Metro Youth Network

Old McDonald Had a Farm….

Mrs. McDonald goes out to check on the many chickens she is raising. Due to the high demand for inexpensive meat, these chickens are raised using antibiotics that will help them mature faster. (In the 1950’s it took 84 days to raise a chicken…today it takes about half that time.) This would all sound like good news except for the fact that Mrs. McDonald has to regularly pull out the chickens who’ve died because of the many physical conditions that arise from raising chickens in such an unnatural, unhealthy way. The chickens are raised in dark, cramped conditions, walking around in their own …(well, you know what…) It wouldn’t bother Mrs. McDonald too much except for the fact that her constant exposure to these antibiotics has made her allergic to any and all antibiotics.

This scene is a reality in our country and could be repeated when we’re talking about cows and pigs as well. Inhumane conditions exist so we can feed ourselves as much and as cheaply as we desire. But oftentimes we end up hurting ourselves more by doing so – not only do we introduce unwelcome chemicals into our bodies but we give ourselves even more opportunity to be overweight and unhealthy.

So what is a godly response to all this?

I’m reminded, first of all, that it was God who created all living things. Secondly, Adam was given the responsibility of caring for the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15).

For some the response may to be giving up eating meat altogether. For some of the rest of us that idea is a bit hard to swallow! However, we can act in ways that show we value what God has made – we can be responsible consumers from the meat we eat to the chocolate we crave (which is often produced from children bound by slavery). This is a great time and a great opportunity to be a Christian – not only do we know what is the right thing to do but we have lots of reasons to do so. As a believer in a loving, eternal God who values His creation more than I can know or understand, and as a creature made in His image, I have every reason to be supportive and an advocate for those who are trapped as the result of unhealthy desires.

Just keep in mind this verse, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
I Corinthians 10:31

Every day we are bombarded by images; many of which taint our minds and bring pictures into our heads that just should not be there. I knew this, but realized this past Lent exactly how true this was.

First of all, I will be the first to admit that I love to watch movies. After a long day at work, there’s nothing better than putting in a good movie, making a cup of peppermint tea (my favorite) and relaxing. When I’m hanging out with my friends, nine times out of ten, we’d put in a movie and enjoy each other’s company while watching it. Now, I don’t think that there is anything wrong with this, but I want to tell you a little bit about my experience temporarily giving up movies, secular music, and television and then challenge you to do the same.

In movies today, there is more and more “garbage”, for lack of a better word. Sex, violence, drug use, and much more floods our minds as we watch these movies. James 1:13-15 says, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after the desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” When we open ourselves up by watching movies with these dangerous themes, we are opening the doors for temptation, which can then lead to sin. My favorite song (I’m being sarcastic here) is one that I heard on 103.5 KISS FM a few months back. It’s called “I’m a Dog” by Gucci Mane. I’m not even going to put the lyrics on here because they are so awful. To give you a brief summary, the song basically talks about treating women like a dog….not respectful, not loving, not God-like, just garbage. Why would we choose to listen to this type of music? Why would we fill our heads with lies instead of the truth?

During lent, I didn’t watch any movies or television, and I didn’t listen to any secular music. At first, I will admit that it was very hard, but then I realized that with the time I would spend watching a movie, I was spending time with God- something I should have been doing all along! It cleared my mind of that “garbage” I talked about earlier, and actually, I felt that I had a much more positive attitude. Instead of listening to 103.5 FM or 96.3 FM, I listened to 89.7 FM which plays wholesome, Christian music. Instead of having people over to watch movies, we actually sat at the dining room table and ate dinner, fellowshipping with one another. Instead of filling my time with things that really just wasted my time, I spent time growing and breaking free from sin in my life! Since my fast has been over, I have realized that God has changed how I use my time. I haven’t really had the desire to watch as many movies, and I crave that time with God!

Just to reiterate: I don’t think that watching movies, television, and secular music are horrible things. However, I do think that fasting from things like this could have a huge impact on your life! God puts things into perspective. I challenge you to take out the garbage, and watch how God changes you!

Cast your mind back to September 2004, not a particularly memorable month you may say, but I hasten to disagree; it was the beginning of the ABC hit TV phenomenon that is LOST. Very rarely do I invest myself in something so intensely and for such a length of time, for me it truly was the beginning of a love affair with the cast, crew and stories of LOST. Now five and a half years and 116 episodes later we have nearly reached the end, only eleven more episodes to go and the island will finally divulge its secrets… or will it?

