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Why does your faith matter to anyone else?
I’ve been trying to articulate why my faith matters to anyone else. And I’ve been coming up empty. Maybe it has to do with how I was forced to make my faith matter to someone else during my adolescence.
Have you been on “fishing trips”? Not the fishing for actual fish (you know, the fun kind) but where you had to go “fishing” for people with tracts and half-baked, Christian cliches (along with a dose of fear of eternal damnation)? You know, the trips where your youth pastor dropped you and your friends off at the mall with the instructions “go save souls today” and as a shy 13-year old, you had no idea (nor desire) to try to engage in conversations with people thrice your age. So you sat at the water fountain, people watching while feeling shame that you didn’t love God enough and feeling guilty because you were going to have to lie to the youth pastor that you actually spoke to somebody.
Please tell me I’m not the only one.
A new kind of preaching
A few Christmases ago, some Christians went viral for going to the mall and “preaching” to all the families and young kids waiting in line to get a picture with Santa about how Santa isn’t real; they should be in church instead worshipping Jesus. And it’s like… let the kids have their magical moments, guys.
Or how some Christians go buck wild (in the worst ways) in commenting on my videos that talk about being inclusive on social media platforms. It’s like, we go out of our way to make/force our faith to matter to someone else, but we don’t stop there. We’re not satisfied until their faith is aligned with our faith.
At our worst, religion operates out of fear.
When we operate out of fear, our “weapon” of choice is fear. We use fear to control people and then we have to keep perpetuating fear so that the people remain under our control.
Listen to the narrative of certain Christians. It’s all fear-based. We “other” people to dehumanize them and then prop up the “othered” people as a reason to be afraid if we don’t “repent.” Instead of grappling with the idea that perfect love drives out fear, we use fear to drive out love and replace it with blind obedience.
Why would that matter to anyone else?
While we sing “they will know we our Christians by our love” the truth of the matter is, we’re known more for what we hate than who we love. “There’s no hate like Christian love” is a very common sentiment amongst people who are not part of our churches.
It seems like this kind of faith matters little to others. But my faith does matters, to me.
A faith which matters
I’ve long left behind the idea of evangelizing for the sake of altar-call-conversions. Instead, I want to be a blessing to the people I encounter. What do I mean by blessing? I just want to help someone breathe a bit easier — even if it’s for a second. When I encounter people, I want to leave that encounter with them feeling a bit more loved — even if it’s a fleeting moment.
Richard Rohr wrote that “Secular freedom is having to do what you want to do. Religious freedom is wanting to do what you have to do.” I want to engage in acts of justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
While I can’t control people into believing in God (nor would I want to…), I want to live in such a way where people can’t deny the good that my freedom in God is leading me —and my church — to do. In that sense, I guess my faith can matter to others as we work —together— in making our communities more whole and better for everyone and not just those who gain from the status quo.
Faith matters when we embody that famous quote attributed to St. Francis: let’s preach the gospel, using words when necessary. Let’s live in such a way that while people might deny the existence of God, they cannot deny the works of love that Christians are engaged in.
Joseph Yoo is the author When the Saints Go Flying in. He is a West Coaster at heart contently living in Houston, Texas with his wife and son. He serves at Mosaic Church in Houston. Find more of his writing at josephyoo.com.
