HAPPY MONDAY!
A dear friend and mentor brings us today’s word-of-the-week…
McFaith
Okay, it’s an odd word, but I’ll bet you get the meaning.
Just like fast food, America’s sort of obsessed with a quickie version of faith that my late friend Al Helder called McFaith. You don’t need to think, just pick a number and get on with your day.
It’s easy, and a lot less messy, to let somebody else pre-package our religion for us. Just accept the platitudes and pat answers, don’t ask tough questions, and avoid anything or anyone that doesn’t fit the preconceived model.
Trouble is, it’s empty calories.
Just like fast food, McFaith let’s you feel full but doesn’t really meet your spiritual needs. There’s no real nourishment. When something comes along to challenge your neat little worldview, their’s no substance or foundation on which to fall back.
It’s Monday. Might be a great time to make sure we’re not grabbing a quick bite of McFaith as we begin the week.
Have a great week.
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Well said Rich.
Rich, I recently heard the description of Christians who seem to accept their faith tenets as they would a EULA (end user license agreement); just scroll to the bottom of the page and click agree. The McFaith concept reminded me of that.
On the other hand, I went to a small conference in Denver last week on “The Art of Neighboring” which really hit home! It felt like a home-cooked meal versus the McFaith concept; and a home-cooked meal is one of the suggestions of the conference. The conference was based on a book by the same title and the authors are Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon. The concept is so simple, yet profoundly difficult in our culture. Actually loving our neighbors…you know, the ones who live on our street, not just at the homeless shelter down in old town or in the village you visited last year for 3 weeks on your biannual missions trip.
At the conference of 40 participants only 5 of us could even give the names of 8 people who lived in our actual neighborhoods much less say they knew anything about those people. I have a feeling you already live that (I’m betting Monty is a total neighbor magnet!) but I wonder how many of us would be willing to drop our McFaith and honestly engage our neighbors with a home-cooked meal served in love rather than annoyance at having to take the time to actually do what Jesus said we should.
Chrys–An EULA. What a great analogy. Just click “accept.” You don’t even have to read it! I may have to borrow that one. 🙂