Lindell told this story on Sunday of planting a church in Kansas City. With only twenty days to go, it came about that he and this 30-person congregation needed $100,000 to close the deal that would give them a home. Naturally, to make the story a story, they didn't have the cash. So Lindell does something out of character. He sets out to woo a Christian businessman. I like to imagine that there were mimosas involved, and tender loving promises of sweet, sweet collateral.
To make a short story shorter, the businessman tells Lindell to go back and see what his congregation can do. Then he'll write a check for the gap. So Sunday comes, and oh my word (or oh brother, whichever non-expetive you prefer), the congregation antes up $95,000. The businessman, unexpectedly, only has to kick in 5000 bucks. God is good.
But is He?
Stories like these are told to provide support for the notion that our God is one of commonplace miracles. He will take care of you. He will provide. And regardless of whether you consider such things to be miracles, all good things come from God. So praise God.
But that storyline--is it good? Is it God?
One of the megatweeters I follow posted earlier to congratulate his friend, Rick Warren, on raising the money to put the church out of the red. The amount raised was astronomical, and it reminded me of Lindell's story, and made me think...what the hell are we doing?
Why can we raise hundreds of thousands to support largely self-serving ministries, but haven't made a dent in poverty and homelessness? That is so massively uncool. And unChrist. It's anti-Christ. It's unTruth of the highest form. It's a willing turning from God, to accomodate our own vision of the "modern" church. It is truly living on the fringes of God's love, and His truth, deluding ourselves into believing that we're in the center. To actually live in the center would be very much uncomfortable, I imagine.
I say imagine, because what the hell am I doing? Nothing. I'm doing nothing. I'm talking. I'm writing. I'm faking. Oddly, I live on the fringes of the modern church precisely because I want to live in the center of Christ's church.
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I totally feel this way about the health care issue. If Christians took care of the widows, orphans, poor, there would be no health care debate. Like you, I ask myself, "What am I doing?" And I have to answer honestly, "Nothing." I am hoping to have a different answer this year. Don't have a clue what this will look like, but I don't want to keep answering nothing.
ReplyDeleteYes! Thanks so much for saying that! I always think that the Christian Church in this country ought to be so good at feeding, clothing, educating, and sheltering everyone, that government welfare becomes superfluous!
ReplyDeleteAnd as for what we're doing...I agree with you. I don't know what the answer is. I know that I'm not living the answer now. And I don't think my church is. I know that I need to be incredibly more sacrificial than I am, but that that would require a huge step of faith--in a sense, a turning fro m the culture, and what is fashionable, and that's a radical reliance on Christ that I don't know if I can do. To follow is harder than I thought.
Thanks Christy.