Greetings from chilly St. Paul

You would think for someone who was raised in this frigid weather that I would be more at peace with it. I am not. I really detest taking a walk, and not enjoying any part of it because it is too cold or too windy or too icy...perhaps I am getting a bit cantakerous in my old age...

Met a guy tonight who was tested by my friend as to what I do. I answered "preacher." He said, "what kind?" and I responded "Lutheran." Then he stood up approached me straight on and said, "Good. As long as you are not one of them Catholics." As he sat back down, I asked him why he didn't care for the Catholics much. His response? "Too many hypocrites!"

Now, I am pretty sure that Roman Catholics are no more or less hypocritical than other denominations of Christians, but for this young man it seemed they had a corner on the market. But people often charge Christians, Roman Catholics and otherwise, with hypocrisy.

At Prairie Table we put a high premium on integrity, or for the younger folks, authenticity. Many of us who call Prairie Table our congregational home have been burned by Christian hypocrisy, and at times have even been hypocrites...we know of what we speak.

So as cold as this St. Paul weather is, it is not as cold as the disgust I heard in that gentleman's voice. That was cold. And at some point, if we are ever going to reach this man with a gospel of love and authenticity, we are going to have to not be hypcocrites as well. Talk about chills...imagine a world where people trust each other enough to live out their lives in honesty and truth...a world, in short, without hypocrites...