The way people fuss, one would think that people in the church are being asked to do some strange new thing. Rarely a week goes by that I don't get some forwarded email decrying "P.C."--as if that is some secular term and nobody has ever heard of doing unto others the way we would want others to do to us. Along with the denunciations of political correctness come a barrage of political hot button issues -- all of which beg the simple scrutiny of the question: Does the content of this email/conversation/attitude reflect the love that Jesus showed to others?
The simple clarifying question of Christianity is not "Is this the way we have done things before?" The simple clarifying question is: "Is this Christ-like?"
And the heart-wrenching, maddening reality is that, more often than not, people are raising a fuss over something that is nothing more than a call to Christianity 101: love your neighbor as yourself and Christ's new commandment to love others the way Christ loved us.
When people get mad about this call to apply the Christian faith, they are only showing that Christianity has been a superficial tip-of-the-hat instead of a holy lifestyle. Whether the subject is immigration, or fiscal issues or social issues, the heart of the question is not what any of us are comfortable with...not what we are used to...not our hot-headed opinions. The heart of every question before us can be centralized in the foundational question: "Is my attitude/conversation/action Christ-like?"
Too many times, the actions/conversations/attitudes of church people is not Christlike. That's the sad and simple truth. The voice of John the Baptist intrudes on our lives again in this Advent season saying: "Prepare the way of the Lord! Get your hearts right!"
I am grateful for the Christian year which reminds us that Christ's coming is much more than a sentimental memory of a baby born in a manger. Advent is a season that challenges us to take stock of our lives and, when we look at our conversations/actions/attitudes, we will see if Christ has really come yet or not. Do our lives bear the characteristics of the Beatitudes? Would the characteristics of 1st Corinthians 13 be a good description of the lives we lead? Does the fruit of the Spirit mark our attitudes and actions?
Wherever our lives do not measure up to the high calling of the Christian life, that is where we need to be praying for Christ to come into our lives. John the Baptist is calling us this Advent...reminding us that the most important ways we will be ready this season will have nothing to do with what is on our "to do" lists. The most important way to be ready for Christmas has to do with hearts open to and shaped by Christ.
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The added irony is that what is allegedly "PC" and what is actually caving to the political convenience of the moment is usually something entirely different. Thus the whole "PC" critique, which implies that a "liberal" position is craven and expedient while a "conservative" position is courageous and iconoclastic actually emerged during the Bush I administration when conservatism controlled the White House, both houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court. What a bunch of sore winners. They have all the guns, all the money, and nearly all the power in what is firmly a center-right country that worships capitalism, and yet they complain bitterly that any little powerless person anywhere disagrees with them and portray said critic as the tyrannical Thought Police. I do believe American conservatives think they have a constitutional and moral right to unanimous applause. We are out here with a little pushcart political hotdog stand, creaking ineffectually through the bustling marketplace of ideas, and McDonald's, Burger King and KFC are roaring at us for oppressing them with our "PC" beliefs.
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