Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Now Take It All Away

I am coming to realize that everything I have, even the things that I worked very hard for, were for the most part, given to me.  In other words, any heights that I have reached - whether school, family, or occupational heights - I have reached them while standing on the shoulders of others.

When I was a child, I had a mother and father, both in the same home, who loved me.  My mother taught me constantly to be kind, orderly, and affectionate to others.  My father taught me how to shake a hand, how to hold a hammer correctly, how to do my work diligently, and that if I didn't hold onto the chain saw like a man, it would cut my face open!

More than loving me, they loved each other.  I learned very early that it was a "no-no" to expect a different answer from mom than I received from dad.  They were inseparable, and I knew it.

I hated Saturday mornings as a teen when my dad would wake me up to work outside.  We lived on a large piece of property, so if we were not mowing grass for hours, we were building a fence, raking leaves or changing the oil in the vehicles.  I now appreciate what my folks were doing.

A week after I received my license, I wrecked my truck.  I was careless behind the wheel and earned a $950 body shop bill.  My dad paid that for me so I could get my truck fixed - but, he then expected a hundred dollars a month for the next nine months.

I wasn't allowed to have a Nintendo.  I found out this week that it was because I wouldn't ever study. They were right.  I didn't like to study.  But my parents cared about my grades and did what was necessary to ensure that I was learning.  For punishment I had to read books.

I also remember learning a little more than school could teach.  My sophomore year in high school I was performing poorly in science class.  My dad told me that I was a man now and that I was responsible for my grades.  I could fail out of high school but then I'd have to deal with those consequences.

I remember my freshman year in college when I overdrew my bank account almost $650!  I didn't know, nor did I care, what those really thin pieces of mail from the bank were.  I threw them away. My mom was so gracious and helped me out of that bind.

I don't have any college debt mainly due to the sacrifices that they, along with my grandmother, made.  I was under the impression that I'd have to pay the money I borrowed from them back.  But a year after college, they canceled my debt.

Now - take all of this, along with thousands of other graces I failed to mention, away.

There are millions in our society without caring parents, who live in impoverished neighborhoods and have no real security in life.  No father.  And because mom works so much, no mother either.

No love, kindness, orderliness, or affection felt or taught on a regular basis.  Firm handshakes are replaced by many firm slaps.  No knowledge of how to use a hammer, drill, or saw - and their hearts are cut wide open.

No foundation of inter-parental love.  Mommy and daddy don't love, know, or care about one another any more.  Their life is an accident.  Everything is separable and unfaithful. Living with mom one day and mom's sister another.  Sleeping on someone's bed one day, and on someone's couch another.

Who will take me?  Where will I be tomorrow?  What stranger can I expect to meet today?  We thought these questions are only for the homeless adults who squandered their lives away; not, for children who are too young to pour milk into their own cereal bowl.

They have an x-box though; and they play it diligently all day, every day. Where else is the escape?  Where else can they find the comfort of predictable circumstances?

They are failing math, science, and social studies.  No one cares.  The school system doesn't care, why should mom?  They earn a diploma, but they can't read it.

Don't worry though, the fall won't be worse than their everyday experience.  There's no motivation for anyone to move up.  Nor is there consistent, intentional, truthful, and careful upward direction.  But they are loved - and they have a check to prove it.  There's no one to show them that money is rarely indicative of love.

But they have a cell phone.

And after a few months the bill is $650...like mine was when I was a junior in college.  Unlike me, they have no one to guide and teach them responsibility.  So, they toss the bill and the phone. Creditors call, but get no answer.  Later in life, they call a bank for a car loan so they can get to their new job.  And they get no answer.

But Pay Day Loans answers!  And they charge 50% interest.  Deal.  Debt.  Slavery.

When those shackles come off, both their pockets and their hearts are empty.  Desperation sets in. Ideas for action flourish without any moral guidance whatsoever.  So, instead of gripping the hammer or saw like our father taught us, he grabs the pistol like his friend taught him.  Then, in just a short time, he feels the first intense manly embrace he has felt in a long while.  Only it is a man in a uniform with a larger pistol than his own.

He is forced into orderliness by the handcuffs.  He gets the first consistent bed in his life - in prison - along with a judgmental eye from those, like you and me, who reached heights he will never see.  We read about him in the newspaper.   And while we watch him on the side of the road in an orange jump suit, we arrogantly say, "I did it, why can't he?"Or, "Why can't he just get a job like the rest of us?"  Or, "I can't believe how lazy his kind are!"

I have no other goal for this post other than to express my own growing awareness that things are not as clean as we'd like.  They are more complicated than we think.  They are not as easy as it was for us.  And it's going to take more understanding than we presently have.  Every good thing that we have, or have done, was purchased for us. It is only because of Christ that we can lay our judgments aside, in humble repentance, and direct those less fortunate than we to the One who took our judgment.

The truth is that we all need nothing less than redemption.  The problem is that redemption is more bloody than we would like it to be.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

We Know Who We Love By Who Hates Us.

This past Sunday I preached a sermon about the world's relationship to Christ and Christians.  The passage was John 15:18-27, and one can barely get through the entirety of it without wrestling with what it looks like to be hated by the world.  I asked myself, "Scott, are you hated by anyone because of your relationship to Christ?"

