Most of us are pretty lazy when it comes to national stereotypes. Mention a country, and a ready-made image of its inhabitants springs fully-formed to mind. Out of respect for the context of this column, I’ll refrain from giving any examples.

But in any case, even when they aren’t plain wrong, they’re a very blunt instrument. Anyone, in any country, can be kind and courteous; anyone can be mean and aggressive, or overweight, or unwashed, or whatever other jibe you want to throw out.

Does that mean that different societies have no individuality at all?  No, there’s a huge difference between French culture and German, for instance, or Russian and Italian. And even those categories are far too broad: in my own country, between a Rossendale farmer and a Newham hoodie, proud Englishmen both, there is a great gulf fixed of mutual incomprehension. 

So what about the famed British politeness? Well, it’s not entirely a myth, though we’re changing. Like the rest of the developed world, we’re living more quickly, we have less time – or think we do -  and less patience.

But there is, across most of our country, a basic civility, a willingness to help, and a certain habit of self-deprecation that I’ve always found rather appealing. We don’t trumpet our achievements, such as they are (see, there I go) and a recent survey has shown that the average Brit apologises seven times a day – rather high, most people would think, but we would say it’s only polite. And all of this is written, of course, under the provisos of the first paragraph: none of it is strictly true.

Where was this politeness, I wonder, a few weeks ago when parts of London and other cities erupted, out of the blue, in a frenzy of riots and looting? It was genuinely shocking, though one of our Baptist ministers with an ear to the ground said he’d thought that ‘something’ was coming. Most of us were taken completely by surprise. Our courts were crowded; large numbers of the looters were identified, and they are counting the cost of their new trainers and flat-screen TVs as guests of Her Majesty.

Well: see the first paragraph again. Stereotypes are lazy. People – even Brits – are sometimes greedy and feckless, and civilization, as C P Snow says, is just a coat of varnish. But I see two things here for further reflection.

First is the lesson of the riots themselves. Things became more important than people. For the sake of a few consumer goods, people were terrified, had their livelihoods destroyed and their homes burned. Politeness seems a frail bulwark to set against that sort of behaviour. But politeness is how you behave when you see the other person as a person, rather than as an obstacle to your enjoyment.

Second, though, is what happened afterwards. Broomstick armies took to the streets, determined to clear up the mess. People were outraged that such things could be, and – here is a prophecy, if you like – it’s not going to happen again. There was a reclamation of community from the wreckers. People were embarrassed, ashamed, and determined to say to the world, ‘Our city is not really like that at all.’

That gives me hope. In the end, the kind of character our society has is based on thousands of individual acts of will. There’ll always be those who choose wrongly, but it’s possible to achieve a critical mass of those who treat other people with dignity, respect and consideration, and that will shape how a nation sees itself, and how it’s seen by others. Some stereotypes are worth living up to. 

The Revd Mark Woods is editor of The Baptist Times, the UK’s Baptist newspaper

“An Invitation to Becoming”  by Rev. Bailey Edwards Nelson, Senior Pastor, Flat Rock Baptist Church, Mt. Airy, NC

There is nothing more difficult than realizing that you have been called to do something, or perhaps be something, that will most likely bring the disapproval of others.  As a young girl I loved visiting the community pool and playing with my friends, though I did prefer one game that might have seemed a bit unusual to other children.  While some kids played games of tag and water basketball in the deep end of the pool, I could be found in the shallow end.  You see, that was the only place where my feet would touch the bottom and allow me to stand up straight as I baptized each one of my friends.  Yes, I was the girl who spoke aloud the words she had heard her pastor speak so many times before, “I baptize you now in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in a new kind of life”.  I have to admit that my “candidates” were not always cooperative, or even willing, but I was preparing for what I thought I would be doing for the rest of my life.  I was certain that God had called me into ministry, though I did not yet have the language of pastor and preacher.  I only knew that I was meant to help people, love and care for them, and share the story of Jesus as it had been shared with me.  It was simple……but not for long. 

I have recently seen my calling come into full fruition, as I was called as Pastor of a small church in Mount Airy, NC (yes, the real Mayberry).  The road to Flat Rock Baptist Church was filled with great success and affirmation, as well as pain and rejection, as I struggled alongside sisters in the ministry to find my voice and place of service.  I was called every name in the book, and assured time and again that I must certainly be “misinterpreting God’s call”, so when I found myself standing in front of a congregation and with tears in my eyes accepting their invitation to serve them as their pastor, I once again felt the way I did in that swimming pool.  The spirit of God poured out on a daughter, knees shaking at the task before me, yet overwhelmed with joy at the thought that I was receiving an invitation….an invitation to become.  

Sadly, there are those that would seek to drown out the voice of the Holy beckoning to me, and replace it with the sounds of hate and oppression.  My church, for being willing to call a person and not a gender, was quickly ousted from the local Baptist association.  Signs proclaiming, “Women cannot be pastors, according to God’s Law”, went up at in town churches, while other pastors decided to preach sermons railing against my presence as a “devil sent distraction” meant only to destroy “biblical purity”.  With all this static, how could anyone expect to hear, much less interpret, the voice of God?  

