The View

This past week our family traveled the 1,468 miles to Great Falls, Montana in 22 hours. We traveled through a lot of country that I was very familiar with. I have spent the majority of my life in Kansas. It is where I met my wife and learned to drive. It is a place that fits like those worn jeans.

The sun began to dip as we traveled I-70 across the northern half of Kansas. As I looked out for miles in every direction I couldn't help but think of the beauty of it all. I find something beautiful about the wheat fields and rolling hills that make up the landscape in this corner of creation. The more I can see, the happier I am. To me it is a beautiful view.

Now my wife grew up in the mountains of Colorado. She loves the cozy space that is central Colorado. There is no better view than one nestled at the base of the Rockies. She enjoys snowmobiles and pine trees. Two items you won't often find on the prairies of Kansas. She thinks the flat, treeless land is ugly. I tried to explain the beauty of it all, but she just isn't buying it.

When I go to the mountains I have one goal in mind, to get to the top so I can look back out and see open country. I want the view that goes on for miles. If you get me in mountains for to long I start to get claustrophobic. It makes me feel uncomfortable, like I need to come up for air. My wife on the other hand finds it cozy and relaxing. To her there is no better view.

I'm going to guess that everyone to a degree is the same. We have a place that feels right. That is more comfortable. Where we know what to expect. A place that gives us the feeling of safety. For me that place is Kansas. It is in the view.

The View from the Pew

I think it would help us if we realized that spiritually we are the same. Just as the view in Kansas gives me comfort, the worship experience does the same. People go to war over worship. They battle for what is comfortable. I have no problem understanding this desire. We have something built in that looks for rest. My problem is when we begin to say that one is better than the other, more scriptural or more spiritual. When one is presented as being better at saving lost souls. That bothers me.

When someone starts to say their way is better, more holy and more pleasing to God I have to beg to differ. It has nothing to do with God and everything to do with you. It would be like me telling my wife that the view in Kansas is more pleasing to God. Can you hear the arrogance in the statement? Can you hear the subjective nature if the words?

Why can't we just appreciate that we are different? That our life experiences take each of us in different directions?

This past week I went to a place called The Bridge. It caught my wife's attention because it said it was a clean and sober place to hang out. We stopped in. We met the owner and took some time getting to know her. She told us her life experience and then shared the goals of The Bridge. She did a nice job making us feel welcome but everyone else in the building just stared at us like we had broccoli in our teeth or an extra head.

She mentioned that she didn't feel welcome at many of the churches in the area. What struck me is that I understood how she felt. I didn't look the part of the recovering drug addict. She complained of the coldness she felt and after we left I realized I had felt the same coolness inside.

We all have personal biases. We all have places that we feel comfortable at and places we don't. We have people we like to hang around and others that we just don't click with.

I really think that is okay. I really think it is how God intended it. The world is full of different views. Different places of comfort and rest. One person sanctuary is anothers prison. Why can't we understand this as we move through life? Why must we judge another's view less spiritual, less pleasing to God, just because it doesn't work for us?

Paul dealt with this as he wrote to the church in Rome. He said to respect the others' view. Romans 14:10 says, “You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.” Paul tells them that God is the judge. Right before this Paul says that we will stand because the Lord is able to make us stand.

When we begin to judge style we make ourselves God. Paul understood this and he warned the church in Rome about this very behavior. What hits me is that the Jews continued to worship on Saturday. The Gentiles worshiped on Sunday. They met together to share the agape meal and Lord's Supper. The Jews avoided meat sacrificed to idols while the Gentiles didn't. Paul tells the church to abstain from eating meat during those meals.

What Paul doesn't do is tell the Gentiles to give in to the Jewish view. He never says to stop worshiping on Sunday or stop eating meat when Jewish believers are not around. He simply says that when you get together put it on the back burner. Show the love of Christ to each other.

Paul seems to understand the different views that each brings to this life. If only we could do the same today. If only we could accept that some love a more subdued worship. If only we could understand that some prefer more expression. If we could only see that when we judge either to be lacking we have made ourselves God.

I will respect my wife's idea of beauty while retaining mine. Paul tells us that this is the very reason Christ died. So that he could be Lord of all, no matter what their view.