Oct 13, 2009
The Mall...Snap-shot of a Culture
I'm sitting in the food court of the Promenade Mall in Temecula right now. It's a great place to do some work because you can snag free wifi here!!! But it's a good place for me to do work for another reason.
As I watch people come and go, it dawns on me that the Promenade is a crossroads of culture here in the valley. Everyone comes here. You've got teens, senior adults, young families, singles, etc. You see what people wear, what they do with "free time," where they shop, what kinds of food they like. And as you hear segments of conversations, you learn what's on peoples minds. You learn what people are talking about, what they're worried about, what's going on in the culture around us.
I wonder what Jesus would say to us in our day, in our culture. Who would he hang out with? Who would he confront? What would he think of his church today? How much of himself would he see in those who claim to be his followers? What would he observe about our heart for the people around us? What would he observe about my heart for people? How much of himself would he see in me?
Our mission, the reason Ridgeline exists, is to help people "outside" the church come to know and love God in a way that transforms their lives. And as I watch all of these people come and go in the mall...I wonder what it would look like to actually show them the love of God. I wonder what it would be like to show them the grace of God. I think we live in a culture that has been "talked to death" by the church! No one wants to "hear" anything else from the church. They want to "see" something from the church. So let's show them something.
Let's LOVE without conditions. Let's extend GRACE (undeserved favor) to people around us in reckless degrees. Let's start examining our own hearts, our own lives, and our own relationships. I hope when people in our valley come into contact with Ridgers they experience a kind of radical inclusiveness that draws them toward God.
So many people...
Comments
James Doezie on Dec 26, 2009 5:27am
Well said my brother! The same thing has really been on my heart lately. We have seen some giants of the faith the last few centuries. We all have heroes who have contributed greatly to the Church. I know I have mine.. But lately, I've been thinking... I think the least known person sitting in the back row of our congregation may be more in the Kingdom of heaven for how he or she has loved the least, the last, and the lost, than our spiritual heroes will be for what they said, wrote, and knew. We have their books and can recite their tidy theology, but do we look like Christ? Thank you for reminding me of this tonight! May we step up, and press on.
In Christ alone,
james
http://jamesdoezie.wordpress.com