Make All Things New

A young man was killed near our church building last weekend.

Saturday night we setup for church at Richmond Hall in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. Finished up around 6:30 p.m. As I drove past the playground across the street, nothing was out of the ordinary. It looked like the beginnings of another typical night in the neighborhood. Sadly, what came later was anything but typical.

We arrived for worship the next morning completely unaware of anything tragic happening less than 100 feet away and merely 9 hours earlier. There are conflicting stories about the events but the end result is the same: a 21 year-old boy from the neighborhood is dead. He was shot and killed by an off-duty policeman in front of the playground. As I said, there are lots of different stories about how all this came to happened and I hate to speculate, so I won’t. Here’s the report from our local ABC station:

When I heard about this, I was settling in with my family after church. Got a text about it and read a brief news release. I asked myself, “How do you bring shalom to a situation you know nothing about, with people you don’t know and who may not care about what you have to offer them?” Thankfully, I didn’t have to spend too much time dwelling on that thought in the comforts of my home.

“Gonna go down there and check around” was the text from my good friend (pastor and co-laborer for the gospel) Rob Burns. My most excellent wife totally understood as I got up and left.

“How do you bring shalom in this situation to people you don’t know and who may not care about what you’re offering?” I thought to myself again. Then it struck me. “You enter in!”

We need not look farther than Jesus to see someone who entered into a world of pain where people didn’t know him and certainly most didn’t want what he was offering. Yet he came to bring shalom (in part at first) to the people. He did this by entering into their lives and sharing their pain, ultimately being rejected and killed so that we wouldn’t have to bear the wrath for our sin. That is true caring. That is true love.

I’m not saying that Rob and I do this perfectly like Jesus (hangout with us for a while and you will see our lives are marked by God’s grace, not our own accomplishments). But the Holy Spirit prompts us to be like Jesus (while conforming us more into his image) in our city.

So, we prayed, walked around the playground, talked with people, listened to people, talked to the police and just generally looked for ways we could help the people in our community. We tried to enter in.

I think the answer to loving your city, to serving it and bringing a foretaste of shalom to your city is simple but impossible. It’s simple in that it only requires you to go and enter into the lives of people around you. That really doesn’t take much (even if it may be uncomfortable sometimes). Besides, you are just following the leading of the Savior as he entered into this world.

However, it is impossible in that – on our own – we won’t seek the shalom of the city and we won’t enter into people’s lives until Christ has entered into ours. The gospel must first change us before we are propelled out on mission. It’s impossible because we can’t make that happen. It’s all God’s grace to us and through us so that we can be blessed and a blessing.

My question for all of us is: “If God has called you to himself, how is he sending you to spread shalom in your neighborhood?”

This month, Philadelphia Magazine released their list of the 50 Most Influential People in Philadelphia. It was an enjoyable read for me to find who are the people influencing culture, politics and the like. The magazine sought to list Philadelphia’s 50 most “powerful” men and women. They define power as “the ability to get things done (bills passed, jobs created, buildings built).” However, this year they broadened the their definition and came up with five areas of power: Transformational, Influencer, Institutional, Lifestyle and Willpower. The list is of names and accomplishments is quite fascinating. From state representatives to corporate VPs, the things people are doing in wielding their power for the city is impressive. Of course, there is one name absent from the list: Jesus. I know, I know that may sound crazy. I’m sure he wasn’t even considered as being a part of what is happening in hopes for prosperity and renewal of Philadelphia. Is it silly to see this as a huge oversight?

But I can’t be too upset about it or blame them. Look, I’m a believer, yet too often my life fails to reflect Christ as among the top 50 influential people in it. So I don’t point a finger, rather, I bend my knees and pray that God would continue to change me, my marriage, our family and our church into to more dependently reliant on Christ to show his power off in our city.

While Jesus may not know be recognized as among “Philadelphia’s 50 Most Influential”, there will be a day when all will recognize his power, influence and glory:

“God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)

Today, I was convicted of a sin I did not even know I was committing. My heart wasn’t fully right towards a brother in Christ. I really didn’t know that my heart wasn’t right until God revealed a lie I was secretly believing. A lie, that if not exposed, would cause unknown consequences.

I was born and raised in California (mostly in Los Angeles). Chances are if you are reading this blog, you already know that because you know me (thanks for reading Mom). Anyway, there is a certain personality and behavior that appears pretty often in people from SoCal. Even after decades of experiencing these people (and in many ways being one of them myself), I am not sure I can fully put my finger on it enough to describe it. Call it a semi-pretentious, bitingly sarcastic with extreme expressiveness (now I realize this is a stereotype – remember I said it was sin – and may not be true). For my own sinful purposes, I have pretty much categorized most people who display any two or more of these characteristics and are from the lower portion of the Golden State as “California people”. In fact, I have so categorized them that I actually feel better about myself by thinking I am not like them (but I probably am). I think I am some how better than them by not being like them. Apparently, I have been deceiving myself into thinking that being prideful is better than being like them. What a mess!

It’s been eight years since we moved out of California (and more than 10 since I lived in LA). The distance and absence makes it even easier to speak of them as “those California people” without considering how I am stereotyping and objectifying them (even if there is a large measure of truth in it!). So when new folks (from Southern California)  started coming out to church and moving into leadership, I started to pick up on what I thought were his “California like” personality traits. But nevertheless, I really like him. We’ve invested time together and with our families and I never thought that I was categorizing him. Honestly, we’ve hit it off well and become good friends quickly (as have our wives). It wasn’t until our conversation today that I recognized how I had been sinning against him. I had fully expected him to fit into this category of California people and almost dismissed some things about him. But today, God shined light on my darkness. Today, God revealed my sin and has given his grace through repentance and restoration. Today, my sinful stereotype of Californians has been redeemed.

You see, today, I asked my friend how he was doing and he shared openly. No pretense, no holding back. He shared something that was on his heart and it wasn’t the “It’s all good, dude” I would expect from the “California people”. It was an honest, “I-am-working-through-this-and-holding-fast-to-the-gospel-type” response. What’s strange is that it wasn’t until after he shared that I realized I had not expected him to share like that. I was completely blind to my judgement and prejudice. But his transparency blew up my prejudice. As I’ve said, I didn’t even realize I had this prejudice until it was revealed and almost simultaneously smashed within one hour.

The God who promises to one day make all things new, has shed light into something that may seem very small: how I have stereotyped folks from where I am from. But in shedding light on that sin, I have found restoration of my affections for a city and people that I share a common history with.

So thank you Wirgs for shattering my view of us “California people”. I am humbled by your honesty. And thank you Jesus for the gospel that brings reconciliation between God and man as well as reconciliation among men.