The Beginning Of The Good News

Sometimes you don’t know how good the news really is until well after the fact, when you can look back with lots of perspective and experience. Hindsight isn’t always 20/20, but it’s usually full of more insightful than foresight (although if we learned from hindsight you’d think we’d have more informed foresight)!

Everyone in life has someone they are leading and those they are serving. When it comes to our contributions in their life, we’d all much rather be bearer of good news. The real gift, though, is not the tidbit of information we share that is called good news; the real gift is when we embody the good news, the best gift is when we ourselves are the good news. What’s better then someone being glad because you showed up to serve and lead?

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But sometimes we aren’t always aware of what kind of good news we are bringing into a situation. And sometimes those we serve and lead don’t always know what kind of goodnews we bring with us when we show up.

In the Gospel According to Mark, we get a sense that Jesus can fully relate with us on this point (and many others). The opening sentence is: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This gospel was written over three decades after the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. In that time the stories of Jesus’ words and works were written down, shared, and retold in small communities. But it wasn’t until that generation started to die that Mark’s gospel and the other three were compiled to remind us of what kind of good news Jesus really is for Israel and the world.

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The word gospel means “good news” – when we preach the gospel of Jesus we are proclaiming the good news of Jesus’ life and death, his words and works, his resurrection and reign over the world as Savior and Lord. With a king like Jesus ruling over the earth, how can we not celebrate this good news! Except that sometimes we don’t know how good the news is until we can look back over a lifetime with perspective and experience.

Not all of Israel recognized Jesus for the good news he was for them. He was rejected, betrayed, and crucified by his own people. Mark wrote his gospel a generation later, when many, many, many thousands of Israelites had repented of their rebellion and believed the good news that Jesus really was sent by God as their true king. Within four centuries the followers of Jesus would number in the millions, becoming adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire (a great irony, and tragedy, but that’s another story…).

Sometimes we have to take the long view when bad things happen in our life. Sometimes what we call bad news becomes good news. Sometimes we don’t know the impact we are making on the lives of those we serve, lead and love – it looks like nothing is happening, but down the road we become known as good news.

And that’s what God wants you, for us, for the Church, for the body of Christ, for those that are followers of Jesus -to embody the gospel of Jesus, live it out in our life together, be good news when you show up to work, when you serve and lead at home, in your YMCA, and in your neighborhood.

Jesus came to serve and lead Israel and then the world – his healing words and work, his wise rule as Christ and Lord are meant to be good news (gospel). When we share the gospel, we are giving witness to the good news we’ve experienced in and through our life because of King Jesus. Our lives are always a testimony to the words and works of Christ Jesus in the world today.

Sometimes our lives aren’t good news though. But then, it’s not the end of our story yet. In fact, it may be the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in your life!

What might a new beginning with Jesus look like for you? What would good news look like in you? In what ways might the Lord be wanting to proclaim good news through your life? To whom?

Jesusians Absorb Violence

As part of the YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne, many of us feel deeply compelled to “do something” about the youth violence and gangs in our city.

As a Christian nonprofit organization, we get to draw on the example and teachings of Christ Jesus to inform our attempt to “do something.”

Out of all the options out there, a unique action of Jesus’ followers is to absorb violence when it strikes them and their community. 

I write this as a white Protestant evangelical middle aged man. I wonder what it would look like for me to absorb violence, instead of striking back or nursing revenge? Or my neighborhood? Or my church? Or my workplace downtown? 

Whether it’s hateful words, hurtful actions, or harmful policies, would I let myself be infected with the poison of violence or would I absorb it in a spirit of grace and forgiveness? Too often I’m infected…

I am commanded to love my enemy, as seen in Jesus. My Lord modeled in his ministry and on the cross how to absorb violence. His words and ways, his attitude and actions reveal how hearts are transformed, how cities are saved. 

That Jerusalem rejected Jesus’s ways and embraced violent revolt against Rome ensured their demise. The Christians that respond to violent words, attitudes and habits with anger and vengeance are rejecting the way of Christ. Would I be willing to let others point out the ways I respond to violence with violence? 

To forgive is to absorb the wrong and not wish for or take revenge. 

It might also mean you distance yourself from them, or use more wisdom when encountering them, but it doesn’t mean hating or fearing them or treating them with apathy. 

That’s the new way Jesus gives us towards those who are violent. Not only that, he explains how to live and pray to subvert violence and plant healing seeds of renewal. 

Read the Gospel of Matthew 4-7. “Blessed are the peacemakers.” 

That is part of what it means for Jesusians to “do something” about youth violence. As followers of Jesus Christ we look to him and seek to imitate his attitude towards the Father and all humanity. Together, we can “do something” that absorbs violence and breathes out wisdom and mercy.

This is why I am thrilled by this YMCA neighborhood event at Renaissance Pointe. It embodies the “do something” attitude of peacemaking. Join it Saturday, if you can!

Inspired and United

In the spirit of always needing to be reminded of the essentials, here are a few takeaways from the 2016 General Assembly of YMCAs sessions so far:

Compassion heals.

Kindness transforms.

Hope matters. 

Children desperately need affection and touch in their first 1000 days. It shapes the rest of their life.

Do for one what you can’t do for all.

Be smart, use wisdom, don’t go with your gut when helping others. Often times our help hurts. 

You can’t know what difference you will make by investing time and energy into others. Do it anyways.

Jesus models what love of neighbor looks like, especially in “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.”

Generations as population groups ought to be closely paid attention to, if you are to understand future trends in religion, politics, economics, and war. They also matter for why your organization exists and what it is needed to do.

Social media is a tool that can bless and curse. At its best it connects people and expands your horizons; at its worst it undermines your presence with the people closest to you, and it reinforces your bigotry and fears.

Opportunity comes from preparation and readiness; we can know much about the future by deeply understanding the past. Humility, presence, and curiosity make it more likely you will be open to lessons of the past and readiness for the future.

* Thanks to leaders like Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas Kristoff, Randi Zuckerberg, Seth Mattison, Allison Massari, Ken Gronbach for the reminders.