A letter was taped to my front door yesterday. It was from a friend I had visited with a few days before. She read a book about missions and really wanted to talk about what was going on in her heart. I have been wrestling with my self-diagnosed laziness about being the hands and feet of Christ, so I was eager to talk with her in the hopes that we might put our efforts together and see what God might do. We talked for a few hours and while we come from different traditions and have different ways of getting to what we believe, I felt like we had a great conversation and knew it was the start of something.

Then I got the letter. For the most part, she said she was glad we had talked, but the tone didn't communicate that. During our visit she talked about wanting to have Bible studies and talk to people about Christ. When I said that we didn't need to just think in terms of study and prayer, that feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and speaking for the powerless or someone who felt defeated is a demonstration of Christ's love in itself. I said that if the act is girded with prayer and our hearts have at their core communicating that God is the one who can really meet their needs it might do more than simply telling them that Jesus loves them. She basically negated that as plain-old social work (not in so many words) and said that we needed to read the scriptures to people and let God's word live. I wonder if God's word lives because of what we do or because we speak it. I suppose it is both.

Despite our differences, I still felt good leaving her house. To my dismay her letter was a defense of her position. For some reason she felt like she needed to convince me that we couldn't really help people apart from the help of God. She thought I was saying that if people think I'm great because of what I do for them, then they'll think my God is great too. On the contrary, I really do think it's important to communicate to people that God loves them and that he can meet needs that I could never dream of being able to help.

My friend Kara (darewebe.blogspot.com) just started blogging and her first post tells a beautiful story of helping someone whom she will probably never see again, but knowing that it was God's work. She's wrestling with vocation as I guess I am too. I want so desperately to have a cause, a mission. I want to be doing something to end poverty, love the unloveable, and heal the sick. Instead, I just wrestle with what I'm supposed to do.

I don't know why the letter got to me so much. It's OK with me that we come to missions and ministry from different perspectives, but I don't think it's Ok with my friend. What to do with differences among believing friends? How to reach the world with the message of the Gospel?

On a completely different note, Gracie has officially been a 2-year-old for a week. More to come. And check out Mark's blog at nostynostril.blogspot.com. (My hyperlink button isn't working today).