The Poo Principle

            Sometimes you get to a breaking point. Maybe even over simple stuff. Small things, which may not always seem so small. For me, it was often the kid’s messiness. When we live in Allendale in West Michigan, we owned a bi-level home. Our bedroom, Rachel’s, the kitchen, living room were on the top level. The family room and all three boys on the lower level. There were some stretches of time, because of our schedules, where Kristen and I never made it down the st airs for two or three days. Every once in a while, when I was rushing off to do this or that, or had these eight things floating through my mental “to-do list”, I would finally run down the stairs only to see clothes and socks scattered across the floor. Cups, plates, and silverware piled in a corner. Empty wrappers stuffed in the corners of the furniture. And I would lose it! “What is this mess?! Get down here and clean this junk up. Pick up your clothes. Throw away the garbage… and go to sleep in the barn if you’re going to live like a pig!” Ugh!

            If you’ve ever been there, maybe you can relate to the story of Maria Brunner. Not exactly a picture of the All-American family. But who is? Maria is a married mother of three, her husband is unemployed, so she supports their three young children by cleaning other people’s houses. Even without a job, Maria’s husband (who- by the way- was not named in the Times Online article) managed to run up quite a number of unpaid parking tickets. The bill totals nearly $5,000. Mr. Brunner kept the tickets a secret from his wife, but as the owner of the vehicle, she is responsible. Maria could not pay the fine, and unless her husband came up with the money, she was set to spend three months behind bars in her town just east of Augsburg, Germany.
            Maria’s reaction?

            Please, haul me away… please! “I’ve had enough of scraping a living for the family. … As long as I get food and a hot shower every day, I don’t mind being sent to jail. I can finally get some rest and relaxation.”
            Police reported that when they went to arrest Maria, “she seemed really happy to see us… and repeatedly thanked us for arresting her.” While most people taken into custody hide their heads in shame, Maria, they said, “smiled and waved” as the police car drove her away.

            Many of us have struggled with significant traumas in life. The loss of loved ones, perhaps even the unexpected: Divorce. Unemployment. But sometimes the stresses of our lives are measured not by infrequent tragedy, but rather by the regular building up of trivial issues that just seem to pile one on top of the other, until this massive mound of insignificance becomes… well… significant.

            Needing a time out, or a chance to regroup from all the strains, is not only a very human happening… even the Son of God withdrew from time to time to be alone. Matthew 14 says this, “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. After He dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone.” Sometimes in painting the biblical picture of Jesus, we try to tip the scales toward His humanity, sometimes His divinity. But lost perhaps in this indescribable gift of God becoming man is that Jesus was still Almighty God. True man, indeed, but God none the same. And Jesus- who was without sin!- sent His disciples away so He could be renewed… by spending time alone- just He and His Father in prayer.

            As a parent of younger children, the question is not whether children will be messy. The question is how to manage the mess. As a parent of older children, the question is not whether teens will stumble and fall, the question is how graciously will you help them back on their feet. In life, the question is not whether struggling with sin will be messy (because it will), the question is how effectively we can shake off the sin that so easily entangles.

            In ministry, I call it the “No Mess, No Ministry Principle”. And what has fast become one of my favorite Proverbs speaks so poignantly to this life equation: “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean”. In other words, if there’s going to be an ox in the barn, a horse in the stable, or a sheep in the pen, you’re going to have to clean up after it. And if I may be so bold, where there are two or three gathered together, the Lord won’t be the only thing that joins them.

            Here’s a bit of theology that is not often unpacked: Inanimate objects do not sin. You hear in the bible of “rocks crying out”, or “heavens declaring the glory of God”, but you don’t hear much about “oceans bearing false witness” or “mountains coveting their neighbor’s manservant.” All of creation is subject to the sin of man, they feel it’s effect. But if a stable (being an inanimate object) remains empty, it will remain clean. Similarly, if your life is devoid of movement, if you stay away from the animate, life can remain pretty sanitary. And if a church doesn’t move, if the sheep are few and far between, the messiness will be much lighter, but so will the ministry. Where there is mess, there is opportunity for God to work.

            Be it sin, or stress, or sloppiness: The question is not “If…”. The question is how will you deal with it.

            When Jesus descended from His solitary time, He went after His disciples- walking on water, no less, crossed the sea, and when they landed on shore (Mt 14:35) “People brought all their sick to Him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of His cloak, and all who touched Him were healed.” As you can see very vividly, quiet time was done… and it was back in the crowed stable.

            Today Jesus describes it in the most basic and vernacular way possible, sometimes in order to grow, you have to dump on it a pile of poo. 

God has given us an amazing opportunity at Guardian… a chance to touch lives. A place to gather in the flock, feed the sheep, mend the broken, and by doing so, we must also understand that amid the joys of our saving relationship with Jesus, and our Christian fellowship with each other, that we live as sinners sinning in a sinful world. And where the sheep are, invariably a mess will follow.

            And given the alternative- a clean church- well… I’ll take the mess.

            We’ll take the mess because Jesus saved us through the washing of rebirth (Titus 3:5).

            We’ll take the brokenness because Jesus brings back together all things (Eph 1:10).

            We’ll even take the stench of sin, because the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

            For every messy moment, there is a divine solution. And ministry is not about keeping the stable clean, it’s about keeping the sheep clean.