Covid has me on the sidelines.
I recently spent a couple of weeks quarantined due to Covid exposure protocols, and another couple of weeks quarantined due to actually having Covid. Because of this, I have prepared Sunday morning messages which someone else has preached, I have missed some family get-togethers, important work moments, and even my own birthday party. I really don’t like doing life on the sidelines.
On Wednesday we kicked off our Kinetic Nights season at Living Streams. Over 400 people gathered together to get to know each other and spur one another on toward good works. There were bounce houses, gelato stations, multiple generations, and encouraging words. The weather was awesome. The people were bravely leaning into each other. Our church took a massive step toward becoming more kinetic with our righteousness.
While all this was going on, I sat at home with my dogs. The way I know about all of the good stuff that happened was through text messages with sad face emoji’s. People kept me informed because they knew how much I hate to be on the sidelines.
This has been extra frustrating for me, because I love the whole idea of becoming kinetic. Being kinetic is being active. It is the realization of potential. As an athlete, I always wanted to be in the game, especially in the most important moments. Even if I was nervous knowing I could lose the whole game for our team, I didn’t mind having the pressure on me. It was not a pride thing. It was the desire to see what was possible. I figured I would never know my true potential until I put it to the test.
That is what kinetic righteousness is all about. We, as a church, want to put ourselves into pressure situations to see what will come out of us. We have been lining up pressure situations for months, and these situations are not as inconsequential as a high school athletic event. We are going to be entering into people’s pain, struggle and vices. We will be getting proximate to true despair, brokenness and hopelessness. We will be engaging with the hungry, poor, refugee, fatherless and forgotten.
As we do this, we will keep our eyes open, knowing each person is created in the image of God. We will keep our ears open, knowing they have special access to God’s perspective which the healthy and wealthy do not. We will keep our hands open, knowing we don’t go to rescue them as much as we go to find the exquisite mutuality of being rescued by God alongside them. And we will keep our mouths open to speak the mercies of God which triumph over judgment in every situation.
I know — in the face of inconvenience and discomfort — some would rather remain on the sidelines. I know we — as well-to-do Christians of the 21st Century — have perfected the art of making excuses and justifying our neglect. In some cases, we have become professional sideline Christians, leaving the hard, dirty work to other people or non-profit organizations. Though it sounds harsh, I agree with Tim Keller, who says “If you don’t know the poor, you don’t know Jesus.” It is a mysterious, marvelous thing about our Jesus. He became poor, associated with the poor, and told us that, if we want to know Him, we will visit the poor, sick, hungry and imprisoned.
I’m glad I only have a couple more days on the sidelines. I’m glad to be a part of such a generous, committed, and mature community of people willing to engage in society’s pain together. I am so thankful for all the work that the Living Streams staff and ministry liaisons have put into making it as user-friendly as possible for our church to become kinetic. I am so thankful to our Savior who has saved us and is continuing to save us from the shallow emptiness of living for ourselves.
This is gonna be so much richer than Netflix and Hulu.
As all the cool kids are saying these days, Let’s Go!!!!!!!
David