Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Christmas Lights (10/30/08)
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TITLE: The Right Way | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ed VanDeMark
11/05/08 -
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Many if not most humans believe there is one right way to do almost everything. My neighbor objects to the way I mow my lawn because according to him mine isn’t the right way. My father had a way of separating his recycles and his garbage that was unbelievably complex and heaven forbid you should violate the pattern. I like to load the dishwasher my way and find it disconcerting to see the careless organization of other people. You can tell who put the toilet paper on the roller at our house. Linda makes it roll off the top and I have it coming off the bottom. She likes her flower beds to have one color; there is the pink flower bed and the blue flower bed and the red flower bed and the white flower bed but never a red, white and blue flower bed and gag if a pink wild flower or a dandelion should appear. I like each flower bed to explode with as many colors as possible and Johnnie jump ups are always a welcome addition. The same goes with Christmas lights. It’s either two Christmas trees or no Christmas trees because there is a right way and a wrong way to light the Douglas fir or is it the blue spruce? To be sure I’ve over stated the case but the under lying feelings are there. We’re each comfortable when the trappings of life are consistent with our internal sense of organization and we’re uncomfortable when they vary from our notion of right and wrong.
Recently friends of ours left our church because they disagreed with our pastor’s view on corporate worship. I love this couple and I love our pastor and I couldn’t discern the difference in their points of view. To me it was no more than the difference between the words “effect” and “affect.” I know there is a distinct difference between these two words but for the life of me I can’t remember which is which without consulting Mr. Webster’s book of detail. When the method of communion or baptism or the date Christmas is celebrated or the color of the Christmas lights become the central issue of faith we are capitulating to the trivial. To be sure I prefer mint chocolate chip ice cream to chocolate but I’m not going to sever my relationship with you if you set a bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of me.
I belong to the United Methodist Church because I’m the most comfortable with the United Methodist way of doing things. With that said, I’ve been ministered to and loved by my Christian brothers and sisters in an urban Assembly of God church, and a tiny independent church on a country road in the hills of upstate New York. I’ve taken wonderful courses at a Baptist bible college. I’m blessed annually by a writer’s conference at a Bible conference center that is not affiliated with any established faith. I’m active in the Upper Room Walk to Emmaus program that is frequently held at a Catholic retreat center and run by the most delightful Nuns you’ll ever meet. I listen to a Christian radio station to hear the sermons but switch the station when they go to music because I don’t like the music they play. I still prefer the toilet paper to come off the bottom of the roll and I delight in multi colored Christmas tree lights but most of all I’m in love with Jesus Christ and Christians of every flavor.
And yes this is so loosely connected to this week’s theme that you can dismiss it from any competitive consideration…but it’s my sermon and I’m sticking with it.
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