At his baptism Jesus is identified as God’s Beloved Son – full and true revelation of God’s will for humanity, One who will save us from our sin. Then right away, the first place Jesus is led to start living out his mission in the world is the wilderness.
It doesn’t seem a promising or attractive place to start. But in the wilderness and in the experience of emptiness, poverty and powerlessness, Jesus begins to live into God’s way, rather than the devil’s way, of saving and healing the world.
It’s the same for Jesus as it was for the people of Israel.
Long ago when God called Israel out of slavery to the Egyptian Empire, to become a new kind of people for all the world’s healing, the wilderness was also the first place God led them. For forty years – not just forty days, they lived in anxiety, poverty and powerlessness – exactly the kinds of things that helped make them God’s people, and not the Empire’s people, for the real healing of the world.
Most years on CityKidz Miracle Sunday we watch a professionally made video that highlights and celebrates some aspect of the CityKidz program, and that helps us see that our money and support are well-spent.
This year we have a different kind of video. It's one that some of the kids that CityKidz reaches out to, asked to be able to make. It's a video that shows us the part of the city they live in, through their eyes. The voices on the video are their voices. The images are what they see every day.
So ... we might title this, "Through the Eyes of CityKidz Kids":
This year we have a different kind of video. It's one that some of the kids that CityKidz reaches out to, asked to be able to make. It's a video that shows us the part of the city they live in, through their eyes. The voices on the video are their voices. The images are what they see every day.
So ... we might title this, "Through the Eyes of CityKidz Kids":
That's quite a rough
video, in a lot of ways. Bleak. It makes Hamilton look like an urban wilderness.
We had a choice of another video: a nicer one, twice as long, but well-scripted, professionally produced, showing a CityKidz success story. And there are many success stories to show and celebrate.
But this is the city as some CityKidz kids experience it – the city they live in, and the wilderness that CityKidz follows Jesus into.
And the way they enter it -- the way CityKidz enters this urban wilderness, they practice mission and live out the way of God in the world, in the same way Jesus learned to, and chose to in his mission ,when he was in the wilderness of his time.
Just think of the story, and the choices Jesus faced in the roughness of his time.
Temptation 1: "Focus on the bread and bodily needs. Start with that and stay with that, because surely God doesn’t want you or anyone else to go hungry. And if you take care of the physical, you can forget about the rest. Or it will all fall into place."
And yes, City Kidz offers food – snacks and Happy Meals at all their meetings, donated by different agencies and food franchises. And no doubt the kids look forward to it. For some it may be the most regular meal they have some days.
But that’s not all they need, and City Kidz gives them something else as well – not just bread for the body, but food for the soul that they are even more hungry for. Because what does Jesus say? “We do not live by bread alone, but by every good word about life and for true life that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Over and over again in everything they do City Kidz offers just that – the Word of God about true and good life that often is in short supply in that part of the city. It’s what CityKidz is most deeply all about, and it’s handed out in bushel-basketsful –
We had a choice of another video: a nicer one, twice as long, but well-scripted, professionally produced, showing a CityKidz success story. And there are many success stories to show and celebrate.
But this is the city as some CityKidz kids experience it – the city they live in, and the wilderness that CityKidz follows Jesus into.
And the way they enter it -- the way CityKidz enters this urban wilderness, they practice mission and live out the way of God in the world, in the same way Jesus learned to, and chose to in his mission ,when he was in the wilderness of his time.
Just think of the story, and the choices Jesus faced in the roughness of his time.
Temptation 1: "Focus on the bread and bodily needs. Start with that and stay with that, because surely God doesn’t want you or anyone else to go hungry. And if you take care of the physical, you can forget about the rest. Or it will all fall into place."
And yes, City Kidz offers food – snacks and Happy Meals at all their meetings, donated by different agencies and food franchises. And no doubt the kids look forward to it. For some it may be the most regular meal they have some days.
But that’s not all they need, and City Kidz gives them something else as well – not just bread for the body, but food for the soul that they are even more hungry for. Because what does Jesus say? “We do not live by bread alone, but by every good word about life and for true life that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Over and over again in everything they do City Kidz offers just that – the Word of God about true and good life that often is in short supply in that part of the city. It’s what CityKidz is most deeply all about, and it’s handed out in bushel-basketsful –
- in the teaching about good choices and moral living embedded in every Saturday show,
- in the deep respect and individual care that’s shown for each child on the bus rides,
- in the way each child feels known and loved by every City Kidz volunteer and staff person that meets them,
- in the consistency of the home visits,
- in the well-thought-out programs to develop children’s gifts,
- in the way each child learns over and over again that they are loved, that they are worthwhile, that they can make good choices, and that they are uniquely and particularly created by God for good things and a good purpose in this world.
