Friday I was very tired of my job. Tired of church. Very burned out. Feeling cynical, but not wanting to be. Very much lusting after a job at Starbucks. I forget that God wants to help. I forget that He's the only one that can meet the nuances of my needs and fears...and that the people I go to to vent to...seeking solace and hope...might be part of the answer...but Jesus fits these peices together that renew me. It's amazing.
Yesterday at work, I was sitting with a beautiful group of kids waiting for Sunday School to begin. We talked about Winfree in Zimbabwe, our Hope Child we adopted through World Vision. The kids remembered her, they remembered that she had AIDS and that we needed to pay for her medicine. It made me feel like that maybe something significant was happening through Sunday School, and it made me feel better about my job.
In that same conversation, Katie (6th grade, intellegent, sweet, insightful, beautiful, quiet) raises her hand and says "Kristie I heard that Jesus isn't here on earth anymore but that he is going to come back sometime like in the next 1,000 years. Is that true?" I answered her "yes, it's definitly true. We don't know when He will come back, he said it would be a suprise...but we know God keeps his promises because he always has."
Next, Hannah (10 going on 30, future fashion stylist on the side, brilliant, wears lepoard print coats and sunglasses and loves the Lord, spice, beauty and cute) she says "Yeah, I heard about that and there was this guy on the news the other day that said he was like the "new Jesus" and so I listened to what he said and he said that prayer doesn't work so then I knew it wasn't the real Jesus."
Whoa.
Water to my weary soul. Beauty out of the ashes of my indifference.
I said "Yes! Yes! Kids, THIS is why we have to know who God is, so that we can also figure out who God is not. We have to discern, which means sort out, through the things that are true in life, and the things that aren't no matter what the person claims to be or claims to believe. Hannah, Katie, Thank you! Thank you for sharing and asking...such good things...such good things."
In our postmodern culture, sorting through everything to find the truth is a job. It is the work of living. I have had many many conversations with friends and aquaintences that are tired of the dogma, the march, the empty religion found in christian culture. I am living amongst many who don't want church, but want Jesus in an authentic beautiful "life to the full" way.
It occurs to me that many of us are finding truth in pockets and podcasts and friendships and books. We are sorting through, and not accepting the christian-cotton-candy-self-help-check-list mantra that seems so far from the message of Jesus and the invitation to the kingdom.
Yes, there is more. Yes, it is true. There is beauty to be had in our days that we haven't tapped into yet. It is life to the full, it is love beyond our comprehension. It is not scripted or black and white...it is colorful. It is vibrant. It is life.
You and the HS are doing a very good work in those kids' lives.
Just a question that doesn't really need an answer to be written, but maybe to be thought about (by both of us and perhaps the whole church). You say, "I am living amongst many who don't want church, but want Jesus in an authentic beautiful 'life to the full' way." How can we know Christ without participating in the body, the church? How can we participate in the full beauty of Christ without participating in the body?
Posted by: JennySmith | 19 September 2006 at 10:39 AM