Facebook "friends"...
How did you know that I was trying to do a better job about not getting on Facebook as often? You are doing a GREAT job filling my Facebook feed with your political/religious stances and keeping me up to date on the upcoming Supreme Court activities. From articles that you are reading to pictures you are posting, really...I CANNOT TAKE ANYMORE! I won't be visiting you as frequently for a while...let me know when you are over it and on to something new.
E
Ok, in all seriousness, that may be over the top. I know that...but let's be real, this is how I am feeling. It was informative at first. It made me think, ok, obviously something is going down in the US that has ppl all fired up about this-you should bring yourself up to date and read about it. So I did that...but now between the red equals signs and the red crosses and the quotes and the comments I can't do it any more.
I feel like I have an opinion and I have a view. I believe it is important to have morals and convictions and stand up for what you believe in. But I do just really want to know, is Facebook the only place you are doing it? I have asked myself that question...am I really a bunch of talk? do I just repost things to spur on others or do I allow my heart to be changed and my actions to be changed by things I am convicted by or passionate about. I guess it is just hard for me...the same-sex marriage thing is just such a consuming topic and focus of our nation. Do I believe there are things to fight for and things to battle-yes. I do. But even that word I just used, "battle"...that doesn't seem right to me and yet it was the first word that came to my mind.
That is where I want to insert "The Basement", Jen Hatmaker's latest blog post. Jen does a GREAT job of highlighting Jesus and his parables. How he spoke, how he taught, the thoughts that the disciples may have had while they were trying to figure out the meanings behind the metaphors he was using.
She says, "Jesus’ use of parable and metaphor was his crowning glory as a teacher. (As long as I live, I will never, ever get over the story of The Prodigal Son. Never.) His parables were beautifully crafted, if not weirdly vague. Folks were constantly scratching their heads, unable to decode the story, finally resorting to high-class conclusions like, “He be crazy.”...Metaphors are like that. We interpret them through the grid of our own experiences, assumptions, and worldviews. We read between the lines words that aren’t there and attach meaning where it doesn’t belong. They are super easy to misunderstand."
From this point on she goes on to re-aquaint her readers the "the basement". She first wrote about it this past summer in this post. Here is how she first went about defining it...
I'm done. I’m going to the basement, and I invite you to join me. Here is what we hate down in the basement:
We hate injustice.
We hate our own sin and pride and arrogance, and we grieve at how it has wounded, sliced, slashed, and humiliated.
We hate that 25,000 people will die today of hunger and we’re arguing gay marriage again.
We hate how the Gospel has been turned into a bludgeoning tool.
We hate pointless arguments that widen the gap and devalue real human people.
We hate abuse and violence and crowded orphanages and trafficked sixth-graders.
And it’s not all hate, lest you imagine the Basement Dwellers are a sorry lot indeed. We love some things down in the basement, too:
We love people. Because Jesus does. All of them.
We love grace, because it rescued all of us sinners.
We love healing and redemption, and we get to be a part of that every day, if we are brave enough to say yes.
We love that Jesus uses broken people, because that is our zip code and He chooses us anyway. Mercy is our only sane option.
We love the Body of Christ, when she isn’t being a bully or a tyrant or trying to take over the Oval Office and the Red Carpet. I swear, she can be beautiful.
We love Jesus, who was always in hot water with the religious folks for eating with sinners and offering scandalous grace not just to the leper but to the tax collector.
We love love, and we believe in its power.
I love this...I really do. I just got done telling Rob today, "I just can't get over everyone who is standing for something SO PASSIONATELY and yet struggle to see how they are living this out in their day to day lives. If you want to fight for equality in marriage as a Christian and the grace and love that Jesus brings to that, may I be as bold to ask, "Where are your words meeting the pavement?" Are you just one who posts on Facebook and speaks loudly but doesn't seek out those you are supporting? How are you loving them? If you say that is what we are called to do, what does that look like for you?"
If you know me at all you know I am all about LOVE...
*Love God
*Love HIS people
*Make Disciples
I am asking myself these questions right now too...
"What am I doing to Love God and Love HIS people well?"
If we are going to stand for something, lets put our actions where our mouth is. Yes, it is important to stand for what we believe in...when we do it well. When we are willing to listen to others as much as we are seeking to be heard. I am not trying to take away from that. But sometimes we spend so much time talking...pretty much until we have driven our point home and then killed it and then drug it a couple of miles under a truck.
Jesus was a man of few words. He used them when necessary and he was bold with them. He addressed the issues.
But he did it all the while being amongst the people with "all the issues". He was right there with the poor, the broken, the sinners and the outcasts.
It is so hard for me to take one seriously, especially on Facebook, when that one is speaking so boldly and calling people out...and yet so unwilling to cross the lines and choose to stay in the comfort of one's cozy home, in one's safe little suburb and watch from afar.
If we are all about love, we really want to fight for it and stand for it...can we really do that if we don't move?
We had friends in CA who spent so much time talking with those living an active gay lifestyle. They sat on street corners and in cafes talking with them, investing in them and getting to know them. I am sorry but to me that looks totally different. I respect that. I listen to that. I am convicted by that.
For me I can't help but be stuck on one of Jen's main points, We hate that 25,000 people will die today of hunger and we’re arguing gay marriage again.
This is home for me. That is my front line. Babies are dying b/c they don't have food. Girls are disappearing in India just b/c they are girls. Women don't have access to the health care they need to birth their children into the world safely. And we are worried about who is marrying who.
I know that in that breath I just downplayed the issue. I admit it and it isn't my intent. But really, I also cannot get over why this is a consuming fire that we are so fixated on.
So for that reason, I am headed on down to the basement with Jen and whoever else wants to join me...b/c in the basement we are about Jesus, his storms and his responses. In the basement we are about love and respect and valor. We are bold and we are compassionate. We have backbones, but we also have shoulders to cry on and arms to embrace. Think it over, folks...what do we need to do, what do we need to say or maybe not say, what stance or posture do we need to take to head down to the basement and invite others to join us there? What shoes do we need to strap on in order to live out what we are so solidly standing up for?
Storm:
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
Basement:
“But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Oh, Jesus. It is impossible for me not to love you.
The basement is no place for lecturing and soapboxes and picking up stones. Leave the polarizing phraseology and stereotypes on the first floor. If you just want to be heard but have no interest in listening, stay upstairs and weather the storm; I wish you well and pray that when the dust settles, everything isn’t laying in shambles.
You know what belongs in the basement? Hard issues, folks with different convictions, difficult theology, struggle. Bring your frustrations and concerns, your passions and positions. The basement doesn’t require unanimity. We’re on all sorts of frontlines down here. Real life is going on underground. This is no place to hide from legitimate concerns and injustices; rather, a safe place to engage them wholeheartedly. The basement is a way, not a place. No one’s head is in the sand down here. Trust me, precious little is actually getting accomplished up there in the storm. Conversations are dead in the water, battle lines are drawn and defended, enemies are declared. It’s a bloodbath, and everyone is losing.
Activist, citizen, disciple…come on down.
We have a mantra in the basement, and I leave you with it, immensely grateful for brothers and sisters and the grace of Jesus, who is working on transforming all us ragamuffins down here into His beautiful image:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.”
**I realize that you may not agree with what is posted here. I am going to use Jen's words once again...
You want to join me in the basement? You are loved down here. Kindly do not turn my comment feed into a culture war. I'm not here to argue issues, only the love of Jesus which has netted infinitely more converts than judgment. Tell me why you're retreating from the storm.
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