This Is Why

This week, I was with a family as their husband/father/grandfather's service in the Army was honored with interment at Arlington National Cemetery. While we waited in the Admin Building before the procession in our cars began, I had an opportunity to talk with the ten year old grandson. As he told me about the cookies he had made for the lunch to follow this ceremony, his is mom said how much they had all enjoyed their participation in our June Falls Church Feeds the World event. I said we have another one coming up on September 11. She asked her son if he would like to do it again. Quite seriously, and definitely, he said he does want to do it.

This is a big part of the "why" behind all the work we put into FCFTW. Not only are we helping to feed the world, we are also helping young people make a difference in the world around them. Maybe they won't be a part of KIDZone, and maybe their folks won't be a part of worship, but they get to be a part doing something to feed others who are hungry, and that makes Jesus dance with joy. And who knows, they might find some of that Jesus joy entering their life too.

So when Nina or someone asks you how you want to volunteer for FCFTW, sign up. It takes all, ALL, ALL, ALL, of us to do such an outrageously big do. Even better, sign up here.  You are needed!

Get the word out to everyone in your neighborhood: we are going to pack over 30,000 meals on September 11!

Matthew 25:37-40

‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

Being Grace In the World

In the past week I have been treated to the hospitality of some of our younger Jesus' followers in their homes. Watching how their parents encourage them to engage with their guests while also reminding them of appropriate polite boundaries is a reminder of how we learn by doing. 

We have been working on learning not only how to welcome guests into our "home" space but also into the space that exists between us and others we encounter in the world. More rapidly than many of us are able to comprehend, what was familiar and therefore comfortable has become alien and discomfiting. Tried and true methods have become hit or miss, and honestly mostly miss. The old truism--build it and they will come--afflicts the church as much or more than many of our social institutions. And yet, the message of God's overwhelming grace is needed even more today than when we relied on having a certain place of respect in our culture. More than anything else the awareness of this need is what is driving Christ Crossman to reach out into the community.

Elaine Heath, in her book God Unbound: Wisdom from Galatians for the Anxious Church, confirms the desire and wisdom of our teams as she writes about living as Jesus' followers in this world where everything is changing so rapidly:

Emergence Christians, as a rule, desire to practice hospitality and humility toward their neighbors as primary forms of Christian witness, eschewing any form of exploitative or gimmicky evangelism. They tend toward a kingdom of God orientation based on Luke 10 and other texts, working to discover God’s activity in the neighborhood and to join in. While they believe that they are bringing Jesus to the neighborhood, they are also meeting Jesus in the neighborhood. This posture differs from the insider/ outsider mind-set that is common in the inherited church. And while they welcome people into their gatherings, they do not believe that the goal of loving neighbor is to colonize them culturally. They take seriously the simple words of Jesus about God loving both the just and the unjust and sending rain on both the just and the unjust. They choose to give up all forms of control, manipulation, and colonization in the name of evangelism and mission.[i]

So the question for each of us, and for all of us together, is where can I (we) be God’s grace in the midst of people who face anxious days and nights?

Galatians 3:27-28

Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise.

In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ.

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[i] Heath, Elaine. God Unbound: Wisdom from Galatians for the Anxious Church (Kindle Locations 548-555). Upper Room Books. Kindle Edition.

Just the Facts?

"Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts," Sergeant Jack Webb would say to a witness at a potential crime scene. 

Well, there are facts, and then, there are facts. We often have a tendency to think that just the facts reveal the truth, but sometimes facts can be used or arranged in such a way as to create a different perception of reality, maybe even a lie. Even how we see what we see is managed by our a priori assumptions. We cannot see what we cannot imagine seeing. We cannot hear what we are not prepared to hear. Or maybe a better way of saying that is that we cannot understand or organize what we see and hear if we have no categories or criteria for it.

It might seem easier if we all perceived things in the same way, and made judgments on the same criteria. Then "just the facts" would be the way of all the world, but think of the nuances that would be lost. Think of the shadings in a sunset sky that would be lost if we just saw it all as red. My camera is not able to catch the subtle differences in intensities and hues as is my eye. What pulls at my heart strings with beauty would be lost.

The same is true with all of our human differences. Each of us brings our own experiences and abilities to the table and we are better for them all. I am richer for each of you in my life. I may be annoyed sometimes that someone cannot see as I see, or easily get what I am saying, but when I have the opportunity to explore with you, greater beauty and possibility blossoms because it is so much more than what I can conceive just by myself.

This is the Creation as I see it with wonderful, mysterious layers each suffused with the deepest grace of our triune God. I invite you, and myself, this week to experience the depth possible with one person with whom we do not always see to eye, and give thanks to God in the midst of it all that here is beauty.


John 21:5-6
Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.