Weary of this world and its ways

Good morning my people.

I am writing to you feeling both tired and worn. I am feeling so sad and frustrated with this world and its ways of rejection and stereotype. I feel bombarded from all sides by in-groups and out-groups.

Let me explain. My faith walk is unique, in that God grabbed me out of place that is atypical- the world of academe or the intellectual. It is hard for me to imagine two worlds more at odds than the worlds of intelligentsia and religion. They are each others' favorite out group, with religious leaders frequently disparaging academic values and pursuits as "narcissistic" and "divorced from lived experience."Academics are no better, slinging the mud of "hypocrisy" and "willful ignorance" in the other direction.

And now, I am considered a part of each in group. I am a dual insider. Or a dual betrayer depending on how you look at it. Because my true allegiance belongs to neither, I believe in neither. I believe in, I put my faith in, I bow down to, I follow Jesus Christ alone.

"Wait!" you say, "Doesn't that mean you are religious? You must align with the religious side of the war?" No. I love and respect very many intellectuals. I understand their hearts, to fight for people who have been oppressed by religion. I respect their calling a Pharisee a hypocrite when there devotion to the Word becomes perverted into hatred of people. Because, you see, the Christian church without a clear and fixed eye on Jesus is no church. And religion with no God is just another country club.

"Well now it's clear your really an intellectual." No. I love many religious people and participate in religious ceremonies regularly. I understand that religion is intended to provide a sure path to God- the noblest of pursuits. That Pharisees become Pharisees out of devotion to God and devotion to an unswerving application of His word. I respect that religion names the false and empty meaning of pursuing knowledge for knowledge sake. Because, you see, without God intellectual pursuits are just another way to anesthetize our fear of death.

So I am out of the closet folks. You know where my true allegiance lies.

What Christ has confronted me with is this simple fact: Behind every stereotype I have is a person, who feels the way they feel for a reason. And the more I think I hate them, the more I need to love them - because they need me.