Decades ago, I was challenged by a fellow student in acting school to read the New Testament. It was a kind of “double-dog-dare;” he said any great actress should have a working knowledge of this text. He laid one proviso before me: read it the way we were instructed to read play scripts with this preamble: “if this were true” and make no judgments before reaching the end.
And so it was on December 24, 1973, after much gift giving and good cheer at my brother’s townhouse, that I read the last words of the Book of Revelation, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” [I quote the King James Version as that was the translation I had at hand, a Gideon Bible, snatched from a hotel room by my roommate at the time.]
What was my answer? Was this text the truth or a lie? Certainly, I didn’t agree with every word. I had been living a cavalier life, like so many of us at that time in New York (drugs, sex and alcohol). But, was the essence, the core of what I read, true? Even Paul, in the 9th chapter of Romans caught me with plain speaking, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost–”
I surrendered to this core truth; I trusted that the stuff I didn’t understand would be made clear in the future. But for that moment, I put my faith in Christ and promised to follow Jesus and his words, and as best I could, his example. When I told my mother of my decision the next morning, Christmas morning, she laughed and said, “this too will pass.” But it didn’t. I am still here, in the arms of Christ.
I share this story again because our country is at an impasse. We are living in a time of hyperbole (extravagant exaggeration) and name calling. People use terms for concepts they barely understand and make accusations based on inference and media commentary. Both sides of our political sphere claim to speak the truth while the other side lies. How is this possible? I have personally been lambasted for my opinions or, at best, implicated as a dupe. And, honestly, I am equally guilty of doing the same.
With a palpable fear, I project a picture of our nation’s fate in November and December. If we continue on this path, no matter who wins the 2020 presidential election, there will be civil unrest and undoubtedly, much violence and innocent deaths. We will make the stories of the McCoys and Hatfields or the families of Romeo and Juliet, merely charming. Is this what we, as a people, really want?
Christmas Truce 1914
“On December 7, 1914, Pope Benedict XV suggested a temporary hiatus of the war for the celebration of Christmas. The warring countries refused to create any official cease-fire, but on Christmas the soldiers in the trenches declared their own unofficial truce.” [https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/christmas-truce-of-1914] This cease-fire was done by the troops on the front lines, not the generals or politicians.
If we want to survive, we must, as Americans all, call for a truce and cross no-man’s land with a dove. What do we share in common? How are we alike? Love can still win, but we must choose to engage civilly, to remember that we are on the front lines and it is we who will suffer the most if this war of words continues to escalate beyond reason.
Most of us know how we will vote by now. Let us use our time and energy to pray for one another, not to accuse or badger. Choose your understanding of truth, but remember, the “devil is in the details.”
But how does vocation manifest in the lives of regular people? Or does it? Is it a call from God even if the person is not a believer? There is no doubt in my mind that this is so. I can think of no other reason that a person would follow a passion for art (rarely accompanied by financial gain) or service to the poor and disenfranchised or an becoming an unpaid “first responder” or a master gardener or, of course, a true follower of the Christ (or as some now reference God: the Divine).
And I immediately knew that “impatient” was the operative word for me. Impatience does not happen in the twinkling of an eye. It’s a process and literally, has steps along the way and thought patterns that culminate into full blown impatience. Here are just a few of the steps I discovered about myself.
Repercussions can develop from impatience that are more wretched than the original. Must I carry on until the “venomous snakes” (Numbers 21:6) show up before I repent? Or, can I breathe into the onslaught of impatient feelings and counter them with gratitude? 
Many people left the church quickly while some drifted away as the days turned to weeks and the weeks to months. Some stayed, stalwart and determined, to show that this church was not about a single leader. The body of believers is the church etc. And although campuses shriveled and closed, a faithful core remained and now, more or less, the church is revived under new leadership and denominational oversight.
I was one of those who drifted away with no place to go. I have been a church attender for nearly forty years. Sunday morning without obligations was a surprise to me, a kind of unhurried and lazy rising. In many ways, it was a truer sabbath than rushing out the door by seven a.m. to help set up this or that, attend stand up meetings, fill in for missing teachers, or run AV equipment; in general, work two back to back services wherever help was needed (the dream team).
I thought visiting a variety of churches each Sunday would be fun. It’s not. I found myself with a secret checklist: how many people greeted me? Were there any children? How old was everyone? How was the sermon? How many attended? How did they celebrate communion and how often? What buzz words did they use? What clues were in the bulletin? How was the music? Was there anyone there “like” me? Was there diversity? Was the interior attractive? What kind of outreach do they do? Was there an unspoken political agenda? Was there an awareness of current events and acknowledgment of human suffering?
In the end, I set most of this checklist aside and stuck to these elements of discernment: Can I be myself in this place without self-editing what I say? Do I experience God’s Presence in this place and within myself while I am there? Can I grow in spiritual formation and discover more about the mystery of the Holy Trinity in this place?
Meditations from Zion 