Who do you get when you take a poor person in a slum in Ndola Zambia and give them…
a house,
a fenced in back yard,
a two car garage,
cable television with a DVR,
two cars for that garage,
and a job that pays me well but makes me work 50+ hours a week?
You get a person who has just lost all they had going for them:
Community and relationships.
Sure. They had nothing.
But you’ve just replaced nothing with nothing.
That’s not much of an improvement if you ask me.
Mobs do things that individuals would never do on their own.
Individuals in mobs do things that that don’t make much rational sense.
Individuals in mobs climb live electric poles and flip taxis.
Individuals in mobs also live well beyond their means.
Individuals in mobs work super long hours to provide for their way of life, but in doing so have no time for their kids.
Individuals in mobs believe that if they aren’t personally effected by a situation the pain of others doesn’t actually matter.
Individuals in mobs have their schedules decided by television shows rather than the rhythms of prayer, caring for others and community.
Individuals in mobs think that they will have more time to care for others when they get the next raise or when their kids get out of the house.
I don’t know about you.
But I live in a mob.
No, it’s not very violent.
It’s not like I’m flipping cars or anything.
But it is flipping lives.
It’s flipping my life.
And, honestly I’ve pretty much bought what it is selling.
And I’m done…
At least I want to be.
But, I’m not going to leave.
Nope. I’m staying put.
I want to start a new mob.
One that imagines a new way of life.
A mob that prioritizes community…Or at least is trying to figure it out.
A mob that radically cares for their neighbor. Or, at least knows their names.
A mob that spends itself on behalf of the poor… Instead of spending ourselves on consumer goods.
I want to start a new mob that looks deeply at its way of life and filters everything through our call to be witnesses of a different King and a different Kingdom.
A mob that keeps pulling me back, giving me grace and smacking me across the head when I start putting my feet too far into the other mob.?
Mobs don’t form by invitation.
Mobs don’t send out e-vites and event announcements on Facebook.
Mobs form because there is something worth forming about.
Mobs form because someone just won a World Series for the first time in 35 years.
Mobs also form because Someone said that the Kingdom of God is like a treasure buried in a field…
I’m convinced it is little ideas that change the world.
I’m convinced people who are sick and tired of playing by other people’s rules change the world.
However, I’m convinced that I can’t change the world.
I’m convinced that you can’t change the world.
Not alone at least.
I am convinced that if we do this together we have a chance.
I am convinced that you and I can live differently than we’ve been told we’re supposed to.
In order to do that its going to take reworking some assumptions that we’ve carried our entire lives.
I invite you, walk with me as we seek to re-imagine our lives as residents of a new mob….