Why?

So, it's been a while since I've written anything for my blog. I've been busy with a new project that is pretty much taking up all of my free time. Free time, since there is no such thing that would be a great topic for discussion - perhaps another time. What has motivated me to write today is a question I asked myself while driving to work this morning.

As I was turning the corner on my daily commute listening to the announcers for Public Radio beg for donations in much the same manner that they do every fund drive, their plea was interrupted by a special news bulletin. It seems that the University of Washington is hosting a 5-day seminar whose purpose is to "reconnect our brain to our heart" as they pursue a discussion on Kindness, Compassion, and Civic Responsibility and to promote the Seeds of Compassion campaign. To help bring attention and moral validity to the event, the UW arranged to have the Dalai Lama flown all the way from Tibet to be the special guest speaker. It is a sold out event with One hundred and fifty thousand people expected to participate. The event will be held in a variety of locations and venues across the UW campus and Seattle. The appearance of the Dalai Lama is no doubt the cause for a great amount of intrigue and curiosity. Security has been increased on campus and around Seattle. The news even showed video of the Dalai being transported by armed escort to his temporary residence. It feels like the whole city, no let me rephrase, the whole city has been effected by his arrival. And that is what has brought about my quandary. WHY?

My question isn't why has the Dalai Lama caused so much interest. Rather it is why is there a need for his presence or for the University of Washington to host such and event, one whose purpose is to bring attention to the need for more kindness, compassion, and civic responsibility in our community and world.

Many profess to be followers of Christ. They call themselves Christian. They go to church occasionally. They put money in the collection plate as it is passed. They may even have a fish symbol on the back of their car. They may even participate occasionally in community service oriented activities. So if they're Christians, and if our country is predominately christian (as the polls and census suggests) why is there a need to bring heightened awareness to things like Kindness, Compassion, and Civic Responsibility? Shouldn't one be able to assume that those are qualities of people who profess to be "christian"? And if the majority of Americans are christian, shouldn't kindness, compassion, ans civic mindedness be adjectives used to describe us? The answer lies in one of two camps as I see it. Either the world has a skewed impression of Americans or we as Christians aren't doing a very good job of being "Christ like".

More on that another day. For now I'll just let you chew on it for a while. In the mean time, live your life in such a way as to cause others to call you a Christian.