Small steps toward "out there"
A couple of days ago, in a post called “Living ‘out there’“, I said:
But, lately I’ve been thinking that God has another way for us to be “out there”. I don’t want to share details at this point. We have an acquaintance (not a friend yet) who has access to a group of people that may need to see a real, tangible demonstration of God’s love. In the next few days, I’m hoping to talk to our friend and see if God may be leading us both in the same direction. I’ll keep you posted.
Well, today was the day that our friend was supposed to introduce us to some people in her neighborhood. Unfortunately, she was hospitalized a few days ago. However, she was so excited that we were coming to spend time in her neighborhood, that she had already told many of her neighbors that were coming.
So, even though our friend was in the hospital, we went to meet a few of her neighbors. Several of them said that they knew we were coming – so, I’m glad we decided to go. What did we do? Well, I still don’t want to share too many details. But, the purpose of us meeting her neighbors was to begin building relationships with them. We don’t expect anything from them, but we hope to continually give and give, of our time, our energy, our resources. And, in the coming weeks, we hope that God will show us how we can serve them better.
Nothing amazing happened today – nothing miraculous or mind-blowing – except… we talked with Dennis, and we met Tina. We also met Marvin and Laura and their mother – oh, and their dog, Star. We met Belle and her adult son. And, we met a few more people who did not share their names with us – yet. These people are different than us… We’re being patient – just as God was patient with us.
What am I learning? People are important. God loves them. He’s teaching me to love them too. Yes, it was a very small step, but it was a step toward living “out there”. A small step is better than no step at all.
Uninvolved and following…
Mary at “One Thing is Needed” has written one of the most exciting and encouraging posts that I’ve in a long time. The post is called “New Territory“. Mary describes how she now has time to actually live her life as a follower of Jesus – even within her own neighborhood – now that she has stopped finding her identity in her “involvement” in a local church organization. Here is part of what she says:
What’s so amazing about this? I’m quite certain that we would be writing a different family story if we were still so heavily involved in institutional church as we used to be. First of all, if we were still involved in IC, we would hardly be home. What, with staff meetings, worship practices, prayer meetings, weekend seminars, conferences, retreats, VBS, and the regular Sunday meeting, we wouldn’t really be home at all to meet our new neighbors anyway.
Honey, there are people living next door to us? Really? Huh, I had no idea. I always wondered who mowed their lawn.
We would be too busy sacrificially giving our time, energy, finances, gifts, and love to the Great IC to meet our neighbors or even be interested in their lives. When we were home, our curtains would be closed and every minute would be used for praying (ie: pretending we’re not home) or visiting with our believing friends. Who has time for anything else?
But now, we’re in new territory as a family. Our time, energy, finances, gifts, and love are available for those around us like they never were before. It’s exciting and a bit scary at the same time. Before, I would have already known the kids that my kids were playing with. Now, I have to actually get to know a family outside the four walls of a church building. That’s a bit of a stretch for an introverted, coming-out-of-the-church-bubble, paranoid mama such as myself.
Our family is making these same kinds of adjustments. What a joy to use “our time, energy, finances, gifts, and love” to impact people that God brings into our lives on a day-to-day basis! There is a huge difference between being committed to the programs and organization of an institution and following a living, breathing, working, loving God.
Living "out there"
Yesterday, in my post called “And day by day“, I recalled how were are learning to share our lives with brothers and sisters in Christ “day by day”. In other words, “church” is not a location or a weekly event to us. “Church” is a family. God has adopted us into his family, and we are now brothers and sisters with all of his children – “brother” and “sister” are not just titles, they point to actual relationship.
But, as I ended my post yesterday, I explained that lately I have recognized that something is missing from our lives. What is missing? We are missing the “in the world” part. Jesus said that we are to be “in the world” but not “of the world”. We need to live “out there” among the people who have not been reconciled to God yet. We need to live among the least and the lost. We need to learn how to love and serve and practice hospitality toward those who are not brothers and sisters in Christ.
Don’t get me wrong… this is not a new realization in my life. This realization happens regularly to remind us not to get too comfortable living among the saints – as important as that is. Just as Jesus came for the “lost sheep”, he sends us “out there” as well.
