The Simple and The Complex

We human beings like it simple. We drop a brick and it falls to the ground. We go to work and we get a paycheck. We smile at someone and they smile back. Simple. But sometimes we unnecessarily make simple things complex and complex things simple.

     At its core, Christianity is simple. Jesus lived, was crucified, and rose from death. Everyone who is baptized into Jesus lives in relationship with God forever. In that relationship, Jesus sets us free to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We don’t need to make it more complicated than that. If you feel worried about your relationship with God, think of Jesus and what he did for you. Can you do more? Nope! If you wonder what to do in a difficult situation, ask yourself, “How can I love my neighbor and love God in this situation?”

     Some Christians make it way too complicated. “Are the fires and wars happening because Jesus is returning soon?” Fires or no fires, your purpose is to love God and your neighbors wherever you find yourself and whatever is happening. Some Christians get drawn in the culture wars and act like the “right” position on issues such as abortion, sexuality, immigration, guns, or politics will save them. Only Jesus saves! Our worry shouldn’t be the “right” position, but finding the best ways to care about our neighbor (especially the ones with less power) and helping people to know Jesus gives his life for them to make them “right” with God. It’s really simple.

     Other things in this life are complex and we shouldn’t simplify. For example, the economics of eggs is complicated. When eggs go up or down in price, it is often due to supply and demand. But many things affect supply and demand. When egg companies add chickens, they lay more eggs. Supply goes up and prices go down. When avian flu infects whole flocks (like AZ producer Hickman’s earlier this year), millions of birds are killed to stop the bird flu. Supply goes way down and prices go way up. When we say that a politician is responsible for the price of eggs, we are oversimplifying something complex. At best, we’re deceiving ourselves. At worst, we’re deceiving others.

     Our desire to simplify complex realities is often linked to our desire to be “in the know,” which is a form of self-righteousness. Some early Christians thought there was secret knowledge about Jesus that was only given to insiders. This was called the “Gnostic heresy’ (Greek gnosis means knowledge). They claimed if you knew the secret teachings, you were “really” a Christian. Today, they say if you know that the fires are a sign of the end times, then you’re special. And it all looks simpler. When we think we have special knowledge that only the “cool kids” have, we should be worried we’ve become self-righteous.

     It’s better if we become more comfortable with complexity and saying things like, “I don’t understand.” When we oversimplify something complex, we often are claiming self-righteousness. Any self-righteousness separates us from Jesus, who is the only source of true rightness with God. Self-righteousness separates us from other people. When someone says they know that vaccines cause autism, it’s hard to talk about an outbreak of measles that is harming kids and could have been prevented. It’s better to say, “I don’t understand why kids get autism. We need scientists and experts to study it.”

     As a congregation, our vision is “God’s grace guides St John’s to grow as a Christ-centered, inclusive, and active community.” As Christ-centered, we keep it simple: everything we do is about Christ and what he has done. As an inclusive and active community, it’s simple: people who would normally never sit next together because of their different ideas and opinions find themselves actively participating and leading a congregation—because of Christ!

Glad to be following Christ with you!,

Pastor Peter