How am I supposed to teach an adult class of inner city, unemployed South Africans how to have a personal relationship with Jesus??
For starters, I did some talking to Jesus and asking for some Holy Spirit intervention.
When you ask you shall receive, and of all the things in the world I could have received, the Lord gave me Song of Solomon.
Song of Solomon…like the book of the bible that everyone always skips because what are you supposed to do with poems between lovers?
And as if that weren’t enough, I believe the Lord told me to sing also.
So here I am in charge of a class entitled Continuous Personal Restoration (CPR) singing solos and teaching from Song of Solomon. If you would have asked me six months ago, I might have said that sounded like a nightmare. But the Father has a gentle way of nursing us and nudging us right to where He wants us. And you better believe I taught that class. I taught it passionately, and they listened.
“What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grieves to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.”
“Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go. Anywhere He leads me in this world below. Anywhere without Him dearest joys would fade. Anywhere with Jesus I am not afraid.”
I sing each of my four classes the words of these hymns, ingrained in my mind since childhood. Dissecting them and simplifying, I speak of a friend that will listen to our deepest struggles and who always provides comfort. A friend who never leaves our side and brings us safety, guidance, and joy. With this I add “He’s there for the bad times and for the good times, in sickness and in health, for better and worse, for richer and poorer.”
Nicely segueing with the wedding vows I read Ephesians 5:31-32. “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”
Making the parallels between a marriage relationship and a “Me and Jesus” relationship, I whip out the big guns. I ask them to listen as I read the first few verses of Song of Solomon 3 and to hear the words as if it were God speaking about them.
“On my bed by night I sought him home my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not. I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my should loves. I sought him, but found him not. The watchmen found me as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go.”
Now, I don’t know if you have a husband or a wife, or a boyfriend or a girlfriend, but I know you have all had feelings for someone before. I hear a chorus of “MHMMs” affirming me. So picture that person laying in bed at night thinking about you and wondering where you are and what you are doing. They are just longing to be with you. And they are thinking about you so much that they are compelled to get out of bed in the middle of the night and go into town and start searching up and down the streets looking everywhere and asking people if they have seen you. Finally, when they find you, they hold you and say “I am not letting go”.
That is how God feels about you!!! He longs to be with you. Now don’t forget about the part that says “I sought him, but found him not.” How many times in life do we hide? We say “I know about all that “God stuff”, but I have more important things to attend to.” Or we do things that would not please the Lord and we don’t want to feel guilty about it, so we just leave God out of that ‘part of life’. He never stops searching! He ALWAYS thinks about you. ALWAYS wants you safe in His arms. And when you finally turn to Him and allow yourself to be found, He will NEVER let you go!
Pop-Up ministry (People Upliftment Program) is a Christian mission based here in Pretoria, South Africa. Along with a daily soup kitchen serving the inner city area, a free child care center (POP kids) empowering their parents to go to work, and a mobile health clinic, the facility offers a variety of courses to the unemployed. Skills training is the main premise. Members of the community are taught a trade—sewing, hospitality (waiter/waitressing), computer technology, plumbing, forklifting, etc. Along with their chosen specialty, all attend the CPR course. The subject matter changes daily—from God’s love to service to defining relationships to discipline. All material in the Bible is fair game. Just as important as the logistics of each particular trade, Pop-Up believes in the power of a foundation in Christ.
I see wheels turning. I see my demographic. A lot of hopeful people who life has dealt a shabby hand. Some are in classes to make their math and English proficiency a 9th Grade level. They have no jobs and no security. I can guess about home life. They are all here because they believe their future can be brighter than their past. Pop-Up has all the tools necessary to get them there—namely CPR, something we can all benefit from. Continuous Personal Restoration—Truths from the Word being poured to fill their souls and promise a brighter forever.
Maybe Pop-Up is where God will FIND them. Maybe they will leave with some tips on plumbing in their back pocket and Jesus walking alongside them.
“Questions? Comments? Concerns?” we ask.
A man in the front row raises his hand, “Yes, I just want to say thank you.”
Score one for Song of Solomon, the hymns, and the Holy Spirit.