"Okay," the devil says, "but (Temptation
Number 2) wouldn’t it be nice then – if you want to do good, to have the power
to make the world over the way you think it should be. Even if you have to make a deal with me to do
it? I mean, who wants to go into a situation like that without a plan, and some protection, and some power?
"Maybe start with a few quiet backroom deals with local politicians and the city’s power people to be on your side to take some control of that part of the city? Sell a millionaire the naming rights for the new CityKidz theatre for the sake of a big donation? Make a deal with a developer to just buy up big chunks of that part of the city, bulldoze it, relocate a few families, and build some condos to make that part of the city attractive and upscale?
“I mean, isn’t that what you want, and don’t the ends justify the means? Because if you want to work in that part of the city, wouldn’t it be nice to make it over first? Make it nicer, more attractive, more of a place that you’d like to work in?"
To which Jesus says, "No, that’s not God’s way, and it’s God who we worship and follow. God’s way is not to start with a big make-over to make the world easier to work with. God tried that once with the Flood, and said never again. God’s way now always is just to go into the world as it is, even as hard, horrible and hurtful as it may be, and just love it to death – or love it to life, really.
"God doesn’t let the poverty or horror of a place to keep him from going in. Nor does God wait until he has money, power or protection of some kind on his side. Rather, God goes personally and completely into the world’s roughest and toughest places with nothing but the powerlessness and vulnerability of love, and lets the openness of love be what heals and redeems the world and its people wherever and however they are."
Isn’t that what Jesus chooses, as Son of God? And CityKidz, like Jesus, is not afraid to do as God does, and go wherever and however God is willing to go.
"Okay," the devil says, "so you do a lot of good and you love the world and its poorest people to new life right now and right where they are. But surely you want to be recognized for what you do. And not be hurt while you’re doing it. So why not at least let it be your own little soft spot in the world – a nest nicely feathered for your well-being? Hey! Maybe make it like a church or something else that people can join, and you can be in charge of!"
Temptation Number 3.
And we all know God’s, and Jesus’, and CityKidz’s answer to that one. The point is not for God to save us; but for God to use us, in whatever way and for as long as God wants, to help save others. The point is not that we can ask God to serve our well-being, or even guarantee our future, but that for as long as we are here and with whatever we are given we let God use us for the well-being, the healing and the salvation of others. And if God does give us long life, resources, even security – that’s what it’s for. The good of others.
And the devil – out there, and in ourselves, hates to hear that.
Because as long as we commit to that, how can the devil ever stop God’s healing work from happening in the world?
And that is what Jesus, and CityKidz, and we at our best as a church are all about.
"Maybe start with a few quiet backroom deals with local politicians and the city’s power people to be on your side to take some control of that part of the city? Sell a millionaire the naming rights for the new CityKidz theatre for the sake of a big donation? Make a deal with a developer to just buy up big chunks of that part of the city, bulldoze it, relocate a few families, and build some condos to make that part of the city attractive and upscale?
“I mean, isn’t that what you want, and don’t the ends justify the means? Because if you want to work in that part of the city, wouldn’t it be nice to make it over first? Make it nicer, more attractive, more of a place that you’d like to work in?"
To which Jesus says, "No, that’s not God’s way, and it’s God who we worship and follow. God’s way is not to start with a big make-over to make the world easier to work with. God tried that once with the Flood, and said never again. God’s way now always is just to go into the world as it is, even as hard, horrible and hurtful as it may be, and just love it to death – or love it to life, really.
"God doesn’t let the poverty or horror of a place to keep him from going in. Nor does God wait until he has money, power or protection of some kind on his side. Rather, God goes personally and completely into the world’s roughest and toughest places with nothing but the powerlessness and vulnerability of love, and lets the openness of love be what heals and redeems the world and its people wherever and however they are."
Isn’t that what Jesus chooses, as Son of God? And CityKidz, like Jesus, is not afraid to do as God does, and go wherever and however God is willing to go.
"Okay," the devil says, "so you do a lot of good and you love the world and its poorest people to new life right now and right where they are. But surely you want to be recognized for what you do. And not be hurt while you’re doing it. So why not at least let it be your own little soft spot in the world – a nest nicely feathered for your well-being? Hey! Maybe make it like a church or something else that people can join, and you can be in charge of!"
Temptation Number 3.
And we all know God’s, and Jesus’, and CityKidz’s answer to that one. The point is not for God to save us; but for God to use us, in whatever way and for as long as God wants, to help save others. The point is not that we can ask God to serve our well-being, or even guarantee our future, but that for as long as we are here and with whatever we are given we let God use us for the well-being, the healing and the salvation of others. And if God does give us long life, resources, even security – that’s what it’s for. The good of others.
And the devil – out there, and in ourselves, hates to hear that.
Because as long as we commit to that, how can the devil ever stop God’s healing work from happening in the world?
And that is what Jesus, and CityKidz, and we at our best as a church are all about.
No comments:
Post a Comment