the county fair...
Ok, so I went to the county fair last night with my family. Oh man. It's like taking a mission's trip in your own backyard. I felt like an alien in my own town. I don't know where these people hide during the rest of the year, but on this particular week, they emerge from all corners of the county to pay homage to the carnie gods. Even as I describe them, I'm giving you a foretaste of what is on my heart and where I'm going with this.
We were near a pack of carnie teens and I had to get my daughters away from them for fear that what they heard and saw might never be reversed. But I kept asking myself, "Why do I feal like I want out of here? What is it about this people group that seems beyond the point of no return? Why have I given up on these folks for all express purposes?" Understand, I'm sharing what's happing in my mind while on the outside I'm calm and collected smiling and carrying on like I'm the Rock of Gabraltar. I struggle to love these people.
But if I struggle to love these people, do I really love anyone. Can I say I love people as long as they fit the parameters of my love list? Do I only gravitate to the people that make it easy to love subtly crowding out those who don't make the cut?
Why do I cringe and wince when I get near these kinds of people for any length of time? You know, people that have missing teeth, yellow teeth, crooked teeth...funky hair, oily hair, disheveled hair...no brahs, no deotorant, no manners...You get the picture. In my past, they were called the dregs of humanity. The dross of humanity. The dirt of humanity.
But here the clincher. Jesus spent most of his time with these kinds of people. Ordinary outcasts without education, table manners, or good hygiene. My question is, "How did He do it?" How did he give them the time of day, a listening ear, or a sheltering wing? How did he hold it together when the prostitute was dragged naked in front of his male frame? How did he have the strength to invite himself over to a punk crook's abode? How did he keep from losing his mind around a bunch of uneducated boneheads who didn't know the kingdom from a hole in the wall? How did he bind himself together when the smelly dregs of humanity followed him around the lake all hungry, empty and desperate? I wonder if he ever felt tempted to move to higher ground?
I could write all day about my reactions to last night...but suffice it to say that I feel like I'm back at square one again pondering the age old question, "How do you love your neighbor?" I feel like my understanding of that piece of Scripture needs some attention. I have given it so many facelifts it is beginning to look like the spiritual equivilent of Michael Jackson's face. Stretched, Scarred, and Scary. Oh God, let me see the face of Jesus again!
We were near a pack of carnie teens and I had to get my daughters away from them for fear that what they heard and saw might never be reversed. But I kept asking myself, "Why do I feal like I want out of here? What is it about this people group that seems beyond the point of no return? Why have I given up on these folks for all express purposes?" Understand, I'm sharing what's happing in my mind while on the outside I'm calm and collected smiling and carrying on like I'm the Rock of Gabraltar. I struggle to love these people.
But if I struggle to love these people, do I really love anyone. Can I say I love people as long as they fit the parameters of my love list? Do I only gravitate to the people that make it easy to love subtly crowding out those who don't make the cut?
Why do I cringe and wince when I get near these kinds of people for any length of time? You know, people that have missing teeth, yellow teeth, crooked teeth...funky hair, oily hair, disheveled hair...no brahs, no deotorant, no manners...You get the picture. In my past, they were called the dregs of humanity. The dross of humanity. The dirt of humanity.
But here the clincher. Jesus spent most of his time with these kinds of people. Ordinary outcasts without education, table manners, or good hygiene. My question is, "How did He do it?" How did he give them the time of day, a listening ear, or a sheltering wing? How did he hold it together when the prostitute was dragged naked in front of his male frame? How did he have the strength to invite himself over to a punk crook's abode? How did he keep from losing his mind around a bunch of uneducated boneheads who didn't know the kingdom from a hole in the wall? How did he bind himself together when the smelly dregs of humanity followed him around the lake all hungry, empty and desperate? I wonder if he ever felt tempted to move to higher ground?
I could write all day about my reactions to last night...but suffice it to say that I feel like I'm back at square one again pondering the age old question, "How do you love your neighbor?" I feel like my understanding of that piece of Scripture needs some attention. I have given it so many facelifts it is beginning to look like the spiritual equivilent of Michael Jackson's face. Stretched, Scarred, and Scary. Oh God, let me see the face of Jesus again!
Comments
thanks for being so honest..this is the thing about you that has affected so many of us.
Thanks. I feel you. Your heart. I am on much the same page.
check what I wrote this morning before reading yours.
crazy.
Thanks for your honesty.
I can't help but wonder if what you experienced, most people experience every time they step into a church. Maybe christians have created thier own carnival... and don't even know it.
People ouside the bubble see a...
Different place.
Different language.
Different dress.
Different ways of behaving.
If they dare enter into a christian context... they probably will get "witnessed to" ... and I wonder if they feel the same way you felt about those teens you wanted to get your kids away from.
Of course, in from a christian perspecitve, if "we" approched them on our turf and they ran away, we would say they have "hard hearts" and that we were "persecuted for standing up for our faith."
Funny, isn't it?
I appreciate what Steve has shared about the "Christian Carnie's" culture. A very good description!
Thanks for sharing honestly yet subtly here on the 'net. How amazing it would be for a "Band of Bloggers" (brothers/sisters)to be gathered here online, encouraging each other as we follow Jesus Himself as He walks among the Strange People in Strange Places of our world.
Etou!