Two Questions

In conversation with folks last night at Theology on Tap we were reminiscing about "big questions" in how and why we live our lives the way we do. There are always a host of big questions about how to live as Christians with integrity in North America, but we boiled it down to two basic ones that - to me - grabs the great idols of our time (and I think especially of our generation):

1. Do you pray?
2. Do you give?

Consistent prayer - not evangelical guilt-manipulated "I wish I prayed more"; but real, robust, ritual prayer is a statement about time, as much as where we put our money is a statement about value. The only two things we probably ever really control in this life are our time and our money. Surely what we do with them is the most profound incarnation of our beliefs, and the gods - or God - that animates our lives.

There is no shortage of excellent Christian living amongst 20'somethings, but how much of that excellence is the product of socializiation and not out of a deep relationship with God?

Finally, my friend Geoff Ryan challenges #2 saying it is not merely "do you give," but "how do you give?" The North American church has outsourced mercy, and a committed 10%+ tithe that operates from the suburban margins and never threatens to encounter the other is not sufficient.