A Call to Stay Long Enough for Things to Get Messy

There are many forms of tourism. The resort tourist is looking for that perfect postcard moment to help them forget the stress of their American lifestyle, while the missionary tourist is looking for that unfortunate soul that would benefit from their benevolence, leaving them feeling gratefully superior. All forms of tourism from slums to spas, homeless shelters to 5 star hotels, are set up for one end, to make you, the tourist, feel better.

The delicate art of tourism seeks to manipulate the heartstrings of the tourist just enough to loosen their wallet and brighten their scrapbook, without requiring any long-term commitment. It is a fine balance to show just enough that the tourist leaves with a more digestible version of reality.

I often watch people approach the issues of racial reconciliation, social justice and ministry like tourists. They do service projects every MLK day, wear an “X” to end sexual slavery, buy purses made by refugees and even serve food to local homeless shelters for the holidays. Of course, none of these things are bad. In fact, I actually do each of these things myself. 

It is not the action that is inherently troublesome, but the transient state of mind.

The tourist is coming for the feel good experience. They enter the conversation all shiny, bright and optimistic doling out Christian clichés and quick fixes, never staying long enough to learn that their Band-Aid is only a cover up.

Christ has not called us to be tourists. He has called us to be sojourners. Both the sojourner and the tourist are in a land that is not there own. The difference, the sojourner commits long enough for things to get messy.

A quick heart check to determine if you are doing life and ministry like a tourist: ask yourself if you have stayed long enough to experience discomfort, disillusionment, complexity and pain.

1.     Discomfort: When you commit and stay long enough to be trusted, the conversations change. Nice pleasantries are dropped and hidden sins are revealed, including your own. It is the difference between dating and marriage.

2.     Disillusionment: When you plant yourself in the lives of others, you realize that people, situations and systems are more broken than you could have ever realized.

3.     Complexity: When you truly invest on a heart level, you get to see beyond the surface pain to true beauty, beyond masks to hidden hurts. When you let your heart get involved, everything gets a bit more complicated.

4.     Pain: If you move to the frontlines, you will get hit. The hurt, hurt. It's a part of the process.  Battle wounds are the proof that you are in the battle.

The sojourner has learned, there are no quick fixes, no easy answers; we are in a battle that only Christ can redeem. Doing ministry where life exists simply means committing, planting and staying in one space long enough to become desperately reliant on Jesus to save.

Commit to someone, some thing, somewhere, long enough to see the the mess, and stay in the mess long enough to see the beauty!

"The WORD became flesh and dwelt among us... " (John 1:14)