance?

In Secret

Sometimes when people ask me about my research, I think they hear more than they desired. It is like a dam broke and they are soon bombarded with terms and analogies I have created to explain it. I try to reign it in to digestible chunks and generalizations, but sometimes still I get a look that suggests they may be sorry that they asked.

It seems that this may happen for a few reasons. The main one might be that I spend so much time thinking about my research. Sometimes I will be riding my bicycle, in the shower, or waking up in the morning thinking about it. It seems all of those mental gymnastics eventually lead to many expressible thoughts. Sometimes the hardest part for me is to transform all of that thinking in to a coherent paper or presentation. However, usually by the time the transformation has occurred, all of the time spent in thought bears fruit.

In Matthew 6:1 - 8, Jesus talks to his followers about what they do in secret. He discusses how their giving and prayer should often happen in times when no one else sees. One obvious implication for what Jesus said suggests that the point of our prayer and giving should not be just about looking good in front of other people. However, I would like to suggest an additional option. 

I think that what we do in secret transforms us. In the quiet times when we are alone, the true longings of our broken souls come to the surface. We also tend to attribute that which we do in secret solely to the desires that are within us. 

When it comes to my research, no one would want to hear all of the thoughts I have in secret. Without those thoughts, the public ones would be just as nonsensical to others. In our spiritual lives, experiencing and engaging with God in secret may also help us to live coherent lives of faith in the real world outside of our own minds.

Charitainment and Slacktivism

An article in TIME magazine labeled 2005 as the year of “charitainment.” In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it became chic for celebrities to support humanitarian causes. The idea seems to be that celebrities can use their fame to raise money and awareness of important issues. Around this time last year, similar phenomenon appeared when the earthquake occurred in Haiti. More recently, the television program “30Rock” did an episode which satirized the media’s reaction to tragedy.

More recently, best-selling Author Donald Miller wrote a blog post about what he calls “slacktivism.” The term suggests that many non-profit or humanitarian organizations raise money by selling fashionable products, such as t-shirts or bandannas. Although there may be many different ways to donate to these organizations, all you have to do to appear philanthropic is buy an expensive hip t-shirt and wear it.

By contrast, there is Jesus’ comments in Matthew 6:1-3. He tells his followers not to do their acts of righteousness in front of others. He even goes so far as to suggest we hide the actions of one hand from the other. He did not say that it is wrong to do good in front of others, but he did suggest that doing so will only lead one to brief rewards. 

Jesus’ words ring true as we rarely see celebrities on the news in Haiti a year later. Even the popular “Extreme Makeover - Home Edition” program has hit a new low of viewership. Charitainment comes and goes.

I am not trying to pass judgment on anyone who really believes in slacktivism and charitainment. I understand that that these things may result in people doing good in the world. However, I think individuals who really care about a particular cause will pursue it whether or not anyone else is watching. Jesus seems to be telling us that we should be about much more than good PR. I think Christians should seek the good in the world because God has called us to it.

Frenemies

Imagine two Universities. Both of these schools fancy themselves the best university in their respective states. These universities both see themselves as a beacon of academic enlightenment in an otherwise desolate area. Both of the schools tend to perform very well in athletics across many different sports.  

Given these descriptions, one would think these schools to be kindred spirits, right? They have a lot in common. However, The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Oklahoma are not sister Universities. They have an adversarial relationship, which includes a brutal October football game every year in Dallas. Some people have said that the reason for the rivalry is that both schools compete for quality Texas high school football players. 

It seems to me it is fairly common for bitter enemies to be similar. This similarity may cause enemies to see ourselves as competing for scarce resources, creating friction and discontent. 

When Jesus talked about loving our enemies in Matthew 5:43-48, I do not think he was suggesting it so in order to “heap burning coals on their heads (Proverbs 25).” It seems to me that his reasons are two fold. First, we must be compassionate because of the brokenness which usually exists in those who would wish to do us harm (see last week’s post called “Broken Inside”). Second, being kind to them might help us to realize how much similarity might exist between enemies. 

Evidence for the second point is in Matthew 5:46-47, when Jesus compares them to tax collectors and pagans. Jesus is suggesting that all three groups (his followers, tax collectors, and pagans) had in common that they love those who are within their groups.  Even though his listeners likely demonized these other two groups, thinking about them feeling love and having families has a way of bringing out similarity.

In light of this teaching, I think we need to take a closer look at our “enemies.” We need to ask ourselves, “how could this person have been my friend in a different circumstance?” If OU was in Ottawa, would it still be a rival to Texas, and vice versa? In doing this we can take the first step towards reconciliation. 

P.S. Hook ‘em Horns.

Broken Inside - Mountainside Chats

I recently read a story about a social worker named Julio Diaz who was being mugged in New York City. As he turned over his wallet, the social worker invited his adolescent mugger to have dinner with him. The teen-aged mugger agreed and the two of them sat down to dinner at a local diner. 

As a society, it makes sense that we should be concerned with criminal behavior. It seems important for the social status quo that there be consequences to harmful behavior. Punishing this behavior also allows us to remove from society those who may be able to harm us, or remove their ability to exert harm.

However, I think Julio Diaz understands something that the rest of us need to learn. Since the general status quo of society is not harming one another, a person who is intent on doing so may have some type of compelling brokenness in their life. 

Therefore, when Jesus tells his followers to “turn the other cheek” in Matthew 5:38-42, it seems to me that he was not talking about some mysterious virtue in being victimized. I think Jesus was actually talking about how Christians can combat the source of evil by addressing the underlying brokenness with love. Instead of creating more broken relationships and lives through punishment, we can serve reconciliation through prayer and kindness.

To me, this idea sounds as revolutionary today as it probably did when Jesus first uttered the words. At least someone thought Julio Diaz’s actions were abnormal enough  to put him in the national news spotlight. Even if we are not currently being victimized, it seems to me that Christians can be actively using kindness to reconcile the brokenness in the lives of people around us.