A Disappointing Week

Busy time lately here in Idaho Springs, CO. My friend Amy P called me last Tuesday to tell me she was experiencing severe abdominal pain and could I come over.

I found Amy writhing with pain and crying. I tried calling 911 but she wouldn't allow it. So I began calling friends and couldn't get any help in driving her to the ER down in Lakewood. I then called Pastor Craig Babcock from Evergreen Calvary Church up on Floyd Hill. It took him 40 minutes or so to get to Idaho Springs.

Pastor Craig and I spent the next 7 hrs in the emergency room at St Anthony's Hospital as the doctors ran a CT Scan and performed an ultrasound. They found a "suspicious mass" in her uterus. So, they referred her to an OBGYN. Long story short, the gynecologist found several fibroid tumors in the uterus. These tumors are benign.

In order to get her to the doctors I had to borrow Joe the plumber's only pickup truck. He has two cars but his wife and daughter need them for work and school. Joe needs his truck for work but graciously and without thought allowed me to use it to take Amy to her doctor's appointment. I had to keep the truck for 3 days since the doctor's office couldn't confirm the appointment until Friday.

I learned a hard lesson from this experience. I called around 6 Christian ladies from churches and businesses in town all personally known by me to ask them to take Amy to her doctor down in Lakewood. All 6 had reasons why they could not do so. I gave them 3 possible days to pick from but alas...none of those 3 days worked for those 6 ladies. The reason I called ladies was because this medical issue appeared to be a female issue and my thinking was that Amy would feel more comfortable with a lady than me.

The last person I called was Joe the plumber. And, fortunately, he didn't let his need for his truck outweigh the need of a young lady in distress. The others had excuses (some of which were legitimate excuses by the way) of one kind or another and refused to help.

A couple of these ladies were friends of Amy and in fact had hovered over her  like a mother hen in the past. That's why I thought they would be glad to give up their agenda for Amy...who by the way is disabled and is pretty much without family in town.

So, the job devolved on me by default. Not, that I minded. I was glad to do it. I care for Amy very much...as does Joe and Pastor Craig. Amy also has a male coworker who volunteered to pay for Amy's prescriptions and drive her to the local pharmacy.

What I found out later was that at least one of these women criticized me for taking Amy to the doctor where female issues would be discussed. This was considered inappropriate by this woman. She also quizzed Amy about the nature of Amy's relationship with me. Was it a boyfriend/girlfriend or father/daughter or brother/sister relationship? And, on and on the inquisition went.

I don't mind criticism especially where it's warranted.  But, this lady could have sacrificed some of her precious time to help Amy but chose not to. Therefore, she is not eligible to criticize me since she could have rectified the situation.

You really know who your friends are when your desperate and down and out. You should be able to expect help from your Christian brothers and sisters. We are supposed to be family. True family. Spirit should be stronger than blood. But, this is the central problem with American Christianity today, lack of solidarity amongst believers, lack of love for God and our neighbors, lack of love for the brotherhood and sisterhood. Don't get me wrong. I can be guilty of this as well. But, I struggle against it trying to deny my own agenda and think of others more and more.

This lack of love was exposed by Christ himself in his letters to the 7 churches in the Book of Revelation. The appalling lack of Christian hospitality and this idea of rugged individualism so endemic in American culture is surely the reason why so called Christians in America have had so little impact on our culture today.

Try it yourself if you don't believe me. Toss away your monetary and familial crutches and throw yourself out into American society carrying only a backpack and announce that your a disciple of Christ proclaiming the nearness of the Kingdom of God.

In my particular experience, I found assistance and solidarity more frequently with non religious persons than with alleged conservative evangelical Christians. I was astounded by this.

I did find true Christian hospitality out on the road too. But, all too often I ran into opposition with the nature of the focus of my journey and by the clergy and Christian fundamentalists. I expected solidarity from fundamentalists as my proclamation of the Kingdom of God is a "fundamental" of Christianity... or so I thought.

I believe the "Church Universal" as it operates in America today is so accommodated to the westernized culture of greed, individualism and isolation that it is of no effect or import. The salt had lost its saltiness. America's lampstand has been taken away. We Christians are the image of our culture instead of the image of God.

We are the church at Laodicea who thought they had need of nothing being rich. They were neither hot nor cold but lukewarm. And, so God vomited them out of his mouth, metaphorically speaking. In other words, they were of no use to him in that state. Like Ephesus we too have lost our first love...love for Christ and for the things Christ loves...namely people.

The Church needs to look inward to itself and once again find its first love. Otherwise, it looks as if it has conceded the good fight to the side of evil, avarice and selfishness.

Let's hope that there is still time sufficient to repent, to change our thinking, to change our minds die to ourselves and follow Christ daily.

The first photo is Joe the plumber and the second is Amy in the ER.

BR Schoenbein
April 11, 2016- Monday