I was working at home this morning, writing some emails, with the TV on in the background. “The View” was on. I watch ‘The View’ from time to time, but usually am not home during its airtime. Anyway, I was half listening, half focusing on something else. First, they were talking about Ted Haggard (well-known pastor of huge church, caught with male prostitute and drugs). Apparently, Haggard went into intensive counseling for a long time and, as The View reported, has been “cured of his gayness” (their words).
I was annoyed by their discussion on several levels. The main thing is: I feel for the guy. I don’t approve of or condone what he did, but I do mourn both for, and with, him. I mean, I know what it is like to be the pastor of a small, country church. Sometimes, I feel like I’m pulled in a hundred different directions (there is just a lot to do and be!). I cannot imagine being the pastor of a church on the scale of his former church…let alone a national leader of the Evangelical Christian movement. The stress alone had to be almost unbearable. It would take someone with a nearly perfect personal faith and devotional life to be in his situation and not be in danger of “falling” in multiple areas. I would also add: there is such a thing as “spiritual warfare”…good and evil battling it out beneath the surfaces. When someone is making a significant and noticeable difference for the Kingdom of God, when lives are being dramatically changed by the power of God, where the Gospel is being preached in its fullness…in those places, Satan is lurking in the shadows, just waiting for his “chance”.
We are all so weak and frail. Unless you are desperately clinging to God and relying completely on the strength of His Spirit, there is no hope…none. In addition, if you hide your weaknesses and struggles and have no source of communal accountability and strength, you will fall. It is inevitable. We cannot live the righteous life to which God calls us to live without the help of others. This Christian thing is not a solitary thing. We are part of a Body…each needing one another to make it through this journey. Poor Ted, he had hidden darkness (like we all do…the darkness just takes different forms for different people)…but he failed to set up the spiritual and emotional support structures that would have helped him overcome that darkness. To me, that is the saddest part of it all: it could have turned out differently, if he had taken the necessary steps along the way.
I HATE how the media mocks Ted Haggard and how they call him a hypocrite. Seriously, who among us has not been the worst version of ourselves at times? Who hasn’t contradicted what they’ve said with something they’ve done? That’s one of the things I love about Jesus--how He says to the people who wanted to stone a woman caught in adultery: “Ok, stone her…but only the people who have never messed up, never made a mistake, never failed others or themselves. You perfect ones who always get it right…you go ahead and stone her”. The Scriptures say they all dropped their stones and walked away. If we are honest, we should all drop our stones and walk away…but we don’t. We parade the failures of public figures and church leaders all over our televisions…as if we are perfect and would never walk a crocked road.
“The View” ladies went on to talk about Lisa Nowak, the astronaut-turned-accused-stalker. They kept calling her crazy and laughing about her “diapers”. The whole time I was thinking, “This woman OBVIOUSLY has a serious mental illness going on and all you can do is laugh at her”. I was horrified. I saw a former NASA psychiatrist on the news who said, basically: “Either she has a mental illness, like bipolar disorder, that is just surfacing or some significant, life-altering trauma occurred to create such a reaction in her”. Seriously, something happened with this woman. We can laugh at her and call her crazy, but we could also offer a little compassion! That doesn’t mean I agree with stalking people or threatening them or murdering them. These are all very bad things. But people are complex. We have emotions that can overwhelm us. We have minds that can fail us. We have bodies that can declare war on us. It is that whole concept of “there but for the grace of God go I”.
I’ve thought about this a lot today, about how we mock people who falter or break. We point them out and make ourselves feel safer…like we would never--could never--do such things or be such a person. We like to believe in our pretense of stregth, but our lives are more fragile than we admit. We hate that about ourselves. Maybe we feel stronger when others fall, because the attention is off of us…because we seem so whole in comparison.
The sad truth: any of us can lose control of ourselves. Even the strongest person can reach a point where emotions overwhelm them. Darkness can flood a soul that was once light and airy. We can make poor choices—even little ones, here and there—only to find ourselves far down a road we should never have seen. Even our minds can fail us. Our dearest memories might be taken away. We may not recognize the most significant people in our lives. We might forget how to use a toothbrush. We are such breakable creatures--and we don’t like that--so we deny our own imperfections and focus on the faults of others. We like to think the phantoms that haunt others will never find us…such arrogance, such lack of grace.
The good news: no matter what happens, God never changes. In our good times and bad times, He is the same. When we have become the worst versions of ourselves, God is still there, offering new life and new chances. When we lose control of our minds…or our emotions…or our bodies…God is there, holding the whole world in His hands--holding us in His hands.
When I depend on my own strength and goodness, I am always disappointed. I am fickle and faltering…and constantly in need of the grace of Jesus Christ. I don’t like that need. I would rather be strong and perfect and impenetrable. But, that’s an illusion. We are all cracked pots, with leaks on every side. Looking at the leaks of others makes us forget our own for a while, but they remain, nonetheless.
So, my message to THE VIEW (really, to our world) is: let’s show compassion and grace, even in the face of what we don’t understand. Who knows what we would do or be if we had to walk the same path another must walk? We can barely walk our own paths well…and certainly not perfectly. There but for the grace of God go I…let’s never forget it.
