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(I am a Presbynerd)

Eight o'clock on the corner of West Ferry and Elmwood. "Lord, Save Us from your followers." The film asks, "why is the Gospel of Love dividing America?"

It's free. Bring a chair.

Thiese are clips from another screening:





and while I was geting that, I came across this (unrelated, but funny):

Ok. I promise to get back to my theology posts soon enough, but right now, I want to share my experience from today.

Well, actually, I will start with last night, just to set the stage.

Last night, I went to the concert on Bidwell, and it was a great night. I saw one great person after another, had a beer, enjoyed some great and listened to some fantastic music. Even when I collected cash on behalf of the Elmwood Village Association, all I had to do was walk with the bucket, and people yelled at me to come collect the money. Everybody was eager to give.

Frankly, that's what I love about the neighborhood. Everybody is nice, generous, tolerant, friendly. I love living here, mostly because of the people ((e:strip) people included).

Which brings me to today's experience. I was hanging up fliers for the upcoming film, "Lord, Save Us from Your Followers."

Now, the basic point of this movie is that Christians need to be a lot nicer than we are right now. It asks, "Why is the Gospel of Love dividing America?" and basically admits that it is because Christians have dropped the ball.

For most of the afternoon, people were curious about the flier, but willing to put it up. I never asked any business owner that didn't already have fliers up, and I was, of course, extra nice and friendly.

A few people politely declined, or said, "why don't you give it to me and I will hang it up," which often is a nice way of saying, "I am going to read this over and likely throw it away," but at least it is being said nicely. In these cases, I said thank you, have a good day, and moved on.

One guy, however, before I could even put the flier in his hand, who's shop was COVERED in other promotional materials said, very sternly, "no. The owner told me not to hang that one up." It was almost aggressive, especially since I had been in the stop a few times before, and that same guy was always very cool. We had hung out and talked other times I visited, but this time--stonewall.

So I told him that if the owner had questions about the movie I would be happy to talk to him, and I got a short--"ok." With a "get out of my otherwise empty store, I don't want to speak to you" look.

I got mad at the guy (not saying I should have, just saying I did), but did my best to smile and say thank you and leave.

As I continued my journey down Elmwood, I realized a couple things:

1. Christians have done this exact same thing to other people for years. I've probably given people the exact same look. So turnabout is fair play.

2. Because Christians have behaved badly for a long time (and will continue to do so, in all likelihood,) I will have this experience more and more if I continue to follow Jesus and interact with non-Christians (which I do think I will do--I like both).

3. It does hurt to be rejected, especially out of hand. As a straight, white, middle-class man, it doesn't happen to me as much as some other people. I probably need to experience it more, if only to better relate to those that do.

4. If Christians are ever going to make a difference in the world (and I really do believe that the way of Jesus brings healing to neighborhoods and the world, when it is attempted), we are going to have to develop the discipline to endure things like this over and over and over again. People have been hurt by Christians and they will react to us with anger. The only way to bring about healing is to meet that anger with love--absorbing anger/hate again and again, but not responding likewise.

Maybe I will share more thoughts later. I have to go running now.