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21JULY 2015BODY OF CHRIST NEWS Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Hebrews 1312 By now all of us have heard the shocking news from Charleston. Nine lives were terminated by a twenty-one year old white terrorist who purposely targeted a Pastor and his flock. Ironically he showed up on a Wednesday night. The very same Wednesday night our church had an emergency meeting about security concerns at our church. The innocent deaths of those at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston have highlighted a number of issues facing the Church. The very essence of the ministry and the question of what we are and who we are as believers in Christ are issues we are going to have to deal with. The devil seems to be forcing us to come face to face with what it means to be the church. But it should also be obvious to all of us that we are being equally challenged not just by this inci- dent but by the sustained incidents of violence by law enforcement and gangs inflicted upon our people. These repetitive incidents of violence are forcing us to deal with the question of what it means to be black in America. The incident in Charleston like Columbine Aurora and Sandy Hook forces us to ask the question What kind of nation are we There is no other nation on the face of the earth that continually suffers these kinds of tragic gun mur- ders like this country does. In this country people worship guns more than they worship God. We need to fix that. So we have got to ask ourselves What is the message we need to take away from the incident in Charleston What do we really need to talk about and where do we need to begin the conversation I think there can only be one place to start the con- versation. Let me ask you this Did your parents ever give you THE talk Do you remember if you ever had THAT talk with your mother or father I am not talk- ing about the Birds and the Bees. But have you ever had the one about stranger danger The one that says Dont talk to strangers. Dont trust the stranger. Beware of the stranger. Have you ever had the conversation about stranger danger The incident in Charleston was very much about stranger danger. The only problem with the strange danger conversation is that we can never stereotype the stranger. The stranger can come from anywhere. The stranger may or may not look like you. It is hard to put any one face on the stranger. It was said that the young man went to bible study and sat for an hour in the class. He confessed after the shooting that he was impressed by how nice the people were to him. Some people I am sure were ready to welcome him to the family. I imagine some- body could have said to him what we say all the time You visit the first time you come but after that you are family. Reports are that he said before killing them They were so nice to me I actually regretted having to kill them. The question has been repeatedly asked How could he come and sit in on the class and no one knew he was up to something But that is an easy question to ask after the fact. That is what armchair quarterbacks do. Before I deal with that question just let me remind you of who we are. I am talking about the Church in general and the Black Church in particular. We are a people called to do the most radical form of loving known to humanity. No one is really called to be as loving and as accepting of folk as Christians are. We are called to not just love our friends but also our enemies. We have been called not to just care for those we know but we have been called to entertain strangers. Entertaining or caring for strangers and being accepting of people who differ from you are commands common in both the Jewish scriptures and the Christian bible. God is serious about us ministering to strangers And I believe that is because God knows that bigotry and hatred only grow when people keep themselves apart. If I remain a stranger to you you can never know me. You cannot respect me. You cannot really love me if I am a stranger to you. God commanded Israel to love the stranger because you too were strangers in Egypt Deut 1019. Among us there are always strangers. And you know the definition of a stranger dont you It is something or somebody that is strange And when you think about it we all can be strangers to each other. We do not all look alike. We do not all talk alike or think alike or act alike or eat alike or dress alike or live alike or love alike In the world we have to deal with this stranger thing And to you some people might seem strange but those are the very people God has assigned us to minister to. And you know why People may be strangers to us but they are never strangers to God. With God no one is a stranger God knows and God loves everybody And if you are a child of God your mission is to eliminate in your life as many strangers as you can It would be easy to become overly paranoid about entertaining strangers with all that has happened. The church has been commanded and commissioned to reach out and receive strangers but the church has to accept the fact that in doing our work we do face stranger danger. And the dilemma we face in dealing with the stranger is we must decide to either make disciples or be paralyzed by the danger of the mission. Either we welcome or we become wary. The ministry of Christ is risky business. Entertaining strangers could become downright dangerous. We do not always know who is joining the church. We did not know who you were and you did not know who we were when you joined. We took a chance on each other. We did not know where you came from. We did not know if you had a gun. We did not know if you cussed. We did not know if you went off on people. We did not know what kind of medication you were on or if you were even taking it. We just let you in We face