Because of their many words

Today I reflected on the Scripture reading from last night's service, an excerpt of Matthew 6 where Jesus appears to admonish his listeners to keep their religion to themselves. It's just one of the many, many things in the Bible that makes me do a double-take whenever I hear it. In a way, I get what he's saying. You shouldn't be looking for extra credit for acts of charity, kindness and repentance. As Pastor Don Draper would say, "THAT'S WHAT THE SALVATION IS FOR." Plus, I'm sure any one of us could come up with a painfully long list of vituperative asshats who claim the saving grace of Christ in one breath and then insult entire communities of fellow travelers in the next. Better that they keep their mouths shut and appear stupid than open them and make the world think that I'm an asshat, too, simply because we share a creed.

But how can I tell the difference between living in a spotlight for the sake of the spotlight and living there for the sake of the Gospel? Take this blog, for instance. It's partly for me, as a way to sort through some Lent-related thoughts and brush up my writing, which is always way harder than I think it will be. (I am constantly dismayed that being good at tweeting does not translate into more useful skills.) But it's also, if I'm being honest, something of an evangelism tool. I say evangelism, although I don't actually expect anybody to convert because of my scribblings here. It's more like me feeling that I have a responsibility to put some positive stuff out into the world with regard to Christianity. Hopefully stuff that is loving and thoughtful and genuine, since so many of Christ's most notable banner-carriers today are coming across as anything but. And I think that all people have the same responsibility, to be ambassadors for the things they believe in, so that even if we can't always agree, we can at least respect each other.

So, if it's okay with Jesus, I'll keep writing this blog. But maybe I won't tell many people about it.