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An interesting drive in this morning. You never know when odd things will come at you.

Bad Grammar, Bad Theology, or both?
The first came as I passed an Assembly of God School’s sign. It said, “Help us shape them in His image.” I know the message they are trying to say is that they want people to partner with them in forming children in a faith-based education and I can honestly appreciate that as I truly believe that we need to find ways of helping people of all ages integrate their faith with every area of life. That being said, the language used is interesting and a bit disturbing.

First, on the grammatical front. Who is “His”? Who is this fellow? For someone not familiar with the Christian church at all (and that population is growing rapidly), is His referring to the principal of the school, the Pope, President Bush, George Clooney? Who? For those who are connected to the Christian faith, is His referring to Jesus? Is it referring to God the Father (1st person of the Trinity)? Paul?

Second, what is interesting (and again a bit disturbing) is that the language used connects back to the creation account in Genesis where humans are created in the image of God. In that account, God is referred to in the plural and women and men are created in the image of God. Genesis 1:26 says that God said, “Let us make humankind in our image…” and then 1:27 moves into talking of how in the image of God, male and female were both created. This sign is an illustration of how, as the church, we get locked into ways of thinking that a) people outside the church understand what the heck we’re talking about in worship, so we can throw around indiscriminate words without realizing the implications of the words we are using, and b) that there is a depth to the awesomeness of God that we honestly have not considered a great deal in the history of the Christian church. I recently watched the latest Rob Bell Nooma video, called “She” which focuses on this very topic. Check out a preview here.

Elite and Christian - do these words go together?
A few minutes later, I was stopped at a stoplight and a bus pulled up next to me. The ad on the side of the bus was for a place called “Elite Christian Coaching.” Because of where I was stopped, I couldn’t see much more of the ad, so I don’t know exactly what was being sold, but those three terms seemed to be really at odds with one another. I know there is a new fad out there in “personal coaching” where you hire someone to be your motivator, one who shows you what you are doing right and wrong, etc etc. I have seen this for individuals, for couples, for families, for parents, etc.

But this connection of terms really threw me. Elite Christian Coaching. Does this mean that what the person is providing is somehow better than what the community of faith is supposed to provide? Is this a new way of referring to a spiritual director? Or a mentor? Is it just another marketing thing that the church is unfortunately buying into in lieu of developing vital, deep, and real relationships within faith communities? The other part in this that troubled me was the use of the word, “Elite.” To me, that word has no place within a Christian discussion. We only need to think that there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, etc in the community of faith when thinking about this word. What about 1 Corinthians 1:27 - “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;”  Are we called to be the elite?  Or the lowest of the low, the servants of all?

Admittedly, I know nothing more about this organization than what I read on the billboard, but…it already has me feeling a bit “off.” Maybe I need to give a call next time I see the sign and see what they are up to.

Or maybe my cereal was a bit “off”…