The Longer I Know the LORD...

I was speaking with a very wise old pastor one time about my frustrations with the attitude of one of the committees I was working with while serving church as the youth pastor. I was trying to focus on outreach and service to a difficult part of our community, and they were scared and disinterested. My attempts at persuasion were falling short despite my best efforts. The pastor asked me what I had told them to encourage them to re-think their opposition, and I told him I had read from the Sermon the Mount and the parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin, encouraging us to think about what Jesus would have us do. He laughed and gave me this advice, which has stuck with me for many years now- "There is no faster way to turn church people against you than by quoting Jesus when seeking to spur them to action. People believe that they BELIEVE until they hear his words applied to their lives. Turn the other cheek? Your your enemies? Give all you have away? Only when confronted with his words do they see how radical their Savior is!"

There have been several occasions lately when I have frustrated church folk I know by my belief that Jesus meant what he said, no matter how out of step it seems with the world we currently live in and many of the churches we currently attend. These conflicts have reminded me of a time in the 1990s when I was dealing with a group of parents who were very judgmental about some of the students entering our youth ministry. I reminded them of Jesus' call to love rather than judge and of the scripture of the woman caught in adultery (John 8). They were given the good news that Jesus is a friend of sinners. They responded by telling me that protecting their kids from a "bad element" was more important than any outreach we were doing. What they were telling me was that the only kids "fit" for our youth group were the kids exactly like theirs - failing to realize that their own kids had issues too. I was so frustrated. In response, I very passive/aggressively took a song by the band Sierra that was mildly popular on Christian radio and rewrote parts of it, then sang it as part of worship one Sunday. Feeling similarly irritated with some Christians over the past week, I break it out once more. The second verse was completely rewritten at the time to tell the story of someone I knew (since passed away) who had been deserted by the church . I doubt that it spoke to the people I intended to hear it. I don't know if it will speak to you. I just know that it speaks to me. Because if you know my story at all, you know I have learned the hard way this truth- "the longer I know my LORD the more I know...I've got no stone to throw."

Maggie lives on Second Street
Downtown by the river
She's turned away by everyone she meets
They've got no time to give her
Because on her shoulder she wears a scarlet letter
And nobody told her she could do better

I've got no stone to throw
No ax to grind
I look at Maggie's life
And I see mine
I see somebody searchin' for somethin'
A little love and understanding
And the longer I know the Lord
The more I know...
I've got no stone to throw

Gary knows he's dying now
He's had AIDS for a year
He went to church 'bout 6 months ago
And they threw him out on his rear
They said, "We don't want your kind here, leave us alone"
But Jesus said the one without sin should cast the first stone

I've got no stone to throw
No ax to grind
I look at Gary's life
And I see mine
I see somebody searchin' for somethin'
A little love and understanding
And the longer I know the Lord
The more I know...
I've got no stone to throw

Maggie and Gary live in every town
And people talk about 'em
'Cause it's easier to put them down
Than to care about 'em
But they have a Savior; He is their Judge
The same Jesus who taught us how we should love

I've got no stone to throw
No ax to grind
I look at anybody's life
And I see mine
You know we're all just searchin' for somethin'
Jesus' love and understanding
And the longer I know my Lord
The more I know...
I've got no stone to throw
I've got no stone to throw Hey, hey hey....Jesus takes the stones away.

Because of Jesus,