An Invitation to Join Jesus’ Work

[intro]I’m often struck by the fact that I do not understand what everyday life feels like for people who are different than myself.[/intro]

I don’t mean people eking an existence out of a harsh mountainside in Tibet. I mean the child who will be moved to yet another foster home today, or the women who spent last night on a downtown park bench. Right now, I am enjoying a quiet morning in front of a cozy fireplace with a cup of tea, cat curled snuggly beside me, and my family quietly resting in their beds. Nothing looms on the immediate horizon as a major crisis, which I am unequipped to handle. I am not worried about staying warm or finding something to eat. For the moment, I am at peace; and those people who spent last night outside have been far from my thoughts.

I don’t think I’m alone. Most of us have a comfortable home and an okay job. Some of us get along moderately well with our families. Of course, there are the usual ups and downs; but overall, life is pretty good. For my part, caring about a stranger is not intentional ignoring; but life just feels too busy to worry much about the abandoned, homeless, or hungry in our city.

You might know greater Lansing pretty well; but do you get what life is like for people who are different than yourself? What would you learn if you took the city bus, did your grocery shopping in a dodgy section of town, or spent an afternoon chatting with residents in an outdated nursing home?

In exploring our city, you would uncover lots of evidence that our world is broken—maybe children with parents who don’t want them or businessmen that profit from others’ misfortune. You could easily end up feeling guilty for your own blessed life and heartbroken over the lot of others. Yet you will find goodness and hope riding right alongside of the disgusting and pitiable—the teacher who always goes above and beyond to speak hope into her students’ lives, or the guy who works an extra job so he has more money to give away.

What is going on? In a nutshell, God designed our earth to function in perfect harmony, we messed everything up by wanting to be gods ourselves, and the Creator responded with a rescue plan (Jesus). On top of all that, we are invited to join God’s work in putting things back the way they’re supposed to be. This is an opportunity too good to pass up! The alternative is to live in the delusion that we ourselves are the ones worthy of worship, to take our beautiful lives for granted and grasp for more. To feel like we deserve this peaceful morning, due to our own greatness.

Have you ever seen those paintings of Jesus, tangled in white robes and floating up to heaven? I’m not knocking the artists who spent blood, sweat and tears to create these ethereal images. I just find it difficult for me to connect personally with the event, in which Jesus was returning to His heavenly home and leaving the church with a very specific task. Something about the billowing robes and naked cherubs gets in my way. He told his church—you and me—to tell the world about His redemptive story. He told us to get to work.

We have the chance of a lifetime to “go” in Lansing. You are invited.

 

Check out Riv’s opportunities to “go”

Image Credit: Shannon