Читать книгу The Beautiful Disappointment - Colin McCartney - Страница 9

3. How God Shows Up

Patrick lived in a government housing community that would be labelled the projects or the ’hood. Only a few years ago this neighbourhood was branded a violent community in which drug-related turf wars were common. It was so bad that the community centre located in the neighbourhood used to gauge the success of its programs in accordance with the number of murders that occurred in the community. If there were just a few during the year, it reckoned that it was a successful year. However, if that wasn’t the case, the centre would then have to re-evaluate the effectiveness of its programs. In the previous five years, there hadn’t been one murder, and the reasons for this successful statistic could be accredited to two sources.

First, there was Kwendie, a tough-as-nails African-Canadian youth worker who had put in many years, tears and love into the lives of the youth of Warden Woods. She was both a mother and father figure for the teens in the community and she never had a problem physically confronting the youth when they were out of line. Though small, she is large in heart, and because of this she could confront the toughest young men in the community with confidence, knowing that they would back down under her brooding glare. She was the embodiment of tough love, a proven advocate for her boys in the ’hood. She had gained the right to speak into the lives of the young men in her community simply because she had proven herself a veteran youth worker, willing to tough it out even in the worst of circumstances. When the youth were little children she was always there watching out for them. Now that they had grown into young adults she was still present and available—a living and breathing anchor of stability and hope in the community. Her love for the youth was seen in that she knew every one of them by name. She was the real deal, a genuine, caring and tough guide. In return, the youth listened to her as she was revered by every one of them. She had earned their respect and it was well deserved.

The second factor was the emergence of UrbanPromise. Many people in the community have told me that they have noticed a huge difference in the ethos of the neighbourhood ever since UrbanPromise has been involved. In fact, there is a direct correlation between the end of murders and the start of our program. Since we have been in Warden Woods, no one has been killed there! (This includes Patrick. Though he was from this community, he was gunned down outside of the neighbourhood in another housing project a few miles away.)

Over the years, I have come to understand that positive community change is not the result of any sophisticated children’s or youth after-school or summer camp programs we operate. It is also not because we run a fancy mothers’ program. In fact, our programs are not that fancy at all. We operate a bare-bones program light on the programmatic side, but heavy on the relational and love side. What we lack in ornate bells and whistles and fancy, expensive programming is well made up with loving care from our staff. We, like Kwendie, earn respect through our commitment, dedication and genuine love for our people. Simply stated, our programs are just vehicles that allow loving relationships to take place. To us, they are not the be all and end all, but simply a means to the end, which is to create a loving and gracious environment where God’s power flows. Our task is not to run programs, but to craft an ethos of love and grace. Our goal is to create holy places where the love of God can be experienced. These holy places are safe environments where children, youth and mothers can be real and share their heart struggles with each other without fear of judgement or slander.

It is evident to all those who live in Warden Woods that the community has changed for the better simply because God is present through love. Influences like Kwendie and UrbanPromise have brought so much love into the community. By being instruments of love, God is more present than ever before.

“God is love.” (1 John 4:16, NIV)

It cannot get any simpler. It is not a secret—God shows up when love is present. We are making a difference in these communities simply because God is manifesting Himself in the love that is present through the relationships that take place in our programs. By allowing love to flow from our staff to those we serve, we also are seeing love reciprocated among the children, youth and their mothers. Our community is a tremendous group of people who have the opportunity to break out of the fear so often present in marginalized communities. Love is the antidote to fear.

Though we may have brought love into the community, we have also discovered that there are many wonderful people living there who also have a lot of love to share. Together, through love, we are all experiencing God. The results are astounding as we are seeing entire families transformed. Hope is restored, not only to those we serve, but also from those we serve. God is definitely in the community, and it is His shalom (peace) that is making a difference. This is the secret of ministry. Not more elaborate programs. Not more costly facilities. Not more rules of conduct or more PhDs. Just lots of love.

It is refreshing to know that those of us who cannot afford to build massive buildings or attend prestigious places of higher learning can still have the most powerful transformative tool at our disposal—God’s love. Our mission as Christians is quite simple and that is to unleash God through love. John 3:16 is a loud declaration of God’s mission plan of love when He sent His Son to us:

“For God so loved the world that He gave (or unleashed love) His Son.”

