Saturday, July 26, 2008

Let's Be Conservative!

One of the hottest topics in the Bible Department back in College was the topic of whom or which group was deemed “Liberal.” I didn’t like it…it irritated me. When asked, I’d give a smartelic response like, “I’m a conservative liberal” or “I’m liberally conservative.” I’ve never liked the game much…the finger pointing that is. I was once called a liberal because my hair was long and I’ve been called a conservative because I didn’t clap (mostly because I can’t ever find the beat). I could never figure out what the guidelines were for my Christianity. From what I could see through experiences with people in college, you were labeled one way or the other based on an individuals “centering view.”

I don’t know why but this topic has been on my mind a lot over the past month. The hot topic in American churches are whether or not you are liberal or conservative so I thought I’d try and define it for myself so I can better answer people when they ask. I decided to look up the definition of “Liberal” to give me a good starting point. The best definition I could find for being liberal means, “to give less emphasis on the literal interpretation of Scripture.”

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment in the Law was, He replied, “Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And the second greatest is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:36-40). In a way…Jesus would define conservative and liberal based on this command. We’ve been called to Love God and Love Others. If you are fulfilling that…consider yourself a conservative. If you are not…you are a liberal.

Youth Groups are often slapped with a big “L” in the brotherhood. A close eye is kept on Youth Ministries and their liberal antics. In the last month I’ve seen the teens I’ve been blessed to work with, act more conservatively than many Christian groups I’ve encountered. In the last month these teens have: built three houses, distributed 10 soccer balls to kids who have nothing, give out enough food to feed 1800 people for 2-3 weeks in Honduras, sort clothes in Charlotte that will clothe families for years to come, organize food that will feed the starving in the Charlotte area, hug the lonely, play with needy children, and much much more. I am proud of how conservative your teens are. They have taught me a lot about what is means to Love God and Love others.

It is easy to be conservative when you are on a mission trip or at workcamp. My fear is that we will become liberals when we run into someone on the street, when one of our own gets pregnant out of wedlock, or do nothing but slander our brothers and sisters because they have a different ideal than we do. Let’s be conservative in whatever we do for the least of these brothers of mine.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Grin Like Jesus

The bus took us as far as it could up the hill. We had to walk the rest of the way. Zigzagging between make shift huts we found ourselves in a small opening where a pile of lumber rested. There were many small huts built with scrap wood left over from logs being cut down into lumber. Almost every hut was accompanied by a small house (about 3 times bigger than the hut) of nicer wood that looked much like the lumber we had in the pile before us.

In this area of the little community of Mogote, almost every family had a new home built by teenagers like ours. The family standing before us had torn down part of their old house and were living in a very small space with a curtain for a door, anticipating the arrival of God’s Hands to build them a new home. We were warmly welcomed as if we were family. The kids wanted to do nothing but hug on us. All of these scenes on our first building day are etched in my memory very clearly.

Sylvia, from the Mogote Church of Christ, is a joy filled woman who was excited about us being there to build this family a house. She was excited because God’s Hands from Oklahoma built her house. God’s Hands from somewhere else built her neighbors house. And the house after that. And so on. She was joy filled that her friend was now finally going to get to experience the joy that they had been feeling for some time now.

Sylvia taught me something that day. I saw Jesus in her. I saw in her the excitement the Jesus gets when someone finally gets a new house. I don’t feel like I get excited enough when I find out that someone just got a New House from the Hand of God. These people were ready to celebrate with this family because of their new found joy. At some congregations all you find are some hearty amen’s and if the congregation is gutsy enough…clapping. I’ve been rethinking the whole baptism/giving your life to Jesus thing. Why not throw a party? Celebrate it every year as a bigger deal than your physical birth? Would it mean more to us later in life if we acted like it is as big of a deal as we believe it is? I want to be more excited like Sylvia. I want to grin like Jesus.