A couple of years ago, when we moved from seminary housing to a real, live house, we tried to build relationships with some of our neighbors. We’re continuing to try to build those relationships, but it has been very slow. We’re learning to be patient and trust God to work in their lives. We are waiting on God to give us opportunities (which he has) to love and serve our neighbors.
We’ve also recently served our community through the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. It was a great way to offer hope and help to hurting people. We met alot of people and plan to continue supporting this cause.
But, lately I’ve been thinking that God has another way for us to be “out there”. I don’t want to share details at this point. We have an acquaintance (not a friend yet) who has access to a group of people that may need to see a real, tangible demonstration of God’s love. In the next few days, I’m hoping to talk to our friend and see if God may be leading us both in the same direction. I’ll keep you posted.
If God is doing what I think he may be doing, then this will probably require some changes for us. And, it will be costly. It won’t cost us much financially, but it may cost us time and energy. We may have to change our schedule… give up a few comforts. But, God is worth any cost, as are the people involved.
Interdependence
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are both dependent upon God, and interdependent upon one another. Unfortunately, society teaches us to be independent – neither dependent nor interdependent. We’re taught to learn for ourselves, fend for ourselves, care for ourselves, earn for ourselves, and do for ourselves. We’re taught not to admit that we need help from anyone nor to accept help from anyone. This is the nature of American society, but it is not the nature of the follower of Jesus Christ – he or she has a new nature.
This point was driven home for me last Friday. Our family arrived at the event location for the North Raleigh / Wake Forest Relay for Life around 5:15 p.m. We were supposed to drop off our canopy, chairs, tables, etc. – which we did. The committee was supposed to pick up our stuff and take it to our site – which they did. I was supposed to park my vehicle – which I did – while my family walked to our site – which they did. Everything was going according to plan.
Except… as soon as I parked our van, it started to rain. It wasn’t a slow sprinkle, it was a gully-washer – at least, that’s what we called it in Alabama. The entire time that I was walking – running – to our event site, I could picture my family standing in the middle of a muddy field getting drenched by the rain. Imagine my surprise when I reached our site to find that two teenagers from a nearby site had come to their rescue! The two young men were helping my wife set up the canopy, and they had pulled all of our equipment under the canopy. Those two teenagers were my heroes that night! After I arrived, I helped them finish setting up the canopy, and we stayed as dry as we could while the rain continued.
Not long after our canopy was set up, another team arrived at the site next to ours. The team – at this time – consisted of a mother, her teenage daughter, and two or three more teenage girls. My family helped them spread their canopy over their stuff. We offered to help them raise their canopy, but they said they didn’t want to raise it yet. Instead, they stood under some umbrellas and waited for the husband to arrive.
When the husband arrived, I again went over and offered assistance. I told him that some boys from a neighboring site had helped us, and that we would love to help them set up their canopies – they actually had two. He said no. He didn’t need the help, but thank you anyway.
We watched and listened as he struggled to raise the canopy in the wind and rain. He was obviously getting frustrated because his family was not doing things the way he thought they should be done. They often spoke loudly – shouted – at one another as they tried to raise the two canopies and keep their stuff dry at the same time.
When the shouting had subsided for a moment, and when tempers seems to settle a little, I again walked over and asked if I could help. He said… and I quote… “No, we like to fight while we do this.” I told him that I would be glad to help, if he decided he needed anything. Then, I walked back to my canopy.
As I think back over this encounter, I recognize the church acting in this stubborn, independent manner many times. It seems that even believers have the attitude that they can do everything by themselves and they don’t need any one’s help. It often appears that many feel that asking for help or accepting help from others is a sign of weakness or spiritual immaturity.
This is such a travesty and a misunderstanding of what it means to be brothers and sisters in Christ. God provides us with relationships with one another so that we can love one another, accept one another, help one another, give to one another, and serve one another. We cannot make it through this life alone – at least, we cannot live the way God wants us to live alone. We need God, and we also need one another. Independence may be an American virtue, but it is a Christian vice.
The next day, Saturday, my family was helping one our young, single, female friends move. (I mentioned this briefly in my post called “Weekend of Service“.) A few weeks before, this young lady began telling people that she needed help finding a place to live. Another family asked if she would like to live with them. They shuffled their boys’ bedrooms so that our friend could have a room to herself, and Saturday afternoon, a bunch of us got together, packed up her belongings, and moved her into their house.
