Anne Lamott is a writer who lives in Northern California. I stumbled upon one of her books last summer and found it to be amusing, somewhat irreverent, but quite refreshing. Not too long ago I picked up her most recent book entitled, Traveling Mercies. In it she shares how she became a Christian. She writes, "My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers."(1) And she goes on to share many of the episodes in her life which have shaped who she is and which describe her search for God. Her story is a potent one, told in language that is at times, way too salty to use from the pulpit. But I like the way she tells her story because it is so candid, and it's not been dressed up with a lot of pious language.
She has fond childhood memories of attending church with her best friend. Whenever she slept over at her friend's house on Saturday night, she would go to church with their family on Sunday morning. Her friend was a Roman Catholic and Anne was fascinated by their worship service. She says, "I loved the smell of the incense. I loved the overwrought altar, the birdbath of holy water, the votive candles; I loved that there was a poor box, and the stations of the cross rendered in stained glass on the windows. I loved the curlicue angels in gold paint on the ceiling; I loved the woman selling holy cards...I loved the drone of the priest intoning Latin. All that life surrounding you on all four sides plus the ceiling - it was like a religious bus station. They had all that stuff holding them together."(2)
Life was very different in her own home. Her father was openly hostile toward Christianity. His parents had been Presbyterian missionaries in Tokyo, but for some reason he had rejected the faith. Throughout his adult life he despised Christianity and he held particular disdain for Presbyterians. Anne writes, "My mother went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve at the Episcopal church in town, but no one in our family believed in God - it was like we'd all signed some sort of loyalty oath early on, agreeing not to believe in God in deference to the pain of my father's cold Christian childhood. I went to church with my grandparents sometimes and I loved it...But I pretended to think it was foolish, because that pleased my father. I lived for him. He was my first god."(3)
She stayed away from the church, like so many others in our society, but during her childhood and adolescence, religious questions continued to emerge. Then when she became an adult, life became very difficult and the questions began to hit her full force. Her father developed a brain tumor and began to die. Her best friend of many years developed cancer and started to die. She was drinking heavily and using drugs; her personal relationships were falling apart, her writing career was going nowhere and she was having affairs with married men. Her life was in shambles. She said, "I was cracking up. It was like a cartoon where something gets hit, and one crack appears, which spiderwebs outward until the whole pane or vase is cracked and hangs suspended for a moment before falling into a pile of powder on the floor."(4) She believed she was about to become powder. Thought she would die for sure.
And then one day when she was at the bottom of the pit, a thought crossed her mind. She decided to call the new minister at a nearby Episcopal Church. She poured out her life to him and she was amazed that he really listened to her and seemed to care about her. And he conveyed to her that God loved her, even though she found that idea hard to swallow. She concluded, "He was about the first Christian I ever met whom I could stand to be in the same room with. Most Christians seemed almost hostile in their belief that they were saved and you weren't."(5) There was a tiny thread of her that was attracted to the Christian faith, but her overwhelming belief was that she wanted nothing to do with God and the church.
How do we as Christians reach someone like that? How can we help a person understand that God loves her and wants to develop a deep relationship with her? How can we help such a person see that a richer life is possible?
The Apostle Paul spent the last few years of his life wrestling with such questions. Once he became a Christian, he dedicated himself to sharing the good news with others and helping them come to faith in Christ.
This morning's passage from the Book of Acts, informs us that Paul was in the city of Athens awaiting the arrival of two of his friends. And while he was there he debated with some of the Greek philosophers. He said that it was obvious to him that the people of Athens were religious people. He had seen numerous statues and altars to various gods throughout their city. And one of them which really caught his attention was an altar which had the following inscription on it: "To an unknown god." Paul said, "There is no need to worship an unknown god, because I can tell you about the God who made the world and everything in it." He said, "I can tell you about the God who creates and sustains all life." And Paul went on to tell them how they can know God through Christ.
