In Between
Not long ago, I was standing in a Goodwill store where I live. I was looking for some shirts. What I found instead was a conversation between two eager people. One was a woman with one foot forward, Bible clutched in hand, asking questions that begin with things like, “But don’t you think that God…” or “Are you sure you’re going to Heaven?” or statements like “So much is wrong with the world today…” And then she’d list some sins like how no one is going to church anymore or some such.
This woman did not win the lottery with regard to the man standing across from her. He was probably fifteen years her senior, with an accent that told us he might have came from somewhere else. He parried every question with things about how he’s not sure if God exists and that God is a kind of energy. Over the course of several minutes, his retorts turned into a monologue. It was audible across the store. The woman did not have a response until the end. “Thank you for your time, sir.”
Every one of us in the aisles were side-eyeing each other like silent scorekeepers the entire time. He won. She didn’t. His answers weren’t easy and they weren’t on that day’s evangelical script.
Sometimes I have strong opinions about all sorts of things. Today, that strong opinion resides in a pretty particular reading of a Bible verse famous among people trying to save souls. I’m absolutely going to take part of it out of context. Here goes:
“For God so loved the world.”
Sometimes we are so busy trying to save people that we don’t realize we’re standing in a Goodwill store surrounded by well-used but perfectly serviceable life jackets. The world is for loving. And while I do think there are very important particulars, I’m led to believe that our work in the world is not so much about transforming that lovable thing out there nearly as much as it is transfiguring the gaze with which we look at it.
Substitute saving with loving and see what happens.