A Reckless Love

“Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah”

–lyrics to Reckless Love of God

The kids and I were listening to this song last night, and my son asked about that lyric, “leaves the ninety-nine.” It’s a strange text without a little context. The Ninety-Nine refers to a story Jesus tells in the gospel of Luke. Jesus is being criticized by the temple leadership for wasting his time with what they would consider faithless people. Jesus tells three stories in a row, all with similar plot lines. In one, he tells of a farmer who leaves 99 of his sheep in open country to go rescue one lost sheep. Jesus says this is how God’s love is. Jesus doesn’t look at these people as riffraff, but as people who don’t yet know how much God loves them and desires them to be part of God’s family. Jesus chooses to love them, to spend his time and energy on them, even if it means sacrificing time at the temple. It is a reckless act to those in the temple. It after all is not how ministry is done.

               As I explained this to the kids, we ended up talking about some of the “reckless” ministry our family has been part of in La Fontaine. Ministry that wasn’t always approved of, but was vital to reach those who didn’t know how much God loved them.

               Then as we were going to school this morning, we heard another song on the radio that took on a whole different meaning. 

I wish somebody would have told me babe
Someday, these will be the good old days
All the love you won't forget
And all these reckless nights you won't regret
Someday soon, your whole life's gonna change
You'll miss the magic of these good old days

-lyrics to Good Old Days

            This morning a line popped out in this song. I bet you guess which one, right? “And all these reckless nights you won't regret.” It felt like a heavenly confirmation that those nights of recklessly loving people outside our church doors won’t be regretted.

With every move, there are things that are hard to let go, but there are moments when God whispers, “I’ve got this.” When you know that the risks you took for God’s kingdom really were worth it. When you know no matter what the future holds, God has transformed hearts and minds through your offering of love.

If we are really doing what Jesus did and loving people, people who are often hard to love, we are going to have some reckless nights. We are going to take some risks. We are probably going to have some people tell us we did it wrong. But God tells us,  we won’t regret those reckless nights when we go looking for that one lost sheep.

When God is with US

It is the day after our children’s program. I am amazed how God has used such a simple project to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Let’s count the ways:

1.       God called a new leader in our congregation to head up this project. Samantha asked about doing a
program as we celebrated her confession of faith at our new membership service in August. She talked to kids and parents, set a weekly practice, and led practices. She didn’t just suggest we do something and expect someone else to do it. She stepped up and made it happen.

2.       God got kids excited about inviting people to worship. The 13 kids and families in the program invited over 100 people to come hear about Jesus’ birth.

3.       God got people here. Ten minutes before we were to start, one kid peeked out. “That’s a pretty small crowd,” she said. I assured her more were coming. By the grace of God, I was right! Around 60 people came to support these kids and here about Jesus’ birth.  

4.       God shook those nerves right out of us. The kids all remembered their lines and did a great job with their songs and motions.  It was a great play.

5.       One of our students was all ready for their line when the student too shy during practice whispered a request to do it. The first student let the second do it. That was some grace and kindness in action for sure.

6.       God provided food! We had just enough to invite folks downstairs to build relationships after the performance. Kids did the heavy lifting of connecting people who hadn’t met before.  One girl wanted to meet my parents. She told them she was my favorite! 

Thank you, God, for showing up and for the little blessings sprinkled throughout the night.

Because They are Loved

I don't often get a chance to verbally reflect with my leaders after KICK. Usually, we are busy getting registration forms for new kids, cleaning up, and supervising the kids staying for Wednesday Worship. Yesterday, my husband came to help, so after Wednesday Worship and spaghetti, I got a chance to talk to somebody about it.

KICK is an afterschool program that meets every other week at LaFontaine UMC. Since 2014 the program, more than a decade old, has grown from 12 students to 43 students per meeting. The program offers an afterschool snack, Bible lesson, craft, active game, and singing. One of the sources of our growth has been a much higher retention rate of students. Kids try it once and keep coming back. They invite their friends. If we can get one kid in a classroom excited, it often isn’t long before we have a quarter of that class coming.

The part that Nick and I reflected on is how not-big-church the program is. I mean, we don’t have top notch equipment and often have to yell over 40 kids in a cement room. We don’t use a kit for curriculum. I write the lessons, the craft person finds the craft on Pinterest, and the games rarely have props. The songs are the same ones I was singing 30 years ago, and probably my mother was singing when she was a child. They are led acapella, usually after I have lost my voice due to the lack of sound equipment downstairs.

I would not use the term “cool” for our crew of adult volunteers. A couple grandparents, a couple moms, and a couple of single adults with chronic diseases. No one would look at any of us and be like, “I bet they were really popular when they were in high school.” None of us are particularly gifted when it comes to working with kids. We aren’t people who are professionally trained to work with kids like teachers or daycare workers. We are just a bunch of nerds who think it’s important to share Jesus with the next generation. That is it.

The kind term we use these days for a program like KICK is that it is “grassroots.” It doesn’t have any of the glitz of well-polished productions. It’s not perfect. No one would use it for a marketing program. So…how in the world are we growing? Why do kids keep coming back? Why do they invite their friends? I asked Nick this question, after reflecting on all of the glitches of the afternoon. 

