To be Christian is to be a missionary. To love God is to love the people God loves. The lost. The lonely. The busy. The hurting. To follow Christ is to follow His lead in extending compassion and grace and proclaiming the truth to those in need wherever they may be found. To serve Christ is our highest calling and to this great end, we must “mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
As I watched my Facebook and Twitter feeds erupt over the weekend, I found myself grieving for our country. It seems so clear to me that our great adversary, Satan, continues to tighten his grip around our collective throats. The rage, hate, and vitriol is shocking. The name-calling and character assassination is appalling. We appear locked in perpetual adolescence, unable to see beyond our own emotions. In the midst of it all, I have found myself asking, "How would Jesus respond to this situation?"
Senite has the most beautiful smile. Her joy as she speaks is palpable. She laughs when she talks about being put in prison with her husband. She constantly interrupts herself to give praise to God for His faithfulness. She speaks of persecution and beatings and threats as if these thing are normal, which they are in her context. Her passion to share Christ is contagious and convicting.
Pastor Silvest is an amazing Ugandan pastor who has planted nine churches (and counting) in his country. Humble. Soft-spoken. He speaks of God with a deep voice and an even deeper faith. He has been beaten several times. He has had his home robbed. His family threatened. Early in his ministry, his only means of transportation (a bicycle) was stolen so he walked from church to church to preach on Sundays.
Anarchy. Civil War. Unspeakable tragedy. Lawlessness. Suffering. Drought. Famine. Disease. Death. These are the conditions under which the Kingdom of God is growing in South Sudan. 150,000 new believers in the last ten years. 180 new church plants. 77 indigenous church planters risking their lives for the sake of the gospel. Through these incredible men and women, the Kingdom of God is growing through miracles, signs, and wonders. And I get the pleasure of spending a week with them. Like Elisha of old, I find myself wanting a double portion of their spirit.
On June 17, 2015, 21 year old white supremacist Dylann Roof attended a prayer meeting at the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. He was not there to pray. He was not there to study the Bible. He was there to kill. After sitting through an hour of the meeting, he opened fire on the 12 other attendees, killing nine of them. All African-American. Six women. Three men. One of them the senior pastor. Another a state senator. Unrepentant, he confessed his crimes to law enforcement officials, boldly proclaiming that he wanted to start a "race war." In December 2016, a jury found him guilty of 33 federal hate crimes and last week sentenced him to death. He is awaiting trial in South Carolina on 13 counts which also will likely merit a death sentence.
Every single human being who has ever been born has carried with them - in their bodies, minds, and spirits - the image of their Creator. As such, we do not draw our primary worth from our utility. From what value we add to society. From what we can produce or achieve. Our value is not extrinsic but intrinsic because we have been endowed by our Creator with a worth we cannot begin to measure.
I realize I am going where angels fear to trod here but I am compelled to do so by the fact that I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly the only hope for the world. It meets us right where we are at in the daily mess we make of our lives on a personal, national, and even global scale. God does have something to say about what's happening in our world today and His Word is too often lost amidst the tumult and noise of our culture.
Recently, I attended a meeting with other pastors of churches that are similar to mine for the purpose of getting some coaching around how to be a better leader. And I have so much to learn. The image I came back with is of me staring down into an abyss, recognizing that what I'm seeing is the darkened depths of my own heart and soul.
"Ain't free will a bitch?" I was walking with one of my favorite theology professors through campus one day and his comment totally caught me off guard. First, because I had never heard the man cuss before. Second, because we were talking about how hard it is to love our enemies like Jesus commanded.
One of the biggest things I've learned is that the myth of a unified nation is really a white man's dream more than it is a black or brown man's experience. It is a white male's dream more than it is an Latino or Asian woman's experience. It is a heterosexual man's dream more than it is an LGBTQ experience. It is a Christian man's dream more than it is a Muslim man's experience. And in the wake of the shattering of such national myths, I find myself crying out with the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, "Is there no balm in Gilead? No physician there? Why is there no healing for the wound of my people?" (Jeremiah 8:22)
We must be tender and compassionate with one another. Gentle. Kind. For this is not an easy process. It is not for the timid or the cowardly. It takes courage to engage. Courage to boldly go into these contested spaces and begin a dialogue. Courage to listen and not speak. Courage to learn from another person's experience. Courage to put aside our need to be right or justified in our own eyes. Courage to learn from those who are on the other side. Courage to leave the echo chambers of our own making and enter the marketplace of ideas to contend for what we believe to be the truth.
There is a "moral vision" in the Bible that we can draw wisdom from as we vote on issues that affect us in the 21st century. It will confront us. Challenge us. Force us to come to grips with the fact that we too often settle for what is most expedient rather than what is best for our nation in the long-term. We too often settle for the "lesser of two evils" without acknowledging that the lesser of two evils is still evil. We too often don't consider our own biases, prejudices, and privilege when we vote and that prevents us from walking a mile in another person's shoes. Ultimately, we tend to vote for what is in our own best interest rather than the collective good.
The bar was packed as usual. Beer was served in a five gallon pail. Literally. The food was greasy but good. Music was loud. Folks were playing cards, pool, and catching the end of the Brewers game. Our team commandeered a table and we began catching up on the week. Chris, our team leader, was telling us about the new law offices he was having remodeled.
Connection begins with God. The Fountain from which all living water flows. Drinking from the spring that is the love of God requires intentionality on our parts. A commitment to make the trek deep into Christ...And once filled, we are then free to give. To share with others our lives. To connect with others in deep ways.
