sacrifice and carefest and obama and poo
There is March madness and there is my April madness, CareFest. CareFest was an idea we took from our friends at Fellowship Bible in Little Rock and brought it here to DuPage County. It is a day of service designed to build bridges of love and compassion into the community. It is as simple as that. And it works. Last week we had the Superintendent of D33 schools being interviewed in three morning services. He talked about the bridge we have built in the community. In fact it would have been much harder to launch Puente without the relationships that have been built over the past 4 years in WEGO due in large part to CareFest.
I heart CareFest. Every year I learn something new.
This year, I have learned it is a lot easier to ask a business for a donation than you think. I always say to myself, no way this business is going to give us free stuff. No way they are going to give us THIS much free stuff. The economy stinks, they can’t afford it! I am often surprised by the generosity of others. Especially when they find out what we are doing. I mean come on who wants to help churches? It turns out a lot of people do.
Each year at the rally I try to talk for just two minutes. I want to say something meaningful, something inspirational, but I don’t want to preach nor do I want to take away from the energy in the room. All week long I have been wondering what I should say. Tonight after a looong day I was listening to Obama’s press conference on the radio in my car and came up with something. Obama was talking about our soldiers and how impressed he was with them. He was impressed with how well they do their jobs and their sacrifice. And that is it. Sacrifice. I believe the church has lost a big part (not all of it of course) of her witness because Christians blend into the culture way to much. And in the suburbs we blend in because too few us are unwilling to sacrifice.
Obama is impressed with a soldiers sacrifice. I am too. Long days, crummy pay, thankless, nameless tasks. Danger. Risk. Death. Sacrifice. I am impressed too.
And in our culture, the suburban culture, there is too little sacrifice. In fact, I bet if we would think about it, we spend a lot of energy figuring out ways to not sacrifice. I wonder if convenience is an enemy of sacrifice. And if it is, it is an enemy of the fuller, deeper life if Jesus. Isn’t life in the suburbs about convenience? Having a bigger car is convenient. Paying someone to mow your lawn, wash your car, make your food, and pick up your dogs poo and then twitter about it on your iPhone is about your convenience. I think expectations are also an enemy of the deeper life (I think Goetz calls it the thicker life?) We have all sorts of expectations on us. The kids will play sports, we will own two newer cars, we will live in just the right school district, we will have a fabulous vacation, we will be at church at least twice per week, etc… But what happens when we choose against convenience and expectations?
Sacrifice.
The world is not impressed when we strive for convenience like they do or that we meet expectations like they do. They are impressed when we sacrifice. When we sacrifice we give the world a question. Why? Why would you sacrifice anything when you don’t have to. A soldier might say, she loves her country, or it is a good path to better life. Those are fine answers. But not nearly as compelling as “because while I was a far away from God someone paid the ultimate price from to free me from the poor choices I had made with my life”.
Sacrifice leads to the deeper life. It also leads to the opportunity to share the reason for our hope. And sacrifice is rarely threatening to the world. It is something the world understands and mostly respects. Yes sacrifice is also resented, but that is even more a reason to practice it.
So on Saturday morning when I get up in front of 1500 purple shirted friends. I am going to tell them the sacrifice they are making by spending some time at a school there kids don’t even go to will not go unnoticed. And it will lead to larger conversations that will lead people to conclude that God might have sacrificed for us.
I am also going to ask them to not make Saturday the only day of sacrifice this year. That as a family and church they will offer up other times of sacrifice in order to continue the bridge building that is necessary to carry the message of hope we have.
