Hearing the Music

Orphans no more! Reaching college students.

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  Ephesians 1:5-6 

Late one night in 2011, I walked into the dorms to lead a Bible study with 8 Division I baseball players. My palms were sweaty, my heart was racing, and my nerves were screaming, “Just turn back! It’s not too late to bail on this one.” These guys were tough. They had little interest in God and sneakily called me Bible Kenny (I found that little fact out about 2 years later!). The decision to hang in there led to God not only saving a set of twin pitchers on the team, but so much more. I vividly remember gathering 3 years later in my living room with friends on the soccer team who came to Christ as well as their girlfriends on the volleyball team who had chosen to follow Jesus. It was truly amazing! Little did I know where this journey would take me or what God would do with my meager plans. 

Laura and I adopted Maria Klaire, our fourth child, as a result of a seed that was planted in my heart during that Bible study with baby Christians. First, through studying Ephesians 1:6, God showed me how He adopted me into His family. Second, God compelled me to live an outward-facing life built off the motto “orphans no more.” Laura and I began a two-year journey that ended with bringing our daughter home. There were two distinct moments I gave up, but God kept us going. It was not easy, but great things never are. And we were reminded how God, the Great Evangelist and our Heavenly Father, has never given up when gathering His orphaned children home.

This Fall, I have a similar opportunity with the Calvin football team (helping lead a weekly Bible study) and I cannot wait to see once again how God works beyond us. As a church, we have a similar opportunity with all the CAM students in our midst. Please be praying with me that God would use us to help connect spiritual orphans to the Heavenly Father we all desperately need.

Photo by Jake Ingle on Unsplash

Grace-filled Community

I do like some classic movie series and books, but 2 Samuel has been a real tearjerker: David found guilty of an affair and murder, Tamar's heart-wrenching abuse, Amnon and Absalom are dead, and I still cry.

Ernest Hemingway's short story, The Capital of the World, comes to mind. In it, we meet Paco and his father living in Spain, where Paco is a very ordinary, common name. After another unpleasant confrontation between the two, Paco packs his belongings and leaves home. After some time, his father can't stand it any longer and decides to go look for him. He travels to Madrid, for big cities always attracted Paco, and puts an ad in the most prominent paper of Madrid with a message along these lines: "Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday. All is forgiven. Love, Papa." That Tuesday at noon he is astonished to discover 800 young men named Paco waiting to embrace their father's forgiveness.

Every person longs for forgiveness and grace, for a space where you're not held to account for what you have done or didn't do, where you don't have to earn love. 

Our challenge is to be that graceful, grace-filled, correcting community, where your past will not all of a sudden mercilessly be used against you, where your real life, with what looks orderly and what is a chaos, unconditionally is accepted and loved. Where Davids, Tamars, Amnons, and Absaloms find a listening ear and a helping hand to dry their tears.


Photo: Emma van der Veen

Every Two Minutes

As we continue through 2 Samuel, we come this week to chapter 13, which narrates the sexual assault of Tamar by her half-brother Amnon. It is a brutal chapter that not only captures the nature of sin, but the narrator also gives an insightful look into the experience of the victim.  Some may wish that this chapter were not in the Biblical record or argue that we should not deal with it in during the ordinary course of worship. However, as we have noted previously, all scripture is God-Breathed and is given to us for our edification and is therefore useful and necessary for us to pursue. A couple things in particular stand out as being pertinent to reckon with in covering a chapter like 2 Sam 13.

First, statistics show that a sexual assault occurs every 2 minutes in the US. One in four women and one in six men report being victims of sexual assault, with the numbers assuredly being much higher as sexual assault is woefully underreported given its sensitive and shaming nature. Sexual assault occurs both within the community of faith and outside of the community of faith. This means that we share the pews with those who have been victimized by sexual assault. If the numbers hold true, our best guess would be about 100 to 150 of our regular attenders.  

Second, in addition to its violent, non-consensual nature, one of the factors that contributes to the power that sexual assault has in the life of its victims is the "code of silence" that so often surrounds it. In our text for this week, Tamar is told to "keep her peace" by her brother Absalom and is sent away into isolation from her family. David, the king, her father and should-be protector, is angry, but does nothing. Tamar lives out her days as a desolate woman. Part of the grace of this passage is that God sees and does not bury this incident, but rather has it recorded for subsequent generations to grapple with.

Please join me in covering our service this Sunday in prayer. For some, this text may stir up very strong responses. Pray that we as a community would steward these responses well. We do take seriously the abuse that occurs within our broken world. As a denomination, we have produced a comprehensive report on domestic abuse that includes solid theology as well as practical guidance for ministering to victims and perpetrators. As a church, we have policies in place meant to protect our children, training meant to equip ministry leaders with appropriate tools for recognizing abuse, and ministries such as Advocates for the Wounded and Abused and Journey groups that seek to come alongside those who are struggling. If you do find that this text is triggering for you in any way, we pray that you will find the necessary strength to reach out.

 Photo by Patrick Langwallner on Unsplash