Guest Blogger: Daron Taylor

Daron is both the Coordinator for College and Young Adult Ministries with the Diocese of South Carolina and he serves part-time on my staff at St. Andrew’s, working with our college ministry.

“LOSING CONTROL”

I am learning a new way of life. Three years ago I moved my family from Lansing, Michigan to Charleston, South Carolina.  I left a Midwestern culture which had shaped my entire life and since have been learning and adopting the “Southern way”.  In addition, having not been raised in the Anglican tradition, I am learning a church paradigm that three years ago I knew very little about.  There have certainly been times when I have felt like a misfit, like when I wore my newly purchased seersucker suit in the heart of winter. And the time I chanted “Alleluia!” at the end of a worship service two weeks before the conclusion of Lent.  Even though Charleston has gradually become home for us, there certainly were those awkward times when we questioned if we were in the right place.

The story of Elijah in I Kings 17 has recently come to life for me.  God met with Elijah and told him to “go.”  He sent him from what was familiar to a land he had not yet been, to a people he had not yet met, to speak a message of hope they had not yet heard. It seems like he had little experience and very few resources.  I have to believe Elijah experienced awkward moments as he lived the life of a misfit, perhaps questioning whether God had the right guy for the job.

It’s daunting, translating the ancient and increasingly foreign message of Jesus’ offering of new life within a cultural landscape that changes by the day.  Attempting to make sense of common Christian household terms like sin, the cross, sacrifice and redemption to emerging generations will give you the sensation of being from another world. How do we do it?  How do we, as the Church, tell this ancient story in our own foreign land?

As Elijah’s story unfolds in I Kings 17:18, we find a woman whose son has just passed away.  Her poignant words to Elijah were essentially,

“Hey, man of God, is this all you have to offer? You tell me how sinful I am and then you let life be ripped away from me!”

Those words cause me to wonder if the world may not be accusing the Church of the same thing.  Somewhere along the line we have given the impression that it’s our business to inform people of their sin and require a set of lifeless obligations to fulfill.  Maybe the American Church needs to take a quick assessment of what exactly we offer that sets us apart from the Kiwanis Club and the United Way.  It seems Elijah’s response to the mother’s accusation may help the Church respond to what may be a valid accusation.

Even for Elijah, great intentions and carefully chosen words were insufficient to produce life. In the midst of his helplessness, Elijah calls on the Giver of Life to intervene in a supernatural way that only God can do.  His prayer was one that seemed to test God’s power right on the spot…

”God, either show up big, now, or my credibility is gone, along with Your reputation!”

He begged God to give life back to the boy. Elijah’s vulnerability and God’s faithfulness allowed him to speak life where there was death, and the young boy was miraculously given new life.  Elijah shows us that proclamation apart from demonstration certainly makes for a great story, but unfortunately a powerless one that gets lost in a sea of great intentions.

The mother’s conversion journey had been taking shape over the weeks and months, but it appears that the deepest redemptive act occurs after she observes God’s supernatural power.  Once true life had been restored, scripture tells us it’s in that moment she knew the truth.

I’m wondering if the American Church has made it’s home in the places that are less awkward, safe and familiar.  Like our culture, has she gained her marginal credibility by merely valuing things like excellence, ambition and strategic planning?  Allowing God to send us into the unfamiliar and awkward places may mean that we’re not in control the way we think we should be. Things may get messy.  They certainly did for Elijah. But the mess gave God the room to demonstrate the supernatural transformative power He is now waiting for his Church to demonstrate.