I was annoyed by their discussion on several levels. The main thing is: I feel for the guy. I don’t approve of or condone what he did, but I do mourn both for, and with, him. I mean, I know what it is like to be the pastor of a small, country church. Sometimes, I feel like I’m pulled in a hundred different directions (there is just a lot to do and be!). I cannot imagine being the pastor of a church on the scale of his former church…let alone a national leader of the Evangelical Christian movement. The stress alone had to be almost unbearable. It would take someone with a nearly perfect personal faith and devotional life to be in his situation and not be in danger of “falling” in multiple areas. I would also add: there is such a thing as “spiritual warfare”…good and evil battling it out beneath the surfaces. When someone is making a significant and noticeable difference for the Kingdom of God, when lives are being dramatically changed by the power of God, where the Gospel is being preached in its fullness…in those places, Satan is lurking in the shadows, just waiting for his “chance”.
We are all so weak and frail. Unless you are desperately clinging to God and relying completely on the strength of His Spirit, there is no hope…none. In addition, if you hide your weaknesses and struggles and have no source of communal accountability and strength, you will fall. It is inevitable. We cannot live the righteous life to which God calls us to live without the help of others. This Christian thing is not a solitary thing. We are part of a Body…each needing one another to make it through this journey. Poor Ted, he had hidden darkness (like we all do…the darkness just takes different forms for different people)…but he failed to set up the spiritual and emotional support structures that would have helped him overcome that darkness. To me, that is the saddest part of it all: it could have turned out differently, if he had taken the necessary steps along the way.
I HATE how the media mocks Ted Haggard and how they call him a hypocrite. Seriously, who among us has not been the worst version of ourselves at times? Who hasn’t contradicted what they’ve said with something they’ve done? That’s one of the things I love about Jesus--how He says to the people who wanted to stone a woman caught in adultery: “Ok, stone her…but only the people who have never messed up, never made a mistake, never failed others or themselves. You perfect ones who always get it right…you go ahead and stone her”. The Scriptures say they all dropped their stones and walked away. If we are honest, we should all drop our stones and walk away…but we don’t. We parade the failures of public figures and church leaders all over our televisions…as if we are perfect and would never walk a crocked road.
“The View” ladies went on to talk about Lisa Nowak, the astronaut-turned-accused-stalker. They kept calling her crazy and laughing about her “diapers”. The whole time I was thinking, “This woman OBVIOUSLY has a serious mental illness going on and all you can do is laugh at her”. I was horrified. I saw a former NASA psychiatrist on the news who said, basically: “Either she has a mental illness, like bipolar disorder, that is just surfacing or some significant, life-altering trauma occurred to create such a reaction in her”. Seriously, something happened with this woman. We can laugh at her and call her crazy, but we could also offer a little compassion! That doesn’t mean I agree with stalking people or threatening them or murdering them. These are all very bad things. But people are complex. We have emotions that can overwhelm us. We have minds that can fail us. We have bodies that can declare war on us. It is that whole concept of “there but for the grace of God go I”.
I’ve thought about this a lot today, about how we mock people who falter or break. We point them out and make ourselves feel safer…like we would never--could never--do such things or be such a person. We like to believe in our pretense of stregth, but our lives are more fragile than we admit. We hate that about ourselves. Maybe we feel stronger when others fall, because the attention is off of us…because we seem so whole in comparison.
The sad truth: any of us can lose control of ourselves. Even the strongest person can reach a point where emotions overwhelm them. Darkness can flood a soul that was once light and airy. We can make poor choices—even little ones, here and there—only to find ourselves far down a road we should never have seen. Even our minds can fail us. Our dearest memories might be taken away. We may not recognize the most significant people in our lives. We might forget how to use a toothbrush. We are such breakable creatures--and we don’t like that--so we deny our own imperfections and focus on the faults of others. We like to think the phantoms that haunt others will never find us…such arrogance, such lack of grace.
The good news: no matter what happens, God never changes. In our good times and bad times, He is the same. When we have become the worst versions of ourselves, God is still there, offering new life and new chances. When we lose control of our minds…or our emotions…or our bodies…God is there, holding the whole world in His hands--holding us in His hands.
When I depend on my own strength and goodness, I am always disappointed. I am fickle and faltering…and constantly in need of the grace of Jesus Christ. I don’t like that need. I would rather be strong and perfect and impenetrable. But, that’s an illusion. We are all cracked pots, with leaks on every side. Looking at the leaks of others makes us forget our own for a while, but they remain, nonetheless.
So, my message to THE VIEW (really, to our world) is: let’s show compassion and grace, even in the face of what we don’t understand. Who knows what we would do or be if we had to walk the same path another must walk? We can barely walk our own paths well…and certainly not perfectly. There but for the grace of God go I…let’s never forget it.
2 comments:
That's why I prefer Hogan Heroes reruns to watching "The View".
http://ia.ec.imdb.com/media/imdb/01/I/48/86/12m.jpg
That Co. Klink... won't he ever learn?
I know nothing... NOTHING!
thanks tina. you gotta feel for the guy. phil keaggy has a song called, "it could've been me", where he says the exact same thing you wrote here. it could be any one of us at any time. and, because we're "the church" the world is watching to see what we do and how we mess up. thanks.
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