.motion movement.

                  


(Apparently videos are my new thing... Though I'm not apologizing because I'm finding that media is an effective/important method of communication...And music has become more and more sacred as I have discovered good music/poetry/Scripture...)


So I have posted this song before. I don't recall the context, but nonetheless, it's worth revisiting (over... and over...) The lyrics can be found here if you want to read along.


This song is/can be about a lot of things. But for me it is about two: physical movement and social movement(s). The last line of the first stanza and the chorus say this:


Each individual reach out, speak to teach the invisible how to be invincible
Motion, movement
Architects, blueprints
Showing, grooving
Teachers, students
Reaching for truth in a self-revolution
The roof is on fire, what's your solution?

Like I said, physical and social. As a student at Pacific School of Religion, I am constantly learning about ways in which to uplift and transform the lives of the marginalized, the invisible (as the Blue Scholars say). And I'm learning, even more, that in "reaching for truth in a self-revolution," my solution is in transforming and being transformed through relationship. In my evangelism class this week we have had lots of conversation regarding how to do evangelism by doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8). Perhaps evangelism and justice are one in the same for it is in acts of justice, mercy and love that we usher people into the Kin-dom of God, the reign of God on earth as it is in Heaven. Here's the deal...

This justice is not about getting butts in the seats.

This justice is not about converting or saving souls. 

This justice is not about church growth. 

This justice is not about doing kind things that make you feel good. 

This justice is not about condemning or shaming. 

Nope.

This justice is about showing love through relationships and story-telling. 
This justice is about ourselves-in-relation, as Carter Heyward would say. 
This justice is about doing love in public, as Cornel West would have it. 
This justice is about making the invisible invincible through the love of God in Jesus Christ. 
This justice is about forging strangers into neighbors. 


This justice is about the roof being on fire because this justice is needed this very minute. 


People are in dire straits, struggling to see love in their life. Their families have abandoned them. They have abandoned their families for fear of abuse and danger. People have lost hope because every last thing has gone wrong. People are looking for something to bring light and renewed energy into their life. I am not one of those Christians that believes Jesus is the only way to live your life. But I believe he brings me into fullness and has transformed my life. This is why sharing stories is so important. It is my hope that in telling my story and building relationships from the bottom up, transformation can happen. Maybe it isn't about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection for someone else. 


But I will tell that/my story/ies all day long.


Sometimes being a witness to a testimony is enough. 
Sometimes seeing a friendly face is enough. 
Sometimes being shown the love of God in a random act of kindness is enough. 


Whatever it is, it is in those moments that the invisible (spiritually/ physically/ mentally /emotionally/ sexually/ economically/ etc.) can be made invincible. It is in the power of the love of God to transform lives through our supportive, nurturing, sustained relationships. 


Sometimes we're the motion, sometimes the movement. 
Sometimes as architects we build, other times just the blueprint.
Sometimes it's our job to show, other times it's our job to show up and just groove. 
Sometimes we're the teachers, but mostly, I think we're the students. 


No matter what/who/where we are, we know Whose we are. And because of that relationship, we will always find ourselves reaching for (T)ruth(s). 

The roof is on fire, 
what's YOUR solution?