Friday's Thoughts

"A Word To The Wise is Superfluous"

What can we say to someone who is moving to a new place? What advice can we give them? What help can we provide if the place is the problem and if the people are impossible?

Some places are like that. What can we do if the place is a problem?
Our job is to work toward the transformation of the world. If the place is a problem then we are appointed there; we are put there for a reason. Our job is to transform the place we are put.

What if the people are impossible? What if their behavior is hard to understand? How do we handle their strangeness?
We are sent to places where the people are impossible for a purpose. Our job is to make disciples of Jesus. That doesn't, necessarily, mean converting people to our faith. It isn't about evangelism in the sense of making people become Christian. It goes deeper than that. Our task is to employ the essence of the Christian faith to help the people become disciples of a way of life that understands the God of love, the Grace of God, the good in the world; doing for others; reaching out to those on the periphery.

If we are put into a strange place our job is to transform it. If we are put in the middle of strange people our job is to make disciples of the Gospel of Jesus.

That's what we can tell someone who is moving to a new place and that's what we can remind ourselves to do as we look at the places we have been put.

What do you think? If you have ideas about this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster