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DOES ANYONE HERE NEED RESCUING?

Shannon Kiser

I was sitting enjoying lunch on an outdoor sidewalk cafe the other day when I heard a voice: "Does anyone here need rescuing?"  I reeled around to see where the voice was coming from, and it was a police officer sitting in his air conditioned cruiser.  Befuddled and not sure I'd actually heard what I thought I'd heard, I responded with a less-than-intelligent, "What???"  "Does anyone here need rescuing? I just got a 911 call that came from here and I need to know if someone needs rescuing?"  "I'm not aware of a problem, but that doesn't mean there isn't one," I articulated.  So what did the officer do?  Roll up his window and drive away.

Somewhere along the way, we Christians got confused about our calling, as well.  We thought that if we just built nice buildings and ran programs, hurting people would make their way to us.  They would enter our doors, worship with us, hear an erudite sermon that would inspire belief, and they would ultimately become a member and volunteer on a committee in our church.  We stayed in our air conditioned buildings and became really good at being "friendly" with those inside the walls, and sometimes were even good at being "friendly" with visitors.  We slowly but surely forgot the call was to GO.

Meanwhile, we have a world full of people struggling with broken relationships, addiction, poverty, injustice, meaninglessness, grief, shame.  And lest we be inconvenienced or uncomfortable, we stay in our air conditioned buildings churning out more programs. 

We need to be reminded of our calling.  Just as Abram was called to GO to an unfamiliar land that God was leading him into so he could be a blessing, so are we.  Just as Jesus' disciples were called to GO and make disciples, so are we.  Just as Jesus told his disciples to GO out in pairs to heal the sick and share the kingdom of God and seek out people of peace, so are we.  And sometimes that means we've got to park the car, get out, and search out those who need to be rescued from despair.

Does anyone need rescuing?  Yes.  So what does Jesus want us to do about it?

Shannon Kiser

• Posted at 10:54 a.m.
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