The Best Remedy

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles."  

- Anne Frank 

Special thanks to Milwaukee's Urban Ecology Center for putting together a wonderful experience for our Summer BLAST students! 

Picking Perspective

The summer had been blisteringly hot, but this day trumped them all.  The thermometer climbed past 95 degrees fahrenheit with out breaking a sweat, the rest of us on the other hand, were dripping.

This was the day we had planned to take a group of children from our neighborhood to go berry picking.  When the time came, we piled ourselves into our very unfortunately not air conditioned cars and made the 45 minute trek out of the city to the berry farm.

Having the windows down while driving 55 miles per hour on the highway helped alleviate the heat a bit, but as soon as we took the exit for the farm the lively conversations in the back seat stilled and the windows started to creep their way closed.

"What are you doing!?  Roll the windows back down!  It's hot!" I exclaimed.

"NO WAY!" cried the children, "who knows what's out there!"

They gazed at the cornfields with trepidation.

"You never know, some monster might pop out of there and kill us!" one little boy cried.

"And if something happened there's no one  around for miles!  Nobody would even know you were hurt!" added another.

As a country girl transplanted to the big city, I was bewildered. 

The country...not safe?  

I had grown up hearing about how dangerous the city was. How there was so much violence.  How there were so many people around something bad was bound to happen. 

The city was to be feared and avoided. 

But these kids were expressing the exact opposite sentiment.  I had never seen any tremble at the sight of a cornfield before. 

It made me realize how much of what we consider to be safe a matter of perception.  We trust what we know and what is familiar to us.  I am still more leery of the city streets at night than I am a cornfield or hiking deep into the woods, but this doesn't mean that those places are inherently "safer."  It just means, they're more familiar.

Upon insisting that, no, absolutely no horror-movie-esque monsters were going to rise up out of the corn and eat them, the kids exited our cars and picked berries to their hearts content.  

This was three summers ago, and we've taken kids back every year since then.  This year, we had to split the kids in to three different groups and take them on different days because so many of them wanted to go to the farm.  It's less scary each time.  The windows stay down, they even wandered into the cornfield with a farmer this summer to learn about how the corn grows.  

It makes me think that perhaps we all need to go a little bit out of our way to hang out in places that make us a little uncomfortable, and maybe even a little bit scared.  Go. Find those places. Pick berries while you're there.  See the good.  Find the things that are sweet. And then keep going back.  Over time you just might find the place that you feared just wasn't so scary after all.

The church laments...

This past Sunday I preached about lamenting. It was interesting. Several people came up to me afterward and told me they had never heard a message on lamenting before. This is my second. But its not something we talk about much in the church.

If you like you can listen here to "The Ones Who Cry Out." http://transformationcity.org/media.php?pageID=23

But why not?

Are we afraid of it? Yes - so much of our Scriptures are filled with lamenting. Crying out to God. Declaring that things are not right.

Psalm 42, 60, 74, 79, 80, 85 - all lamenting. "God, where are you?! - why do you allow this to happen?!"

The Book of Lamentations. Lamenting.

Jesus looking out at Jersualem and saying, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem - you who kill the prophets - I have longed to take you under my wing but you refuse..."

Lamenting.

I think we need to lament more in church. To cry out to God. No, this is not a lack of faith - rather, it shows a greater faith to bring to God our cries of desperation, anger and misunderstanding. Because at the end of the day we know that the only way anything will change is if God moves.

God - we cry out to you - please move!

I preached about this because of the state of our city. In the last 2 weeks there have been nearly 30 shootings and 10 dead from these shootings. A report released that shows 77 girls have been sexually exploited in the last year. This is just what was reported - the real number is 10 times 77.

But I don't know how to fix it. I'm a fixer and I'm at a loss. I can't stop it. There's nothing I can do. And that makes me so sad. So broken.

So I cry out to God - God - why is this happening! Why! Why! Don't you see it! Don't you care! Why does violence prosper! You children are dying! Please God - see this, hear this, move in this - we are hopeless without you.

At the end I invited people to come to the altar and write down their laments on the cards. These laments are so powerful that when I read them I was so moved - so broken - I wanted to share them. There is something so powerful in lamenting. Because we this isn't complaining - this is praying with the depth of our passion and pain and anger and despair to the God who we know is our only hope of salvation.

No names will be included.

These are the laments of Transformation City Church. 

"Lord - Why generation after generation does injustice consume and attack our black brothers and sisters? Why does violence and suffering thrive and love fail? Break these chains Lord - break our prejudice - break our bondage!"

"Lord, so often I feel overwhelmed with the injustice in our city. I don't know what to do about it and I feel back that I don't do anything about it - many times I'm also upset about the injustice in my own life. Being violated and now being persecuted for it is something I don't know why I have to experience. But I trust you and you have never forsaken me. I know you won't now." 

"As a victim of child abuse (molestation) I don't understand why it is so hard to get over the hurt and pain. Lord, I know you are there and I know that you hear my cries. But when will the pain go away? I lament for many young women who are suffering as I am."

"Father, why all the loss of loved ones too soon in my life. Why the abuse of substances to relieve my pain and yet more pain came. Why is loving myself so hard and trusting you and your love for me."

"The city desperately needs God. Why are there kids who are homeless? Why are there so many broken families? Why is there so much poverty and despair in the heart of the city?"

"_______ has no father, and he deeply wants a dad. His mom had him when she was 16. She is doing the best to raise him and loves him deeply but she has a lot of anger and hurt in her. His father is alive but not present in his life. God why are there so many fatherless little boys in Milwaukee?"

"_______ was molested and he is only 7 and he doesn't know how to act or feel."

"Lord Jesus, girls on college campuses are more likely to be raped than earn a Master's Degree. Come into our world!"

"_______ foster parents left her to be raised by their other foster children - who did not treat her right."

"God, why have I lost sight of you? Why have death and separation come into my life? Why can't I love myself? Why? Why? Why? God, I need understanding and peace of mind so I can be an instrument of your peace." 

"For all the hurt in the gay and transgendered community"

"I lament for the single mothers in this city. Especially those raising boys. I lament over the fact that African-American males are more likely to be incarcerated or dead then get a job or be married. I lament that this fact is ignored and instead seen as a character flaw rather than an injustice in our society."

"How long Lord? How long must we endure the violence and hatred? Why do we have fear and separation? Hear our city."

"Hi. I don't know how to write a proper lament. But I have been really sad and I don't know why. I feel far from you and really lonley here. My friends lives are in pseudo shambles. I keep trying to "dig deep" and suck it up, but I just wind up feeling dead. Can you help me? I feel inadequate and I don't have directions. I wish I could stop wishing."

"God! Please hear the cry of our city! Why do our children have to die? Why God? Oh Why? Please defend them - please hear their cries! God, you are our only hope! You are our only hope!

"God, I lament my sin. I lament my inability to wholly surrender it to you. I lament my lies and dishonesty. I lament my fear of the innocent. I lament broken relationships in my life. I lament my shaken foundation. I lament my lack of boldness in sharing who you truly are."

"Lord please help me. I'm not and will not be able to raise my boys the way I had hoped. I'm not able to protect them from the impulsive influences of their dad who loves them but can't see what this is doing to them. Be with me, help me. Keep them safe, loved and secure."

________

There are more...but we will stop there.

Today there are no answers. No fixes. No programs.

Today we are just stripped of all that we are - stand with nothing before God and just cry out.

We cry out. Because that's all we know to do.

Because in a strange paradoxical way - at the end of each lament is the seed of hope. And so we will wait God - wait upon you to move in your power and grace.