On Piety

I love words.  I always have.  There is so much that we can do with language-- so much that can be accomplished when we use our words thoughtfully and well.  And in contrast, we can afflict much pain and heartache when our words are used too quickly or with harsh intent.  There is a duality with language, and we choose which side of the wall we fall on: the side that draws us close to our neighbors, or the side that simply puts the wall between us and them.

Today, I've been munching on a word that you may be familiar with... I've been thinking about piety.  There's been a lot floating around the internet newsstand in recent days that has given me pause.  So many stories of social inequality, national and international disaster, and tragedy that I can hardly think straight.  And for some reason this made me think of piety.

Now, as a Christian person, I know a lot of pious people.  But as you read that, did you hear that as an upstanding statement, or a degrading slam against my own family of believers?  Truth is, it can be read both ways.  Pious, by it's very definition, stinks of duality.  On the one hand, it is reverence for God.  A beautiful definition of what it means to follow Christ.  And on the other, it stands for hypocritical concern with the aforementioned virtue.

So, which did you hear?  If I'm being honest I heard hypocrisy, degradation, and blatant disregard for the sanctity of devotion. And in most vocabularies, I would be in good company.  There are very few times when piety denotes reverence.  And my honest question is: who made it so?

If I'm being really honest, I think I have an answer for that question:  we did.  And by we, I mean the church.  Those whose legacy began with Christ himself, but was implemented by everyone who came after Him.  We crusaded in the High Middle Age, we hung women in the 17th century, we enslaved human beings based on race too long after we knew better, we denied (and continue to deny) women a voice in the church.  And I say "we" because we should all claim responsibility for where we come from.  And we should all work to better the legacy we leave from here on out.  Now, not everything in Christianity's rearview is negative.  In fact, Christianity has been responsible for some of the most amazing, world-changing movements led by Christ-centered, Christ-devoted people:  Mother Teresa, John Wesley, Martin Luther King Jr., Joan of Arc, the newly-inaugurated Pope Francis (among SO many others).  But we can't just sweep the bad under the rug and display the good in the trophy case.  Eventually, the ugly under the rug starts to stink and overshadow all that we've worked hard to keep shiny with pride. That's how Christians get the reputation of being hypocrites; how we get reputations that overshadow the amazing works of our Savior-- through the hands and feet of who He made us.

I hurt to think that people look at me and think of me as pious because I represent religion to them-- hypocrisy, degradation, total disregard for the sanctity of devotion.  But I'm sure that it happens. I hope that I can represent Christ to people as a flawed, definitely-don't-have-my-shit-together human being, who believes in the beauty of Jesus, the intimacy of the Holy Spirit, and the inexplicable love of the Creator.  And in some quiet, small way, I dearly hope that some see in me a reverence for God.  And I hope that they see that same reverence, grace, and life in my church, my family, and my Jesus.