With varying degrees of success and failure I have tried throughout my Christian experience to remain as closely involved in the world around me without taking on certain values and mores, or should I say lack of mores, that are not compatible to my religious profession. This has led me into some very strange places over the years and I have often found myself questioning my wisdom and my motives.
During my extensive street ministry from 1980 to 1996 or so I found myself often in some very strange places, including after hours bars and gay and alternative nightclubs, all in the name of being a Christian presence in the least likely circumstances for people chronically alienated from the church and the Christian faith (notice that I have indicated these as two distinct entities, Gentle Reader?) I cannot say that I went totally free from being influenced and corrupted, more in some of my attitudes and language than in my lifestyle preferences, but let`s just say that it took its toll and at times the exhaustion and burnout were telling.
More recently I have been undergoing subtler challenges in the workplace. Let me say, first of all, that at least the kind of work I am doing, caring for vulnerable and disenfranchised people, is very compatible to my Christian faith, and does much to enhance my experience of discipleship and spirituality. Then there are my coworkers. Different story altogether. In most cases I am the only or almost the only Christian on board and I only have to sit for five minutes in the staff room to remind myself what different worlds we inhabit. Generally, Eastern spiritual practices are endorsed, encouraged and practiced, such as yoga and Buddhist meditation. I dare not mention prayer because the Christian faith, unlike Buddhism, just is not respected or particularly liked where I work. So I keep my views and my experiences to myself. Most of my coworkers drive vehicles, a practice I have always eschewed, thinking that it is better to put the wellbeing of the environment ahead of my personal convenience and pleasure. All of my coworkers who do not happen to be peer support workers earn fairly substantial salaries and enjoy lifestyles, perks and entitlements that I neither know nor really care to know. Still, it often makes conversations awkward, given that I simply cannot communicate on their level of financial excess. Even though I travel, I do so on a strict budget, so we really have little common ground to talk about when it comes to vacations, since they tend to take travel luxuries for granted that I could only dream of, if I really was interested , which I'm not. My reasons for travel are likely quite different from theirs, since I go to learn about the people, the culture and the language and to offer friendship in foreign lands, and not as a tourist-consumer. Unlike most of them, I neither own my own home, nor ever will own my own home, nor have I ever aspired to, not simply because it has been out of my economic range but as a Christian who takes literally the notion that he is a pilgrim and sojourner on this earth it has never occurred to me to take this kind of step. Now how could I possibly explain something like this to secular minded coworkers for whom home ownership is taken for granted, though in a city as expensive as Vancouver it will be a matter of for how much longer.
Unlike many of my coworkers I rarely eat in restaurants, not just because it's too expensive but because I feel that it is more responsible to buy groceries economically and prepare and eat my own food. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the gist. What we do share in common is a strong dedication to work well with our clients and to do our utmost to promote their wellbeing. Even if I eschew social occasions in the workplace given our incompatibility of lifestyles and values, at least professionally we are all on board.
Which brings us to the Olympics. It really saddens me how a mere sporting event comes to so dominate people's lives, as if physical excellence, competition and winning are the be-all and end-all of our humanity. This is where my values as a Christian really have a field day. It isn't that my faith is really against these things, rather, we don't really place a lot of value in them. You see, Gentle Reader, I don't believe that God calls us to honour the amygdala, also called the reptilian brain. We are made for better, and higher, to be kind, gentle, loving and honest and to care for the weak and vulnerable as we ourselves walk with and identify with the weak and vulnerable Christ, through whom we are made strong in our weakness through the weakness that he shared with us as a tiny human baby and on the Cross of Golgotha.
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