Much has been written, blogged and podcasted about the religious aspects of LOST, the show has contained everything from drug filled statues of the Virgin Mary, a ‘man of science’ verses a ‘man of faith’ and the show’s very own skeletons of ‘Adam and Eve’. One of the very first ‘theories’ of the show was that the island was purgatory where the eternal fate of the show’s characters were decided. Even though the show’s producers quickly denied this, an air of faith and destiny has always been at the heart of LOST.

Throughout the show’s five series it has focused on three main groups of people: those who crashed on the island when their flight Oceanic 815 went down – the ‘losties’, those who have grown up on the island since birth living and hiding in the jungle – the ‘others’, and finally those who came in the 1970’s as part of a scientific research group to study the island – ‘the Dharma Initiative’. This eclectic mix of people is very similar to your average church, although it may be missing the convict, millionaire and ex-Republican Guard torturer.

I, like many others in the church (no pun intended), am much like ‘the others’ in LOST, we were born and raised in the corps. As Mr. Zeke says ‘this is our island’, we believe it is our church. Our parents were the local officers, our parents were on the corps council and our parents even sometimes have a rank before their name. Our mindset needs to be and often is challenged by new people coming into the church – onto our island.

The ‘losties’ are those who ‘crash’ into our church often with stories of incredible transformation and conversion. They come with a newfound passion for the church, for Christ and what it means to serve Him. Sometimes this difference of arrival can cause tension and friction, differences of opinion and methods can make small decisions big and the insignificant important. However the losties’ passion is commendable, they seek to make things better and to have an authentic relationship with Christ.

Our third group the ‘Dharma Initiative’ slip quietly into our corps and then watch, listening intently to the sermons and Bible studies, conducting ‘experiments’ and testing the water, they want to be certain of the truth before they commit. This can sometimes take a long time, the losties wonder why they do not just throw themselves in headfirst but those in ‘the initiative’ need time. When they do finally commit there is much rejoicing as they make that change from listener to partaker.

As Christians we are called to love God, love LOST people and love each other, no matter if they are losties, others or the Dharma Initiative. Unlike the cast of LOST, however, our mission is to look outside of our church, our island, to people who are truly lost and bring them to a place where they are truly found.

I have been honored to be asked to participate in this writer’s schedule with Metroyouthnetwork. Having agreed to do so, I am now challenged with sharing thoughts on “culture.” So I started this first day of a new work week reflecting on, of all things, our Salvation Army culture.

I idly flipped through an Army publication to start somewhere. “Arts” would be the first in that long culture line; over the weekend I had been excited to receive the news of the highly successful concert offered by the Army youth in the United Kingdom. 140 young folks gathered in Bournemouth, the seashore community made famous by tourists, for a week similar to Central’s CMI. It culminated in what turned out to be an awesome musical extravaganza under the banner “Seize the Day!” That arrested my attention, as “Carpe Diem” (seize the day) has resonated with me for a long time.

With sincere apologies to musician aficionados of this column, I grabbed on to my own usual carpe diem imperatives – usually wrapped around finding the multitude of opportunities for using new relationships with the disenfranchised to bring them to the Savior. Just recently one territory has been conducting their own re-branding of Army housing programs with focus on beginning to view homeless people as folks who have a contribution to play in our society. Hmm!

My mind kept skipping as it often does when I get to these issues. The next stop was a Chicago Sun Times article regarding the appointment of Cheryl Hyman, currently top executive at Com Ed, but soon to be chancellor for City Colleges of Chicago. Her personal story is high school drop out, leaving her home with substance abusing parents to avoid falling into her parents’ trap, following her burning passion “to do better.” She obviously did but continues to mentor teens in Chicago’s inner city. She’s often queried why she was successful while so many are not. I quote her response: “a lot of our kids don’t have that inner strength. Success needs to look like them. Success needs to feel like them….”

So my mind skips onward to our inner city corps and the many teens that are involved with the Army activities. Does the “culture” we minister there meet Cheryl Hyman’s criteria? Do you and I foster those kinds of relationship bridges?

My mind goes back to the “Seize the Day” concert which highlighted the testimony of Paul, the apostle. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) the territorial youth chorus rendering “His Strength is Perfect.” A later number happened to be “Wake Up, O Sleeper” – coincident or strategic?
Hazel Lee contributes this to the Carpe Diem dictionary that can be found on line: “I held a moment in my heart, brilliant as a star, fragile as a flower, a tiny sliver of one hour. I dropped it carelessly. Ah! I didn’t know I held an opportunity.”

Grab a culture opportunity today!