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Message from Pastor Marty

Anything to declare?

By Pastor Peter W. Marty

You have to be fast on your feet at airports these days. The quick little shuffle with the gray bins in the airport security line often turns into a major dance. Passengers yank out their belts like they are drawing a sword. Wallets, keys, and wristwatches go flying as people avoid the wrath of others behind them. Those who can bend over without tipping over remove their shoes. Those who can’t just do a fancy little kick to get them off when the TSA official, in the white shirt with the snazzy epaulets on the shoulder, scolds them.

I got caught again last week when the TSA guy in Portland, Maine’s airport spotted something suspicious in my cosmetic bag. He called for instant reinforcement. Two colleagues swooped in and were all over my suitcase. They swarmed excitedly as if a cache of dope was inside. I had no idea what they were after. Then they pulled out my shaving cream – a brand new full-size can I had purchased just before the trip. I was a violator. Peter had forgotten the three-ounce rule. I had checked my luggage on the way out. Coming home, I opted for carry-on. As they pitched a perfectly good can of Edge® into the garbage, I knew that America was again safe from terror.

But there was more. The lead gentleman asked if I had anything else to declare. He fixed his eyes on me as if I was covering up contraband. It felt like the customs line for international travel when all passengers are asked if they have anything to declare. I had nothing else as remotely exciting as that shaving cream. He waved me on.

“Have you anything to declare?” That’s a line over which customs officers and TSA personnel have no monopoly. What is to prevent our use of it in the Christian life? Imagine getting up in the morning, staring at yourself in the mirror, contemplating how you are going to astound the world with the grace of God oozing out your pores, and then demanding of yourself: “Have I anything to declare? Have I anything meaningful to offer a hurting world?” These are good questions. They are not beneath any of us.

So far as I can tell, the reason that most people shudder at the idea of expressing their faith commitments is not because they do not believe them. It is because they lack all kinds of confidence in articulating them. Sometimes we don’t have the words to match our way of life. Then again, sometimes we don’t have a way of life that evidences much godliness. Sheldon Vanauken has a wonderfully poignant line in his book, A Severe Mercy, that reminds us to rethink the signals our lives so easily send. “The best argument for Christianity is Christians — their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the best argument against Christianity is also Christians — when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug… then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.”

Tom Long is coming to St. Paul this weekend to try and help Christianity from dying a thousand deaths. This nationally-renowned preacher has a truckload of credentials. But the most important thing you need to know about Tom Long is his heart of faith. He spins it out through a cadence of speech that is anything but somber and joyless. His words have no patience for self-righteous or smug Christianity. Tom is a good friend who is a personal inspiration to me. More than once I have looked at myself in the mirror and said: “I know I have something valuable to declare with my life and my words. So how would Tom Long do it if he were here to help?” I hope you’ll invite your friends to the public lecture of Dr. Long this Sunday, Oct. 28, 4 p.m. It’s the best thing happening in the QCA.

Pastor Peter W. Marty,

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