Will the Real Transformation Please Stand Up?

I used to work as the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee's Northeast "Church and Community Consultant." What a mouthful, right? In that job, I spent a lot of time talking to churches about neighborhood transformation, a notion that was supposed to connote something deeper than community development, getting at an idea of building God's Kingdom and restoring Shalom. It's pretty cool stuff and I enjoyed that job quite a bit. If it didn't take me out of Philly so much, I would have stuck with it. But alas, I felt God calling me to spend my time here trying to actually work towards transformation rather than dressing up and talking to strangers about it.

Tonight I encountered two different notions of "transformation." Both remind me of how lost and vulnerable we are and how great is our need for true transformation.

I decided to visit a local "church" in our neighborhood that has been running interesting ads on television. It was about a fifteen minute walk from my house to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (see here and here). I go by there quite a bit and always notice their large sign which reads "Stop Suffering". (Is that a command for me to no longer suffer or is it a mission statement stating that they seek to end suffering?) Well anyway, the tv ads showed people walking under a large cloth and getting healed. So I went to see what the fuss was all about.

When I arrived, there were about 8 people standing at the front of the sanctuary and the pastor was talking at them pretty good. I decided to have a seat in the pews and rejected his hand motions asking me to come forward and join them. I gave him the "Oh, no thanks. I'm trying to quit" type gesture. He asked if anyone had problems and of course everyone said they did. Then they brought out the "mantle", or large piece of cloth, and as they all clung to the "mantle" he prayed vigorously over each individual commanding evil forces to "get out!" in the name of Jesus. He had one lady walk up to the cross and touch the "mantle" and that was supposed to cure the hip pain she had been having for one day. She made the trek and came back unconvinced. But after a few more minutes of prayer, he had her jogging in the front of the church and claiming that her pain was gone.

Then everyone sat down and he asked us for money. I gave them ten bucks because he said if you give ten bucks or more you can get a free book entitled In the Footsteps of Jesus by Brazilian multimillionaire media mogul/church founder Bishop Edir Macedo. I looked at the book brieflly.

The one line that stuck out to me immediately was on page 69,

"The tithe is important for God and for the Church. In a capitalist society it is impossible for the Church to save the lost without money."

Oh, really? Impossible? I find that interesting because on page 68 Macedo quotes Phillipians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This of course was in the context of an encouragement for Christians to dig deeper when giving. He follows by saying, "Money is essential to the work of God. It can TRANSFORM the world by making the widespread preaching of the living and powerful Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ a reality."

I felt bad watching this service. Everyone seemed so desperate for hope. Each one was obviously poor. One guy was clearly homeless and another couple had a sick child. They came to this "church" to find hope and healing. They came for TRANSFORMATION. I am afriad that all they found was a scam. So I chatted with the pastor a little and told him of my skepticism. He invited me to come back. We'll see.

I began the trek back home and took a little detour at the soccer field in the park. I really like to walk around the track at night because it is more quiet there and you can sort of see the stars (tonight was cloudy though). So I'm walking on the track around the field and praying out loud to God as I often do and I say to him, "God, show me who you are." I kid you not, at that very moment I looked off to my left and saw a magazine named "TRANSFORMATION: The Magazine Created for Men Who Enjoy Being Women." What kind of answer to prayer is that? I've been carrying Grace's camera around with me and so I kicked a nearby 40oz malt liquor bottle to where the magazine was and snapped a photo.



I don't know any transexuals very well. I know a couple from the park - one who I never knew was a man until she told me and another who is obviously male and very cool to talk to. My assumption is that it must be a terribly frustrating life. I can't imagine the forces that would make someone redo their whole image and sometimes bodies for this stuff. I will never understand that world. But I think it is very fair to assume that after a transexual goes through the process of desiring, undergoing, and completing a change there will still be a deep emptiness. I cannot believe that a sexual transformation will bring much solace to a troubled heart. And here again we have a promise of TRANSFORMATION that can't deliver.

So where is the real TRANSFORMATION? Where is hope? Where is Shalom? I'm not seeing it much when I look around. I have eyes to see this neighborhood as part of God's Kingdom and in my minds eye I see glimpses of a beautiful transformation. But I am also realistic and I have to admit that when I look at the immediatly tangible I see trash, broken relationships, greed, abuse, hopelessness, laziness, racism, anger, poverty, and lots of other bad stuff.

Will the real TRANSFORMATION please stand up? I'm not sure how much longer we can wait. Jesus, if you love this neighborhood, I'm calling you on it right now. Show me something good.