They Think We're a Hate Group, & They Might Be Right

Except from Michael Cheshire on "Out of Ur"

Maybe the church should trade its picket signs in front of the abortion clinic for a blanket and a ride home at the back door. Maybe the church could walk away from politics for a while and start working at reaching hearts. Maybe we could all try to find a gay man or woman and apologize for how some Christians have treated them. We should tell them we may not agree with that part of their life, but we could still learn about each other and maybe even become friends! We should show love instead of blame and judgment. We have laws against killing, stealing and all sorts of things; why do we think a law against gay marriage, abortion or any other moral issue is going to change the human heart? After we make things illegal here, are we going to work to make them illegal in the other 196 countries of the world?

It could be that the Mayans are right and the world will end today. It’s likely, however, that we will be around for a little longer. So, maybe some of us should try a new approach to understanding the world around us. It doesn’t make us worldly; it makes us involved. Christians should be involved at a gut level because the world is full of blame and apathy. We have to get back to being involved with our communities and in the conversations. We need proximity to those we keep throwing rocks at. I’m not on CNN, Fox, or TBN. I don’t have a big platform to speak from. Maybe that makes my Jesus different than theirs, but I love the Jesus I know and he doesn’t speak in blame and hate. He stands up and says he loves us all. My Jesus says, “Let’s keep talking. Keep the channels open.” My Jesus is okay with people coming to him slowly like. My Jesus knows how to cry at the horrible shooting when there are really no words for the pain it has caused, just as he wept at Lazarus’s tomb. And my Jesus stands back up in his community to try and bring hope and healing where he can. My Jesus would be friends with gays, prostitutes, drug addicts, and anyone else who would welcome a conversation.

As much as I would like to turn in my “American Christian” membership card because it seems tainted with a lot of hate and politics, I cannot. Unfortunately, we are all going to be tied together no matter what, so I’m going to get louder about my Jesus. I’m also going to start standing behind my well-intentioned older uncles and aunts and mouth to a lost and dying world, “They mean well, but you really should talk to the real Jesus.”

Yes, Yes, Yes!!!!

What if the Gospel was Everything to Us

I was watching a video today about the children of missionaries who went back with their dad to a remote village in Papua, Indonesia where they lived while their parents were taking the gospel there.  They were going back after 50 years to see what had become of the people and what God had done with the seeds planted by their parents.  One statement that stuck out to me was a man saying that they were so thankful for what these missionaries had done and the seeds they are planted, because now, for him, "the Gospel was everything".

What if we lived our lives that way?  What if the Gospel was everything in our lives?  What if we valued the Gospel and what it teaches above everything else.?  What if our our decisions were impacted by the Gospel?  What if nothing else mattered to us but the Gospel and sharing it with others?  What if our lives were portrayals of the Gospel?

This may be a simplistic, naive thought.  But what if it is not?  What if that is truly what we are created to do?  What if we are supposed to live like the Gospel is Everything to Us and nothing else matters?