Swingsets, Tools and Pigs

My neighbor (I will just call him “Bill”) walked over yesterday evening. I was in the back yard working on a swing set / play yard for the kids and he just walked up. (By the way, what ever happened to the inexpensive $50 contraptions with the hollow aluminum poles filled with yellow jacket nests? I always thought that kind of added to the excitement of playing outdoors. Like a high risk obstacle course of sorts. Now we have to go all out and spend hundreds of dollars to put together a structure better than what at least 1/3 of the world’s population uses for permanent housing.)

Anyway, back to “Bill” coming over. Over the past year of being neighbors we have had a few conversations, always initiated by Susie or myself, and mainly on the subject of home repair since we have both been doing some remodeling.

Two weeks ago I was putting up some crown molding and needed a particular saw that I didn’t have. I knew that a church member who lives nearby had one, but I also figured that “Bill” had one as well. I had a decision, I could drive to the home of the church member, or I could simply walk next door. Easy decision, right? Actually I must confess that it took a little effort to force myself to cross that great chasm otherwise known as my driveway and to knock on the door. (And just think, I do this whole “build relationships with non-christians thing” for a living!)

The short version of the story is that he did have the saw I needed. During the course of the conversation I also discovered that “Bill’s” weed eater was on the fritz, so I lent him mine. I also happened to mention that we were cooking a 90 lb pig in our back yard on Labor Day, were expecting 50 – 60 people for dinner that evening, and would be more than happy for he and his wife to join us. (I will share a little more of the rationale for why we are throwing a party for non-christians in our neighborhood at a later date.)

So like I said, yesterday “Bill”, who has never initiated any contact at all over the past year, took the initiative to walk over, let us know they were looking forward to the party and to offer his driveway for extra parking space for the event. That was kind of a big deal.

You see, the Gospel is not merely a set formula that we use on people to manipulate an intended outcome. (Granted, if we truly love people then there is obviously a desired outcome. We certainly would love to see those we are in contact with come to know Christ as we know him.)

The Gospel is, at least in part, relationship. It is loving people well. It is our motivation for initiating relationships and it is our reason for continuing to invest in those relationships over the long haul, regardless of whether or not the individual “responds”. It is getting to know others and seeking out, recognizing, and honoring the image of God which they bear, however dimly that image might be. While it can be a one time, one shot type deal, often it is deeper and more effective when it is part of an ongoing relational context in which life is shared. Sharing this Gospel can look like sitting down with someone and talking through Christ’s claims about himself in Scripture. Or at times, steps in the process can look like borrowing a saw, loaning a weed eater or even throwing a party.

Man, I am really looking forward to loving people with pork by throwing a Jesus-type party this coming Monday, if this playground doesn’t kill me first.