This morning the group of men I meet with was small . . . but effective. They drive me to think beyond what I am comfortable with, which actually is becoming quite . . . comforting! I shared with them a small theme that arose recently in my reading.
In the book called Hurt, by Chap Clark, it says, “For the adolescent who is trying to hold on to something, at times anything, that is stable and safe, societal choices concerning divorce, adult sexuality, and the experimentation of living together even while children are in the home, have had a strong effect. In the course of my [Chap's] study, I found that this effect has been powerfully destructive.” (p. 34) He refers to a youth as having been abandoned by an adult culture that seeks to meet its own needs to the neglect of their children. It is this very abandonment that becomes the opportunity for us to be church to a community and culture.
As my friend Tim said, this means that in being in ministry with youth we need to be in ministry for the sake of their parents as well.
Who are the abandoned? In an article by Deborah Welsh Landers about orphans and widows, she explains the Greek and Hebrew meanings behind both words includes those who have been left without providers for any reason; the state of loneliness, abandonment, or helplessness. (Focus on the Family Magazine, January 2007) How is it that we can break out of our chains of restraint which fear had created and live freely – even wildly – with God’s love for the abandoned?
My recent reading in Isaiah revealed the ways of God. The Lord says,
Our God breaks the law we perceive to bind us. The law that says “play it safe.” “Don’t look out of place.” Our God breaks the law we perceive a perfect God would live by. Incarnationally choosing to live with the lost instead of the self proclaimed found. Abandoned to the cross to end all abandonment.
Finally, The Cell-Driven Church reading I have been doing takes us to one more thought on abandonment and security. It says that “we must learn to be willing to release others in the group to pursue their ministry callings and quests for leadership.” This is the sending. We are a sending people. Where are we sent? To whom are we sent? Is it to those who have not asked for Him? Is it to those who are utterly alone? Abandoned in this world?
What would it look like if our focus was off of our own fears – killed on the cross – and raised to new life and focus for the abandoned? What would the future look like? What would be the words that describe this sending?