Luckily for me, the voice of the God who calls came through loud and clear in the form of church members who proudly proclaimed me as a beloved friend and pastor, as well as countless e-mails and phone calls from clergy and laity around the world expressing support and affirmation.  Our church is not just surviving, it is thriving, and as for me…..well, I remain confident in the knowledge that I am called, and by the grace of God, still becoming.

Guest Post by Rev. John Romig Johnson. Episcopal priest, Jungian analyst and former seminary professor.

Recently I said to a fellow Jungian analyst, “Bless your heart.” My colleague took exception.  She is a Southern lady who had become sophisticated in civility and felt “Bless your heart” was patronizing and even a bit of a put down. For me “Bless your heart” was a feelingful phrase equivalent to giving someone a big hug. Saying “Bless your heart” means I know how you feel and I’m with you.

It was my mother’s favorite expression.  For my mother Christian civility was a kind of polite way of being respectful and well-mannered.  She and I grew up in the deep south where saying “mean” things was clearly uncivil. I also noticed that when my mother criticized anyone, she added the sweet phrase “bless your heart” to make it civil, polite. Looking at someone’s badly drawn art, she could say, that’s the worst drawing I ever saw, bless your heart.  So bless your heart isn’t always empathetic.  Hence surface politeness is not Christian civility.  Civility is much more than politeness. It is the act of showing active regard for others—it is applied Christian ethics.

One only needs to listen one day to talk radio or watch TV talk shows, or listen to campaign speeches to come to appreciate that civility is a de mode idea. The debates we have just witnessed in Congress seemed to epitomize incivility with political posturing and narrow self-interest winning over the concern for effective leadership of our country’s economy and future.  In addition, the wide scale fear of cultural, religious and sexual diversity seems to underlie much of the incivility which is present in our country today.

Today’s incivility seems to be a product of the increased Narcissism in today’s world.  All over, on a daily basis we see the horrible results of Narcissistic behavior. Individuals and groups; religions and nations act out their Narcissistic rage at various insults–real and imagined– and people suffer and die for the purpose of the grandiosity of the tyrant, or the glory of the religion. It was said that the 20th century was the “century of the Narcissist”, but the 21st is well on its way to outdoing the horrors of the past as a seeming epidemic of Narcissism .

Christian civility certainly is not just going along with whatever we’re told, that’s stupid not civil. Civility is also not conformity. We need balance, proportion and perspective.  But an important part of Christian civility is withdrawing projections and unconscious responses. Thus self awareness, self knowledge, self understanding are a big part of Christian civility. That is to say knowing ourselves helps us relate to God. 

I think the center of Christian civility comes not only from self knowledge but from an attitude of humility.  Humility is not some shame-based thinking of yourself as unworthy, inferior or flawed.  Humility calls us to have an accurate view of ourselves, seeing ourselves the way God sees us and recognizing we have gifts given by God’s grace to practice and develop.  Christian civility is about seeing you are not the center of the universe and that others matter too.  It means living as a Christian, yet thinking critically, and letting our faith tradition shape who we are and how we see life and its meaning.

I would submit that the most important law for Christian civility is the Golden Rule which states, “So in everything, do to others that you would have them do to you, for this.  sums up the Law and the Prophets.”  Clearly loving your neighbor as yourself means considering other persons point of view and not thinking of yourself as better as or worse than anyone else.

For me, Christian civility is applied Christian ethics both individually and as a community.

Rev. John Romig Johnson, M.Div., Ph.D., N.C.PsyA., is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Charleston , South Carolina , and a member of the New York Association for Analytical Psychology. He has lectured widely on Jungian subjects: particularly marriage and sexuality and issues raised by modern Fundamentalists. For many years he was Professor of Pastoral Theology at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City .  He is  Senior Priest Associate at St. Stephen’s Church in Charleston, he currently serves on the Professional Development Board for Clinical Pastoral Education for Charleston area hospitals.

Mitch

Rev. Dr. Jim Somerville

Here are some suggestions inspired by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart’s book, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Zondervan Press, 1981).

