The eCrozier

What do you think agnostics think of our Lenten practices? They see our “Ashes-to-Go” set up on street corners. They hear of our fasting or “giving things up for Lent.” What do you think they make of it? They may well scratch their heads and just think we’re the strangest people on earth. “What” we do during Lent and “how” we go about doing it doesn’t make much sense to them. That’s because most of what they hear and see from us is the “what” and the “how” of Lent and not the “why” undergirding it. If we don’t address with them the “why,” then we don’t have much chance of engaging them with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Yet, much of the church remains stuck on the “what” and the “how” of faith. We rarely ever approach the “why,” which has to do with our baptismal identity (forgiven sinners who have died in Christ) and purpose (redeemed sinners sent by Christ into the world). My hunch is that’s true because it’s less risky. We’re more comfortable staying with the mechanics of the season of Lent and its ascetical practices. Don’t get me wrong, those are important practices that nurture our Christian faith. But they remain confined to “what” we do and “how” we do it. They “work” for us because we in the church assume in such practices the “why” that underpins them. Yet, no one I’ve ever known has been moved to a new spiritual place by only addressing the “what” and the “how” of their lives. Those sorts of questions appeal primarily to our cerebral cortex, the rational part of our brains. The “why” question, however, addresses the limbic part of our brain. That’s the part that appeals to our human need and desire for identity and purpose. For a fuller exploration of this line of thinking, see Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk at https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.

My son Charley operates a small pet services business in Washington, D.C. that among other things will walk your dog for you because you are too busy to do so yourself. His business is growing. That’s not because the service he provides isn’t also provided by others. There are plenty of others offering such services. Also, it’s not because he and his employees necessarily provide better service than other similar businesses. In other words, the “what” and the “how” of his business isn’t really that much different than what others provide. The reason his business is thriving is that everything they do proclaims: “We really love dogs!” He’s in the business not merely because he walks dogs (the what) or because he walks dogs really well (the how), but because he loves dogs (the why). That appeals to his clients who also love their dogs. His clients want to be part of a business that loves dogs as much as they do. He focuses on the “why” and then the “what” and the “how.”

I’m not opposed to doing things like “Ashes-to-Go” or similar efforts to connect the Christian faith to where people are, especially if they provide us an opportunity to get to the “why” of people’s lives. But I’m skeptical such efforts do. I think they just make us feel better about ourselves, that we’re really reaching folk on the level of their identity in life and their purpose in the world. What needs to happen is this: We need to engage folk deeply on the “why” of their lives. We need to listen to their life stories, their hopes and fears, and then to talk with them about Jesus because he answers their “why” question of identity and purpose directly.

+Scott