When Anxiety Attacks
7 years ago
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Over the course of this past week, I’ve had a very in-depth, first-hand look at the press. It seems as though every other call to the church this week was related to someone trying to get information or wanting to express some form of opinion about Sarah Palin. The press has had, for better or worse, a large hand in that.
On the one hand, there have been a variety of writers and reporters who have reported wrong information about Larry and the church. This often happens simply because they have not taken the step of giving us a call or spending 5-10 minutes on our website to confirm the information they are preparing to report. (As an example, I think of one short article written this morning by a reporter from Reuters that had 3-4 easily corrected misstatements in as many paragraphs.) Many of these mistakes have been a result of confusion between us and another church in Wasilla. Some of the mistakes, however, have been the result of the writer having a definite agenda.
On the other hand, there have been some really neat people with whom we have interacted. They truly have been professionals interested in communicating the truth as accurately and objectively as possible. The two gentlemen from the New York Times were an example of this sort. They genuinely spent the time and effort to understand what was going on in our church, and they were careful to delineate the rumor mill from fact. That was nice.
The thing that has stuck out most to me about this process, though, is the idea of the message and the manner in which we proclaim it. You see there have been varieties of misinformation publicly presented in addition to the accurate reports. We can’t really affect the spin or lack thereof which a reporter or journalist will place on a story. All we can really control is whether or not we proclaim the truth, and the manner in which we proclaim it.
Over the last few years in seminary I had several godly men, including my father, explain the burden of the manner and the message to me. It’s a simple thing, really. There are going to be people who hate, slander, and malign us as Christians. That’s a simple fact of being a follower of Christ. After all, as Christ points out, He received this and worse, why should we expect any different if we follow Him? Our responsibility in this is simple. It’s ok if people hate us because of the message of Truth which we bear. It’s NOT ok if they hate us because we bear that Truth in an ungracious manner.
Over this past week I have been able to see my Senior Pastor, Larry, repeatedly respond in the most gracious manner possible to all types of people from around the US and the globe. And in many of those instances he was even able to be pastoral with them, listening as they shared their life stories. And he would lovingly respond with the gospel in real and personal ways. Larry challenges our church often to "extend God’s grace one conversation at a time," and that’s what he did. It was inspiring to see Larry talk with a reporter or journalist in a grace extending manner, with humility and a genuine love for that person, regardless of their personal slant. Not all of those people chose to write accurate pieces, but they went away having heard the gospel spoken in love. That is a beautiful thing. And it has provided me with a fresh and vivid example of this principle of the manner and the message.
So the question I want to keep asking myself is simple… if I face opposition and animosity, is it because of the message I bear or because of the manner in which I bear it? Lord willing it will never be because of the latter.
On the one hand, there have been a variety of writers and reporters who have reported wrong information about Larry and the church. This often happens simply because they have not taken the step of giving us a call or spending 5-10 minutes on our website to confirm the information they are preparing to report. (As an example, I think of one short article written this morning by a reporter from Reuters that had 3-4 easily corrected misstatements in as many paragraphs.) Many of these mistakes have been a result of confusion between us and another church in Wasilla. Some of the mistakes, however, have been the result of the writer having a definite agenda.
On the other hand, there have been some really neat people with whom we have interacted. They truly have been professionals interested in communicating the truth as accurately and objectively as possible. The two gentlemen from the New York Times were an example of this sort. They genuinely spent the time and effort to understand what was going on in our church, and they were careful to delineate the rumor mill from fact. That was nice.
The thing that has stuck out most to me about this process, though, is the idea of the message and the manner in which we proclaim it. You see there have been varieties of misinformation publicly presented in addition to the accurate reports. We can’t really affect the spin or lack thereof which a reporter or journalist will place on a story. All we can really control is whether or not we proclaim the truth, and the manner in which we proclaim it.
Over the last few years in seminary I had several godly men, including my father, explain the burden of the manner and the message to me. It’s a simple thing, really. There are going to be people who hate, slander, and malign us as Christians. That’s a simple fact of being a follower of Christ. After all, as Christ points out, He received this and worse, why should we expect any different if we follow Him? Our responsibility in this is simple. It’s ok if people hate us because of the message of Truth which we bear. It’s NOT ok if they hate us because we bear that Truth in an ungracious manner.
Over this past week I have been able to see my Senior Pastor, Larry, repeatedly respond in the most gracious manner possible to all types of people from around the US and the globe. And in many of those instances he was even able to be pastoral with them, listening as they shared their life stories. And he would lovingly respond with the gospel in real and personal ways. Larry challenges our church often to "extend God’s grace one conversation at a time," and that’s what he did. It was inspiring to see Larry talk with a reporter or journalist in a grace extending manner, with humility and a genuine love for that person, regardless of their personal slant. Not all of those people chose to write accurate pieces, but they went away having heard the gospel spoken in love. That is a beautiful thing. And it has provided me with a fresh and vivid example of this principle of the manner and the message.
So the question I want to keep asking myself is simple… if I face opposition and animosity, is it because of the message I bear or because of the manner in which I bear it? Lord willing it will never be because of the latter.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
Well said. I imagine it has been quite a strange couple of days for Wasilla. It looks like you folks are making the best of the situation and turning it into an opportunity to dispel some of the fictions out there. Good work!
Post a Comment