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Random Musings Blog archives

It's been an interesting week - Part 3: My big shakeup

September 24, 2005 by Joanne Brokaw

I have Todd Agnew to blame for the shake-up God gave me this past week.

At a recent concert stop in Rochester, NY Todd talked at length about what it means to be like Jesus. It was a powerful evening, and if the “Reflection of Something” tour comes to your town, GO. I left the show challenged to answer that question, and to see how I’m doing that in my own life.

See, our church’s missions conference is this weekend, and for weeks I’d been trying to encourage people to come by bribing them. “There’ll be food! It’ll be fun! There’ll be great music!” I’m excited about missions, and I want other people to catch the excitement.

And last Sunday was the final pitch I could make to encourage them to be here. But after a week of thinking about what Todd said, and mulling over what missions is really all about and why I’m so passionate about it, I decided to take a different approach.

Here are the notes I used when I spoke:

Good morning. I’m here to remind you about this weekend’s missions conference:

Friday, we’ll have pizza and then we’ll hear songs and stories from the mission field with Randall and Amy Goodgame and Stephen Vannah, regional director of SIM.

Saturday, it’s the Taste of the World dinner and breakout sessions

Sunday, Stephen Vannah is back to speak during the Sunday morning worship services and the missionaries will share during Sunday School hour

In the lobby, you’ll find sign up sheets for pizza on Friday, dinner on Saturday, and child care & the children’s program. If you sign up and can’t come, that’s ok. If you don’t sign up and want to come at the last minute, that’s ok, too. We would love to have you.

Now, I know I’ve been up here several times to encourage you to come to the missions conference. I’ve been telling you about the food, fellowship and fun we’ll have together.

But this week I had a revelation and I hope you’ll allow me to share it with you.

I realized that I am not passionate about missions.

I am not passionate about flying to another country.
I am not passionate about eating strange food.
I am not passionate about being unable to communicate because of a language barrier.
I am not passionate about going up to a stranger on a street corner to share the 5 spiritual laws.
I am not passionate about toiling in the blazing sun to pour concrete or swing a hammer.
I am not passionate about dirt, bugs in my bed, or no running water.

I was posed with the question this week, “What does it mean to be like Jesus?” And part of the answer, I think, is to love like he did.

See, if Jesus came to church some Sunday morning, he’d probably bring some of his friends with him. One might be hung over, a couple wouldn’t have showered in a few days, they’d be cursing and using language we’re not used to hearing on a Sunday morning.

Jesus said to love these people. He loved the sinners and the sick and the unclean.

In Matthew 25:34-45, Jesus said that whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me. And whatever you did NOT do for one of the least of these, you did NOT do for me.

So who are the least of these?

They are Muslims.

They are AIDS patients.

They are homesick and drunken freshmen on college campuses.

They are children of every size, shape, color and socioeconomic status across the city of Rochester.

They are junior and senior high school students fighting a tidal wave of pop culture and peer pressure.

They are deaf children in Cuba, Mexico and the Bahamas.

They are men and women behind bars in prison.

They are young, unmarried pregnant girls.

They are children with no parents.

They are women suffering from post-abortion trauma.

They are prostitutes.

They are drug addicts.

They are poor.

They are dirty.

They might smell.

They are angry.

They are hungry.

They are hopeless.

They are lost.

And they are the apple of God’s eye.

And we’re supposed to love them like Jesus loves them.

And THAT is why I want you to come to the missions conference. Because there you’ll encounter people who love the least of these every day. Together we’ll learn how we can do that, too.

I want you to come not just because you have a passion for missions, and I don’t want you to skip the conference because you think missions just isn’t your thing. I want you to come because you have a passion to be like Jesus.

When I was finished in the first service, I sat down with my husband feeling really unnerved. See, we don’t talk much in our church about prostitutes or AIDS patients and sitting next to cursing, smelly drunks on Sunday morning. In fact, if someone like that walked in off the street, they might be welcomed with a smile but they’d stick out like a sore thumb and we’d all be watching. We clean up real nice for church.

After the second service, I walked away quickly with my head down, grabbed my purse from the pew and headed out to the foyer before anyone could see me crying. But as I walked out, I heard two people clap.

Not for me, but for the message that to love Jesus, is to love the least. That to be like Jesus means you live like Jesus. No one’s asking you to take on the world. Just your corner of it.