Wednesday, February 22, 2012

My Visible Faith

"Jesus said to his disciples, "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the temples and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have [already]received their reward [from worldly praise]. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father will repay you." [Matthew 6: 106, 16-18].

Today is Ash Wednesday, the day that begins the season of Lent in the Christian church. On this day, Catholics, especially, go to church to receive ashes on their forehead in the sign of the cross. It is a sign of our repentence, a symbol of our deep commitment to following Christ.

Ashes on one's forehead are a very visible sign of being a Christian. There are other signs-- perhaps wearing a cross necklace, or placing a certain bumpr sticker on one's car. These days, it seems, Visible Christian have become targets of biased and even hateful remarks.

We have become largely a secular society. There has been intense debate lately in the United States over how visible Christians should be in our everyday life. Presidential  candidates are even trading barbs over who is a more "authentic Christian".

Then, there is the Reading from today, in which Jesus talks about those who would pray conspicuously in public. Is this wrong? Can we Christians feel justified to even pray out loud in public? Jesus teaches us in this lesson that we must pray humbly, in secret, in our inner rooms. Prayer is to be quiet, alone, in secret.

I heard a wonderful story in the last few weeks about a woman named Pam and her husband who were missionaries in the Philippines a few decades ago. Pam became seriously ill with dysentery. She lasped into a coma and received many strong medications. As she recovered, it was discovered that she was pregnant. Because of her coma and the medications, her doctors urged her to abort the fetus. But she had prayed for a son.

Pam asked God, " If you will give us a son, we will name him Timothy and we will make him a preacher." This reminds me of the story of  Samuel 1: 24-28, and how Samuels' mother Hannah brought Samuel to the priest Eli to be dedicated to God. Hannah said to Eli: "As surely as you live, my lord, I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord."

The woman, Pam, in our story did give birth to a healthy baby boy. She did name him Timothy. Who is this Timothy? He is Tim Tebow, starting quarterback for the NFL Denver Broncos football team. And he prays in the field, kneeling down, head bowed, during games. This public prayer stance has been labeled "Tebowing". Young school children have taken to mimicking him, but there have been many raised eyebrows over this public prayer.

There have been furious criticisms of Tebow in the press, based on the Scripture from Matthew above, regarding not praying "on street corners". People are saying that he is hypocritical, or a show-off.

I say no. Tim Tebow is a seamless Christian. He refuses to make his faith a hidden part of him. He is not ostentatious, he is genuine in his faith. His life is dedicated to God. He makes no apologies to that.

I hate to see a world in which we are afraid to show ourselves as Christian. When I was fourteen, my family stopped taking me to church. I think my parents wanted me to be sure that I was not a "little heathen", unbaptized,  unconfirmed. But after those rites were accomplished, we ended our religious affiliation. My parents' "mistake", if you will, was to take me to a place where I would come to believe in God and in a sacred faith inside me.

My faith had been kindled in that church. When church was taken away, I took my faith underground. There was nowhere else for it to go. I became a fractured Christian, an Invisible Christian. This is still painful. "The desire for God is written upon the human heart". [Catholic Catechism, Part I].

As a young adult, I took to wearing my gold crucifix under my shirt. After I married a Christian, I pretended to my family that I was not going to church. when family came over, I hid my Bible upstairs.  Shall we deny this essential part of ourselves?

Jesus in this Scripture teaches us not to show off as Christians, when there is all show and no heartfelt faith. He does not teach us to hide in fear as Christians.

A dear friend used to admonish me, "God wants you to be yourself." On this Ash Wednesday, how far will you go to become a Visible Christian?

[ Related Posts: The Invisible Catholic, March 9, 2011; Is Christmas Illegal, December 21, 2011; A  Life Divided, February 3, 2012].

(c) The Spiritual Devotional 2012. All Rights Reserved.

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