We started a new experiment at Fusion this month. Remember the movie Pay It Forward? (Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and the little I-see-dead-people dude from The Sixth Sense…) In the movie, the premise is that you do something extraordinary for three people that they are unable to do for themselves…then you simply ask that they, in turn, do something extraordinary for three people. And so on and so on.
Big deal.
Except when you consider the words of Jesus when He said, "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other." (John 13:35, The Message). They (non-disciples) will not recognize us by our bracelets, t-shirts, bumper stickers, chrome fish, or (God forbid) picket signs. But by the love we exhibit for each other.
It gets even more stirred when you add the context of James 2:14-26:
"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."
For quite some time now, we've missed it. So, rather than condemn and point fingers, we are going to purposefully, intentionally, missionally love. By giving. By doing. By paying it forward, and asking for nothing in return. What we'll wait and look for is the Domino Effect. You remember the bizarre-but-intriguing Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher, right? Well this time, we'll see what happens in and among us through the Domino Effect. My guess is that it will be something like this video (but without the beer).
We've passed out dominoes to about 70 of our students and asked them to do two things.
First, pray and seek God for the names of 3 people you need to minister to. Ask specifically that at least two of them are NOT in our youth group.
Second, carry your domino in your pocket for at least 3 weeks to remind you to look for opportunities to fulfill that ministry need. When the opportunity comes up, do something extravagant for them. Leave the results to the Holy Spirit.
In a few weeks, we'll have an open-mic night and share our stories of what happened. There are no guarantees, but I'm convinced we'll have some great things happen.
Watch the trailer to Pay It Forward. Then watch the Miller Lite commercial. If you need a domino, let me know.
(…and I'm still not sure how Miller Lite figured it out before we did….)
