Radical Acceptance
“FOR CHRIST’S LOVE COMPELS US….”
II CORINTHIANS 5:14a (NIV)
Some problems cannot be solved; most people cannot be fixed. Perhaps you, like me, have encountered the frustration that comes from trying to solve the unsolvable problems in your life or fix the unfixable people in your home or in your church.
A few years ago, the band Coldplay made a popular love song out of this longing, called “Fix You.” I’ve become familiar with this song since our youngest has suddenly become obsessed with listening to Coldplay for hours on end. He also suddenly started styling his hair each morning and practicing trick basketball shots all day. Just like his older siblings, Jeremy finds himself driven by unseen forces to try new things, to test the limits of the acceptable and the possible. As we approach the middle school years for the fourth and final time, my wife and I must once again
I was challenged recently by the report of a town in Belgium known for its long-standing hospitality toward persons who seldom find a welcome anywhere else in the world. For the past 700 years, the town of Geel (pronounced like “hale”) has been known as a place of refuge for those who suffer the stigma of mental illness. Individual households will welcome boarders from other villages for a paradoxical form of treatment: they avoid any attempt to solve or to fix the person. The evidence suggests that, especially with respect to persons with some forms of schizophrenia, this radical hospitality heals people in more profound ways than any other form of treatment.
I say I was challenged by this report because our family includes not only a rising
If you, like me, swing from frustration to despair, from trying to fix people to
While this radical acceptance might sound like a foreign concept in the field of medical practice, where so many resources come to bear on solving problems and fixing people, we have thousands of years of practice living in that place where the grace that God has freely given us can make true and lasting change in the world. Do we realize just how earth-shattering this love, this grace, this radical acceptance can be?Just imagine what changes God might bring about from Minnesota to Maryland, from downtown Baltimore to the streets of Dallas, when radical acceptance, otherwise known as God’s grace, rules the day! We are blessed to be vessels of this radical acceptance.
As I hope for more of this grace in my home, in the churches we serve and in the communities we care about, one truth keeps me going: this love does not begin with us or end with us – it begins with Jesus the Christ and doesn’t end even when the kingdom comes in all fullness. God’s love compels us, calling us to serve, radically accepting me and you in our brokenness and showing to the world the power of God’s grace. May it flow through our churches and our homes, through all hearts who are willing to accept the sacrificial love which brings hope to a hurting world.
Grace be with you all,
John W. Nupp,
Director of Clergy Encouragement
Sharing our Spiritual Profiles
Life beyond Social Media
Take a moment to consider some of the markers of your “spiritual profile”. I’ll get us started, but if you are willing to share these with other colleagues in future issues, please send me an email at .
Your Life Verse: Psalm 37:4
Go-to Biblical book: Hebrews
Recommended Movie (recent): “Spotlight”
Recommended movie (Classic): “Avalon” directed by Barry Levinson
Book every pastor should take time to slog through: The Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard
Favorite spot (local): Cunningham Falls
Dream vacation: Geel, Belgium (see