He said, “They keep coming because they are loved.” 

I think he’s right. The kids don’t come to KICK because it is the kind of program that Christianity Today would run an article about. They come to experience the love of God. They don’t love the leaders because we are cool. They love us because we love them. They love us because we care about them so much that we show up to love them despite being amateurs. They don’t care that we meet in an old basement, on antique chairs, and sing acapella. They hear their stories in the Bible. Not just stories about miracles and heroes, but stories about people who were forgotten. They learn about being kind, being seen, and being loved.

That is what makes KICK a success.They keep coming because they are loved.

Making Disciples through VBS

We had a great week of VBS full of God encounters and making disciples.

When we talk about making disciple of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, there are four things we do that we know produce authentic disciples. Those are Worship, Intentionally Develop Faith in Small Groups, Serve Others, and Make New Disciples. All of those things happened through VBS this year.

Serve Others. Fifteen adults, including Hattie, served the children of our community this year and showed the love that marks our faith with those kids. Patricia was so caring, she even had a little boy ask about her marital status! Service is never just a one-way street, though. Older kids helped younger kids cross the street and partnered up with them for activities.

Small Groups. Small groups are all about intentionally developing our faith. The kids learned how God gives us hope, special abilities, forgiveness, and family this week. We ate together, played together, and learned together, and prayed for each other. In fact, one of our rough-and-tumble kindergarten boys offered a prayer for Von when he had to leave to take care of his sick mother. We all learned that this little boy’s gift is prayer!

Make New Disciples. Monday night we only had 7 kids at VBS, so I challenged the kids to double that number for Tuesday night. With that challenge one girl came up and asked with all seriousness, “Can I invite more than one friend?”  The next night we doubled in attendance, and every night after new kids came because every kid was excited about church and busy inviting friends. What started at 7 swelled to 26 kids.  By the end, 6 kids had brought 12 friends to church.

Worship. The kids had me sweating Friday night. It was 2 minutes before the program, and one family and my kids were all that had arrived for the program. But sure enough, by 6:05, we had 19 kids and 22 adults, a total of 41 people worshipping together! The kids sang praise to God. We offered $144.50 for God to use in his Lenca church. We heard the messages of hope, calling, forgiveness, and community. Lastly we thanked God for those who had served and praised God for a birthday in our midst. Lastly, our kindergarten boy prayed for our meal together, its own form of communion.

            God used VBS in some unexpected ways. I wasn’t expecting the crowd who came. I wasn’t expecting the gifts those kids shared. I wasn’t expecting the number of friends they would bring. God is always doing unexpected things and it is clear that he was busy working through VBS this year. We offered ourselves to his mission, and he used us to produce an unexpected harvest. I don’t think he is done yet either. What will he do through the relationships we built during VBS? I don’t know…and I can’t wait to find out!

For I was Hungry, and You Gave Me Food

So sometimes something happens that if I don’t share I feel like it is just gonna explode out of me.  This is one of those things. 

A year ago this summer, a young family came to use the food pantry. For some reason, throughout the year, I have randomly found myself praying for them. This summer one of their neighbors stopped into use the pantry and asked me again to pray for them out of their concern. Yesterday the woman came into use the pantry for the first time in a year. She was now separated because he had broken her bone. I prayed for her and talked to her, and made sure she was familiar with all the other resources in the community. She shared that in the separation she had lost her transportation. She asked about stuff to get her and her son involved, and we hooked them up with what the church had to offer. She ended her visit by offering me and the secretary a hug. 

 I glanced out the window to see how she had gotten here and there was another neighbor who had needed to use the pantry as well. This neighbor did not have lots of material resources to help, but knew the church was a resource that could be offered. As I helped the woman take the groceries out to her ride, the neighbor asked about youth group for this woman’s son. 

When I got back in the office I called a food pantry recipient who had stopped in earlier in the week offering to bring in some garden produce to be given away. The secretary said she would take it even though it meant calling up those who used the pantry to make sure it all was picked up before any of it went bad. The recipient hadn’t brought it in yet, and I asked if she was willing to take it over to her neighbor rather than bring it in to us. She said she would do it tomorrow. 

 

So why am I sharing this whole story? Because a week ago I heard that “somebody” heard that the food pantry was being misused so they stopped giving to it. This last month we have had a lot of families coming through, more than usual, and our shelves and account are feeling that crunch. We sometimes hear feedback about people concerned that the pantry is not making disciples.

I share this story so that you can see what I see. In the last year I can think of at least 3 families rebuilding their life after domestic abuse that have found hope through the pantry, 2 of which were in the last month.  It is used by neighbors to love their neighbor and show compassion when they are barely making it themselves. It is used as hub for resources to be shared, and I’m not just talking about food either.  Three neighbors were able to love this woman through the connection of the food pantry. And this story is typical.  These families were able to follow Christ’s example of  loving your neighbor through this community tool!

 

So today is my day off and I went grocery shopping this morning.  And I bought double of those simple things that just cost $1 but can be combined to make a meal. I bought a bag worth for the freezer and a bag worth for the shelves. And I just want to invite you to do the same. Because God is using food as a tool to share hope, to make disciples, and connect our community.