Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll

I actually started out my last post to write all about Mark Driscoll and what has happened at Mars Hill.  I didn't feel like I could adequately explain why I care so much without giving some of my own background, so that's what the last post was all about -- now back to why I started writing.

Watching this whole Mark Driscoll thing unfold -- from a distance and on the internet -- has caused all of the feels.  

Why do I care so much?! 

How could Mark Driscoll think he could get away with this for so long?

I'm so glad someone called the emporer naked.  This serves him right.

God please help Mark Driscoll and his family.
How could any woman stomach being married to this guy when he does not value women?!?

God please help the victims of the spiritual abuse suffered at the hands of Mars Hill.

OMG what a black eye on the body of Christ.

This is what I could be if I don't check pride at the door.

There but for the grace of God go I.

Jesus be near.

In short, I don't know what to think.  I am glad he has resigned.  The more information that comes out, the deeper it seems that the black hole goes.  It's sad.  I'm so sad for the women and others who suffered spiritual abuse either directly in his hands or in the environment he helped to create -- an environment of misogyny, bullying, and authoritarianism.

It shows me how grace matters.  It shows me how destructive environments that promote Jesus yet do not extend grace can be.  It shows me how actions have consequences.  And it is yet another illustration that a person's gifiting -- communication, rallying people behind an idea, etc. -- can destroy them in the spotlight if their character is not strong enough to sustain their calling.

Yet I'd be hardpressed not to see a bit of myself in him.  It's the perfect illustration of what can happen if you surround yourself with people who unilaterally agree with you and won't call you on your issues.  It's a reality check, both to the body of Christ and to me.  I hope we never have people hurt in the hands of spiritual leaders -- particularly those lauded by those around them -- again.  I pray that God is developing my character so that whatever sphere of influence I end up in -- large or small -- my character is not insufficient to sustain me.

It's all just really sad to me.  And I do hope Mark Driscoll heals and is restored -- but I also hope that he truly repents so there is not even more collateral damage and more victims of spiritual abuse.

God sent His son...here?

The news of the Sandy Hook massacre has hit me hard, as it has our entire country. This weekend was hard, and I spent a good chunk of it crying and asking God, "Why?" Every Christmas carol took on new meaning in light of this tragedy.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay 

Close by me forever, and love me, I pray; 

Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care, 

And fit us for Heaven to live with Thee there. 

The thought of God sending His son to die a painful, embarrassing, emotionally taxing death in our stead is unfathomable enough.  But this morning, collecting myself as I wiped the tears from my eyes and read about parents struggling to put their kids on busses and drop them off at day care centers, the Christmas story hit me from an entirely new angle.   Not only did God know what ultimately awaited His son, He sent Jesus to spend 33 years in this fallen world.  Our world of Sandy Hook and Columbine.  The world of the Holocaust and the Crusades.  Our world of Darfur and Rwanda and Gaza.  God sent His Son here, to live among us fallen and spiteful and mean people.

He knew Jesus would be bullied. 

He knew Jesus would hang out with and ultimately die for the Adam Lanzas and Jared Loughners of the day. 

He knew what hatred Jesus would see and experience.

God knew. 
And He sent His son anyway. 

So today, as we send our kids to schools we know can be unsafe, I remember that we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).  God the Father knows how each parent who struggled to drop off kids this morning feels.  After all, He did a very similar thing for us 2000 years ago when He sent His Son Jesus to this Earth.

And this leaves me speechless, and I'm not even a parent.

Thank you. The words seem so inadequate -- and they are -- but they are all I have.  Gratitude and a life offered in submission to Jesus Christ.