After unloading all of the boxes, another friend brought dinner for everyone. While I was sitting there enjoying a homemade meatball sub, I remembered the encounter with the man who refused to acknowledge that he needed help, and refused to accept help when it was offered. What a stark contrast to my friends, one of whom acknowledged that she needed help and accepted the help that was offered, and a family who was willing to put their own comforts aside and offer help.
This is a beautiful picture of God’s family. Brothers and sisters recognizing their complete dependence upon God and willing to live interdependent upon one another. That evening, I couldn’t help but thank them and praise God for the example of community that he had shown be that day.
Weekend of Service
This has been a very busy weekend. I’ve been trying to decide how to describe everything that happened this weekend, but I’ve come to the conclusion that its impossible. I’ll simply touch on a few highlights.
Friday night and Saturday morning, our family and some friends took part in the North Raleigh / Wake Forest Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. We were able to raise more money than we had expected thanks to the generous donations of our families and friends. More importantly, Friday night, Margaret and another friends had the chance to serve dinner and dessert to almost 100 cancer survivors. They worked for a total of four hours while other people were enjoying the Relay for Life event. What a blessing and an example they are for us!
Saturday afternoon and evening, we helped a single friend of ours move. She moved in with another family who are also friends of ours. We are so encouraged that she asked for help, and that the family offered to help her in her living situation. Many people are too proud to ask for help, and many are too concerned about themselves and their family to open up their homes to others. God has surrounded us with some very special people.
Sunday, after our weekly church meeting, we had lunch with many of our friends. We were able to visit with some friends from Chicago that we have not seen in almost a year. As we were cleaning up, a man walked up and asked me about a deli near our meeting location. I told him the deli was closed. I asked if he needed something to eat, and he said yes. So, I invited him in to join us. Although everything had been packed up, several ladies grabbed their left-overs and fixed him a huge plate of food. As he ate, several people came over to introduce themselves and to ask him about himself. It was such a blessing to see my brothers and sisters demonstrating God’s love to someone they did not know.
Scripture… As We Live It #2
Here is the second installment of “Scripture… As We Live It“:
If a brother or sister member of your particular church organization is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body referring them to the Benevolence Committee, what good is that? (James 2:15-16 remix)
My charade is the event of the season
This post is part of the May Synchroblog on the topic of “Human Rights” and part of a global blogging event known as Bloggers Unite for Human Rights. While many bloggers will be writing about specific human rights abuses, my post will be a little different. I think it is important to point out human rights abuses, and I think it is important to think about solutions to those problems. But, that’s not the way that I’m going with this post.
“Carry On My Wayward Son” – one of the biggest hits for the band Kansas – includes the following lyrics:
Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
I recently heard this song while I was driving to work, and these two lines stuck in my head. I repeated them over and over again to myself over the next few days. In fact, it got to the point that I could remember those two lines, but I couldn’t remember exactly which song they were from. God used these words to point out something about my own life…
And, I have a confession – I don’t love people. Oh, I love some people – especially those people who love me back. But when it comes to people in general, I don’t love them. How do I know? Because I don’t demonstrate that love. The test of love is not what I say about people but what I do about people.
In the same way, the test of whether or not I care about human rights – the rights that all people have because they are children of God – is not in what I say or teach or write, but in what I do. And, I don’t do much. Even what I do something, I usually simply throw a little money at a problem, hoping that “human rights issues” and other problems will simply take the money and go away like a stray dog with a bit of food.
Yes, I’m sure I’m being tough on myself, and I should probably just forget about this for a while and hope the convictions go away. Or, I can accept these convictions of proof that I am part of the “human rights” problem. And, as I’ve written before, God is changing my heart in this area. At least now I recognize that the love that I have been demonstrating remains a selfish love. That old “love” was not based on a person’s worth as given by God, but it was instead based on my association with the person.
Recently, God has been teaching me to care about other people through many different means… even modern rock songs. For instance, God has pricked my heart with this lyric from “Hands Held High” by Linkin Park:
In my living room watching but I am not laughing
Cause when it gets tense I know what might happenThe world is cold the bold men take action
Have to react or get blown into fractionsTen years old is something to see
Another kid my age drug under the jeepTaken and bound and found later under the tree
I wonder if he thought the next one could be meDo you see the soldiers that are out today
To brush the dust from bullet proof vests awayIt’s ironic, at times like this you pray
But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterdayThere’s bombs in the buses, bikes, roads
Inside your market, your shops, your clothesMy dad he’s got a lot of fear I know
But enough pride inside not to let that showMy brother had a book he would hold with pride
A little red cover with a broken spineOn the back, he hand wrote a quote inside
“When the rich wage war it’s the poor who die”Meanwhile, the leader just talks away
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replayAnd the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
Both scared and angry like “what did he say?”
