We Belong [Guest Post]

Hi All. Busy week and I don't have time to post, but my sister Kait wrote this great talk she gave at a community center in Hunting Park, Philadelphia. Hunting Park is an inner city, impoverished neighborhood--the kind those of us who live in small town suburbia might enter and think, "Am I still in the U.S.?" Kait has made a connection with some folks at a community center there. They've organized a group for teens and preteens called Bearfruits. This week she was their featured speaker.

I grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, where the common path through life was that you go to school, you go away to college, get a job, get married, have kids, keep working, retire and die. And that was it. The circle of life as I knew it. That was comfortable, easy and doable!

But God had a different plan for me. One that would make me challenge the things I had been taught and question the idea our society has planted in our head that we are all that matters. The push from God became a shove two years ago when I boarded a plane to spend a summer living and working in East Africa. I left with a lot of excitement and a little bit of fear. Was I really ready for this? Had I signed up for too much? To be honest, I didn’t even know how I ended up there. My whole life I had wanted to work in India. I had seen a commercial when I was little that said India had the most orphans in the world and I was determined to help them. Then the opportunity came for me to apply for a job in India designing buildings. This company also had an office in Uganda and when it came time to write down what location I wanted to work in I at the last minute wrote Uganda as my first choice. During the interview I was asked why I chose Uganda and I just said, “I don’t know. I had every intention of putting India and then last minute I just felt like I needed to write Uganda” And they gave me the job! I believe that they saw this was God’s decision and not my own. And that I had trusted him in that moment. So there I was, on my way to Uganda, my life summed up in a suitcase traveling into the unknown.

And it changed me forever.

I have never met a group of people with such a pure and raw faith. They love the Lord like this is their last day on earth and they are going to meet him tomorrow. Living each day with thanksgiving and joy despite the challenges they face. That gave me so much hope and challenged me.

But as an American it was not easy living in a third world country. Everything I knew and counted on daily was suddenly gone, clean water from my sink, friends and family to lift me up when I was down, flushing toilets, ice cream on a hot day, air conditioning, spacious cars, my comfy bed, and the list goes on. But you know what I learned? I had called myself a Christian my entire life always thinking I trusted him alone but God had more in store for me. And he had to take all those comfy things away from me in order to show me that there is only ONE thing that remains with me wherever I go. Him. His promise to be with me wherever I go and the confidence that he alone is enough to sustain my soul.

When I committed my life to Christ I was saying “God, I am yours. I belong to you and I will commit to your plan for my life no matter the cost. In life or in death.”

Let’s look at Romans 14:8 [the memory verse this week]. “Whether we live or die it must be for the Lord. Alive or dead, we still belong to the Lord.”

If you are not a believer this verse could be scary. It could sound demanding, or harsh. But as a believer we find freedom in this! That in life AND in death we belong to God’s family. That he will be with us for all of eternity. That is a powerful and exciting promise. But what exactly does it mean?

What does it mean to belong to the Lord? What types of things do you belong to here in your community? (bearfruits, school, clubs, groups of friends, families, sports teams)

Let’s use Bearfruits as an example. What do you do to belong? (show up, memorize the verses, participate, eat pizza)

And why do you belong? What makes you WANT to belong to something? (ownership, believe in what is being said or done, like the people, free pizza!)

In order to belong you must be active. What does it mean to belong to God’s family? Does he require the same kind of commitment from us? Are we supposed to choose Him over other things in life?

Yes. But what about when the choice is hard or uncomfortable? This verse isn’t saying that only when things are going your way should you pursue God or will you belong to God. There were many things I could have done with that summer in East Africa. While I was filtering water so I could brush my teeth, waking up at 4am when the roosters started to crow and the Ugandan life began to stir, and scratching the  dozens of mosquito bites that covered my legs, my friends at home were hanging out on the beach, taking the boat out for a spin, going out to eat at nice restaurants and enjoying the every day conveniences that living in America bring. But God said “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go”  And he was. He showed up when I needed him most. When I was tired or discouraged or overwhelmed.

In Africa there are many kids your age that live very hard lives. Pokot, Kenya is a very rural part of Kenya. The girls here are not valued. Girls YOUR age are being sold into marriage so the family can collect money to send their sons to school. Their bodies are mistreated and undervalued. They are having children of their own. They do not have access to clean water or food many times and have to walk miles in search of it. Their lives are not easy by any definition and yet they find hope and joy in the promise God has for us. Their physical bodies do not always get the nourishment they need and they do not always get respected the way our bodies should be respected. But their hope is not in the things of this world but instead they find their fulfillment in God’s word and his promises to each of us. How incredible is it that we have a God who no matter the circumstances, no matter where you live or what you have done that he offers the same promise to each of us.

You know, here in your neighborhood you experience a lot of heartache too. Many of you have seen people you love get hurt or into some serious trouble. And it can be hard to see God working through those hard times. God never promised us that it would be easy. What he did promise is that he is good, true and that we can find light in the darkness through him.

 I look at the African life. It is difficult. They work hard and receive little. But there is so much light in those communities. The light rises up within each individual as they give praise to God and share the good news that everyone is invited into eternity! And when I look around this neighborhood and you hear about a lot of sad stories and violence here but there is so much life and light here as well. And that is you guys. You bring the light to this area and you have the opportunity to share God’s love right where you are. Right here in Hunting Park. God has called you to something GREAT. Will you trust in his word? Will you let his word enter in, digest and fulfill your soul?

Through the ups and downs of life we are able to cling to the one constant. God. He is always there and he has been the same forever. From the beginning of time our God has not changed. Look at Moses’ life. God asked Moses to speak for him, to gather the Israelites and lead them out of slavery in Egypt. But Moses was hesitant because he had a speech impediment. At this time it would have been easy for Moses to say, “You know what God, I trust you and everything, and I’ll do a lot of things for you, but that’s just not fair. You know I have a hard time speaking, I’ll wait until you ask me to do something I am good at.” But he didn’t; he trusted God and walked into the unknown trusting that God’s word was truth. And he led a whole nation of people out of captivity—they were hunted, hungry, and homeless. But God’s promises stood. He equipped them to do what they could never have done on their own.

It’s amazing to think that God’s promise is as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago. There is nothing else that has that same kind of consistency. We can’t even keep a fashion trend around for more than one season! Romans 14:8 isn’t a demand that we live perfectly, it’s an invitation and a promise. God invites us into a relationship with him—our creator wants us to know that we are his children in life and death.  In good times and bad. This is the story that the Bible tells over and over and over. It’s the story of people, unequipped and lost, called by God to live lives full of love, full of grace, full of mercy. The promises of God’s word promise to change our lives for all eternity.

A long time ago, a preacher and teacher named Paul wrote a letter to the young church of Ephesus. He had been the first one to bring God’s word to this urban center of the ancient world. (Ephesus was a bustling place of trade, a meeting point for various cultures, and it even had a theater!)

Paul was in prison at the time, locked up for spreading the Gospel of Christ. He couldn’t come to them in person, so he was determined to reach them by letter.

The new Christians of Ephesus needed guidance. They needed encouragement. The early Christian church was continuously persecuted, its members put to death sometimes in horribly gruesome ways. Paul’s letter, which we know as the book of Ephesians, reminded the Ephesians of God’s saving grace, of the promise of eternity, and of the people’s call to go out and do good in the world because of the grace they had received.  How could Paul believe all of this from behind bars? How could new Christians believe all this while being put to death? Because they believed in the promise of Romans 14:8.

Paul prays these words at the end of his letter:

^14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

^20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. 

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

 (Ephesians 3:14-21, The Message)