Parable of the paint

Jesus parables were mostly about agriculture, with a few about merchants and possessions. He lived in a pre-industrial time and place where the vast majority of people lived by farming. What else was he going to tell parables about? If Jesus were alive today, he would likely base his parables on things we spend our time at. Earlier today I was painting an exterior window frame that had gotten to be in pretty bad shape. I got to thinking, that painting could make a reasonably parable about the process of Christian faith.

If you are starting with bare wood, you make sure it’s all clean and smooth, and then you put on a coat of primer. This is like teaching young children to have good basic values: sharing, kindness, and doing unto others only what you’d like them to do unto you. These are consistent with Christian faith, just as many of the ingredients in primer are the same as in paint, but they are more basic, intended to provide a good foundation. Like primer they make it easier for the paint of faith to stick.

As older children or, if they don’t get it then, as adults, people are ready to receive the first coat of paint with its colorful pigments. The paint is the learning of Christian faith per-se, leading to a commitment to Christ and to God in the Baptismal promises, re-affirmed at confirmation. Many people only ever get that one coat, which covers, but just barely. To get a strong, long lasting finish a person needs a second coat of adult learning to really understand their faith and practice it deeply. People who put on a second or third coat by practicing their faith have the brightest coloration as Christians.

You might think of the ongoing practice of faith as akin to the paint doing its work: keeping the sun and rain from damaging the underlying wood, and reflecting back vibrant colors of the sun to enrich everyone’s life. (Here the allegory breaks down a little, because paint wears out with time, whereas practicing faith is like exercising a muscle. It gets stronger with use.)

If you neglect to touch up your paint, as I neglected my window out back for too long, you may end up having to scrape off all the old, flaky, peeling paint, get down to bare wood and start again with primer. It will last much longer if you touch it up from time to time. Likewise our faith will hold up better if it’s touched up regularly with daily prayer, weekly worship, works of compassion, and occasionally even a spiritual retreat, which might be like getting a whole fresh coat.

Different people will have different ways of touching up their faith and keeping it bright and cheerful. Some like to study, some pray or meditate, while others prefer doing good deeds. All are good. I encourage you to select those that are most helpful for you and build them into your routine, so that your faith remains strong and vibrant.