I fell down at church the other day. Honest to goodness. It was the end of service and we were standing up about to be dismissed after a few announcements. I shifted my weight and tried to move my left foot toward Katie but something happened during the transfer of weight and I just went down. Awkwardly slow. My first reaction was to just to turn it into a quick sit-down, but since my weight was still moving left, the sit-down turned into a lay-down across three seats. If you were sitting behind me (and about 300 people were), it probably looked like I needed to take a nap RIGHT! THIS! SECOND! There was nothing cool or subtle about it and my reaction was neither cool nor subtle. I hopped back up, maybe a little too quickly, which made the whole scenario look even more ridiculous. This all took around 2.8 seconds to complete but it was nearly an hour in humiliation minutes. Katie started giggling, I started giggling, and pretty soon our whole section of seating had the trying-to-be-quiet-in-church giggles. Thankfully, church giggles are incredibly contagious because the collective laughter lessened embarrassment’s blow.
Humiliation is an awful thing. It’s forced humility. A good friend of mine, Michael Guido, used to say, “Come to the Rock crushed or risk being crushed by the Rock.” I don’t know if he made that up or if he was quoting someone else, but I’ve played that piece of advice over and over in my head for years. I get that. I don’t always do it, but I get it. It’s one thing to “humble yourself” and it’s another thing entirely to “be humbled.” It’s beyond painful.
In our humbling there can be comfort if—and it’s a big if—IF we allow ourselves transparency with those close to us. However, if we put up a front like everything is ok, like we’ve got it all together, that’s not transparency. That’s a façade. Facades are the fake fronts on those buildings in theme parks that make them look two or three stories tall. It’s not real. It leaves a good impression as you walk by, but if you get too close—phony. Christians are great façade-builders. We don’t want to let anyone know that things in our world are out-of-control, that we aren’t exactly who we seem to be. This is works-based theology—that we have to earn God’s favor. This is arrogant thinking and I’m great at it. To think that my behavior would impress the Lord of Hosts. Good one, Randy. To think the Maker of all things would look down on creation and say about me, “Finally, one of them gets it!”
Equally as bad, no one can relate to perfection. I can’t relate to Tiger Woods. That type of skill makes no sense to my messy mind. I don’t relate to Bill Gates or Michael Jordan (well, until he tried to play minor league baseball) either. We relate to the underdog. That’s why we love fairy tales, Disney movies, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (aka: 60 minutes of Randy crying). We relate to normal people, people who don’t have it all together.
When we come together based on our perfection, we build competition. When we come together based on our imperfection, we build community. I don’t know where I heard that, but it’s one of the most sobering truths I know.
When I admit to myself, my friends, and my God “I can’t get it right,” that’s when He says, “Finally, he gets it.”
Randy,
Picturing your "nap" in church. I'm laughing hard right now, sorry!
-Bri
Posted by: Brian Sherman | June 26, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Amen! :)
And I'm glad you admitted that about Extreme Makeover Home Edition! I'm with ya there! I sometimes start crying as soon as I turn it on, just because I KNOW I'm gonna be bawling by the end!
Posted by: Kelly | June 19, 2008 at 01:54 PM
I have to admit, I got the giggles when I read about your falling experience. And the "Trying to be quiet in church" giggles are awesome! It seems like our entire church gets those at least once a month. And to make it funnier (but worse), the pastor's wife and I both get the snorts when we start laughing, which makes everyone laugh harder and our faces turn redder....etc
Posted by: Laura Anderson | June 19, 2008 at 01:19 PM
Nicely put, Randy.
And it sure is nice to see T. Waits sitting there next to J. Foreman.
best,
jdd
Posted by: David Dark | June 13, 2008 at 10:57 PM