This ministry strategy of love was lived out in the person of Jesus. Everywhere He went, He loved. Contrarily, the religious leaders of His day believed that the way to do ministry was to manipulate and rule with power and fear over the people with all types of religious rules, laws and programs. Jesus shattered their strategies by His loving actions as He boldly declared, “the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 10:9, NIV). How? The answer is simple—look at Jesus. The kingdom manifests itself on two fronts: loving words and loving actions. Jesus preached love through what He said and also by what He did. When you study His life, you discover that His love wasn’t just talk. It was also communicated by His lifestyle.

You can read His loving words as recorded in the Gospels. Better yet, you can see His loving actions concretely through His healings and acceptance of those who were deemed unclean and unacceptable by the religious ruling party of His day. There are many lessons here for how we, as Jesus’ followers, are to speak and live.

First John 4:16 states: “God is love.” John doesn’t say that God just speaks love. John states that God is love. In other words, every thought God has, every act in which He participates, every thing He sees automatically occurs through the lens of love. Love is who He is. It is not limited only to what He does or says.

The disciples and Paul continued this ministry strategy of love. We read in the Book of Acts how the early Church members loved each other through practical examples of sharing meals together and caring for the poor and the widows. What were the results of this love in action? The Church grew rapidly and in quick succession. Many people were impacted, not only because of the apostles’ preaching, but also because their preaching was accompanied by actions of love. Just like Jesus—loving words and loving actions.

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul stresses the pre-eminence of love in all we do. It is important for us to understand the context in which he wrote these words. This passage of Scripture is part of a letter Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that he had founded on his second missionary journey. Shortly after he left them, they slowly fell apart in schisms fueled by pride, immorality and lawsuits. In other words, this was a church that clearly lacked love. In response to the factions and anger within this church, Paul pens the inspired and famous love chapter. He hits the nail on the head when he writes:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.... And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13, NIV)

This isn’t just flowery, poetic literature to be read at weddings. This is dynamite we are dealing with here. Explosive material that can impact people’s lives, communities, cities and countries! These simple verses on love, which so many of us have heard many times before, are powerful truths that we need to live out in our lives, communities, work places, schools, ministries and churches. They must be a priority. Do you see how practical love is? According to Paul, love is not a feeling but action. Love without action is nothing. But love with action is the greatest of all things.

I believe there is a love famine happening in our society. Too many of our schools, businesses, gathering places, churches and ministries lack this priority of love. The goal for too many of our organizations and businesses has been based on business strategies that lack the need for an ethos and culture where love flourishes. Our CEOs may have great organizational charts, goals and profit strategies, but what they lack is the substance of love. This is seen so often when companies reward their CEOs with obscene bonuses in the millions of dollars for running huge profits and making their stockholders happy at the cost of laying off thousands of workers. Something is wrong when this is seen as success, where the few get rich while many lose their jobs. In their eyes it is clear that the bottom-line definition of success is not how people are treated, but how much stocks go up. Where is the love? I sincerely wonder what would happen to a company that emphasized love as “the greatest of these” over and above greed. I think the company would not only succeed financially but soulfully as well.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Corinthians 13:1 NIV)

If we lack love, we are like a resounding gong. Have you ever heard a gong clanging? Now imagine this happening non-stop. It would be like having to sit in a classroom while someone scraped nails down the blackboard for hours on end. It would drive you insane and cause you to cover your ears, wrinkle your nose and run away, as fast as possible, from this awful resounding racket. Yet this is exactly how Paul describes what unloving people and unloving companies or organizations are like in the eyes and ears of God. If we do not care for people it is a horrible clanging gong in the ears of God.

Unfortunately, sound also reverberates in places that should be havens of love, and the repercussions are devastating. This dearth of love is not only a problem in the dog-eat-dog business world, but it far too often is present within our places of worship.

I have the privilege of speaking in many churches and have to admit that, as a speaker, I often repeat the same message in different locales. The reason for this is quite simple. Travelling allows me to speak to different audiences, thus allowing me to repeat certain messages simply because the listeners are different. To the new audience, an old sermon is new.

