Spirituality Column #722

September 15, 2020

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Everyone Who Believes, Part 2

By Bob Walters

“I am obligated both to the Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and foolish.  That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.  I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes …” – Paul, Romans 1:14-16

“Are you ever embarrassed being a Christian?” my old friend asked me.

In the context of our conversation, I have no doubt that my great college pal Bo – with whom my wife Pam and I had a great but rare visit one afternoon a couple of weeks ago in western Indiana – meant it as no accusation.  Rather, he was seriously wondering how I came to deep Christian faith.  His encounters with church over his lifetime, I surmised, had been something short of deeply, grippingly, satisfying.

I can’t think of the last time a simple question has led me on such a joyous continuum of contemplation and prayer.  The Bible indeed offers Paul’s powerful words about not being ashamed of the Gospel; that the Gospel was and is the single great truth among all life and all humans of all stations and whatever worldly power they might hold.  For Paul in Rome at that time, his declaration amounted to capital heresy against the “god” Caesar.  “I will tell this truth to anyone,” Paul was saying.

“If you’re ashamed of me [in life], I’ll be ashamed of you [at judgment]” Jesus asserts in Mark 8:38 and Luke 9:26.  To me, that is the scariest threat in the Bible.

But Bo wasn’t asking about shame or final cosmic divine judgment.  He was simply asking about me, personally, being “embarrassed” (see 2 Corinthians 7:14 NIV; different word and tense but same Greek root as “shame”).  Bo wasn’t referring to the behavior, pomposity, or hypocrisy of certain Christians, nor to recent church scandals, nor to the academic fraud of postmodern, post-Christian invective levied generally against sincere faith at almost every university in the world (all my words, not Bo’s).

I gathered that Bo was just wondering if, on a solely personal level, I ever felt the same weirdness he perceives upon encountering Christian faith (“believing without seeing” kind of faith), Christian witness (revealing one’s testimony in public), or Christian practice (worship, prayer, lingo, or maybe saying grace in public).  Yes, I had.

Fact is, I knew exactly what Bo was asking because 20 years ago and my entire adult life before that, I felt exactly the same way.  I vividly remember cringing the first time I was in a restaurant and my Christian lunch partner actually said grace, low but out loud, in public!  My eyes looked around – embarrassed – to see who was watching.

Another fact is, I don’t think I know a Christian who is embarrassed about being a Christian. The consuming depth of faith, hope, love, the Bible, church, fellowship and Jesus in Christian life is so huge, obvious, and self-evident that, as Chesterton wrote, the greater the truth in one’s life, the harder it is to explain it to others.  You just know it.

So, I understood Bo’s question; it was neither complaint nor put-down.  My knee-jerk response – now – was what felt like a calm, compassionate, non-condescending, and confident, “No.”  But it was a question, upon further review, I pray I had been better prepared to answer.  Everyone who believes?  Give it some thought.  More next week.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) last saw Bo (before this visit) in 1992.  BTW … that praying, Christian lunch partner Bob mentioned – September 2001 – was Russ Blowers.