This was Paul's primary mission in life once he became a Christian. He was dedicated to leading people to God by sharing with them the good news of the Christian faith. This is also supposed to be one of the tasks of all Christians. Each of us is to help people who are searching, find their way to God. How do we do it? Here are a couple of ways that we can be faithful to our task.
The first, is that we need to become more adept in conversing about our faith. Paul was actually debating with philosophers. That is not what I mean. Few of us will find ourselves in a similar situation. What we need to be able to do is not debate or argue, but simply to become more comfortable talking about our faith and why it is important to us. It is a difficult thing to do because most of us do not have many good examples to follow. We have probably seen people use religion to make others feel guilty or to pressure them into seeing things their way or to try to make themselves look superior. Most of us are hesitant to talk openly about our faith because we do not want people to think that we're some sort of religious fanatic or a self-righteous individual.
But we can overcome those obstacles if we will put aside the cliches and the empty-sounding religious phrases and simply talk with others about the specific ways that our faith helps us. Because if it helps us, it might help them as well. Perhaps we can talk about the ways our faith helps us to make good decisions about the direction of our lives. Perhaps we will share how our faith has given us strength when life was very difficult. Or maybe we will talk about the hope we have even in the face of death. Or how we have come to realize that we have deep internal needs that cannot be satisfied by simply being entertained or by acquiring a few more possessions. Perhaps we will talk about how our faith has helped us to forgive others when we have been wronged, or how we needed forgiveness when we did something we are ashamed to admit. Perhaps we will share how important it has been for us to give to others who were in need. Why is your faith important to you? How does it help you?
You might need to begin talking about your faith with someone very close to you who can help you put into words the feelings you have inside. And then as you become more comfortable talking about your faith with those close to you, you can broaden the circle to include others. But, again, we want to strive for authentic speech which is devoid of ulterior motives.
There are many people who are searching for God and need help in discovering a genuine faith. We can assist them if we can talk about our own faith in positive and non-threatening ways.
The second way we can help people find a meaningful faith in Christ, is through our actions. As followers of Christ, we have come to realize that God has a deep love for us, and this deep love should motivate us to reach out to others with warmth and kindness. Love is a very powerful force which can bring healing and wholeness to people's lives. As Christians we are called to share God's love with others, especially those who are hurting and searching.
Anne Lamott was not an easy convert to the Christian faith. Even though her life was a disaster, she wanted no part of God or the church. She did not want to disappoint her father, she knew her friends would think she had lost her mind, and she could not admit to herself that she needed help. But slowly, ever so slowly, her life began to change.
In Marin City, a small town outside of Sausalito, there was a flea market every weekend. Anne found it to be a good way to pass the time and to pick up a few bargains. She discovered that if she were at the flea market between eleven and one on a Sunday, she would hear hymns coming from a little church across the street. It was St. Andrews Presbyterian Church. She said it looked homely and impoverished, but the music that was coming out of it was so pretty that she would stop and listen. From time to time she would stand in the doorway of the church and listen to the music. And people from the church would greet her with warmth and love.
She kept coming back to that doorway for months. And after awhile, she slipped into the back of the church. But she said she stayed at the back so that she could escape before the sermon began. Finally after a medical crisis in her life, the floodgates opened and she began to cry and she decided to become a part of that little congregation. The book is dedicated to the people of that church, and in an earlier book the acknowledgment page includes these words:
"I want to mention once again that I do not think I would be alive today if not for the people of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Marin City, California."
Anne Lamott was hurting and searching, and badly in need of a faith in God which could nourish and sustain her. And a handful of people let God's love flow through them and touch her life, and she will tell you that it has made all the difference in the world.
There are many others who are in need of a vibrant faith in their lives, and Christ calls us to help them find their way to God. We can do it by sharing our own story, explaining how our faith is important to us. And by showing them that we genuinely care about them, and want them to experience the love of God.
NOTES
1. Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, (New York, Pantheon Books, 1999),
p.3.
2. Ibid., p.7.
3. Ibid., p.8.
4. Ibid., p.39.
5. Ibid., p.43.
© 1999 Dr. Gregory Knox Jones, all rights reserved
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