Running to Stand Still

As someone who wishes they were a runner I was excited to hear about the Rock and Roll Marathon coming to St Louis, and it would even be coming within blocks of my house! Others in the area however, did not share my exuberance for this race. Namely several area churches expressed concern over road closures conflicting with service times.

While I do not intend to single out any one church, there is one to which I have extremely close ties which will be affected by the closures. Tower Grove Baptist Church was the church of my youth and served an important formative role in my life. Even today I consider it a church home and family and as such I pray that what I say is taken in the loving admonition that it is intended and with the understanding that I am using TG as merely a symbol of the problems with many other area churches.

When the course was announced Tower Grove realized that the roads would be blocked off all around the church. The initial reaction was anger at the city and race organizers for planning a course that would effectively shut down Sunday morning services. Although I would venture to say that if the same closures were due to the World Series not only would the anger be muted some would be glad to cancel services in order to watch the games, but that is an issue for a different time.

Then the scramble was on to decide what to do, should services be moved to Saturday, moved to Sunday afternoon, or just cancelled altogether as some area churches did? Even these ideas were categorically shot down, staunchly determined to conduct services as normal.

But all of that misses the greater point. The church would literally have 20,000+ people and the attention of the city at its doorstep. Why was this viewed only as an inconvenience instead of an opportunity? How great of a ministry would a church have if they would pass out water or simply cheer on the runners? The church could go out its door, and still be on the front lawn, yet be a positive witness to tens of thousands of people. Instead we are content to sit, fat and happy, in our little cocoons separating ourselves as best we can from the outside world which Jesus COMMANDED us to reach.

So here is my suggestion, my challenge if you will, skip church this Sunday morning. Show up, but instead of going inside park yourself on the grass. If your church isn't along the race route find one that is and join them on the lawn. Together we can be a witness, sharing Christ's love simply with a cheer and a clap.
For some of the runners, hearing an encouraging word from the door of a place where they have only heard condemnation could serve to remove some stones.

* I was glad to hear just before posting this that Tower Grove Christian School  has made a banner that reads "Tower Grove Christian School say 'Go, Go, Go!'" And a few students, teachers, and administrators are planning on displaying the banner on the corner as the runners go by. I hope other members of the school and church will join them. And to Mike Gregory and the others involved in getting this done, good job and thank you.

Why I won't be on the picket line

Most of you have now heard about Operation: Occupy WallStreet, and now those protests have spread to several other cities throughout the country. Initially I didn’t know much about these demonstrations and I remained relatively indifferent. Then I saw a link to We Are the 99%. There are pictures of people holding hand written signs telling their stories. Many of these stories were moving and some hit far too close to home.

Was this what this movement was about? Asking for reform to help those of us who had played by the rules but now found ourselves in crushing debt to a system that couldn’t care less. These seemed to be cries for just a small bit of help, just make it a little bit easier. I’m a firm believer that making it in life shouldn’t be easy, you should have to work hard to get what you want, but it shouldn’t be this hard either. So was this a movement I could get behind, a group I could proudly stand alongside and ask for change? I was beginning to think so.

And then I saw this

If you’re not sure that sign says “DIDN”T WE ABOLISH SLAVERY?” While I think the ways banks treat the people is atrocious, it is far from slavery and to compare the two is irresponsible and dangerous. But this is one nut with one sign; I would expect to agree with everyone in any movement.

But then I saw this picture.

The caption to the picture said: “Cops rolling up to stand on the side of the 1%”

There are no officers here violating anyone’s rights, they are not harassing protestors, in fact only two officer are even in the picture. It could be that downtown St Louis on Tuesday saw these protests, a MLB playoff game, and a visit from the President. So couldn’t it be possible that these officers were there to keep the peace and insure that no incidents occurred.

But this is where I run into problems with many on the far left; while I may agree with your ideas it is your fundamental philosophy that I abhor. It’s the automatic assumption that all authority is evil or that all traditions are wrong. I know I’m biased when it comes to cops, but the vast majority are good people trying to make the world a better place. It is assumptions like these that draw artificial lines where we could be allies.

Cops are not the enemy

Christians are not all closed-minded bigots

The wealthy did not all get there on the broken backs of the poor

When you’ve found a way that we can all truly stand together to fight for a better world, without making unnecessary enemies just to falsely produce a greater sense of oppression, then you will find me standing by your side. Until then, best of luck and I pray that rational minds are able to see past hyperbole and hypocrisy and do what is best for our nation.