Light in the Darkness

Tonight as I was riding with the girls to a dance performance in the city, we drove past the church with it's red cross aglow on its roof. The doors were open wide revealing the activity going on inside; it appeared as if a small choral group was practicing...

I smiled, as the warm glow and spirit exuding through the doors brought me home to my church family. I marveled at the small church and the lack of resources that I know it experiences, yet how just the fact that the door was open and there were joyful faces inside made me want to enter in.

Immediately I was brought back to "vision" meetings that I have participated in in the states. Let's build a big building - that will bring people to church! Let's have an arcade - everybody will want to come to youth group! Let's integrate celebrities into our dramas - then people will know that Christianity is cool! Our church will be on the map, and people will know who we are...and, of course, will know who Jesus is through us.

Something about that has always bothered me, and tonight I realized why.

Did Jesus ever say, "They will know that you are Christians by the things that we have"? No. In fact, Jesus probably didn't have much himself. Last I checked, it was, "They will know that you are Christians by your love." Church of America, do you know that much of our affluence and perpetuation of things is in fact what has turned most of the world - and much of America for that matter - away from the church?

The Kothanur church I speak of is small and one-roomed. There is no arcade, no ipod giveaways at youth events, no hot tubs at retreats [their retreat WAS trekking through a nearby jungle, though, which although simple is pretty cool], and I've never heard speak of a celebrity guest. However, this church is very involved in its community. From the few times I've attended I can tell you that its heart is for justice and for Jesus can't be beat, and on Sunday morning people are spilling out of its doors, with chairs set up on its front step and people lingering under the portico.

Micah 6:8 comes to mind, and as I reflect on the American church I can't help but ask myself, what on earth has made us think that we will bring people to Jesus through things? Although I do realize that living in American society amidst American consumerism, it appears as if this is indeed the way to do it. That this is the way to draw people to church and therefore to Jesus. But I wonder. We always say that money can't buy love...is it any different when it comes to evangelism, when we attract people to Christ through things? How did Jesus bring people to himself? Shouldn't we be spending that time, that energy, that money on loving people? Sharing those resources with those who need it?

Isaiah 58 says that, "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."

I would love to see American churches becoming lights in the darkness because they spend themselves on behalf of the needy rather than from the electric glow of the video games in the basement. And wouldn't you rather be known for being the restorer of streets with dwellings than as the church with the delicious cafe?