One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from a rockstar and I don’t mean that in the figurative sense, I mean he’s an actual rockstar. You might know him as Bono.
“God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.” – Bono
There seems to be a lot of talk in the church about where God is and where He is not. Some see the church as a holy figurative beacon and safe refuge from the sins and vices in the world. Others may see it more as a weekly opportunity to show their thanks to God through worship and teaching and when they do, “He shows up.”
Both would say God is in the church. Both would say God is in the broken and desires for us to be His hands and feet to them. Both might be a bit surprise at how that actually looks however.
I’m not removing myself from this. This article is a reminder just as much for me as it is for anyone else reading it. But, it is something we need to be reminded of if we really want to be the hands and feet of Christ to a broken world.
Here are a few things we should remember:
1. Jesus does not always come in a form that is pretty, clean and nice.
While the church has served many functions over it’s lifetime it was never designed to simply be a clubhouse for “clean” christians. Jesus talks repedetly about His love for the broken and how He is in them. We all know the verse where He says He demonstrates how he revealed Himself as someone who was thirsty, hungry, naked, sick, in prision and a stranger.
What we have to be careful of doing is elevating these trates as magical moments in our minds where we swoop in as the grand-glowing saviors bringing relief to their needs. While this sense of day-dreaming makes us feel good and empowered, the reality is brokenness, poverty, sickness and pain require much more commitment than a single act of kindness. Healing certainly begins at a small act of kindness but it can not stop there.
The people who need us to be Jesus to them the most would probably stick out like a sore thumb in a typical Sunday Morning service. But, if we want to find Jesus. I mean really find Him where He lives. It won’t be through 4 songs and a sermon. He will be found right in the middle of the brokenness and pain of those around us. If we really want to show our thanks and love for God we obey him by following the greatest commandments: Love God and Love People.
2. Brokenness accompanies broken people.
This sounds redundant but I think it’s important to remember this. First off, we need to remember we are broken as well. The church has a bad habit of realizing it’s brokenness but doing everything possible to ensure that brokenness is not easily visible to anyone looking in. The ironic thing is all this work as making ourselves look “holy” only does the opposite.
If an alchololic shows up to a Sunday service, what would be expected. I would expect they might have the smell of acholol on them. They might not be very coherent. On the flip-side they might be recovering and look no different than anyone else other than having the feelings of regret and dissappointment that comes from their decisions.
The point is regardless how they appear, they need to see Jesus through others. A song and sermon might spark a fuzzy feeling but the only thing that really matters is that they feel loved, right where they are… Not where they think they should be. Showing love doesn’t end at just greeting them with a smile. It’s intentionally making effort to care for them, make ourselves available to them and to sacrifice for them. That’s love… and it’s hard but it’s necessary. Which leads to my final point.
3. This is going to take time.
The church is not all that different from our culture in the sense of how we like results fast and easy. There are not shortcuts in loving people. Love invades our lives and shakes everything up. It wakes us up in the middle of the night, it frustrates us, it forgives when stolen from, it offers grace when manipulated, it rebuilds the brokenness of bad choices.
For many this is not the love they are familiar with. What so many in the church see as love is really just kindness. And, while kindness is a beautiful thing it doesn’t change the world and it’s no match to the brokenness that accompanies sin and pain. Only love can heal the brokenness in us all.
The church is the bearer of God’s love made manifest in this world and it’s time we remember what love really looks like. We can’t keep calling Sunday morning kindness that doesn’t have weekly endurance love. It’s just not love. Love sacrifices because in it’s nature that’s what it does.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth. Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits. – 1 Corinthians 13 (ERV)
Love never fails.
Go back and read that verse over and over. Remember it, write it down and ask God to help us live it better each day. Very few act in this kind of love but those who do are remembered by it. They are remembered because people see the fingerprint of Christ through them and true love is attractive.
It changes lives and it cuts through brokenness by it’s persistence to never give up. It can’t give up because the one acting in this kind of love is able to see past the initial condition of a person to instead see only what love can bring out of the brokenness in them.
This view leaves only faith, hope and love; with the greatest of these being love.
P.S. Truly loving someone is more of a journey than an action. So don’t get dissappointed with yourself it this is a struggle at first. The most important thing is you don’t quit. Love doesn’t give up. So, as Joe Dirt would say, “keep on keepin’ on.”
Also, a special thanks to the person who spoke to me on writing on this topic. You know who you are and I appreciate you reaching out.
