Here I am, send me.

A couple of times each week, I spend some time in my local YMCA.  There are many parts of my experience there that intimidate me:  the dexterity of some of the people; the strength of others; the complexity of some of the exercise machines and the technology of others (where do I plug in my iPod to watch TV while I run on the treadmill?).  There was a man who came into the exercise space today, however, who beat everything on the intimidation factor.  His physical appearance was very scary to me. 

I pretty much work out on just one machine for an hour.  I listen to my iPod, nod my head in time to the music and keep a low profile.  This morning, however, I glanced up at one point and saw this monster of a man, dressed all in black, 6’6” and 250 lbs. or more, with lots of tats and a mean look on his face.  I’m writing this less than a week after the Newtown, Connecticut school shootings and I’ll admit I, like many, am a little jumpy at the moment. 

I glanced up and this guy was coming toward me with his arms up, shadow boxing while moving down the aisle where my machine was placed.  He looked angry and his arms were like huge pistons as he danced, weaved and punched the air.  Then I saw it.  On his T-shirt he had written, “Isaiah 54:2: Send me.”  He was part of my tribe, a Christian!  I started breathing again.   His shirt had given me the vital information that I needed to be able to be at ease and communicate with him.

I remember another time when fear gripped our youngest daughter.  She was a youth ministry leader in a suburban church near Seattle and after about six months of leading a Bible study with some high schoolers, she came to me and said, “Dad, can I go to seminary?  My kids are asking me questions about Scriptures that I don’t know how to answer.”  To communicate effectively, she needed the right information as well. 

It’s been said that we fear the things that are both seen and unseen, or things we don’t understand.  For example, I’m not particularly afraid of technology, but I’m concerned long-term about what technology means for our society.  Is it healthy and does it build community to email work colleagues who are but a few steps away?  Is it healthy for so many kids to be playing violent games with new technology that makes everything seem so lifelike?  Where is the line crossed between reality and fantasy?  My fear is that our society will change significantly, not for the better, as technology drives more and more both our professional and our personal lives.

What other things do I fear?  How about global warming and the way we seem to individually and collectively be unable to give up those things that are heating up the planet and may one day kill us.  How about the number of women and children who move through our country and in particular our ports in Washington and are being trafficked as sex-slaves?  I fear for them and I fear for what their abuse does to individuals and families.   I’m afraid for our fragile economy and what the short and long-term implications are for families, those who are homeless, especially single parents with children who are caring for them under such stress.  I’m afraid for the way the marketplace is creating an enlarged gap between rich and poor.  Wealth, that can offer great promise, may be a huge pitfall for our country and in particular for our Northwest region. 

What drives my fear?  Knowing that these threats are out there, but not knowing enough about them to be able to understand them or much less to create and articulate a theology around them.  If some of the issues I’ve listed above look familiar, it’s because they are what people are talking about.  They are issues that the church and we as Christians need to address.

Just before Thanksgiving, we received wonderful news that Fuller Northwest has been awarded a grant by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to help us establish a new institute, the Fuller Theological Seminary Northwest Institute for Theology in Context.  This institute will help students, alumni, pastors and church leaders understand and be able to articulate, from a Northwest context, the Gospel in new and exciting ways.  It will allow us to address current and emerging issues like the ones mentioned above.  We’re going to be having wonderful conversations with great minds to help us see how our theology and faith intersect with our Northwest culture.

Fuller Northwest is going to be an exciting place to be as we begin putting the pieces in place for the NW Institute and start these important conversations.  We’ll be showcasing the best of what the big Fuller tent has to offer as well as reaching into the evangelical Christian community and finding people who are specialists in particular areas of interest.  For example our region has people working in medical technology who are specialists in genetic engineering.  This is a topic that could be a hot button for many Christians.  We are only afraid of the things we don’t know much about, or don’t understand.  It’s kind of like facing a big guy shadow boxing in the gym until he turns and we see Isaiah 54:2 stenciled on his shirt.

When I was equipped with a bit of knowledge and was reassured by the message offered by a t-shirt, I offered an outstretched hand, introduced myself, told him Isaiah was one of my favorite books of the Bible and received an outstretched hand and a big hug in return.  The man with the mean look on his face had a hidden mega-watt smile that lit up the gym that morning.

To be the Christians that I believe Jesus calls us to be, I think we need to confront the things we fear or don’t understand.  Moreover, I think it’s our responsibility to help raise the level of civil discourse about those things so that Christians and non- believers alike have the tools needed to discuss and take intelligent action.  That’s the mission of Fuller, to educate and equip so that we can enlarge our tent and respond to God’s call by saying, “Send me!”