Halfway Point

Now that we have a few days of camp under our belt, we don’t have to spend all morning preparing for the night. Today we went into the city to do some sight-seeing. Sevilla is truly a beautiful city. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of every other city I’ve visited in Europe. Beautiful architecture, rich in history, and an amazing blend of the ancient with the modern. One thing that has really struck me this trip is the reality of the crusades as a part of this country’s history. To be honest, I don’t know much about the crusades. I’ve never studied that period of time and I’ve never read or really even heard much about it. Stephanie mentioned earlier that for Spain, that is one of the earliest memories of the Christians. In my mind, they always existed as proud soldiers serving Christ, spreading the gospel across Europe. In the mind of many Spaniards, it is a totally different picture. Stephanie told me a story about the crusades that her husband had learned in seminary. In one village, the crusaders were trying so hard to take over the village “for Christ” that they ended up in a battle against its citizens. When they saw that they weren’t gaining any ground, they began to take captive the women and children of the village, chop off their heads, and throw them at the opposing army. When the villagers saw that they would stop at nothing to take their homeland, they surrendered and begged the crusaders to stop murdering their families. When I heard that story, I truly felt sick to my stomach. How could a group of people get so far from the message of Christ? In Matthew chapter 22, Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was. He said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40). In other words, we are number one, first and foremost, always supposed to love. How do people get from that to the crusades or the holocaust or any other example of Christians persecuting other people in the name of Jesus?? It is truly heart-breaking. And it makes sense why people all over the world hate Christians. The senior pastor of our church Andy Stanley did a sermon series called Christian a few months ago. In it, he talked about how the term Christian was originally coined as a derogatory term for those the followed Jesus. He also talked about how people have used the term Christian to justify any number of horrific things over the past 2 millennium. He said that instead of trying to be a "Christian," which has more negative connotation that positive, we should strive to be disciples or simply Christ-followers. And he said the only way to show that is to love. John 13:35 says "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." It seems like a simple enough calling yet somehow over the centuries we've lost track of what it really means to follow Jesus. As we toured beautiful Sevilla, I thought about what the term Christian must signify to a lot of the people here. One girl once told Stephanie that talking about God was like talking about unicorns...it was a fairy tale, meant for children. I finally started to understand why God has called so many from my church, including Parker and I, to this beautiful city.

We saw many things but the one thing that stuck out in terms of our mission was the cathedral. It was massive and beautiful. We were told that it was the third biggest cathedral in the world and I believed it. It used to be a mosque many centuries ago but when the crusades came through, they took over the mosque and built the church around it. As I walked through, I admired the beauty of the design and architecture. It reminded me a lot of St. Peter's Basilica in my beloved Rome. However, one thing I hadn't noticed before in Rome was the feeling of death and oppression that hung around that church. There was no light, no life. There were different idols everywhere signifying different things. The patron saint of young women, the patron saint of children. I remembered reading that St. Peter's Basilica was paid for by the priests selling forgiveness of sins through confession. I wondered if this place was the same. People being led astray by religious leaders they trusted. Relying on rituals and rites found nowhere in the Bible, hoping to earn a spot in heaven. Attending but never growing, seeking solace in things of this world. It broke my heart. As I've said before, I don't mean to speak negatively of Catholics. I know many Catholics that I believe have a growing relationship with Christ and I feel confident they'll end up in heaven at the end of their life. I will say that I have a problem with the Catholic church. Knowing this might offend some people, I apologize for that but it is true. I believe that most of what the Catholic church preaches and requires of their parishioners is outside the gospel and therefore false religion. In the cathedral in Sevilla, I felt it like a think fog and prayed for the people of Sevilla. I pray that give up the burden of living for this world or living under the oppression of false religion and seek Jesus.

When we left the city and went back to Parque Este, I understood the challenge that they face so much better. The Catholic church is such a strong presence that those that are Catholic see Parque Este as a cult. Those that are not Catholic see them as another religion trying to burden them with a list of thou shalt and thou shalt not. That night at camp, I saw the whole thing through different eyes and finally began to understand why I'm here.

After camp, we were invited to dinner at the home of Marcos and Toni, one of the couples that helped start Parque Este. They were such gracious hosts. They had the whole team over and cooked a delicious meal for us. We had great conversation because this family understands why we're here and they all speak English very well. At one point, Parker and Marcos were in a great conversation about half-truths. Marcos was saying that in his job, he is expected to tell half-truths in order to make his sales numbers. He was asking what Parker thought about it. Reason #872 why I love my husband...he doesn't shy away from the tough conversations. We came to reach outsiders and bring them into the church yet God used my sweet husband to speak truth into the life of a mature believer. Our God never ceases to amaze me.