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IS
YOU IS, OR IS YOU AIN'T…?
Picture the scene: a wet, wintry evening after the clocks go back. A deadline
for an unfinished article looming, the ‘personal view of the invited writer’
on ‘Why I am an Evangelical’. The last half hour of ‘Louis Theroux’s Weird
Weekends’, compliments of BBC2. No competition. With freshly brewed coffee
in one hand and remote in the other, the writer sinks into the sofa and
succumbs. Compelling viewing.
No, really. Regardless
of the obvious attractions of doing anything but the thing I really ought
to be doing, it was compelling viewing. The disingenuous Louis Theroux engaging
with key figures of the New Orleans world of ‘gangsta rap’, including the
enigmatic 30 year old ‘Mr P’, one of the richest young men in the United
States, thanks to the rap scene. His message on how to be a rapper: ‘Have
heart’. ‘Keep it real’. ‘Be true to yourself’. In other words, do not create
a persona, a life, a lie. True rap speaks from the heart, from who you are.
If you come from the ghetto, you rap about the ghetto. If you don’t, you
don’t. (Hence Louis had to rap about showers, wine and his small, non-automatic
car…) ‘TRU’ was even tattooed across the chest of a muscular bodyguard to
bear enduring testimony to the mantra.
Notwithstanding the
sinister and disturbing nature of gangsta rap, this simple and indeed sincerely
proffered advice struck a chord. Be real. Be true. It brought back memories
of how, in the mid-1970s, on being asked if I was a Christian like my older
sister, I found myself saying, “Oh yes,” in a less than wholehearted way.
Technically speaking, it was true in that I had prayed the prayer and believed
the gospel, but the reality of a Christ-centred life was fairly alien to
me. I remember vividly the feelings the exchange evoked in me because, even
as a child, I knew something was not quite right. I was not quite ‘real’.
I was faced with a similar
situation in the Christian Union scene at university, where the terms ‘evangelical’
and ‘sound’ suddenly entered my world as seemingly interchangeable words.
I knew instinctively that ‘sound’ was good, and I wanted to be sound, so
as a keen fresher, I embraced ‘evangelical’ with an eagerness that belied
the underlying feelings of unease. I could not at that time have written
this article with truth and reality.
After some simple research,
however, I discovered that ‘evangelical’ was in fact definable. I could
see if the label was authentic to my life experience and beliefs. So I learnt
that, if an evangelical is someone who believes in the centrality and supreme
authority of Scripture, God’s revealed plan of salvation through Christ’s
work on the cross, the need for personal appropriation of salvation, and
the calling to a Spirit-filled life of service and mission in response,
I was an evangelical all the time!
But why evangelical?
Much is due to the influence of others on my life, partly hinted at in the
previous anecdotes: our family life being based on Scripture, never defined
as evangelicalism as such, but lived out in substance; the prevailing Christian
evangelical culture of Northern Ireland in Scripture Union, UCCF and church
fellowship; the teaching and example of great writers and preachers, like
John Stott; and the discourse and practical witness of colleagues and friends.
As one who tends to
eschew labels as divisive, whether designer or otherwise, I also find it
refreshing to be part of a movement which appears to cross denominational
boundaries and unite Christians of all traditions on common basics whilst
admittedly strongly disagreeing on other areas of faith. It further appears
to present a clear and objective paradigm for faith and living, which is
helpful in a society heavily influenced by the ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ philosophies
of post modernism. I see it as faithfully representing the basic truths
of the gospel … and what I believe.
So I end the story of
how and why I am an evangelical, which I trust has heart, is real and is
true to who I am. Sorry it doesn’t rhyme.
Joyce
Greenaway is a solicitor and a member of ChristChurch, Belfast. |
