Week 27: They’ll Know Us By Our Love
Weekly Digital Detox Reflections
Peace be with you, kind readers. Welcome to The Endeavor. For the new subscribers, we are now 27 weeks into a 52-week journey toward a life of digital minimalism. I hope these weekly reflections are as helpful for you as they are for me. Adhering to a strict digital detox routine is rewarding. Taking time to then reflect in the absence of distractions and to share those reflections has also been a rewarding practice. If you are interested in my routine, I will direct you here, which if I do say so myself, was my best effort yet at providing a succinct summary of what that routine entails. If you like what you see here, please check out some of my previous work and consider becoming a paid or free subscriber.
Progress Report
I don’t have any changes to report, but I can confirm that we as a family have way more fun when we are disciplined about keeping the TV off and the phones away. For instance, my daughter has gotten really into painting. We got her an easel for Christmas and it has not gone to waste. She paints a little every day!
Also, during our digital-free family time, I’ve become fond of the ukulele and have started to teach myself how to play. This little sample is a tune I’ve named “Delaney” after my daughter.
Creativity seems to be a bit more free-flowing when we aren’t consumed by our devices. Shocking, I know….
Where My Thoughts Have Been
The last hymn sung at Mass this past Sunday was “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love”- Fr. Peter Scholtes and gosh… I love that hymn!
With inspiring lyrics and an engrossing melody, when sung in unison with the congregation it is truly moving. The song pulled my mind back to a conversation from work that happened over two years ago and left such an impression on me that I still think about it. This of course is where my thoughts have been.
Story Time
It was a comfortable sunny day in Phenix City, Alabama (yes, that’s how they spell Phenix) when I arrived at a small mom-and-pop restaurant just outside of town. I had swapped dirty mats and mops for clean ones and was taking a quick inventory of their terry towels. The owner/general manager was thinking ahead, trying to decide if she was going to ask me to leave a few extras. She quickly determined that their normal amount would be fine saying “Well, we are closed on Sundays now, so what we have should last until you come back next week.” The minister in me quickly replied, “Oh, that’s great y’all decided to close on Sundays allowing everyone to go to church!” Keep in mind, this is the Bible Belt so my response was reasonable. In full transparency, she said “Well, that’s not why we did it. We decided to stay closed on Sundays because the Christian church crowd that showed up for lunch every Sunday were so rude and borderline abusive to our staff that we decided it was better just to not open.” My jaw dropped as I placed my hand over my chest like I’d been punched. That sounds a bit dramatic but hey, I’m a bit of a dramatic guy 🤷🏻♂️. Seeing my visceral response the lady continued saying “I know, it’s terrible but it’s true.” I then told her a little about my ministry background and how disheartening it is to hear such a thing. She then opened up a bit about her faith and agreed it was disheartening but it was also unfortunately common. When this restaurant closed on Sundays, the church crowd then migrated to another small, locally owned restaurant which eventually also closed their doors on Sundays for the same exact reason. At that point, all I could do was shake my head. Before I left, I encouraged the woman to remember there are many loving, warm, and welcoming Christians out there and not to allow those experiences to keep her from Christ.
How Do We Respond?
This would be the perfect place for a sanctimonious rant condemning those churchgoers for behaving so poorly that a for-profit business decided it was better not to make money than to deal with Christians. But that is not the proper response. Instead, we must allow this story to convict our hearts, and be honest about how we can be just as unloving and unruly. Whether to our neighbors, friends, family members, or passersby, sometimes instead of being an ambassador or image of Christ, we are instead the image of those who killed Him. We must admit it is perfectly reasonable and justifiably for Christians to be seen as non-loving.
Being a hypocrite is to be human. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about a pattern of behavior that tells people through our actions that we don’t believe what we say we believe. It’s the driver with road rage who drives past you, giving you one of these 🖕🏼only for you to see one of these ✝️ on his back bumper. It’s the Chick-Fil-a manager with a Cross around his neck yelling at employees in front of customers to “either get your shit together or get the fuck out!”. It’s story after story or example after example of self-proclaimed Christians being completely indistinguishable from atheists because of their continued engagement with porn or drugs. Let me be clear, I’ve been guilty of such sins. The problem I’m witnessing seems to be a lack of repentance among God’s people. What we need is to remember the simple, but not easy words of Christ who said “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35 KJV).See what I mean? Simple in theory, but how do we put this into practice?
Allow me to brainstorm what it might be like to follow and live out the fruits of the spirit. Think of each fruit as a verb.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23 KJV
To love those around us by giving grace and mercy, doing as much good as we can for as many as we can. To have joy, despite our circumstances. Not merely happiness which comes and goes, but true joy that comes from trust in the Lord. To have peace, by avoiding gossip, envy, lust, or any other thing that might disrupt our inner peace. When we have peace like this, people notice. I’ve been to the homes of people who exude such peace it can be felt when you enter the front door. Practice longsuffering or patience as we often wait with anticipation for the direction we can discern from Christ. May we practice gentleness both in words and in action with our fellow image-bearers, being kind in our interactions. Be good and live with goodness, doing your best to do good for others in the name of the Lord. To grow in faith by being faithful in our obedience to the will and ways of Jesus. Meekness, understanding the power we have in Christ, and also understanding how to use that power for His glory. To develop temperance (self-control) showing ourselves and the world we do not act on every impulse or desire the world throws in our face, but we are strong enough to abstain from such things and can do so with grace and without judgment. I believe if we can practice these things, and pray for one another to grow in the fruits of the spirit, we can indeed become known by our love.
Before you go, I need to let you know I will be taking next week off from writing and will be back in your inboxes on February 8th. Until then, thank you for reading, and may God Bless you!
Benediction
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon us, sinners.
“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26 KJV
Thank you for reading! Do your best to disconnect from the artificial, and connect with others.
And as always,
Keep thy head cool and thine eyes true.
Howard Pyle, Man of Iron
Scripture of the Week
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16 KJV
Word of the Week
(verb) Impute- represent (something, especially something undesirable) as being done, caused, or possessed by someone.
Why impute? It’s just a good word.
Music of the Week
Whenever I Call You “Friend”- Kenny Loggins & Stevie Nicks.
This song simply makes me happy. Enjoy!
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23 KJV"
Good one, Daniel -
It's sad to read stories like the one you related.
For some reason, I've always found the order that the fruit is laid out in Galatians 5 interesting.
Each one builds/is dependent upon exercising the ones before it. Without Love, we cannot have real joy. No joy = no peace. If we don't have peace, it's will be near impossible to be longsuffering. Longsuffering produces gentlleness. When we truly have a gentle spirit, we can do good. Our goodness relies on faith in the Grace of God. When we exercise faith, we can act with meekness. When we are truly meek, we are satisfied with the life God has been producing in us, therefore we can exercise temperance (be content with such things as we have). Nothing in God's Word is taken for granted, not even the order in which it was written. Amazing.
Man, Chick-fil-A is intense in the south.
Also, aca-excuse me? You're going to Mass now? Since when?