This week, we begin with a commercial that takes place at a book-signing by legendary baseball player Cal Ripken:
Here we have a commercial that is based on a knowledge of the rest of the campaign. The doctor's help is unnecessary because the security guard is so intent on finding someone who stayed at a Holiday Inn Express to help the man who has fainted.
In some ways, this is the natural counterpart of last week's sermon about the "Foolish Answers" of Christianity. This week, we remember that some people believe we have the answers or skills simply because we are Christians. We are assumed to be able to do all manner of things because of our faith identity, rather than our professional titles or our education and experience.
How many times have you assumed that a pastor could do something simply because he or she was a pastor? Comfort the dying, say a prayer, lead a meeting, read a budget, understand tax law, counsel the troubled, teach Sunday School, preach brilliant sermons, send inspirational personal notes, edit the newsletter? Many people can do each of these things well; few people can do all of them well. But many people expect their minister to do all of these things well, and walk on water on the side.
And it's not just ministers. We come to expect these things of each other. Don't believe me? Talk with someone who's active in another church. They may gush about the latest book that has changed their view of life and God. Then they find you're a Christian, and they expect you have read the book too. Or seen the movie, recorded the episode of Oprah, heard the sermon, whatever -- simply because you're a Christian too.
It's not unreasonable to expect professing Christians to have a working understanding of worship and the Bible (though the number of professing Christians who lack such knowledge has increased to depressing numbers). But we can't expect each other to know everything either. How do we balance these expectations? How do we restrain ourselves from expecting too much of others? How do we deal with others expectations of us?
We shouldn't avoid it. Part of being "Faith Smart," after we've learned about some of the gifts God has given us through our faith, is to learn how others see us. Sometimes, like last week, they see us as fools; sometimes, they see us almost as Christ reborn -- far more sainted and talented than anyone ever could be. Like most things, the truth is in the middle, but we need to learn to handle these differing expectations of faith in order to better live out our faith honestly and well.
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