Chapter One of In His Steps holds a very important question for me - one I have asked myself and sometimes not liked the answer to. But before I pose the question, let me set the scene for the opening of the novel:
The First Church of Raymond has the best of everything. It is an affluent church in middle America during the turn of the twentieth century, and it is the church home of the "best" in the community (business owners, politicians, well to do families). It has the most enviable choir in town, complete with Rachel Winslow a rising musical star. Presiding over this congregation is Rev. Henry Maxwell, a man who takes great care with his words and sermons, and enjoys preaching to a packed house. He enjoys the creature comforts afforded to him as a pastor in his position, but he would not be a person who would be considered a braggart or self-indulgent. He is presiding over his congregation one bright Sunday morning when something amazing happens.
Rev. Henry had just completed his morning sermon. The sermon held interesting words, and he delivered it with his regular speech. The sermon was completely written out as Rev. Maxwell did not like surprises in his service, and wrote his sermons with care so as not to offend anyone. During the end of the sermon, however, an interruption did occur. A homeless man, who had spent the week in Raymond looking for a job/help, wanders into the church and walks right up to the front of the sanctuary.
The man begins to speak to the congregation, who was so shocked that they did not try and stop him. The man talks about how he spent the week looking for work, and was scorned and not treated nicely. With the exception of Rev. Maxwell, no one gave him a kind word, and absolutely no one helped him find a job. He wheezed ominously as he spoke, asking about true discipleship and truly obeying the will of the Lord. He asked if his treatment while he was in the city (and he came in contact with almost every member of First Church's congregation) was what Jesus would have done if Christ himself had come upon this man. He mentioned that his wife and children were living in a ratty tenement that was owned by an affluent church member. After the man posed these questions, he passed out and had to be carried out of the building.
Two sermons were preached that morning at the First Church of Raymond. The first was austere, eloquent, and delivered by an impeccably dressed man of God. The second sermon was impromptu, simple, and preached by a shabby, sick man beaten down by the world. Yet of those two sermons, only one truly touched souls and dared the listeners to dip their hearts into the waters of radical obedience. The second sermon. The sermon delivered by the man of no reputation, a dying man.
Here is the question that chapter one posed to me: what kind of person am I? Am I the mindful Christian like Henry Maxwell. Do I choose my words with care because I don't want to offend/desperately want to be liked? Do I make sure my outward appearance and attitude is perfect at all times? Or am I the beggar who did not care who he talked to or what he looked like. When life handed him a crap hand, he walked into the hardship frankly and posed questions that needed to be answered. If I had to choose which of those people best described me, my answer would probably change on any given day. I am mindful of what people think about me - almost to a fault - and that sometimes makes me a cautious person afraid to offend. I am sometimes afraid to say the things that need to be said for fear I will be misunderstood. It has only been the last couple of years, when my life turned upside down, that I walked without my armor on and spoke more freely. Those times few but they are becoming increasingly rarer as I try to live my life the way God would have me.
See, the biggest lesson I have learned from chapter one is that God does not want plastic followers. He wants reality. He wants me warts and all. I strive to be the man who called out an entire congregation. While I am not there yet, I am no longer the "Christian" who uses rules and doctrine to shield myself from truth. How about you?
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