On Friday, May 23rd, I left Atlanta with 16 other folks that I barely knew and flew to Sofia, Bulgaria via Frankfurt, Germany. We were met by members of the local church upon our arrival in Sofia and whisked away in their cars to a small, quiet hotel in Sofia. Riding in my new Bulgarian brother Nicky’s car, I sat back and took in the vestiges of Communist rule. Bulgaria became a People’s Republic after World War II, an Eastern bloc country that became one of the Soviet Union’s biggest allies. I’ll only be 30 this year, but I grew up fully in the shadow of the Cold War, watching Reagan and Gorbachev go back and forth in speeches and jingoistic nationalism run rampant through America & the USSR. I remember watching the famous Reagan speech, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!” If Reagan could do anything, he could deliver a line. Anyway, with this in mind, it felt like a gray pall was cast over everything in Bulgaria…the overcast day helped with that, but I felt like everything I saw, the plain block apartment buildings, the cars, the streets, etc were holdovers from everything I ever saw or read regarding Communist countries as a kid. Following the revolutions of 1989, Bulgaria switched over to Democratic rule in 1990. That was 18 years ago…18 years of Western companies slowly moving in along with our “culture”.
After a good dinner and a night of sleep, we attended church in a theater in the middle of the city within walking distance of Alexsander Nevsky Church. After church, we ate with the Pastor and his family at “Happy Bar & Grill”. You guessed it, the Bulgarian equivalent of Applebee’s, TGIF, Ruby Tuesday’s and Chili’s all rolled into one, complete with kitschy decor, pop culture “art” and overpriced food. Most Bulgarians only have a Hollywood view of the west; fashion, attitudes, expressions, ideology, all derived from what they’ve watched in movies or television from the West. It was interesting to catch myself and other snickering at this caricature of American culture and then realize: this is how we are perceived…we created this image, this idea of the West…we are really laughing at ourselves. My own country is deteriorating…we are the warmongering, self-serving, self-absorbed, ignorant bullies of the world with no moral compass. We use a bully pulpit to push everything from our brand of drink to our brand of Christianity on the rest of the world.
The city I live in has less than 250,000 people yet over 600 churches. Bulgaria has maybe 6 or 7 evangelical churches to serve the entire country. I looked around the church that Sunday morning and later that night in Samakov and realized that we are materially rich in America, but spiritually bankrupt…we store Christians away in great warehouses full of inward looking people, warehouses we call churches. We get so absorbed with our own lives and our own petty needs that we fail to fulfill the Great Commission…go into all the world and preach the Gospel, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. We’ve become fat, lazy, apathetic Christians, content to be fed and coddled until we can’t even tighten our spiritual belt…we’re wearing the stretchy elastic pants of Christianity. Why aren’t we missional as the body of Christ in America? Why aren’t we attacking the enemy, being everyday radicals in a world full of hate, war, poverty, sickness, oppression and an enemy on the prowl that has been exploiting our weaknesses as sinful creatures since the beginning of time? We should be seeking radical transformation in the lives of others on a daily basis! Is Jesus at the center of your “church” or is He just someone nice to have around? My heart is breaking for the church in America…no longer do I feel I need to go to a foreign country to be a Christ-like radical, evangelizing and infiltrating the enemy, I can go down to my local bar or coffee shop or library and see the lost, the hungry, the impoverished on a daily basis. If Christ had come to earth in the 21st century, I have no doubt He’d be dining with homosexuals, having radical, redemptive conversations in bars and nightclubs, maybe even hanging out with real sleaze like politicians. Christ didn’t come to heal those who are well, He came to save the lost. How can you join in the radical work Christ is already doing? How can you be an everyday radical, overcoming your ingrained ideas of what it means to be a disciple and truly taking up the cross and following Him?
Listen to the still small voice, listen to Him. Step out into the world LIVE in the world…It’s said you cannot truly live unless you’ve learned to die…Our sin, our flesh was nailed to the cross with Him who saved us. The day we chose to follow Jesus, we died…Christ didn’t come to condemn us, He came to kill us, to kill our flesh and our sin. Every day beyond the day you chose Jesus is a day of true life…are you living? Are you seeking out true community with your fellow man or are your hiding behind the walls of your church and trying to stave off an attack that isn’t coming? You see, if you’re apathetic, if you’re content to look inward and feed yourself week after week, the devil need not attack, he’s already won…you’re on the bench, out of the game, not in the battle…insert metaphor here. The Bible says God is dangerous…He’s good, but He?s dangerous…we have a dangerous, bloody, scary faith. Take a risk, put EVERYTHING on Him and step out there in the middle of the battle. You’re not alone…the war has been won…come along side the Saviour and join in the battle He’s taking straight at the enemy. Be the light, be the seed in the world…take as many with you when you go…
Tighten the belt, hang up the stretchy pants, pour yourself into others, LIVE every moment, quit settling for spiritual mediocrity.
