Chekhov

I’m disappointed in myself. I tried so hard to read Chekhov. I really wanted to get into Chekhov’s writing. I love the rest of the Russian greats that I have consumed. I bought a book of his short stories. I love several aspects. I love that often a peasant isn’t even named. Great detail is given to an aristocrat – sometimes filling in a full family tree for the wealthy and awardable while not even a name is given for a peasant. The dull one, the fat one, the dirty one – all attributes used to describe the peasantry in Chekhov’s stories.

Chekhov – a man of the people. The poor people, although often nameless and less than politely described often end up as the source of divine knowledge. In one story a young theologian describes the emotion of Peter on the fateful night he denied Christ thrice. He ended with “can you imagine his sorrow?” At that the widowed old woman working in her garden began to weep – to sob uncontrollably. The theologian couldn’t imagine that type of pain … this woman lived it not infrequently.

The poor. The huddled masses our country so famously paraded in a century ago. Today we want to shoot immigrants for their crime of wanting a better life. The Methodist church in many areas is turning from racial inclusivity(this is a word the Methodists made up – we also say “persons of color” which may or may not be grammatically correct) and the widening racial disparity in the United Methodist church and looking instead at the socio-economic disparity. Churches are often homogenous entities. I presently attend a white church. A rich, white church. I am poor and unashamedly attend a very wealthy congregation. Our churches not only fail to reach across racial lines – more often we fail to reach across economic lines.

In many situations I honestly believe that the racial problems are majoritively an economic problem in disguise. We don’t want poor people in our churches. As there are few minorities who have achieved economic success it often happens that minorities are excluded because they don’t fit the proper economic leanings of a church. For a quick example Asians are often openly received by an all white congregation because many have achieved a great deal of financial success. We (my liberal friends and I) have often thrown around the idea that a black person could attend my rich, white church if they had something to compensate for their blackness. We would love to have Maya Angelou show up – she’s brilliant, a Doctor, and rich … three points of compensation.

In Chekhov’s stories it is the foolish that bring shame to the wise. What would Christ like to teach my church through the poor in our community? What lessons could we learn about the suffering of Christ from those who truly suffer? Reaching across those economic boundaries can be the most difficult step for a church. My rich, white church started a blue collar Methodist Church when the poor started showing up. I think they’ve learned from their mistake. I think they would be more accepting and loving of the poor. Now, how to work on that?