1. Start with a good translation of the Bible.  My personal preference is the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), which strives to be as inclusive as possible while maintaining a faithfulness to the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic languages.  The HarperCollins Study Bible has almost as many notes as it has text, providing ready answers to most of my questions.  Fee and Stuart also recommend Today’s New International Version (TNIV). 
2. Get ready to read.  Sit at a desk or table where you can spread out a little, where you can open the Bible and also take notes.  Make sure you have adequate lighting and reading glasses if you need them (I seem to need them more and more).  Let’s say you’re working on Luke 4:14-30 (just as an example): take some time to read the introduction to Luke in your study Bible; find out who Luke was, when he wrote, and what he was trying to accomplish; find out how a Gospel is different from other kinds of literature in the Bible (history, poetry, prophecy, epistles, etc.) and think about why it makes a difference. 
3. Say a prayer for illumination.  If it was the Holy Spirit who inspired the biblical authors to write (and it was), it will be the Holy Spirit who helps us understand what they wrote.  Ask the Spirit to open your mind, heart, and soul to the truth of God’s word, and to teach you through the words of the text.  The meaning of a passage is often found not in the words themselves, but in that space between the words and the reader where the Spirit does its best work.
4. Read the text.  Read it several times, slowly.  Let it sink in.  Make sure you don’t add anything that isn’t there or subtract anything that is.  I talked to someone recently who said he was amazed at how Jesus just “disappeared” at the end of this reading from Luke 4.  “Disappeared?” I asked.  “Yeah!  He just–poof!–disappeared!”  Fortunately I had my Bible with me, and when we looked at the text it said that Jesus “passed through the midst of them and went on his way” (Luke 4:30).  That’s not really the same thing as “disappearing,” is it?
5. Write down your questions.  If you are reading for understanding (and not just inspiration) you will have questions: What was that synagogue in Nazareth like?  Did they have other scrolls, or just the scroll of Isaiah?  Why did Jesus sit down to teach?  Where was his mother when all this happened?  Why did the people try to throw him off a cliff?  Write down all the questions you have.  Don’t hold back.  The Bible can take it (smile).
6. Look up the answers.  This is when you consult a good Bible dictionary or a commentary.  Not before you’ve written down your questions—after.  Otherwise you will read answers to questions you have never asked, and yawn your way through the commentaries.  If you are looking for answers to your own questions, however, it can be like going on a treasure hunt—exciting!  I keep the Mercer Dictionary of the Bible on my shelves and try to keep a commentary on each book of the Bible written by the foremost scholar on that book.  Bible dictionaries and commentaries are always available in your church library, and many of them are excellent. I would recommend the New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible as one of the best commentary sets.

Only when you have done this kind of careful exegesis are you ready to do hermeneutics: to bring the meaning of the text from “then and there” to “here and now.”  One of the real problems with so much “interpretation” of scripture is that people try to do hermeneutics before they’ve done exegesis.  They try to apply a text to the here and now without ever knowing what it meant there and then.  Fee and Stuart warn us that, “A text can never mean what it never meant.”  That’s another way of saying you have to do your homework.  You have to know what a text meant in its original context before you can understand what it might mean for us today.

This is a different way to read the Bible than the devotional reading I do during my “quiet time.”  This is serious study.  But if you read the Bible in this way from time to time I think you will find it richly rewarding.  Like the people in Nehemiah 8, you may go your way “to eat and drink…and make great rejoicing,” because you have understood the words of the Bible.

Dr. James Green Somerville is the 16th Senior Pastor in the 228-year history of First Baptist Church of Richmond, VA. I am grateful to Dr. Somerville for permission to use this article. I read it first at, “Talk with the Preacher,” the blog of Rev. Amy Butler, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.

Rev., Eric Martin 

        How does a 16-year-old young man get a job working for a retired lawyer of whom he has never seen or heard?  God used a deacon in my home church in Independence, Missouri to meet the needs of that lawyer friend of his.  This older lawyer’s name was Wallace Palmer, and he was very particular and peculiar at the same time.  He was a friend of Harry Truman’s though it was more of Harry being a friend of the family. 

        A deacon in my church did some plumbing work for Wallace and became a trusted resource for other things that Wallace needed.  When Wallace needed work done in his yard, which had become a virtual jungle, no one would touch it.  At 16, I took on the job and did the best job I could, as I had been taught.  In the process, I showed Wallace respect as his age and station called for, also as I had been taught.  For years after the job was completed and settlement made, I would hear short comments from the deacon about that job and how Wallace appreciated it. 

        As years passed, I got married and began working part-time doing court runs for a law firm my wife worked for in Kansas City, Missouri.  One day, while out on my runs, I spied Wallace walking downtown in Kansas City.  I stopped just to say hi and he grabbed my arm in amazement and said “Eric, I’ve been looking for you for years!” And that moment began a relationship that only God could have woven together. 

        For 13 years I would visit Wallace once a week and get him groceries, tend to his house maintenance, and most of all listen.  His wish was that he could live in his house until his death.  Knowing that I was also in the ministry, he made it abundantly clear that he was an atheist, who had talked with some of Europe’s greatest minds on the subject, and felt I had little to offer to change his perspective.  After 13 years, I sat in Wallace’s living room one Monday astonished to hear these words:  “Eric, I have trusted my life to the God you serve, because I see that He is real in your life!  I believe because you believe.”  Two weeks later, I arrived at Wallace’s house to find that he had been called home, this new child in Christ, into God’s eternal rest.  Just as skilled weavers bring together the sweetgrass blades to form a lasting beautiful end, so too does God weave His grace through our lives into the lives of others to produce a beautiful end …if we will only let Him. 

The Rev. Eric Martin is pastor of the First Baptist Church of Gower, Missouri.  Eric has a BS in Business Admin and a Masters in Religious Education. He is married to Tracey and they have three grown children. Eric grew up in Independence.  Eric and Tracey vacationed in Charleston and came to FBC when I was giving a tour.