Thursday; December 20
I had a bit of a problem with dissonance last week. I guess Friday was some sort of “Ugly Sweater Day” … which is fine … except when broadcasters are supposed to be delivering the news. I was finding it hard to digest some very challenging news stories presented to me by someone wearing a Rudolph-head sweater. Not only was it visually incongruent, the vacillation between a deep discussion of news and the chatter about ugly sweaters caused a bit of anxiety. I guess a broadcast channel can decide how they want to deliver the news, but this got me to thinking about how, as Christians, we need to marry our message with our attitude. Can you imagine the impression we give when we preach about hope while living lives filled with discouragement and despair? How difficult is it for people to equate our message of joy with the pessimism we are tempted to display? Is advocating a faith in God overwhelmed by a reputation of being fiscally tight-fisted and unwilling to help out our neighb