When you preach as often as I do, most places seem the same and their congregations tend to fade away in your memory. However, I do admit that there are some places I will never forget. Some of these churches are congregations in which you can feel God’s presence abiding among His people. They are places that energize you as a speaker, and there just seems to be that extra pizzazz of spiritual dynamism that enters every word you speak. These are wonderful places to visit, and when they ask me to return, I accept their invitation right away. However, there are a few places where I don’t like to speak. These are the churches that leave you drained and tired. Speaking at these churches is like a long and tiring wrestling match in which I must tussle with the audience to make the spoken words apply to their hearts.

What is the difference between the two? Why do some energize me while others drain me of every last ounce of energy? The energizing churches are those where love and grace abound through the presence of the Holy Spirit, while the draining churches lack grace and love. The churches that are full of love have no distractions present, and because of this, they can hear God’s Word clearly. Churches that lack love have a resounding gong clanging in their midst, distracting them from clearly hearing God’s Word.

When I think of this truth, there is one church that stands well above all others. To me, it is the perfect example of the resounding gong syndrome. I’ll never forget that day when, with one of my best sermons in tow, I arrived at this church prepared to knock them off their feet. Spiritually speaking, I felt great. I was going through one of those stretches of life where I felt animated daily with God’s presence inside me. I was in the midst of a spiritual high and on top of this, I brought a sermon that was one of my top ten hits. I was going to preach one of my time-tested, stellar messages. Everywhere I had previously given this sermon, God seemed to move mightily. I couldn’t wait to meet and speak to the people at this church. However, my hopes and dreams for that Sunday were quickly shattered. The message that was so powerful in the past was a dud with this crowd.

I should have known that I was in trouble. The negative signs were clearly evident the very second I entered the church. As I walked through the front doors, I was greeted with a strange feeling of lifelessness. It was obvious to me that something wasn’t right.

At first I thought that I was the problem. I did a quick self-examination to find out what condition my soul was in. Perhaps I wasn’t doing as well spiritually as I thought. Perhaps there were some unknown spiritual issues I had not dealt with. I quickly walked through the past few days and confessed to the Lord every possible shortcoming that came to mind. I knew that personally I was clean, yet that strange, cold feeling remained. I thought that perhaps what I was feeling was just fatigue or there was some other fairly innocent reason. However, deep in my soul I knew this was not the case. The negative feeling remained. Then it occurred to me. Perhaps the problem wasn’t me. Maybe I was unaware of issues present in this church that were so grave, even as an outsider I could feel it. As soon as the worship service began, the feeling of darkness in that place not only remained, but got stronger. It was as if the church was just going through the motions. No one smiled, no one clapped, not one sign of emotion or sign of true worship in that building. The looks on the faces of everyone were cold and robotic. I was staring at lifeless figures sitting together under one roof. A few hymns, a couple of announcements, a solo and then it was my turn to speak. I preached my heart out, but still—no response. The sermon did not seem to be clicking with the audience.

It was as if words left my mouth only to flutter to the ground in a dissolved heap, unable to reach anyone in the front row onwards. There seemed to be no connection between the people in the pews and the words leaving my lips. It was a completely different experience than I had ever encountered. The negative vibe was so strong that I had to struggle through the message.

When I finished my concluding illustration, I was glad that the whole thing was over. All I could think of was getting out of this place as soon as possible. After the final benediction, the pastor came to the pulpit and instructed me to go to the back of the church where I would have the opportunity to greet everyone as they left the service. This was something I did not want to do. The last thing I needed at that time was to shake hands with every cold and lifeless soul who attended this church. Usually, I enjoy meeting new people, but this time all I wanted was to get out of there as quickly as I could. However, there was no escape, no place to run. It was after I had greeted the first few people that I suddenly realized what the problem was and why the feeling in that building was so dark. I was immediately surrounded by angry people who complained incessantly about their pastor. What made it worse was they were using pieces of my sermon to vilify and justify their complaints!

Like unethical journalists, they were twisting my words out of context to back up their obvious anti-pastor/church-leadership agenda. I was embarrassed, especially since these complainers were using me as their instrument of destruction right in front of the pastor, who was standing with me as we greeted people!

