#2 & #3 Mar 18
My #2 reason that the city of Memphis has hope is because of its diversity. I know that by writing that, I'm making many wonder how I could come to the conclusion that diversity could bring us hope when it seems to have turned into the opposite~giving people hatred towards one another, cultivating such a magnitude of racism. My reasoning behind my thinking is simply that I enjoy being able to do a simple errand such such as going to the grocery store and everyone around me does not look like me. I find that when I am constantly surrounded by people who look like me, think like me, walk like me, etc. I sadly just become part of a bubble, which I admit it is easy for me to do. Although it sounds so simple and simple to get over, it is not and how I do not want to pass that legacy onto my children! I want to add too that my husband is such an example for me to follow in thinking and appreciating things that are different from me. All that to say, it is so good for me, thus good for my family, to live in a city and be around people that do not fit the mold that I so often try to fit. "Different" people remind me to embrace the different that I may not forget how to love. "Different" people remind me that my God is not a respecter of persons. "Different" people remind me that no matter how much I try to make much out of myself or my children or my house or my things, it is chasing after the wind. "Different" people remind me quite simply that I am not all that, nor was I ever meant to be.
#2 brings me to #3. The third reason that the city of Memphis gives me hope is because of Grace Church and churches like Grace. Though I have to yet to really know of several churches in the city who are serious to truly bring revival to the city of Memphis, I am aware of them and am so thankful that we are a part of one. I also believe that it would only take less than a dozen authentic churches to really make a difference. Memphis is not the way that is it because of our neighborhoods. Memphis is not the way that it is because of our schools. Memphis is not even the way that it is because of racism. Although all those issues are hurting Memphis, it is the way that it is because of our churches. Churches have hurt Memphis and continue to hurt Memphis and ultimately bring about the hurting in other areas like politics, schools, and minds. Churches hurt the city for two reasons. 1. We are not healed as a city because the Truth of the Lord Jesus is not preached. And/Or 2. When Truth is preached, it falls on deaf ears and the church (i.e. the people) fails to take Truth seriously. We are in the Bible Belt. We have churches literally on every corner, sometimes 2. They're not like Jesus though, nor do they want to be. If they wanted to be, they would have to revolutionize. (note: they in the previous sentences can be referring to the actual people of the church inasmuch as the church establishment.) Yes, I have visited only few churches in the city. But I do not think I need to visit all of them to come to this conclusion. I can turn on the news and know this about the churches in our city. We, including myself, in the city of Memphis are fakes for the cause of Christ. Let me refer to Tyler's comment in my previous post #1: "...Case in point, I can't tell you how many people have told us 'how bad the neighborhood has gotten since you guys left Memphis.' What they mean to say, if they would speak what they are really thinking, is, 'We need to sell our house and move to the country because there are so many black people moving around us.' Or even as blatantly as, 'It's the blacks.' ....but until the last few years I had never really evaluated how segregated we really are...." That may seem like a random quote to put in at this point in my writing, but quite frankly, I am guilty of thinking those exact thoughts and even saying words much like that. (Please do not misunderstand me: it is not bad to move into the country or/and out of the city of Memphis...it only becomes bad when our mindset becomes that of hatred instead of love.) And, I will add that I call myself a follower of Christ and have always been an active member of a body of believers. Hence, I, as part of the church universal, am hurting the city of Memphis. My family and I are striving to do better but I admit too that it at times overwhelms me to think what we may called to do...where we may be called to live within the city in order to bring Christ to the city. Leaders, neighborhoods, school, and sentiments would be revolutionized if our churches/people in the church strove to be truly preaching the Truth and making even the tiniest efforts to share that Truth, authentically living Christ.
I admit although I've been thinking these things for several years now (I want to add here too that going to Grace Church did not bring on this thinking...our previous beloved church is also a wonderful example of the hope the city has..our church is just one example), when I decided to write about things that give me hope about Memphis, I did not think I would get this serious, nor will I probably be this serious in the coming posts. I mean to be thankful~and I am...for diversity and for churches within the city who are serious about the hurting in Memphis.
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