I don’t think I’ve really told a work story since the infamous “I met a man who came back from the dead” incident (read that HERE). This one won’t get as many views as that one, but it’s interesting to me nonetheless.
As is often the case, I had the unfortunate duty of telling a customer that her prescription would cost a small fortune. I always try to help them brace for the bad news:
‘Now let me tell you first off that you do not have to buy this prescription. We can hold on to it while you think about it, we can call your doctor and discuss other options, or we can just give the prescription back to you.’
‘How much is it?’ she asks.
‘Over 300 dollars,’ I reply.
‘Jesus Christ!’ she erupts.
Now I am not a fan of using the name of Jesus in such fashion. I rail against it (along with the flippant and unnecessary use of God’s other names and attributes) quite regularly. And, my co-workers could tell you, I have actually (literally) offered my own name to those who feel like they need to make such name-based-exclamations. But I digress.
The irony of this incident (and I wish I could actually make a movie showing you how it played out) is that I was looking her in the eyes as she said this. As she said it, my own eyes gravitated down toward the ground out of embarrassment. As they did so, for the first time, I caught sight of her t-shirt, which displayed a large picture of a cross underneath the words, “Jesus is Lord.”
Definitely laughed out loud at that one! Reminds me of the rich rabble of rappers our country has raised who enjoy exercising their fluency in all sorts of vulgarity while equipped with various cross tattoos, necklaces, etc… And of course everyone seems to have a story of some road-rage incident with a fish-sticker on the assailant’s vehicle…
I just had to go over this in my Sunday school class two weeks ago. I had a new kid who seemed to think it appropriate to fling God’s name out in any part of any sentence.
That’s good (that you did that). I think this is a major area where we can use people’s sin to show them the beauty and holiness of God and call them to repentance and faith.
I agree.
I recently read “The Liberal Arts Tradition” by Kevin Clark and Ravi Scott Jain. They begin their discussion concerning the fullness of education by saying it must be rooted in “piety”, which they describe as love and respect for authority that issues forth in duty. This to me seems to be derived from the root of the moral education we seek in sanctification.
To be able to “use people’s sin to show them the beauty and holiness of God and call them to repentance and faith” requires being a conduit of their understanding first of piety. It was in terms of “piety” that I sought to respond to my Sunday school class. As Christians, we are called to respond to the beauty and holiness of God with love and respect, which culminates in duty, not self-seeking flippancy and impudence.
I think the word “piety” encapsulates the foundation of our goals and needs as Christians very well. I shudder to think how impious we tend to be as Americans, and find such to be a cause of revelry rather than mourning. I for one, very much feel that there were alot of celebrated rebels as role models to be found accessible in popular culture during my childhood, and very few narratives about loving and respecting those who rule, much less deriving any duty from such.