"You Catch More Flies With Honey..."

I remember a sentiment that Ben Bradley, former executive editor of The Washington Post, expressed in his memoir, A Good Life. Bradley said he wasn’t interested in compliments. What he looked for as a result of his efforts was effectiveness. This notion stuck in my mind after I read the book several years ago because I have a similar attitude.

Not everyone shares this outlook, however, as some find compliments important to their self-esteem.

Two students at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, spend time every Wednesday satisfying this need in others. Known as “the Compliment Guys,” Cameron Brown and Brett Westcott take up their post in front of the chemistry building on campus for two hours in the middle of the day, finding positive things to say to passers-by.

Whether it is someone’s clothing, hair, backpack, or smile, the Compliment Guys mention it as strangers walk past. Most people, apparently, enjoy these efforts at positive interaction. “It’s the highlight of my Wednesday,” said Emma Marr, a student with a “nice smile.” “Last week, they told me I looked very businesslike,” said Meghan Costello. One university professor suggests that the CG are in it to meet girls, but Brown and Westcott claim they already have girlfriends. They just like to make peoples’ days – even in rain, snow, and extreme cold.

According to an article about the CG, “They personalize the comments as much as possible. Instead of saying someone has a nice coat, for example, they’ll point out the color or the way it matches with pants. ‘I like your red coat,’ Westcott said to a woman listening to her iPod. She turned and laughed, which only gave the guys more fodder. ‘Very nice smile,’ said Brown, who’s from Toledo. Three women leaving biology lab purposely took a path past the guys. ‘I like your curly hair. Great smile. I like your glasses,’ the guys said, pointing to each of the women.”

Naturally, some responses to their remarks are negative, but overwhelmingly, the CG get warmth back for the good cheer they are attempting to spread.

In this age of instant, worldwide exposure through the Internet, the Compliment Guys have become enough of a sensation they soon will embark on a 10-city tour, presumably to say nice things to people along the way at each stop.

They also are getting paid for their act on the tour, enough that they plan to apply the earnings toward their junior year expenses at Purdue.

So, despite the hostility and harshness most of us endure on a regular basis, it seems really not to be true that “no good deed goes unpunished.”

What Is Old Becomes New Again

To examine the oldest Bible in existence, you now may visit a web site. Four sections of the Codex Sinaiticus, held in different parts of the world, were reunited so that scholars and other interested persons can access it for study and other interest.

The original manuscript was the work of four scribes who meticulously prepared a Greek-language version of scripture sometime in the fourth century. Today, the whole New Testament and roughly half of the Old Testament survive. Eight hundred pages and parts of pages remain from the original 1,400 pages. Now they are available online for all to see.

A British expert on ancient books noted, "This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and first-hand evidence of how the text of the Bible was transmitted from generation to generation." According to the online article, “The texts include numerous revisions, additions and corrections made during its evolution down through the ages.”

Until the “digitized” version appeared last Monday, the four sections of the Codex Sinaiticus were housed in Germany, England, Russia, and Egypt. Four years of work went into what now is presented online, including the discovery of sections previously unseen because they were hidden apart from the rest of the pages kept in Egypt.

The web site includes English and modern Greek translations of portions of the manuscript.

The Times The Are A-Changin'

Another Christian denomination is worrying about membership numbers and trends, so for their upcoming convention, church leaders are urging the group to side-step “political” and “social” issues and focus instead on “mission.”

The Southern Baptist Convention soon will be held in Louisville, KY, and this gives me the opportunity to share once again a humorous observation noted a number of years ago by church historian, writer and professor, Martin Marty. Marty reported on a Southern Baptist Convention held in some city (I think it was Houston that year), and pointed out that while the Baptists were in town the bars in the hotels were empty, but that “room service is doing a booming business.”

Now that I got that out of my system one more time, I think it is important to notice that the SBC, like many other mainline-type churches, and others, are alarmed at declining baptism and membership statistics. In their alarm, some of the churches are choosing to place an emphasis on “mission.”

Defining mission, it occurs to me, is the heart of the matter.

Is mission reaching out to people and trying to get them to join your church? If so, what is the motivation? For some, there is no attempt at disguising the truth: “We need people to help pay our bills and to work on our committees.” But, to what end? Is it the survival of an institution whose purpose is to perpetuate itself?

Is mission, as our church’s regional organization is promoting, “Disciples making disciples (or is it Disciples, which is part of our group’s name)?” Something about the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) is at play there, but we don't always distinguish between making "disciples" and making church members.

Is mission an attempt to come to terms with the meaning of God’s Word as revealed in the scriptures and – gasp! the Holy Spirit – translating that meaning into priorities, actions, and witness?

I guess the difficulty comes in sorting out who we’re trying to please here. Indeed, is it possible for the church to please God and at the same time satisfy our own culturally hard-wired notions of success?

The text for yesterday from Mark 4 described Jesus and his disciples taking a boat to “the other side,” after Jesus shared parables regarding the scattering of seeds on all kinds of soil and ground, and spoke of the impact of the “mustard seed” of faith that leads to the wild, uncontrollable growth and spread of what Jesus referred to as the “Kingdom of God.”

Going to “the other side” seems to me stepping out of comfort zones, setting aside our need for control, and confronting, or being confronted by, places, situations, and people not on our self-chosen radar screens, all with the purpose of making God’s love known and being a blessing because we, ourselves, have been blessed by the presence of God in our lives.

Is this mission? Does it facilitate survival? Is it what God really wants from people of faith?

I’ll be interested to see what the SBC makes of all this, and to find out whether “social” and “political” wrangling is somehow separable from “mission.”