23 february 2005
Wednesday night was our second meeting of the small group from church now called "Crux". Aaron and Angie have a rather out-there idea for this group; going out and being with people, and going out and serving people. Radical love.
The group right now is comprised solely of young people, except for me. Jonathan, Ethan, Aaron and Angie - all young people who grew up in the church. And me - the former wild hippie chick. It's strange to be the elder of this group and know that you've lived more on the edge, more on the seedy side of life then these younger ones. But I guess that makes me a good candidate for going out there on the streets. I've seen what habitual alcohol consumption does, and tasted my more-than-fair share of drugs, and sold my soul without even knowing I'd agreed to a transaction. I also lived and believed wholeheartedly in the idealism of the peace movement when I was a teenager. No wonder I have embraced a savior who was radical and called us to love one another.
Love One Another. That's where the name "crux" for our small group comes from. Because this small group has a specific focus on mission work, I thought it needed its own identity. Jesus' core commandment was to love one another. And the core, the primary focus, the center of something, is the crux of something. And the "x" in crux is a cross. And then I took the X and elevated it above the U. The U became in my mind the empty vessel of us, the longing of our spirit to be filled, and the X above it symbols the answer to that longing and emptiness. It is also to me a symbol of the sacrament of communion, and Christ's sacrifice upon the cross. And besides all of that, it is still decidedly an unChristian looking logo, which was also an intent. I'd rather have people recognize us as followers of Christ by our actions then by a symbol on our shirts. If we ever have shirts.
I miss half of the first meeting when everyone went out and rode the bus around town. A good thing for those of us with cars to do. Last night we studied scripture about loving people, and also discussed how God showed love to Adam and Eve even after they had betrayed him with the apple thing. There is an awful lot of grace shown there in a passage which at first glance looks full of anger. After all God could have just obliterated his creation. Started over again. Maybe created people that wouldn't have been so disobedient.
Then we talked about what we could do next week to just go out and love people. I mentioned that I sent a letter to our local mosque after September 11 apologizing for any mistreatment the people there may have suffered at the hands of Christians. There were incidents of that - one Arab-American closed his gas station down entirely after suffering several damaging attacks on his building. Another person there just for the evening mentioned that he has a web site as a go-between for landlords and potential renters. Aaron came up with the idea that maybe we should go and clean bathrooms for college students. So that is what is on our agenda right now. Scrubbing toilets and writing letters of apology to those who may have been offended in any way by Christians, and offering to be of service.
Yes, it's a different kind of small group, and my heart tells me that it's exactly where I should be. Just out there loving radically in Christ's name.