stranger danger whenever new people show up And new people face stranger danger also joining some of our churches Everybody in here was strange to the rest of us at one time. And if the truth be told some of us are still strange We do not talk to people. We think everybody is out to get us and all people want to do is talk about us. We come to church and go home. We do not work in the church. We do not really know the people in church. We do not socialize. We are in church but we are strangers We face stranger danger because we do not know each other. The young man said that he could not believe how the people treated him. He did not know black church folk and he therefore out of igno- rance thought they were going to treat him like he was going to treat them. Stranger danger happens because we simply fear each other and we fear each other because we do not know each other But the question was asked How could he sit there for one hour and no one discerned his motive It has a lot to do with our accepting the stranger in the church. We in the church do not think the worst of people but we think the best of people. We do not think there are people intent on doing us harm. We do not think that a person would intentionally come to Gods house to do us harm. We are not into metal detectors and full body searches when people come to church. We want people to feel welcomed and relaxed when they come. We are not thinking folk have guns. We are not suspicious of strangers. After all are not they coming to get more Christ in their life The incident in Charleston will challenge us. The truth of the matter is the devil has always known how to use the ministry against us. What you mean Pastor Holmes The very things we have been called to do by God the devil will use those things to bring confusion. Giving and supporting are universal principles that all believers in God should never struggle with. God has colored our relationship with Him with love and has made his abiding attribute to us his giving. Yet we have more confusion in the church around giving and loving than we do any other principles of our faith The devil does the same thing with this stranger business. He wants to bring confusion and make us suspicious and skeptical of each other. Watch everybody who comes in the Church Get scared and uptight so much so that you screen people and take them through changes before they come into the church Stop helping peo- ple Keep the doors locked Make the church a club only opened and available to your kind and your color Lets turn in on ourselves and trust no one especially the stranger That is what the devil wants. But that is not what the Lord has called us to do. God says enter- tain the stranger because in doing so you have entertained angels unaware. This incident can narrow the church or it can open us up to strangers as never before. Let me share quickly a few things we must do to face the challenge of this inci- dent. The reason we must not allow this incident to change us is because no matter the danger in the stranger the reward is worth the risk. Saving a soul is worth even losing yours Paul said the reason you keep helping folk is because the possibility of minis- tering to an angel is worth the risk. That is why we ought to be witnesses. We do not know who people are or what they are about until we entertain them encounter them or engage them. And if you are going to entertain encounter and engage strangers you must be in their presence. You have to get close. In life with every relationship you are going to have to take some risks. There is no relationship to be had without risks. You want to love someone You have to take the risk. You have to get close. You have to risk getting it and a part of the risk of getting it is you may get hurt The alternative though is to do nothing. If you do not want to risk getting hurt if you do not want to risk possibly encountering a devil then do nothing. You will never encounter a devil and you will never get hurt if you do nothing. But in the kingdom you have to take some risks. When you are helping people getting hurt is always a risk When the young man came into the church I imag- ine folk were genuinely glad to see him. They may have even been excited that he was in bible study trying to get right with God. No one searched him. Why should they Hes maybe coming to join some thought. The reward was far greater than the risk. And that is what drives us and sometimes gets us more focused on soul-winning success than on our own physical security. Choosing or discerning between angels and dev- ils is not always an easy thing for those of us in the church It was not always easy for Jesus. Even Jesus had issues with folk in the ministry who were not what they showed themselves to be. Jesus had his Judas but I believe Jesus kept him around for a reason. Sometimes the hope for change in people and the reward of reaching out are worth the risk of somebody doing something mean and evil to hurt you That is life and that is true with every relation- ship. The reward is far greater and worth the risk There is stranger danger. We said reward is worth the risk but lastly if you want to deal with strangers in ministry and in your life be prepared to be fooled. Understand this The devils deception is as powerful as the disciples discernment. Deception can cancel and conceal discernment. Jesus said For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in such a manner that they shall deceive if possible the very elect Matt. 2424. The devils deception is as powerful as the disciples discernment. That is what Paul meant when he said to the church in Corinth And no wonder for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising then if his servants also Reginald C. Holmes Stranger Danger COMMUNITY By Pastor Reginald Holmes Continued on BOCNEWS.com