Can Geoff Posegate Just Stop Talking?!?

Last week I chided the 700 Club's Pat Robertson for thinking out loud too much and making insensitive and unChristian remarks. God has a good memory and a good sense of humor. God has caught my attention with an admonishment to take care of the log in my own eye before I start making judgments about the speck in another's eye. I think I wrote about this subject years ago in this blog, but now it's time for me to deal with it.

People frequently steal a glance at their watches when I start talking. It's too obvious for me to ignore. This happens with all kinds of people in all kinds of social settings. This fraction-of-a-second act includes friends, acquaintances, colleagues, church folks, and family members. I can try to spin this any way I want to, but I have to face the truth. By previous experience people know that if my mouth opens they may be in for a long haul.

Some of this may be an occupational hazard. Like all church pastors I largely make my living verbally. Let's be honest, pastoral colleagues; for all our altruistic motives, we're all in love with the sound of our own voice to some degree. Someone once said that preachers are people who take thirty minutes to say something that could be said in five.

Beyond this, though, I'm concerned that I cave-in too easily to the cultural mantra of "it's all about me!" The more I'm talking the more the focus is on me and not on another human being. The more I'm telling stories and making pronouncements, the less I'm asking questions through which I could learn about other people and the world around me. The more I'm flapping my gums the less I'm listening. Some followers of Jesus practice an economy of words as a spiritual discipline. This means saying only what needs to be said and otherwise listening, inquiring, and engaging the world which is our mission field. Reportedly, St. Frances of Assisi once said something like, "Preach Jesus. If necessary, use words."

And here I am, having written more than I need to. I need to do better. We live in an information age, but most people are bombarded with information with limited listening and caring attached. From the perspective of people who are all-in for Jesus, we can't be leading people in new life with Jesus that way.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river. I'll keep my mouth shut this time.

Can Pat Robertson Just Stop Talking?

So, Pat Robertson, of the apparently still functioning 700 Club on television allegedly hinted that God's justice would be served if quarterback Peyton Manning's injury was aggravated again once he begins playing for his new NFL team, the Denver Bronco's. Apparently, like many of us who are Tim Tebow fans, Pat feels Tim was dealt an unfair blow by being replaced as starting quarterback by Manning, formerly of the Indianapolis Colts. I'm not any happier than Mr. Robertson, (though I secretly hoped Tim would end up with my favorite team - the Kansas City Chiefs!), Pat isn't helping the cause of leading people in new life with Jesus, the very cause for which Pat claims to stand.

People who have yet to encounter Jesus will be quick to point out Pat's lack of being congruent. (They will call it "hypocrisy.") Representing Jesus, Mr. Robertson claims to stand for all that Jesus is. This includes radical, forgiving, life-transforming love. This includes esteeming others as better than ourselves. This includes unwillingness to judge, lest we open ourselves to judgement. This includes a just and righteous God, but a God who has chosen to become one of us and die for us, rather than dismissing us. I've heard Pat Robertson speak. He can be passionate and focused on God as known in and through Jesus of Nazareth. However, Pat does not offer congruence with all that when he directly or indirectly to wish harm on someone because a follower of Jesus (Tim Tebow) might not have been treated fairly.

Nor am I offering congruence if I come down hard on Pat. Grace and forgiveness are grace and forgiveness, without selectivity. I have to acknowledge and repent of my own lack of offering congruence between what I profess and how I actually live. And that's the point for all who claim Jesus. An unreached world needs our proclamation to match our actions and our day to day living. Faith in Jesus is more caught than taught. It is more impact by how we live than what we say. And it matters. If Matthew 28:19 really is the marching order of the Body of Christ, being congruent is crucial.

Ironically, as least until now and at least as far as I can tell, Tim Tebow is the one who has done his best to push past the hype, the ridicule, being dismissed and everything else in his world to genuinely and humbly yield to Jesus.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.