A Partner in the Community

It's been our dream from the beginning to be a church that is perceived--and actually is--a partner in and with our community. I've learned the hard way that people outside the church often shake their heads at the church's insistence on 'doing its own thing.' We prefer to partner with other people and organizations in our community if possible, and not just because we're small. If we're huge one day, we still won't want to fly solo.

Some recent developments are encouraging markers on the road to community partnership. The first is that I've been asked to serve on the Bay Area YMCA's advisory board. During the interview process, we talked about our church's partnership with the YMCA in our community. I am still amazed at the generosity and support of the Y, without which we would probably not have been able to get off the ground. We hope to add significantly to the few things we have done to support their efforts in the community in the months and years to come. The other board members told me that several YMCAs in the Houston area have churches that meet in their facilities, but few of them would consider those churches to be partners. The relationship tends to begin and end with paid rent and facility usage. In our own case, that is a scenario we cannot afford and do not desire.

We're also joining Heritage Park Baptist Church on November 30 at 10:45 AM to worship and usher in the holiday season. I suppose logistics tend to get in the way, but I still don't think this kind of thing happens enough. We are not 'this church' and 'that church' in our community, we are THE Church in our community, and we seldom look like it. I've often wondered how people who are not a part of the church process this. "Let's see...my neighbor John is a Christian, and my other neighbor Sam is a Christian, but they go to different churches, and they seem to have no connection to each other because of their faith. Hmmm..." Frankly, that stinks. The relationships between fellow Christians in the first century was the single greatest attraction factor for the early church, and we suffer for the lack of it today.

Another development is our entry into the League City Holiday In the Park Parade on December 6. This is one of our best opportunities so far to say to our hometown, "we're excited to be a part of this community!" It's also an opportunity to say that we like to have fun, which is no small point to make. We'll be decorating a flatbed trailer to pull in the parade, singing Christmas songs and passing out candy as our community celebrates the holiday season. It would be fun to be at the parade even if we didn't have a float, but I'm really excited that we'll be full participants as Church @ the Springs. We'll be living out our core values this way, much more than in preparing our own Christmas celebration and trying to get everyone to come. Maybe one day we'll do both, but I hope we never stop jumping in with our community whenever we can.

Hope In the Real World

Hope, like many things, is different for suburban Americans than it is for others in the world. We have many things in our lives that often appear to be dependable, in which we are tempted to place our hope. This temptation is a luxury most people never experience. If you've never had a nice house, if you've never seen a grocery store with all the shelves full, if you've never had the chance to make more than a few dollars per month and your government is a military dictatorship, then you're not tempted to put your hope in the economy, the government, or even in yourself.

Sunday's message was definitely directed at us American middle class folks. Even the great kids' book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which we read on Sunday, assumes a level of financial and political security most kids in the world do not enjoy. For Alexander, a bad day meant no racing stripes on his new shoes. For many kids in the world, it means no shoes at all, and perhaps no food, and perhaps an illness with no medical care. All this begs the question: does hope work outside the American suburban bubble? Is hope in Christ realistic for people who live in poverty or oppression, or is it just a by-product of the fact that we've lived all our lives in a place where it isn't silly to expect that tomorrow will be better than today?

My wife directed me today to a post on one of her favorite blogs, which champions hope much better than I can. If you're not familiar with this blog, "Pioneer Woman" is a suburban professional who fell in love and married a cowboy she calls "Marlboro Man." The post you need to read is called "A Tale of Two Houses," and is a report from Marlboro Man's trip to the Dominican Republic with Compassion International. Click this link and scroll down to see the post:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/confessions/

Hope is powerful, even in the real world.

After Election Day

Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States. This news is undoubtedly being celebrated today by some readers and lamented by others. But whatever your political persuasion, there are aspects of this election we can all celebrate, and I believe we all should.

The next leader of our country was just selected by the people, rather than a judge, a mob, or a military group. Because we live here we assume this is normal. It is not, and never has been. It is our right only because we enjoy the blessing and privilege of living in the USA. I celebrate that today.

A person of color has just ascended to our nation's highest office, and two women have played prominent roles in the election. The presidency was, until now, perhaps our most symbolic racial and gender barrier, with every preceding president having been a white man. I don't think white males like me can understand the significance of this election to Americans of other races, and particularly African Americans. Nonetheless, I'm thankful that in a very significant way, millions of Americans believe they have options and opportunities in this country that they did not believe they had yesterday. They may have wanted to believe that anything was possible for them, but today it's a proven reality.

Christ-followers who disagree with President-elect Obama's policies may be tempted to disregard his claim of faith in Jesus Christ. There are no legitimate grounds for doing so. All followers of Christ should be encouraged that the man occupying the White House for the next four years says that he has an active, personal faith in Christ, and pray that God will guide him and give him wisdom. The challenges that face our nation over the next four years are as great as any in our lifetime.

Most election cycles, and this one perhaps more than others, can be very polarizing in our nation and community. We're red states and blue states, red and blue people. (Brad says he's purple; welcome the new leader of the Barney party). Exit poll results suggest that we tended to vote differently depending on our skin color, our age, or the part of the country we live in. I'm frankly tired of seeing us divided into demographic-based voting blocks. Yes, we are all Americans, and can rally around that. But more importantly, we were never called by Christ to see the world around us in these terms. If we succumb to the pull of political gravity and begin to see each other as either allies or adversaries based on our politics, we will certainly fail in our greater mission. Can we simultaneously alienate people who don't share our politics and draw them to Christ? Can we afford to imply that political alignment is a required prerequisite for Christian community?

Elections matter. Voting matters. Issues matter. When we're talking about things like national security and human rights, politics can rise to the level of life-and-death. But more than anything else, people matter -- people whose politics may differ from our own, even radically so. There is one distinction that trumps the others: we are people who have found hope and life in Christ and people who have not. And those who have not are not our adversaries, they are the prize.