Knees

My friend and colleague, Rev. Bradley Bergfalk, posted this quote from Spurgeon on his own blog the other day:

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies…

if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees.

Let no one to there unwarned or unprayed for.”

–Charles Spurgeon

I came across it just after reading a pain-filled email from a former student who is in the midst of a very difficult ministry setting, as he serves as a youth ministry volunteer in a cross-cultural setting. He had just finished a particularly tough night, where kids had written graffiti on the church walls (not quoting scripture either), and broken the church elevator to the tune of $800 or so. And oh yes, this ethnic congregation "borrows" the space from another predominately white Covenant church.

At one point in his email he talked about "hanging on" to the kids the best he could, even though it was so hard.

When I came across this quote, I could almost see in my mind's eye this former student hanging on to the legs of these tough, inner city kids, refusing to let them go away without knowing they are loved. Deeply loved, not only by him, but by the God he serves.

For some reason, it sure is easier for most of us to do that with kids, even high school aged kids. But when it comes to adults, our colleagues, and our neighbors... how easy it is for us to simply let go. We may be willing to point out the sin, to even pray for them, but are we willing to wrap ourselves around their very knees and assure them that they are loved? By not only God, but by us as well?