I have made a resolution to work on our yard. This past week I had to mow it twice because of all the rain that we get. After being in this house for six months and doing a minimal amount of yard maintenance it needs some love. On Saturday I was out mowing my law and thinking.
You see when we first moved into our house there was nothing in the front yard but dirt. It was so bad Aden and our next door neighbor's grandson. Christian, would play in the yard with a bucket and shovel. It was a mess. As soon as we moved in we began simply to water our dirt patch. We must of looked so stupid even though only one neighbor, Leif, would actually tease us about it.
But now that we are into February and the rains have been constant, we have a green lawn. As far as green goes we have one of the best looking lawns on our block, now remember that is not saying much for our block. You see if you look really close at our lawn you notice. The hand mower that I use. That's right 1950's hand mower, no electricity, no motor, just my pushing power. This hand mower is unable to cut the lawn evenly. It spend most of the time pushing the grass down, and because of it's length and all the rain we have it doesn't cut while laying down. So here is this uneven mess.
Even that is not what made me think the most. The second thing you will notice about our lawn is that there is a large number of weeds. Sure there is some grass, and because it is my lawn I probably am able to see what little grass there is better than anyone else. Yet throughout this lawn we have been loving on there are weeds throughout. You see the rains that came did allow our dirt patch to grow grass, but it also allowed weeds to grow up throughout it's midst. Again Leif is quick to remind me that I am mowing my weeds, not my lawn.
And I thought, this is what it is like to work in the church. Don't get me wrong, All Nations was not a dirt patch when we arrived. But to us it did feel that way. And we just started doing what we could, and it didn't really seem like things were happening. But you see then God gives the rain. And suddenly I am able to see the beauty of God's work. So I get into it and am the lawn mower. Trying to be the shepherd that God has called me to be, and I don't do very good. I am out dated, uneven, and really am absolutely inadequate for the job. Yet God has placed me here. Even as beautiful as God's work is, the reality that there are weeds throughout everyone's lives is very present. You don't even have to look as close as you have to with my lawn. People relapse, the hate their sin and then they run to their sin. The path people take to look more like Jesus is not merely a straight line but a windy wild spin that takes them in all directions. But there is green. You see God allows the rain. The dirt patch is not left to it's own.
While thinking about all of this I was reminded of a book that a great influence in my life encouraged me to read by Frederick Beuchner, The books of Bebb. And Bebb this wild evangelist, shared the gospel in this unorthodox way which is incredibly orthodox. If you are offended by the s--- word please do not read it:
(Bebb recalling a conversation with Roebuck to his friend Antonio). "'If I close my eyelid down on all the shit there is in the world, I've still got to face up to all the shit that there is in me, because the shit in us is part of what makes us brothers, you and me.' I used that word shit to him till it begun to sound like I invented it. "He caught me by surprise. I caught him by surprise. A preacher talking about things like--Antonio, shit is what preachers have been talking about since Moses except the word they're more like to use is sin. Only Roebuck didn't know that. It shut him up for a minute. Then he said, 'If the world's mostly shit, Bebb, where's God?' Just like that--where's God? As if I could say, 'Look there he is, Roebuck, He squeezed into one of those books you got on our shelves...I said,'I'll tell you about shit, Roebuck. Take it from an expert. There's two main things about it. One thing is it's stink and corruption and waste. The other thing is if you don't pile it up too thick in any one place, it makes the seeds grow.' I said, 'Roebuck, God's where there's seeds growing. God's where there's something no bigger than the head of a pin starting to inch up out of the stink and dark of shit towards the light of day.' I said, 'Roebuck, God so loved the world he sent his only begotten so down here into the shit with the rest of us so something green could happen, something small and green and hopeful."
Like our lawn, like our church, something green happening, something small and green and hopeful.
You see when we first moved into our house there was nothing in the front yard but dirt. It was so bad Aden and our next door neighbor's grandson. Christian, would play in the yard with a bucket and shovel. It was a mess. As soon as we moved in we began simply to water our dirt patch. We must of looked so stupid even though only one neighbor, Leif, would actually tease us about it.
But now that we are into February and the rains have been constant, we have a green lawn. As far as green goes we have one of the best looking lawns on our block, now remember that is not saying much for our block. You see if you look really close at our lawn you notice. The hand mower that I use. That's right 1950's hand mower, no electricity, no motor, just my pushing power. This hand mower is unable to cut the lawn evenly. It spend most of the time pushing the grass down, and because of it's length and all the rain we have it doesn't cut while laying down. So here is this uneven mess.
Even that is not what made me think the most. The second thing you will notice about our lawn is that there is a large number of weeds. Sure there is some grass, and because it is my lawn I probably am able to see what little grass there is better than anyone else. Yet throughout this lawn we have been loving on there are weeds throughout. You see the rains that came did allow our dirt patch to grow grass, but it also allowed weeds to grow up throughout it's midst. Again Leif is quick to remind me that I am mowing my weeds, not my lawn.
And I thought, this is what it is like to work in the church. Don't get me wrong, All Nations was not a dirt patch when we arrived. But to us it did feel that way. And we just started doing what we could, and it didn't really seem like things were happening. But you see then God gives the rain. And suddenly I am able to see the beauty of God's work. So I get into it and am the lawn mower. Trying to be the shepherd that God has called me to be, and I don't do very good. I am out dated, uneven, and really am absolutely inadequate for the job. Yet God has placed me here. Even as beautiful as God's work is, the reality that there are weeds throughout everyone's lives is very present. You don't even have to look as close as you have to with my lawn. People relapse, the hate their sin and then they run to their sin. The path people take to look more like Jesus is not merely a straight line but a windy wild spin that takes them in all directions. But there is green. You see God allows the rain. The dirt patch is not left to it's own.
While thinking about all of this I was reminded of a book that a great influence in my life encouraged me to read by Frederick Beuchner, The books of Bebb. And Bebb this wild evangelist, shared the gospel in this unorthodox way which is incredibly orthodox. If you are offended by the s--- word please do not read it:
(Bebb recalling a conversation with Roebuck to his friend Antonio). "'If I close my eyelid down on all the shit there is in the world, I've still got to face up to all the shit that there is in me, because the shit in us is part of what makes us brothers, you and me.' I used that word shit to him till it begun to sound like I invented it. "He caught me by surprise. I caught him by surprise. A preacher talking about things like--Antonio, shit is what preachers have been talking about since Moses except the word they're more like to use is sin. Only Roebuck didn't know that. It shut him up for a minute. Then he said, 'If the world's mostly shit, Bebb, where's God?' Just like that--where's God? As if I could say, 'Look there he is, Roebuck, He squeezed into one of those books you got on our shelves...I said,'I'll tell you about shit, Roebuck. Take it from an expert. There's two main things about it. One thing is it's stink and corruption and waste. The other thing is if you don't pile it up too thick in any one place, it makes the seeds grow.' I said, 'Roebuck, God's where there's seeds growing. God's where there's something no bigger than the head of a pin starting to inch up out of the stink and dark of shit towards the light of day.' I said, 'Roebuck, God so loved the world he sent his only begotten so down here into the shit with the rest of us so something green could happen, something small and green and hopeful."
Like our lawn, like our church, something green happening, something small and green and hopeful.
posted by michaelstevensrev at 6:43 PM
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