Why Deep & Simple beats Shallow & Complex ...

Recently, a friend sent me this wonderful piece in Salon celebrating the life and legacy of one of my favorite Presbyterian pastors -- or any pastor: the Rev. Fred Rogers. "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" has been much parodied -- sometimes, hilariously so. This article moves us beyond the parodies, reminding us that beneath his gentleness and compassion lay a man with a steely strength and a wondrous imagination. As the good reverend himself once put it,  “Deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex.”

Deep and Simple -- versus Shallow and Complex. What a great discipleship message -- in Lent, and beyond! I have often expended great effort in sermons and homilies to carefully erect theological towers that could withstand the most strategic of assaults. I start with concept and end in concept -- scarcely touching earth between -- weaving theorems ironically founded on improving relational connections between God, self, and others.

Nothing wrong with theological pirouettes. Trouble is, my mental gymnastics too often end up a one-man event. Feet planted firmly in mid-air, divorced from lived, incarnational experience and example, I know what it is like to commit the progressive Protestant sin of taking life-tranforming discipleship and making it "enlightening", and life-inspiring Good News and making it "illuminating".

"Enlightening" and "illuminating" -- and why not? Anything to help the flock see the light. Forgetting that Jesus' words and ministry are situated and intended for those who can see the light only after they have already felt the heat -- where he has already met them.

Practicing a discipleship that is deep and simple -- where human warmth trumps mental enlightenment. Let me count the ways! ...

• An intentional and disciplined spiritual centering, upon awakening.
• A daily love note in your child's school lunch bag.
• The firm grip of a handshake or a hug.
• A direct meeting of the eyes. 
• A timely gratitude -- always timeless, actually.

Discipleship: deep and simple. A prophetic word for those of us who, in any given Sunday worship, would rather swim in those shallow, complex, "death-by-verbiage" waters. Words of the mind recited mindlessly, faith stated yet rarely felt, litanies and lectionaries unto death.

Thanks to his vivid imagination, Fred Rogers could hardly imagine such a thing. So why should we?