compassion

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DgP9hKRxoQ]

[ht: Jay]

Simply brilliant, convicting and centering for Christmas…

I received an email this morning asking me to feature this website. I checked it out and found it pretty interesting.

ChristianVolunteering.org is a free directory with over 2,000 volunteer opportunities in ministries serving the “poor.”  The site’s partners include the Salvation Army, GospelCom (BibleGateway.com), World Vision, the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions and over 1,000 ministries serving under-resourced communities.  In addition to volunteer opportunities for individuals, you can also search the site for opportunities that might be appropriate for church small groups and for short-term missions trips.  If you just type your postal code, you can get a listing of the volunteer opportunities in your region.

So if you feel like doing some good for your community in this season (or any) check out this website:

http://www.christianvolunteering.org/

And also if you’re looking to equip people to serve the poor, here’s another good site:

http://www.urbanministry.org/

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NtgjNLNpao]

[ht: Beim]

We can see the walk of a Christian in two ways:

1) Jesus died for us and the world is depraved. Someday when I die, I’ll escape this evil world and be with God for eternity. With my heart set on heaven, I will live a holy life and make sure others do so too.

2) Jesus died for us and the Kingdom is here and now. It is our job to ransom, rescue and love the lost and hurting people. We are compelled to live a life of hope and compassion that shows Christ’s love to the broken people of this world.

One way has our eyes set far beyond this world and beyond the horizon. The other has it’s eyes set on the suffering here and now. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We forget this. Or omit this. Or over look this. The call of Christ and his Kingdom is a here and now one.

And our view on this colors which path we walk.

I read an email from a friend this morning and my heart was broken. He didn’t say much, but he didn’t have to. He shared with me latest chapter of his struggle at a church he’s been pastoring. He was called to pastor an older church and all he’s met over the past few years was grief, abuse and struggle. I sat in my office praying for him and crying for the pain he was experiencing. I’ve watched this happen to him over the past few years at a few different churches. My heart breaks for him and his family. He’s honored me by sharing his journey with me and I’m continually amazed at his heart and his steadfast faith over these years.

I wish this was the only story I’ve heard from people I’ve befriended. What has the church become? I have seen little grace, love and compassion within it’s walls. It has simply become an institutionalized building. A grave reminder of what it was once meant to be.

I’ve also been burned by churches (and one quite significantly). But like my friend, I never saw this abuse as coming from God’s hand. I’ve only seen the Lord shower me in love and grace through the hard these times. This awareness has been key for me. Has the church left a bad taste in my mouth? Absolutely. Has the Lord? Never. And I’ve begun to hate church because of what it has become.
I hate church because of what we’ve made it. BUT, I love the church because of what God created it to be. My passion is to see the church restored to a vibrant, organic body that it once was. I have hope in that. The church is meant to be a glorious thing that changes the world, but we’ve made it something else. It’s become a corporation with four walls to keep some in and the other out. It has become confining, safe and tame.

If you pay attention to Jesus in the gospels, he never treated it as a job, or a career. It was always a passion; a calling. There was no point where his ministry ended and Jesus began. It was his whole being. It was his purpose for existence. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t clean, but it was good and completely Godly fueled.

The early church was the same. It wasn’t a club to join. It was a way of life. It transformed lives. It reached out to the poor and needy. It brought God’s love to a broken and hurting world. It was a remedy.

Now, we are people pleasing and program driven business. We are safe and tame. We are no longer faith driven, God fueled, and Christ centered.

I sit alone in my office and weep as I pray for my friend and the church. We have walked so far away from where we were supposed to be. I am grieved. But I am also hopeful that there is a way back.

“The greatest single cause of atheism today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him with their lifestyle. That’s what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

Brennan Manning

This quote really hit me hard. We are all guilty of this. We are all hypocrites and Pharisees. We are so eager to throw rocks and judge. I know I’m guilty of this. I somehow forget that I’m in the same sin boat that all of us are in.

So what do we do to change this? The first step begins with realizing that we’ve walked fundamentally away from the mission that Christ began. We’ve built buildings to keep the good people in and the bad (undesirable) ones out. 

People in the world today see the lines we’ve drawn and realize that they’re on the other side of the fence. I remember how I used to feel when I was in Junior High. There was a cool crowd and the rest of us dregs. We were all looked down up and had our lower status constantly shoved in our faces. Sure there were kids that longed to be cool, but most of us just grew to resent the cool kids. That’s the message we’re giving the world today: “You’re not good enough.” And the world hates us for it (and I understand why).

