Love Wins

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
1 John 4:20

We had a wonderful mini-vacation at my Grandma Wambold’s house on Tybee Island in Georgia. My brother, his girlfriend Ashley, my four-month old nephew Logan, my mother, and my Grandma Garthe all came up for the weekend. Saturday night Jade, my brother, talked Jordan, Ashley and I into going into Savannah. For those of you not familiar with the area, Savannah has the largest St. Patrick’s Day party in the United States. Now St. Patties Day isn’t until Tuesday but the party started this weekend. So we went down to River Street (think Bourbon Street, in New Orleans, the weekend before Mardi Gras). As we neared we saw more and more green beads, crazy hats, and drunken people. But the first thing we saw when we reached river level was hateful ‘Jesus’ signs (i.e. “Ask me why you are going to HELL” and another listing “Drunkards/Homos/Muslims/Catholics/Fornicators/Mormons/… YOU WILL BE JUDGED”). The group of ‘Christian protesters’ were getting lots of attention from party goers and the yelling party goers were being watched by nearby police.

The above verse ran through my head; Jordan and I had recently sent the verse to a friend in Los Angeles who was protesting against the famous Fred Phelps/Westboro Baptist Church group. They were in LA holding signs outside the Oscar Awards reading “God Hates You” (the group is best known for protesting homosexuality at soldiers funerals). The people we encountered were much more civil and signs slightly less hateful. The four of us walked by and spent a few hours down on the river doing some AMAZING people watching. But Jordan couldn’t get the protesters off his mind. After awhile he said, “You know, this is Babylon.” Looking around I couldn’t help but agree; when I think of Old Testament cities, like Sodom and Gomorrah, I do think of drunken people partying and obsessed with sex (just less green stilettos and more togas). Then thinking back to the prophets of that time they did stand and yell in the streets, telling of the impending destruction because of the people’s sin. Then we asked ourselves: As modern day Christians are we to be mimicking Ezekiel and Isaiah?

DID WE FORGET ABOUT JESUS?

Jesus came into the world with one word- LOVE. We are no longer called to stone sinners as in the Old Testament—Let he without sin cast the first stone (John 8:2-11). Jesus spent time with sinners not condemning them from a soap box. Jesus asked to stay at Zacchaeus’ house (Luke 19:1-10); he didn’t call him out of the tree to tell him his sins will send him into a fiery pit. Jesus never called the woman at the well a slut (John 4:4-29). He simply lived in a way that drew non-believers to him. (And that practice is not outdated, people did it then and throughout history. I am currently reading Little Flowers of Saint Francis Assisi – great stories of Jesus-like faith and devotion.) However, Jesus was rough sometimes, turning tables in the temple and referring to some as a “brood of vipers”; but those were believers who had gone astray. We are called to hold each other accountable. We are not to be out there judging non-Christians, a coach can’t tell kids to practice if they aren’t on the team and he never invited them to play.

On our way out we stopped and talked to one of the sign holders about everything we had been discussing. He was receptive to our message and pointed out his sign (with a verse from Romans calling everyone to be holy) was well thought out and not hateful like the others. Hopefully he will pass on the message to his fellow protesters and they will rethink how to better relay Jesus’ message of love. It is unfortunate that these protesters are shaping the view of modern day Christians. I would guess that most of the people on River Street that night were not church goers, and for some this may have been their first experience with Jesus. It is just disappointing that their first impression of our loving Christ is one filled with hate.

Peace and Love,
Jessie and Jordan