While the song may condemn leaders and talking heads who are more concerned with sound bites than dealing with problems, I have to include myself in the condemnation. Failure to take notice of “human rights issues” and failure to respond to “human rights issues” is just as bad, if not worse, than leaders who use “human rights issues” for sound bites and political gain.
People are important to God, and they should be important to me. If they’re not, then there is a problem between God and me, and I am somehow hindering his work in my life.
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Click the link below to read the posts by other synchrobloggers who are taking part in “Bloggers Unite for Human Rights“:
Sonja Andrews on Human Wrongs
Adam Gonnerman on Guantanamo Bay in the eyes of God
Julie Clawson on Human rights and Christian comfort
Steve Hayes on Human rights and Christian faith
Steve Hayes (again!) on Human Rights and Amnesty International
Sally Coleman on “If”
Alan Knox on My Charade is the event of the Season
Bryan Riley on Bloggers Unite for Human Rights
Janice Fowler on Voiceovers Needed (Or Wake-Up Speak-Up)
Cobus van Wyngaard on Christianization and Humanization and our task in Zimbabwe
Mike Bursell on Human rights (and Christian responsibilities)
Prof Carlos Z on A new examination of human rights
KW Leslie on For those who say Christians have no rights
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Here some other bloggers whose blogs I read who are not part of the synchroblog, but are taking part in “Bloggers Unite for Human Rights“:
Heather on What can we do?
Michael on Uniting for Human Rights: Blog!!!
Glenn on Confessions
He’s so pretty
A couple of days ago, Margaret made dinner for a young couple who recently had a baby. When we took the food over to their house, it was exciting to see the young mother’s reaction to her son. She was so in love with that little boy!
This reminded both of us of Margaret’s reaction when Jeremy was born… over 14 years ago now (wow!). She was very nervous about being a first time mother. She wasn’t sure that she would know what to do with a baby. But, after Jeremy was born, she quickly became a wonderful mother.
The best memory that I had of that time in our life is that when I came home from work, I would often find Margaret sitting in a chair, looking into the bassinet where Jeremy was sleeping. Many times, she would be crying. I would ask, “What’s wrong?” She would look up at me with big tears welling up in her eyes and say, “He’s so pretty!”
She loved that little boy so much! (Of course, she loved Miranda very much when she was born a few years later.)
Don’t get me wrong… it was hard work being first time parents – as those of you with children know! But, that hard work was worth it when you looked at that tiny little person who was a part of you both. Our love for our children compelled us to work hard to take care of them, to demonstrate that love – not just by staring at them and proclaiming, “He’s so pretty,” but also by giving up our time, energy, resources, etc..
When I think about this… when I think about how much Margaret and I both love our children… and when I think especially about Margaret’s maternal love for her children (with Mother’s Day quickly approaching)… I can’t help but think that God’s love for us is so much stronger than the love any mother has for her child.
I realize that this is not a deep post, nor is it original. But, I appreciated being reminded of God’s great love for us, and I thought I would take this opportunity to remind you as well: God loves you.
Mission and the Early Church
A few days ago, Jeff at “Until All Have Heard” published a very interesting post called “What Was the Secret of the Early Church?” In this blog post, Jeff quoted several authors in relation to mission and the early church. Here are a few of my favorites:
2. “In part, it seems to have resulted from an awareness that mission was the task of ordinary Christians and of congregations acting together. Professional agents and special boards did not yet exist. Unconsciously these early Christians grasped that mission was a total activity involving preaching, teaching, baptism, personal witness and service to humanity.†James Scherer
6. “The chief agents in the expansion of Christianity appear not to have been those who made it a profession or a major part of their occupation, but men and women who earned their livelihood in some purely secular manner and spoke of their faith to those whom they met in this natural fashion.†Latourette
8. John Gager maintains that while many external and internal factors contributed to the growth of Christianity, the single overriding internal factor was “the radical sense of Christian community,†which was open to all but required absolute and exclusive loyalty and involved every aspect of a believer’s life.
