Without Advertising It--February 15, 2022

Without Advertising It--February 15, 2022

"Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom." [James 3:13]

It turns out that a substantial amount of my personal theology has been shaped by one-off jokes from classic episodes of The Simpsons, and I'm not embarrassed about that at all. Today's verse from James, in fact, comes into clearer focus for me because of an eleven second bit from the classic cartoon show.

Here's the short version.  There's a community yard sale in the Simpsons' neighborhood in Springfield, and Homer is trying to pawn a denim jacket that he had bedazzled in the 70s with rhinestones that were supposed to spell "DISCO STUD," but he ran out of space and didn't have room for the final "D." So we've got the sight gag of a jean jacket emblazoned with the lettering "DISCO STU," and then immediately two men walk by, one in normal looking clothes, and the other in a white leisure suit, a wide collar shirt, platform shoes, and loose gold necklaces.  "Hey, Stu, you should get this jacket--it's perfect for you!" says the one guy, which is met with the immediate deadpan reply from the man in the Saturday Night Fever get-up, "Disco Stu doesn't advertise."  

It was perfectly absurd as a one-off joke in a TV show, but that line has stayed with me ever since and reverberated.  If you're the real deal, you don't need to advertise with words--you will make it clear who you are in the ways you act, especially in the little things that are done when you don't realize anyone is watching.  Disco Stu doesn't need to advertise who he is, because it's obvious from his outfit to his dance moves to his puffed out hair to his attitudes just what sort of person he is, and just what matters to him.  And when it's already clear who you are, you don't need to go bragging to anyone else or shouting out the world what you want others to think about you.

In the same vein, Margaret Thatcher put it well in her famous dictum about having real power beyond braggadocio:  "Being powerful is like being a lady; if you have to tell people you are, you aren't."  Of course: if you have to tell everyone you have the social graces and elegance of being, in the British sense, a "lady," but it doesn't show up in how you actually act and conduct yourself around others, you are just pretending.  Real power doesn't have to tell people it's there--you just, as another 20th century leader once put it, "Speak softly and carry a big stick."  So whether you take it from a Roosevelt, a Thatcher, or from Disco Stu, the point is all the same.  The way to show people who you really are isn't actually a "show"--at least, not in the sense of performing something like a role.  The ways we reveal who we truly are emerge in the things we don't even realize we are doing--the impressions we give without "trying," because they are reflections of what is at our core identity.  If you're a disco enthusiast, we'll know it by your dancing (and possibly your use of mirror balls in home decorating).  If you're truly powerful, you won't need to tell a soul--we'll know from the way you carry yourself, the ways you back up your words with actions, and the ways you garner the respect of others when you walk into a room.  None of these things requires a hint of what Stu calls "advertising."

And honestly, James is saying the very same thing.  If you want to show people that you are wise, if you want to reveal that you possess understanding and insight, you don't need to tell people.  You don't need to be constantly dropping references to your academic degrees or the intellectual circles you run in.  You don't need to tell people how smart you are, brag about your IQ, or wear your hair like Albert Einstein to convince the watching world.  We'll see your wisdom simply by the ways you act, speak, and engage with the rest of us.  We'll notice the little details of who you are, when you don't even know we are paying attention.  We'll see who you are, deep down, without advertising.

James' phrase for it is simply our "good life" and actions that are done "with gentleness born of wisdom."  The Greek has the feel of describing the regular habits of behavior that we don't even realize we are doing.  They are not the heroic acts we hope will make the headlines, and they are not the kinds of things you stop and take photos of so you can post them later on your social media platforms.  James is talking about the things we don't even stop to notice have become ingrained in us.  It's the way people show you that they just "get it"--what life is all about.  When someone shows you their thoughtfulness by holding a door open for you without your asking... or when someone reveals they actually care about you by remembering what you said the last time you talked with them and following up on it... or when someone lets you glimpse their generosity because you caught the large tip they left the frazzled server when they didn't think anyone else would see it... they are showing us that they "get" what life is all about, and they're revealing a wisdom that just radiates out from them like light from the sun.  No rhinestone-messaged outerwear will be necessary--you'll just see who they are from the inside.

That's the vision for how you and I can live freely in the world, as well.  Instead of worrying how we will be perceived, fretting over our reputation, or stewing about what other people will think when they see what we've done, imagine just doing things that come from goodness--because they are good.  Imagine not having to document on Facebook the things that will get the most likes.  (Imagine not having to prove how "tough" you are by not picking fights on Facebook, too!)  Imagine not having to convince anyone you're kind, caring, truthful, reliable, responsible, intelligent, or honest, because they just see those things in the ways you act around people.  That sounds like the best possible kind of life, honestly--one free of pretending, and one free of being dependent on others' estimations of us.  And that is exactly what James is offering to us, free of charge.  That kind of life, a life of integrity, of authenticity, and of genuine freedom, is ours to step into, right here and right now.

What if you and I didn't have the slightest need any longer to impress someone else, but instead could spend our time and energy just doing what is worth doing in life because it's deep inside us at our core?  Well, here's good news: you already can. And you don't even need to advertise it.  We'll know.  We'll see when your head is turned the other way.

Lord God, let your goodness flow so freely from us at our core that we simply walk in your ways without trying to impress.  Let us be genuinely yours.