This was a talk given at the Safe Families Scotland Team Away Day, June 2024
'The call to genuine love has profound implications for our families, our churches and the watching world. Love forges diverse friendships, preserves marriages in the face of disappointment, protects children, restores people to the truth, reconciles relationships after misunderstanding or wrongdoing, welcomes the marginalised and outcast, and demonstrates a countercultural way of living that ensures people will know that we are Christians by our love. And the love we have for the lost leads us to practice radical hospitality, welcoming those who are different from us.' Crossway Daily Devotional.
What is our vision for Safe Families? That's easy right? Its on the wall of our offices: No one should feel alone. We exist to create relationship and connection because everyone deserves to belong. But what underpins our vision? We need a vision that outlasts any one person, any office move, any contract loss. We need a vision that is bold, Biblical and enduring.
I guess the question I’ve always asked is what fuels hope? What brings transformation into the lives of parents and children? What fuels hope is connection and compassion.
Some of you might have heard of Bobby Herrera, Co-Founder and President of the Populos Group. He has written a great book called The Gift of Struggle. After the Second World War war millions of Mexicans lined up to become ‘bracero’s’ in the US. Only 300,000 a year were chosen. They had to work long hours in terrible conditions. Bobby’s father became a Bracero in 1954. His family joined him in 1964. Bobby was one of 13 kids and as a teenager he worked 10 hours, 6 days per week. Bobby talks about how he felt invisible as a kid goring up in poverty. When his mum sent him to the grocery store to get milk he hid behind the dumpster until nobody was looking so nobody would see him using food stamps. He used to make a big distraction in the dinner que at school so nobody would see the staff ticking his name off the free school meals.
But one day, when Bobby was 17, his brother Ed and he were returning from a basketball game. Bobby and his brother couldn’t afford to buy meals on school trips so when the bus stopped at a restaurant, they stayed on the bus and ate their packed lunch. It was routine for them to miss out on a burger, so they were beyond embarrassment. But as Bobby and Ed were about to eat their packed lunch, one of their team mates fathers came on to the bus, Mr Teague. ‘Bobby,’ he said, ‘it would make me very happy if you would allow me to buy you boys dinner so you can join the rest of the team. No one else has to know. To thank me, you just have to do the same thing in the future for another great kid like you.’
Bobby says that for the first time in his life he didn’t feel socially invisible. That one act of kindness changed his life. Years later he phoned up Mr Teague to thank him and Mr Teague broke down on the phone. Now, wherever Bobby goes he tells the bus story.
I guess we all have a bus story. One, or perhaps several, acts of kindness that gave us hope in the darkness. In Romans, Paul gives us a masterclass in theology. In the first 11 chapters he explains what the gospel of grace looks like. He explains God’s wrath on unrighteousness, how nobody is righteous, the need to trust in God’s righteousness in Christ, the need for faith, how a sinner is justified, life in the Spirit, how we are heirs with Christ in glory, how nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. And then in chapters 12-15, Paul explains what a Christian should look like. What are the practical implications of being a justified sinner? Three things:
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Sacrifice v 1-2
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Service v 3-8
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Love v 9-21
What does Christian love look like?
1. It is genuine Rom 12 v 9-10
As The Message says: ‘Love from the centre of who you are, don’t fake it.’
‘Let love be genuine.’ Our love is to be sincere and without hypocrisy. As the AV says ‘Let love be without dissimulation.’ We are not to hold back with our love – it is to be expressed freely and generously.
But love is not to be fluffy and sentimental. Christian love hates what is evil and challenges injustice. Love and righteousness go hand in hand. ‘Abhor what is evil; cleave to what is good.’ Loving others means taking a stand against evil.
Our vision in Safe Families is to empower the church and Christians to show love and kindness to the widow, the orphan and the stranger, sincerely and authentically. As Christians, we don't believe in tick box love.
We want to fight the systems that lead to injustice and inequality. Its not fair that a kid form care is more likely to go into prison. Its not fair that a kid in poverty doesn’t get to access activities that other kids do.
Love can and does change the world. Love puts others first: ‘Outdo one another in showing honour.’ Or as The Message says: ‘Practice playing second fiddle. When we love, the invisible become visible.
Love perseveres. In some ways its easy to love, but its very difficult to persevere in love. Christian love is energetic.
‘Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fuelled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.’ The Message, Romans 12 v 11-13.
Christian love doesn’t burn out, it doesn’t quit, it doesn’t
give up on people because they are a waste of space.
That is our vision at Safe Families. We go where others haven’t and where many don’t want to go. We stay the course with families that people have washed their hands of. We believe in ‘inventive hospitality’.
How can we use our homes, our spare bedroom, our spare time to love those on the margins of our society?
3, It is inclusive Rom 12 v 14 - 21.
Love can be genuine and persistent, but it can by picky. Most Christians have no problem showing hospitality, as long as it to people who look like them and share their views on the Bible.
But the uncomfortable thing about the Bible is it says that Christian love involves loving even those who hate us. We are to feed our enemy and offer him a drink. We are not to condemn the teenage mum, we are to welcome her in and love her.
Paul commands us not to haughty but to associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. ‘Make friends with nobodies, don’t be the great somebody.’
Love crosses divides. What else but the love of God will cause a Russian and a Ukrainian or a Jew and a Palestinian to break bread together.
Isn’t it amazing how much Christian theology is framed around food and eating together? Christian love is shown through hospitality, by eating and drinking with our enemies and by gathering together around the Lord’s supper. It is a picture to us that one day all God’s people will be together at the marriage supper of the lamb.
What is our vision? We want to create thousands of bus moments for families across
Scotland.
We want to show love that is genuine, love that is persistent and love that is inclusive. As it says in Romans 12 v 9-10: ‘Love from the centre of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil. Hold on for dear life to what is good. Be good friends who love deeply, practice playing second fiddle.’
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