Invisible Christians

The title of the post does not mean relegate your beliefs into the private sphere.

I'm talking about what is now commonly called "marketplace ministry" (which, sadly, sounds too much like "smorgasbord religion"). Maybe I'm just hungry...

Anyhow, whenever the phrase "ministry" enters any discussion I cringe. Ministry sounds like a badge. This is probably due to my years in the Pentecostal circles but to say a person has a "ministry" immediately elevates their status.

It is not necessarily an extension of who they are (i.e. what others call them) but can easily become a title slapped on (a Christian resume builder) to provide a sense of importance. It often seems to imply that they are somehow above those who don't have what they are hocking.

The frame of reference for me in this regard is my years as a social worker. Though my intentions were pure (to help), there was a level of otherness, an arrogance even, when I first started. I thought I had the answers others didn't and in turn placed myself, unknowingly and unintentionally, above them. There was a condescension in this.

Too often, ministers fall prey to the same thing. The reality is that whether a social worker or a minister, when it comes down to it we are all but humans, lost, drifting, seeking, stumbling, moving on. The only difference may be one's title, one's position or one's calling. But that "position" is not the whoness of the person.

To confuse the two is to risk falling victim to the power such a position wields. This is how ministers fall. They confuse the power of the position with their person.

The philosophy at the church I attend is that if you didn't know the pastors were pastors you wouldn't know they were pastors. But you would know there is something different about them. In fact when in public they refer to themselves as something other than a pastor as the term "pastor" almost always puts up walls, whether out of shame or guilt on the person on the receiving end or, in the opposite extreme, the celebrity worship that often follows pastors.

So the title of the post has to do with how a Christian is supposed to live. This isn't "invisible" as in hide in the sense of cowardice. Invisible simply means that the Christian isn't to wear it as a badge. The Christian is called to let his light shine before men.

And that light is something other than the person. That light dims the more the person interferes with it, trying to capture it, manipulate, stamp an agenda on it. No, the Christian is called to be a beacon of light and the way that happens is by becoming more and more invisible.

This isn't the merging into one in the sense of the traditional eastern philosophies or the fana of the Muslim mystic. The person does not disappear but allows what is unique in his life, in his experiences and in his position to be bathed in this light so that others may also bathe in its glow.

This is difficult as it requires surrender. Even though this is removed from its context, it still resonates:

"...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence... (1 Peter 3:15)

'Sanctify' means to acknowledge and 'defense' means to be able to explain. But the key in this is the asking part.

How many of us are living a life that people want to know what it is about us that is different? How many of us just blend in or, on the flip side, are obnoxious about our faith?

Are we so interested in being relevant, in being cool, in not standing out, that we are hindering the light we are supposed to be shining?

Or are we so hung up on feeling pressured to "witness" to others (to earn rewards? guilt assuagance?) that we are hindering the light from shining through us?

Are we more interested in being right than being humble? Do we whip out the battle axe (i.e. Scripture) in an effort to beat down those who argue against us or have different ideas about doctrine?

Just thinking out loud. Again, this started in the context of what is called marketplace ministry. I agree with the idea that being in ministry doesn't mean being behind the pulpit.

But these slick tags just seem to become "multilevel marketing" efforts with guaranteed sales tactics that will earn gold stars to put on heaven's refrigerator door.

Surrender is so very difficult...