There are other great quotes in Jeff’s post. The common thread that I found running through all of the posts was that in the early church every follower of Jesus found themselves compelled to witness to the greatness of God and his work through Jesus Christ in their words, their life, and their community with one another. Even if the mission boards and professionals had been available, these “ordinary” disciples could not have stopped witnessing to the good news of Jesus Christ if they wanted to. Why? Because that good news permeated and changed every aspect of their lives. For them, everything had changed.
Give a little bit?
The topic of April’s monthly synchroblog is “Social Activism and Christian Mission”. This topic is very similar to the topic of the “Missional Synchroblog” that I took part in on Monday in a post called “Living the Love of God“.
In 1977, Supertramp released the album (no, it wasn’t a CD) Even in the Quietest Moments. The first track of this album was caled Give a Little Bit, and it started with these words:
Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
Give a little bit
Ill give a little bit of my love to you
There’s so much that we need to share
So send a smile and show you care
At times, I think this could be the theme song for the majority of Christians. We are willing to give to others, as long as we only have to give a little bit. We are willing to do for others, as long as we only have to do a little bit.
We like to think that our giving attitude comes from God, but I think our current attitude of helping those who are in need comes more from society than from God. Last week, on Tuesday, April 8, on the insanely popular (even in our house) reality show American Idol, the top eight contestants sang for a chance to become the next American Idol. For two hours after the show aired, over thirty million votes were cast (that would be 30,000,000 votes).
The next night, Wednesday, April 9, American Idol presented a show called “Idol Gives Back” in which the contestants, the host, the judges, and many celebrities and near-celebrities encouraged Americans to give toward many great relief organizations. Several stories were shown to elicit donations – stories involving infants stricken with malaria and children dealing with Aids in Africa, and stories involving poverty and illiteracy in the United States. Just over 24 hours later, on the Thursday night results show, it was revealed that “Idol Gives Back” has raised sixty million dollars so far (that would $60,000,000).
Sixty million dollars is a huge sum of money. Unless, of course, you compare that financial total to the vote total of the night before. By comparison, American managed to raise two dollars per vote (that would be $2 per vote). As a nation, Americans value entertainment, but when it comes to giving, we only want to “give a little bit”.
For the most part, this is the state of the church and Christianity in America as well. Again, we will give, if we can only give a little bit. We will do, if we can only do a little bit.
It only takes a quick perusal of Scripture to see that God’s heart is toward the poor, the homeless, the foreigner, the widow, the orphan, the weak, the needy. As we learn especially in the New Testament, God’s heart is not moved to give a little bit, but to give the best and to give all.And, the Gospel teaches us that we, as God’s children, are given a new heart that is being changed toward God’s heart. Thus, our thoughts and our actions and our priorities should be changing toward God’s as well. And our desire to give and do should be changing from “a little bit” to “all”.
Don’t mistake this post for a rant. I am not ranting. I am simply observing that social activism is not a concern for our society, for much of the church, or in my own life. I admit that in this area my heart is more attuned to the attitudes of this culture than it is attuned to the attitudes and concerns of God. Perhaps we need a twelve step program for those who realize they should be socially active, but are not:
Hello. My name is Alan. It has been two months since I have given to or done something to help someone in need…
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Below you will find links to other bloggers who are taking part in the “Social Activism and Christian Mission” synchroblog:
Phil Wyman at Square No More
Mike Bursell at Mike’s Musings
Bryan Riley at Charis Shalom
Steve Hayes writes about Khanya: Christianity and social justice
Reba Baskett at In Reba’s World
Prof Carlos Z. with Ramblings from a Sociologist
Cobus van Wyngaard at My Contemplations: David Bosch, Public Theology, Social Justic
Cindy Harvey at Tracking the Edge
Alan Knox at The Assembling of the Church
Matthew Stone at Matt Stone Journeys in Between
John Smulo at JohnSmulo.com
Sonja Andrews at Calacirian
Lainie Petersen at Headspace
KW Leslie: Shine: not let it shine
Stephanie Moulton at Faith and the Environment Collide
Julie Clawson at One Hand Clapping
Steve Hollinghurst at On Earth as in Heaven
Sam Norton at Elizaphanian: Tesco is a Big Red Herring