your blood pressure is...WHAT ?

So, being a nurse, one of the most basic things we are taught to check to assess how someone is doing is taking their vital signs. This usually consists of their temperature, pulse, respirations and blood pressure. This is the standard and usually applicable in almost every situation. I am sure that I have taken literally thousands of vital signs in the last almost 40 years. I can also assure you that I have seen every value from the lowest low to the highest high. I can remember many times of being scared of a particular numerical reading and really focusing my efforts on fixing the number...irrespective of what the patient looked like. It took me lots of years to relax and learn to focus on the overall picture and not one isolated element. I was thinking abut this a lot lately and pondering how when we focus too closely and intently on one thing or aspect of something we impair our vision for the big picture that God wants to see. Unfortunately, even with the best of our state of the art medical technology we have yet to devise a thermometer or other device to measure our spiritual vital signs. I have discovered this is often times the most critical and overlooked vital sign and has significant impact on all the others. It is a well know fact that the wellness of our spirituality has a direct impact on our physical health. This is where the whole concept of holistic health originated. Any one aspect of our health cannot be ignored or it will be at the expense of total wellness. The challenge is how do we not only measure but intervene to repair and improve our spiritual health. The hard part with most people is just to talk about it. It still is an area that is mostly off limits in discussions and talking about health history. We readily discuss the most intimate and personal heath issues with almost complete strangers readily. However when it comes to the issues of our spiritual health it is a very different story. We stiffen up, become defensive and feel personally challenged when questioned even in the most benign manner. I can readily imagine a conversation between you and your doctor going something like this, "well...your blood pressure is better and your cholesterol has really improved...". And you say, "yeah...I have been exercising a little more...you know, trying to watch what I'm eating...". Your doctor then says, " You still going to church ? Making time to read the Bible ? you still praying every day ? what about your small group ?...". Would that be awkward ? You bet...Would you be shocked and possibly irritable ? Highly probable...It is almost like it is the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle laying there before us but we don't want to touch it and finish the picture. We do our best to keep it private and to try and ignore the importance of our relationship with God as a barometer of our state of wellness. How do we fix "sickness" in others spiritual health. First and foremost we need to make sure ours is healthy. It is hard to be sick or wounded and try to give good advice to someone else to improve theirs if ours is broken. Secondly, our approach has to be relational and not condemning and judgemental. We have to take people right where they are at...not where we want them to be, and go from there. We need to love people back into healthiness and not shame them into going somewhere they are not ready to go. It's like losing weight when you aren't mentally ready and haven't dealt with underlying emotional issues...it just comes back on. Our spiritual health is the foundation and bedrock on which everything else rests. We certainly know happens without a strong foundation to build on...everything eventually collapses. So, the next time you see me and I am asking about your blood pressure, blood sugar and other "numbers" don't get mad or tense up when I ask you, " how are you and Jesus getting along these days ?...did you two finally work out your differences ?...No ? ...you need to or it's gonna kill you..."

Romans12:13    Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.


3 John 1:5-8  Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are,  who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.  For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.


So, with these two verses in mind, it is clear that we, the church, are to provide and contribute to the needs of saints as they journey on misson sharing the gospel with a lost world. Author and theologian, Ana Maria Pineda says,
"To welcome the stranger is to acknowledge him as a human being made in God's image; it is to treat her as one of equal worth with ourselves - indeed, as one who may teach us something out of the richness of experiences different from our own."
The longstanding Christian tradition of hospitality is the practice of providing a welcoming place to take in a stranger. It also includes the willingness to welcome strangers and those in need as well as friends and family to our tables, to feed and be fed by their presence there. It is abundantly clear, in the Bible, offering hospitality is a moral imperative. God's people need to remember the fact they were once strangers and wandering homeless refugees who were taken in by a benevolent and loving God. Shouldn't this memory of reliance on hospitality make someone feel inclined to host a stranger or a refugee? I think it would. I have no problem with that concept so I find it very difficult that anyone else would, especially a church or someone speaking for a church. I am going on a fund raising mission trip this summer involving 1800 miles of bicycling from Mobile Alabama to Buffalo New York. I will average about 75 miles a day which equates to roughly 6 hours a day on a bike seat about as wide as my hand. An important part of these mission focused bicycling trips is to interact with the local communities we will ride through on the route. And an important part of those communities are the local churches. It is faith building for both the cyclists and those we meet to share what God is doing on this trip and has done in our lives. This sharing our stories and sharing the gospel message of Jesus to serve others is as important as anything we do on this ride. However, if for any various number of reasons you individually or your church decides not to participate and demonstrate the hospitality that is decribed in the above referenced scripture, then we both lose. I have had the opportunity to be in contact with a number of churches in an attempt to find a willing host for the team after a long day of riding and have been both surprised and disappointed. I have been left with the feeling that I am selling some unknown product door to door and had that door closed in my face. That makes me feel like the "church" still just doesn't get it. I feel like I am an imposition on someone when in reality I am a blessing and an encourager sent to build your faith. I hear so much talk about being "missional" and "the GREAT comission" but the reality is we, meaning the church, are still hopelessly trapped inside the four walls of our buildings. We can't think, see or step outside the boxes or, God forbid, cross denominational lines. I won't lie...it hurts me when I am rejected and not even given the opportunity to share what I am doing to take the gospel to a lost and hurting world. It is unbelievable how poorly churches respond to email and telephone messages left on voicemails. I call it basic everyday common courtesy and it is sorely lacking in all areas of our culture. However, as an organization that is primarily in the business of responding to peoples needs, I seriously question how that is being done in a timely and effective manner. Maybe that's the problem....maybe the church has turned into an organization run by a CEO and is bloated with layers of administrative protocol that precludes even the simplest request by a group of cyclist passing though at the end of the day, tired and hungry. Seriously, church...is it really the best that you can do to send them away to a campground on the other side of town ? Is that really your understanding of the above scriptures ? If it is, we are really in big trouble. The fact is for many churches they "get it" and they are excited and eager to provide for our needs and sometimes it is hard to decide who gets blessed more in those times. I am thankful and hopeful that by their example others will follow. Then maybe the next time someone asks them to step out with a risky faith they will say..."yes...we would love to help you out...what can we do to help"