An Old Light

Once upon a time, I used to work at a gas station in Missouri. Right across the bridge from Quincy, IL, it boasts the cheapest cigarettes in the nation. So, it is right to assume that you’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Yet, over time, I got to know them. Sold them their drinks and smokes. Learned their orders and names. Due to me always wearing a hat I was dubbed ‘Hat Guy’, and likewise, I could almost always spot an ‘Ayerco Person’ when out and about.

One night, though, I learned just how much things had really changed between us. My shift had finally ended and a fellow co-worker and I were headed to a nearby bar for late dinner. My friend, Logan, is a smoker so we stopped briefly out front for him. There, a few other Ayerco People huddled against the Midwest chill as they chatted and lit up.

Now, for me, stopping to hang out with the smokers was a brand-new experience. Growing up as a childhood cancer survivor, I was encouraged to avoid smoke at all costs – even to the point of holding my breath while passing them by outside buildings as I entered them. But there I was, not only spending a few freezing minutes with them – I was one of them. I was welcomed into the huddle even though I didn’t smoke. We all knew each other from the gas station. In a way, we were all in this together. Of the many types of people I could say I belonged with, I could add them too.

In a similar vein, back when I ran a live radio show called Speakeasy in Albuquerque, a similar encounter occurred. During the show, we would do a round table discussion on taboo issues in Christianity and its culture. Afterward, we would all head down to a local pizza place to talk about how we all thought the show had gone.

Often, my sister’s friend, would join us. Now, the thing about my sister’s friend is that he’s the quintessential “non-believer”. He smokes weed, listens to Al-Jazeera, and is an outspoken atheist. And he’s a lovely person. One night after a show we were all there gobbling down fresh pizza slices and reviewing how the show had gone that evening. We would always run short on ideas back then. Often, we’d resort to banging our collective heads against random walls until ideas began pouring out.

That night, on a wild hair I turned to my sister’s friend and decided to pick his mind for a show idea. So I asked him, ‘What is the one thing you wish Christians would understand? Or that you could just flat-out tell them? His expression sobered for a moment as he thought. Then he answered, “If you’re going to talk to me about something as sacred as my soul – something I’m not even sure I actually believe in anyway – I wish you would do it with more respect and care for what you’re talking about.”

It was that night that I learned a lesson so valuable that it’s stuck with me up until this very day: If you want to talk to others, whether they be the Ayerco smokers or my sister’s friend the atheist, you Must speak their language. And not patronizingly, either. You have to actually be able to be one of them. Spend regular, agenda-less time with them. Not everyone speaks fluent Christianese, you know.

Quotes and Verses:
“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”
– Attributed to Confucius

Verse: 1 John Ch 2: 7-11
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

What Christians are known for now…?

To be completely honest, we’re widely known for being judgemental, hypocritical, out of touch self-outcasts, often more worried about how we look and fit in with our modern definition of Christian culture than we are with others.

What we often lack are three things:

Empathy – Understanding – Shared Language.
We must be known for something Different through action on a shared level with a common language. And the amazing thing about God, is that He’s made it so everybody speaks Light’s language. It illuminates our world for all. Mr. Roger’s mother was even in on it when she told him, “Always look for the Helpers.”

~ Even in the face of hopelessness and discontent, it is more worthwhile to do some good, however small, in response, than to complain or attempt to justify our situation and position.

Don’t Curse the Darkness – Be the Light.
Remember what Christians are widely known for right now. Cultivate genuine empathy, understanding, and shared language with others – especially if they’re not ‘Church People’.
Be someone Different. I dare you.