By Rajmund Dabrowski

You may owe nothing to nobody. But to some you may be indebted.

“It was like a cult,” Tina writes in her autobiography, Bossypants. “Studying improvisation literally changed my life,” she confesses. “It changed the way I look at the world.”

What the Second City theater was for Tina Fey, the very life in and with the church may be just what we might cite as our Second City theatre experience. For many people you and I know, a life of faith may not be what they appreciate. For a Christian believer, however, the Kingdom of the World is simply opposite to the Kingdom of God. Yet, those around us, whether inside or outside the church, influence us and lessons abound.

Then this question: “What has your cult done for you lately?” Tina Fey gained a worldview. She also found a husband.

On reflection, there is much that I am grateful for from a variety of spaces, times, and people groups which I could name as chief influencers of the world-according-to-me. Brace yourself, as I will now serve a goulash of reflections with a dose of personal spice. They won’t be conclusive, but may be exhausting!

In my early years, my family was the obvious influencer. Consider my sister, Izabella. She tried to scare her brothers, Jan and Rajmund, with shadows-will-get-you-tonight craziness, as she made noises that were supposed to have been ghost-like. Such memories are etched in my head. They shaped my aversion to treating reality as something predictably obvious, and such reminders are still maintained in my fear of some people!

But seriously, it was the push into the in-between world of freedom and restrictions that made an impression on me. All at once they were administered by both my mom and dad, and—to make it equal—dad and mom.

My father was a churchman. He ruled by heavy-handed “thou shalt not” directives. Actually, there was plenty of wise counsel, too. He talked about determination and hard work (later in life, he repeated a couple of times that I achieved what he only dreamed of accomplishing; this could be considered as a compliment, I guess?). The post-World War II reality builder and economist in him often reminded my siblings and me that we should value every penny that came our way. Don’t just spend it. Keep it. Save it. Oh, well . . .

My mother, on the other hand, took me to the theater. As I watched many a play, I was told: “You will get some- where when you embrace the Big World.” I think she meant that living with and within the surrounding culture would bring the best out in who I was. So, I tasted eclectic music, met many a musician and poet. Music serves me best when I serve it with literature. It is most endearing when I hold a hardcover volume of 3,963 poems. As I was meeting different culture animators, I was also learning not to take myself too seriously.

Then enter the church itself. As a religious communicator, I was always dealing with labels. Being involved with my faith community’s corporate public image, I had to be aware of the conservatives, liberals, progressives, sectarians, cultists, fundamentalists, and pagans. . . .Sanity was often at stake. How does one remain sane when hearing that much in life should be about the right doctrine, and that happiness comes by practicing what others tell you to practice? From my experience, unless you closed your eyes and plugged your ears, you may have discovered that your religiosity would often be measured by how many religious words you used in your speech.

Stay in the middle of the road, I was also told. It’s safe there. What this really means is: be bland, boring, embrace what is ersatz. Thus questioning religious recipes and making conscious choices about them made me quite often drawn to the other end of the yardstick.

It was in my church milieu where I learned the meaning of Christian hope. It started with my grandma. On her deathbed she concluded, in a frank friend-to- friend conversation, that Jesus knew timing better than she did. The Second Coming will happen in His time, not mine, she said. (My faith community taught me to capitalize He when referring to Him. Several theologians also taught me to stick with the Gospel, and not a convenient interpretation of it.)

My church gave me such concepts as, “do unto others,” “love your neighbor,” and urged me to stand up for the rights of the poor and everyone else who is treated unjustly. It helped me discover a “one out of seven” approach to time management. The Sabbath day was created for me from the outset of our human history, I learned. That’s what I got from the Holy Word. It works for me. God loves to rest, too. Moving on, some other lessons from many a wise life sojourner include not accepting mediocrity in any shape or form, using imagination, acting creatively, being bold and using risk as the currency that actually has value. Ignore the company of naysayers, became the living commandment No. XI.

“Today is not yesterday” is another gift of knowledge I cherish from encounters with assorted gurus. The wise members of various and diverse clubs taught me not to mistake my future for what is over already!

My faith community introduced me to my wife, Grazyna. (Ms. Fey, I resonate with your story about the improv days!) The gift multiplied and we were awarded a life of wonder and pride with Michal, our son. So, my own family life teaches me to let Jesus keep on refining the journey I am on. Live to the fullest, take one day at a time; practice generosity and affirm people in their own quest for life’s fullness; engage in healthy living as the best investment in healthcare; and of course stand up against greed and anger. To say more will require another cup of tea.

–Rajmund Dabrowski is RMC communication director and editor of Mountain Views. Email him at: [email protected]