Hidden Messages

For the past few weeks Todd and I have been having a little fun with our book discussions. We have come up with a few phrases that we challenged each other to slip into the discussion without drawing any attention. I'm happy to say that after three book discussions I've slipped in two, and Todd hasn't managed any.

In our discussion of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger I managed to slip in the phrase "Benny Hinn says." Really that wasn't too hard, and went in easily when we got talking about some of the problems with the theology of the American Church. Later that day we told the team about our little game and mentioned what I had slipped in. One of the women commented that she had found my comment very insightful.

The second one was a lot harder, partly because it was a much harder phrase, and partly because now the rest of the team would have a suspicion that we would be doing this again. The phrase had to be made in reference to the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, it couldn't be another Lazarus. The words to slip in were "where does Lazarus get off?" Think about that phrase for a little while and try to figure out how in the world you could fit that in without it seeming out of place.

We were discussing part of Where is God?, and were talking about issues of the poor lying, stealing, and oppressing each other and all of the problems that creates in trying to love them, serve them, and treat them as equal human beings. I talked how easy it is for me to look at the poor, at Lazarus, who desires even just what I consider to be crumbs. Yet I'm so hesitant to listen to Lazarus, to give him much of anything. "I just get blocked thinking where does Lazarus get off deceiving and stealing." It really was a totally honest comment that I probably would have said even if I didn't want to fit that phrase in. Granted I probably would have phrased it a little differently. Anyway, I was pretty happy with myself after that. When we were done with the discussion, Todd made a comment about being amazed at my ability to fit it in. Then everyone tried to figure out what it was. No one had any clue, which made me feel any better. We told them the phrase, and most of them remembered me saying it. We all got a pretty good laugh out of it because it was such a bizarre phrase and I pulled it off.

Anyway, Todd and I need to come up with some phrases for next week. If you have any ideas, let me know. I think Todd is the only one on my team that reads this, so you can leave suggestions as comments if you want. On the other hand, we're probably more likely to try to use them if you email them to me.