The Gospel Train

Hey Church!
 
The Coelhos left this past Sunday for a much-deserved vacation. Be encouraged to pray for them over the next two weeks as they enjoy the cooler weather and beautiful surroundings of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
 
Those of us here in Austin (or live-streaming from afar) are going to hear Jesus speak some strong words this Sunday: ‘I didn’t come to bring peace, but a sword. Don’t cling to your family. Don’t cling to this life. Be willing to lose everything for my sake.’
 
This is not a conciliatory, middle-of-the-road picture of discipleship. It’s a picture of the church engaged in spiritual conflict. Jesus leaves little room for compromise.  

It is an intimidating prospect. I have found it heartening to remember different heroes of the faith who have endured opposition for Christ and the values of the kingdom of God. Given our society’s continued reckoning with racial injustice, I have been drawn in particular to our sisters and brothers of color. Jesus invites those of us born into advantage into places of risk. Many don’t experience that privilege; they’re born into struggle. 
 
Fannie Lou Hamer is a remarkable example. She was an organizer and Christian activist during ‘God’s Long Summer’ - a campaign launched in June 1964 that attempted to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississippi. She was arrested in Winona, Mississippi after participating in a voter registration training. Beaten so badly she could not lie down in her cell, she somehow found the courage to sing:
 

Paul and Silas was bound in jail, let my people go. 
Had no money for to go their bail, let my people go.
 
Paul and Silas began to shout, let my people go.
Jail doors open and they walked out, let my people go.

“Singing brings out the soul,” she would later say, helping her “stay on the Gospel train until it reaches the kingdom.” I love that image of discipleship as “staying on the Gospel train.” Jesus has laid the tracks, fueled the engine and called us aboard. He leads us to contend for a just and peaceful future places in places of pain and disarray.
 
I hope you can join us on Sunday as we consider what Jesus' words might mean for us in our time and place.

Nick