These people had no love. Love had left that place long ago and when love leaves, God goes with it because He is love. Gossip, manipulation, slandering, backbiting and lack of humility are all annoying gongs that make a church an unpleasant place. Whenever these unloving qualities are present, they should act like a fire alarm, indicating to us that there is a serious crisis at hand.

When love leaves, God’s active presence goes with it. When this happens, marriages, families, businesses and even churches are in big trouble. The problem is that too many people have just gotten used to it. It has become an accepted part of life. The strangeness of all these dysfunctional qualities has become normal. Instead of indicating that danger is present, we just ignore the alarm. How contrary this is to the plan of Jesus and to the words of Paul.

Without love, we Christians and our well-financed ministries and well-oiled churches are nothing. What we need to do is invest more energy in love over and above anything else we do. The good news is that love does not cost much money. You can love without blowing the budget.

We need to function with God’s power by prioritizing love above all else. To do this, we must come to know how to speak truth with love. When we do, people will “see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16, NIV). Now that is a powerful truth.

This is the heartbeat and the blood that flows throughout UrbanPromise—love. We simply love our kids, youth and their mothers, no matter what has happened to them in the past, no matter what they have done or what they are currently doing. We simply love them and because of this, the transcendent God is present, transforming lives as He works through His chosen medium, which is the active presence of love. I am always amazed at how much love we receive in return, not only from the kids and youth with whom we work, but also from their mothers. This love is such a dominant force in our communities that many people who come and visit our programs often tell me that they feel God’s presence in our community. This is a common thread felt by newcomers who meet our people for the first time. Many tell me that they are inspired by the children, youth and mothers they meet. It is as if both UrbanPromise staff and those we have come to serve reinforce and energize one another’s love for each other.

The communities we serve have taken root in our hearts. My staff eat, breathe and sleep every minute for the people we serve. Though we come from varied backgrounds (Canadian, American, Australian, Asian, Caribbean, Irish, etc.), we all become part of the community in which we are active. This means that we have been absorbed into the Jamaican culture because most neighbourhoods we serve are filled with Jamaican Canadians. Just walk through our communities during the hot summer months and you’ll experience the Jamaican “irie.” You’ll hear the reggae beat playing loudly. You’ll see the people gathered together, smiling, high-fiving each other, talking and laughing loudly. There might even be a game of dominoes happening on the front lawn of a townhouse while children skip rope on the street corner. Though our staff might be from a different cultural background, we have all become honourary Jamaicans. Many of us have even come to understand the “patois” way of speaking and enjoy the roti dinners we are served when we are invited, as guests, into the homes of our wonderful families. Often our female staff wear the cornrow hairstyle so fashionable in our communities. This is a real badge of honour—a statement declaring to everyone that a mother in the ’hood spent hours working on their hair. When someone takes the time to do that, you are accepted as part of the community. You are now officially in.

Love is visible, and it is also felt. It is seen and experienced through the hospitality present in our communities that defies all stereotypical urban projects, and we receive it with open arms, simply because we have open hearts. We really love those we serve, and this deep affection for our people is seen when you visit one of our staff apartments. As you enter their modest living conditions, you will notice pictures, tons of pictures, of children, youth and mothers, all from these communities. On their bedroom walls, you’ll see Bible verses and prayers painted around and about more pictures of these people they have come to love as their own children, brothers, sisters and mothers. Each face in each picture has a name, a story, fears and dreams. They have become part of our family and we have been accepted into their family.

During a day off, it is common to witness one of our staff hanging out with their kids or going to a movie with a mother of a child who attends our program. When my staff talk about the children in their program, they never call them kids. No. They are always referred to as “my kids.” That little word makes all the difference in the world. It speaks of connection, care, love and responsibility. It is clear that the children of UrbanPromise are not just numbers or little projects. They truly are our kids. Every day, our staff pray for our kids by name: Shaquan, Shaquille, Aiesha, Sharene, Shevelle, Patrick, and the list goes on. And every day, our kids also pray for us.

“And the greatest of these is love....” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

~ ~ ~

“Our lives are not problems to be solved but journeys to be taken with Jesus as our friend and finest guide.”

– Henri Nouwen