Taking the tangles out

Several years ago, I spent my winter evenings and weekends knitting fun fur scarves. I love them. I don't do turtlenecks well, but having that narrow, colorful, fuzzy yarn draped around my neck gives me that warm cozy feel and adds a little color to my sometimes drab wardrobe. I have several. Some I made for myself, others, of much higher quality, were handmade gifts from friends. I do my best each winter to color coordinate so I can wear one every day.

I discovered that I like knitting and so took it upon myself to share the fun fur scarves with extended family, knitting more than 16 scarves in one season.

Consequently, I have a lovely wicker laundry basket that holds all of my many balls of yarn of differing colors, styles and sizes, the remnants of that fun fur campaign. It looked very domestic tucked under one of the end tables in the living-room. I say "looked" because the balls of yarn proved to be too much of a temptation for our "Boo Boo Kitty." Many was the morning we would awaken to a colorful maze of yarn, strewn over, through and under every piece of furniture in the living-room, the kitchen and the den. It was a lot of work to untangle all of that yarn and since I am, well, to put it nicely, frugal by nature, I was determined not to waste an inch.

The wicker basket remains safely tucked away on the top shelf of the master bedroom closet. Boo misses it. So do I.

Spirituality in America is beginning to look a lot like that colorful, vibrant, tangled mess of yarn these days. It's getting pretty hard to pin anyone down on the absolutes of Christianity in this day and age of tolerance and acceptance. Just as I carefully selected complementary hues to knit together, we seem to be carefully selecting what we like about this religion, or that religion, this practice or that practice, this tradition or that tradition, making a hodge-podge of faith we can call our own.

Some of the results are frightening. Reincarnation seems to be in vogue, for instance. And at first blush, that is understandable. After all some of us have made such a mess of our lives that the thought of a "do-over" is, at very least intriguing, if not downright desirable.

Another is the idea of karma, the "do good things and good things will happen to you" and vice versa as comedically presented on the hit TV show "My Name is Earl." Sounds fair enough, right?

Yoga is making inroads as well and it's hard to argue with low-impact physical exercise combined with mastering the mind through various meditation techniques. According to the Web site for Praise Moves the "Christian alternative to yoga," the exercises used are a "witty invention" to get you more into the Word, and to get more of the Word into you, and great pains are taken to remove from the exercises any hint of Hinduism, in which yoga has its roots.

Even within conservative Christianity it seems the traditions of men have added several skeins of their own to the mix of what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus. And if you open the can of worms that is End Times any number of interpretations are there for the choosing.

In fact, to delve into those, we may have to pull out a color wheel and invent entirely new hues to add to the mix.

In this category alone we have a-millennialists, pre-millennialists, post-millennialists and those who can't help but wonder, what is a millennialist?

Then there is the teaching of Christ's return. Almost all of Christiandom believes in his return, but the timing of that return and the method used is open to oftentimes hot debate among believers.

Add to that volatile mix the plethora of cable network programming detailing the myriad ways life on earth can end and Boo's frenetic knitting through chair and table legs looks like a well-planned interstate highway system by comparison.

Small wonder, therefore, that the world seems to be teetering on the edge of a great precipice and so many are so frantic to get it (whatever it may be) while the gettin' is good.

It is also a small wonder that the words of Peter "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." in 1 Peter 3: 15, can strike fear into the hearts of some believers.

"After all, with all that is out there to choose from, how can I hope to verbalize something I barely understand myself," is the mental argument of many. And so they say nothing. Or they offer a hem and a haw, a behind-the-hands mumble involving God the Father, Jesus the Son or the Holy Ghost.

(When I was teaching Sunday School I totally got this joke. I didn't like it, but I got it.

New student: "What if she asks me a question and I don't know the answer?"

Veteran student: "No matter what she asks, just say Jesus, God or Heaven. One of those is bound to be right!")

Brothers and sisters, we need to do better than that. The questions are coming fast and furious and there is already a discernible level of skepticism, thanks in large part to the array of opinions that surround the truth and the myriad traditions that focus more on what man does than what Jesus has done and what he has promised to do. Don't add to the confusion.

Become a willing student of the Word. Immerse yourself in it. Set aside the self-help books, take the 800 number for the tele-evangelist off of your speed dial, adopt an attitude of prayer and read the Word with a heart willing to see, hear and obey the truth found there. And if you discover something there that counters a tradition, offends your tolerant viewpoint, or dismisses a cherished teaching, don't be afraid to walk away from each and any of those, to know God's true will and purpose. Because it matters. Take away every tradition, ritual, prophecy, interpretation and stand on your answer to Christ's question: "'But what about you?' he asked. 'Who do you say I am?' Peter answered, 'You are the Christ.'" (Mark 15:29) And find out what that means. It matters. It matters more than you can know, to you, to me and to whomever asks that fearful but oh so needful question.

"But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever! Amen." 2 Peter 3:13-18 (NIV)