Performing a Face Transplant
The advancements in modern medicine never cease to amaze me these days. Who would have imagined twenty years ago that we would be transplanting faces? The story was told through the national media last week of a young woman who literally lost her face by a shotgun blast. As the story unfolded, the sense of tragedy was somewhat diminished by the sense of wonder produced by the details of this complete face transplant! Even though it was not the first procedure of its kind, it still caused me to pause and thank our Father for His gift of medicine and the blessing it was to this young lady.
Before you wonder what any of this has to do with our journey together, let me share briefly a conversation I am having with a close friend. The topic of our conversation is the “face of the unchurched/dechurched” people around us. My friend noted that we (evangelical community of faith) have portrayed these people typically as the stereotyped subcultures in our society. The unintended consequence of such a portrayal has been the proliferation of fear in the lives of people in the pew like you and me as we considered the prospect of being ridiculed, rejected, or worse in our outreach. While this portrait of unchurched people was probably well intended, it has been counter productive in equipping us to love our neighbor.
Obviously, what is necessary at this point is a face transplant! Our neighbors, the unchurched and dechurched multitudes around us, are not typically characterized by the stereotypes that most threaten us. Instead, they are more like our next door neighbors, people who live day to day going to work and working out relationships. They are like the single dad around the corner who lives between the pressure of work and child care. Or, they are like the senior adult across the street who just lost a spouse to death or divorce and wonders if they will ever hear anything but the sound of a television in their home again. Even more, they are like the “soccer mom” who finds great joy in shuttling children to and from school and activities, but cannot understand why she has this nagging sense of emptiness and loneliness in her life. And, there you have it, the miracle of a face transplant!
You see, a face transplant is not just a marvel, but an act of compassion and healing. Even those people within the various subcultures that scare us to death benefit from this type of transplant. They become people for whom Christ died, thus people we can and must love as Jesus loves us. However, there is a bottom line: the one ultimately responsible for performing this transplant is you and me!
Can you do it? Will you do it? What outcomes are possible if we are able to perform this procedure? Maybe you don’t think it is necessary. What are you thinking?
Love you all,
tim
November 11th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I don’t know that I’ve ever thought of it in those terms. Makes sense. We tend to “see” people we want to reach in a certain way. Probably not always a flattering way. I do try to see past the superficial things people do with their hair, clothes, etc. (when it’s to an extreme beyond the “norm”) to just see the person. But people like that are very visible, and noticed more often. Do I really see the stressed out mom with two kids who seems to be a super mom? Or the person waiting on me at the store as someone in need of understanding? We just never know where God is working until we watch for it. He’s pretty good at leaving us clues!