Sure we preach Christ’s love but we don’t walk it out. We say one thing and do another. We can say “I love you” to someone but if we’re kicking him while we’re saying it – I don’t think he’ll get the point.  

So why do we act like this? Well, I think it’s because we all look for a place to be safe. Church looks safe and nice. The streets? Dirty and scary. We don’t live like God matters. Stay safe and pray he blesses us while we stay in our little boxes. But God doesn’t want us staying safe.

Sometimes I wonder, if Christ returned and dwelt among us, what the church’s reaction to Him?  What would his reaction be to the state of the church today? Would he produce fear and anger from the church leadership? Would they point out how he associates with the undesirablesand condemn him for it? Would they want nothing to do with Him? I believe that same treatment that Christ recieved from the church in the Gospels would mirror how he would be treated today (at least in North America). Am I wrong?

We live much like the Pharases. We do “good deeds” and follow the rules, but we live like God doesn’t exist. We don’t live lives like the men of Bible did. Following a wild God because we were compelled to. Becasue any existence otherwise couldn’t come close compete with it. We’ve become comfortable and decided that we’ll take the melancholy of the American Dream overshadows the call and mission of the Gospel (and Great Commission). Where is our passion for life? Do we believe Jesus when he said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Who’s living their lives to the full? Or at least who’s trying to?!?

Who believes that the power of Christ can change this word completely and without any of our help? If you believe that, then imagine that even though God doesn’t need us, he loves us and includes us in his Kindom and the advancement of it. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. (Matt 11:12). I don’t know about you, but I like the sound of that last verse. It makes me feel alive. It makes me want to be one of those forceful men laying hold of the kingdom of heaven.

If you belive any of this? If anything from this stirrs within you? Then make a decision here and now to start living this out. 

If you haven’t given your life over to Christ and are interested in changing your life forever, follow this link. If you have any questions or would like to talk about anything, please feel free to email me: sdelony@yd.org

So as a staff we took a trip to the places where Christians in our community fear to tread in an effort to remind ourselves of our place in the Great Commission First off was the Mirkwood Cafe which is an occult coffee house complete with an on staff psychic healer. It’s great to drink a cup of coffee (after all coffee is the back devil) with some lady reading Tarot cards next to us. I’m going to make a concerted effort to start hanging out here. I know of several kids that go here for D&D or Magic Cards, but how do we reach them if we’re not present. It’s a dark place that needs some light. And frankly I don’t mind this type of spiritual warfare. It’s at least obvious, it’s heavy but it seems more like a fair head on fight.

Afterwards we headed for lunch at the Angel of the Winds casino. I have my own issues with casinos. Just watching the pantheon of mindless zombies hitting the slots gets to me. But how different is this than the current state of our church. We’re dealing with an age of contentment and slumber. At least here they make no pretense. Their sins are obvious, not hidden behind activities and Sunday smiles.

 It reminded me of this quote for what church is supposed to be:

We are not a museum of saints. We’re a hospital for sin sick souls.”

Edith Roberts

We like to hear stories about the dirty people that Jesus reached down to give hope and heal, but are we willing to do the same? He wasn’t afraid to go into the gutter. How often do we get our hands dirty for the sake of the cross? Are we willing to go to the places where we’re embarrassed to be seen – all for His glory?

I know I’m guilty of that. In the casino I was aware of my presence and wondered what people would say if someone from my church saw me there. But I’m reminded that it doesn’t matter. So I must continue to do what I’m called to do and go where I’m called to go.

Are there place where you wont’ tread? So where’s your gutter?

I sat in church on Sunday morning utterly dismayed at what I was hearing. We had a guest speaker, a man raised in Mormonism who later converted to Christianity. I entered this morning with eager anticipation because we had with us a Mormon girl who has been involved in our ministry. I expected this to be a time where here eyes were opened to see the truth. What I got was a bitter man, hell bent on bashing a cult.  

As a church did we need a message that Mormons were bad and not Christians? I’d hope as a church that we’d have a firm grasp on that (if not, we’re in trouble). All I saw a man who built walls of bitterness and pompous religiosity.

I started praying for this girl, especially as she left about 20 minutes in to his talk – though I can’t say that I blame her for leaving. While praying the Lord reminded me that to reach Mormons (or any lost person) we must reach their hearts and not attack their religion or beliefs.

In this search for being right or righteous, have we lost our love and compassion? Christ was both truth and love. If we only take one of those we are in danger of making our own false beliefs. And if we do that, are we that much worse than any cult we so easily bash?