As I prayed and thought about it, I came to some conclusions as to why Christians in America may not face the persecution or hatred that Christ speaks of in this passage (as well as other passages).  And as these conclusions sunk deeply into my heart, I became convicted.

We, as well as Christ's disciples, like to think of Christ as the Savior who presently relieves all physical pain, suffering, discomfort, and struggle.  The Jews at the time were looking for the Messiah who would save them from the hatred of their enemies.

But Christ is not that kind of Savior.  And, in this passage, he corrected their erroneous expectations.

Christ is a Savior that saves us from both the love of the world and the wrath of God.  In other words, while we were wicked sinners, we were fundamentally loved by the world (Jn 15:19) and, in a very real way, at war with God and under his sore displeasure (Ps 11:5).  But Christ changed this by his life, death and resurrection; so that, being his, we are now hated by the world and loved by God.  This is why Christians should expect hatred from the world, while being at peace with God.

Further, because we are Christ's servants, we should not expect to be above our Master.  Just as we are to serve as he served (13:16), we are to suffer as he suffered (v.20).  His "otherliness" brought hatred his way.  Similarly, our Christ-like-otherliness should bring hatred our way.  Being like Christ, we are not like the world.  And the world loves only those that are like the world.  To bring the point home, we cannot expect to be like Christ if once saved by Christ, we run from the world.

We must remember that Christ came to and loved a world that hated him (Jn 3:16).

This is where I was most convicted.  My life recites John 3:16 in a very different way than it is written. I say, "For God so loved the church (i.e., those who follow clean, moral rules such as "be nice and on time" and "think and believe the same things I do" and "don't inconvenience me" and "don't kill Christians") that he gave his only Son..."

But the text doesn't say that does it?

It says, "For God so loved the world..." not a cuddly lovable world (3:19); but hating, religious, hypocritical, dangerous, God-hating world.  Christ incarnated himself into a world where hatred was inevitable, but redemptively necessary (15:25).

With that said, it is very possible that the primary reason we don't experience hatred for our faith is because we are too busy loving as the world loves and not as Christ loves.  We love those that are like us.  We love our own, while Christ loves his enemies in order to make them his own (Rom 5:6-11). And that could very well be why he makes it a point to teach about election in this passage (v.19). We need to know that we were the very one's we are presently trying to keep ourselves from.  His choice alone changed us. Therefore, we need to love those who are like who we were so that they might be like Him.

Monday, November 28, 2011

In Case You Didn't Know...We're Moving!

Trinity Gardens is a small community of a little over 3,000 people, located just south of Prichard, AL. I often tell people that it serves as a patch that joins Prichard and Mobile together. It is a predominately African-american community with a median household income of less than $20,000/year. People take pride in the fact that they are from Trinity Gardens, and thus it has its own culture, its own contributions, as well as its own areas of difficulty, challenge and hardship.

Charlene Campbell has been going to the neighborhood for some ten years.  She visits the community center, offers a bible study and a snack to the kids who attended.  Her motive has always been very simple - to share the love of God that she has found in Jesus Christ.  Over the years it is obvious that Charlene loves the community.  But it is also very obvious that Charlene is loved by the community.

After meeting her two years ago, she invited me to visit with her.  I accepted the invitation.  My life hasn't been the same since. Not only did my family and I immediately fall in love with the neighborhood, we felt completely loved by the people there as well.  After two years of working in and with the community, we are tired of driving home. We are moving to Trinity Gardens.

You might be asking "Why?" Or, "What do you plan to do there?" Well, I cannot fully answer those questions right now, but I can share with you some of what the Lord has shown us up to this point. After Mission to North America affirmed our calling to church plant back in February of 2011, my wife and I, along with the session of Grace Community Church, began to pray about a location. As we did, it became clear that our relationships with those in Trinity Gardens could not be overlooked. Not only did my wife and I feel a strong call to the neighborhood, other leaders and co-laborers affirmed the call as well.

So the answer to these questions is rather simple. We are going for two reasons: first, because the Lord is calling us there; and second, because the Lord has shown us his love through the people there. While there are probably a thousand things we could do in the community, I strongly believe that our primary calling is very simple. People already know me as Pastor Scott. I want to be just that - a pastor who lives among the people. I am sure that particular ministries will take shape over time, but for the first year at least, my family and I want to get to know the community better, serve where we can, and live among those the Lord has called us to love.

We have already purchased property in the neighborhood and plan on moving August of 2012.  Please pray for us as we plan and build support for our move!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Just A Little Break

I am taking a small break from blogging.  I think this will be a good thing, even a necessary thing, for the following reasons:

First, I am taking a trip to Africa this week and will not be able to post while there.  For those of you who may be interested, my father and I, along with another friend, are going to Cameroon to visit a former seminary classmate (Gideon) who started Rekindle Children's Hope, Inc.  Lord willing, I will be back on the 19th of November.

Second, I would like to take some time to work on a small writing project with a friend of mine.

Third, I think it will be good for me to leave this fun, but unnecessary, part of my life for a time.  This will allow me time to search my motives for writing, as well as refocus my goals for the same.  It will also remind me that blogging won't save me.

Last, I really need to concentrate on other things right now.  There are areas of my life that need a lot of work and a lot of grace.  If you think about it, please pray that the Lord would give me a humble heart to serve my wife, children (including #4 on the way!) and congregation better.

I plan on starting back after Thanksgiving. So, until then, may the peace of God be with you and yours.