Create a better Hollywood, Be a Better Hollywood

I tend to be "one of those people." You know, one of those people who travel through life with an invisible sign reading, "Sure you are a complete stranger, but please tell me your life story while we wait in the check out lane." or "bring on all the 'crazy' you got...I can handle it." I'm not complaining mind you; I love it! I always have new material for more deeply understanding the human experience (and of course adding some humorous experiences of my own). Soon after relocating to Hollywood, Fl I discovered that my local library is practically a breeding ground for such antics. Those that have made the top of the "awkward" list so far would have to be the unprovoked back massage initiated by an elderly woman and, on a separate occasion, being asked if I thought there might be a pool on the second floor of the library because the inquirer was quite sure she smelled chlorine. This past weeks experience though was down right enlightening. You see, my husband and I moved here with a mission: We wanted to know what it would look like for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to saturate downtown Hollywood. We wanted to know what it would look like for a local church to rise up from gospel saturated soil. We wanted to know what it would look like for that local body of believers to bless her city, invest in her city, and intentionally partner with God's mission to renew all things (what can I say, we dream small, right?) In an effort toward this end, we have often asked, "What would make Hollywood a better city?" "What about the city, as it is, should change?" What could we bring to Hollywood to make it a better place? Not that these mental exercises are bad but my recent library visit was a sobering reminder. The encounter went something like this....as I stood in line to return a few items a women came up behind me and loudly stated that she and her twin two-year-olds would be, "going to the Ft. Lauderdale branch from now on!" I gave her a sympathetic look-an apparent invitation to continue- and she said, "the people here are so unfriendly and I can't get any help." Having experienced the same thing on several occasions I quickly suppressed the urge to join in her complaint and simply told her that sometimes you gotta try just coming back, get to know the people. She wasn't convinced. As she approached the counter she asked me if she would be able to use the self check out station. I told her what she would need and then talked her through the process. Nothing monumental, I just showed her how to use a machine. On her way out the door she looked over her shoulder and said, "okay, maybe I will come back, but just for you." And that's when it hit me: to create a better Hollywood I've got to 'be' a better Hollywood. You see, we can and will faithfully preach/share the truth of the gospel. And there are many good things that we can do as a church (and we will probably do them). There are many improvements that could be made in the city (and we will probably partner to see some of those made). But there is no replacement for individuals who intentionally live out the gospel in their context, their routine, their daily grind. So, what I am NOT saying is that the simple act of doing good deeds will make the world a better place. That's simplistic and incomplete; in fact, it misses the gospel altogether. I am saying that when a person has been brought to the end of herself by the knowledge and consequences of her own depravity and by the knowledge of God's absolute purity AND when, in that place, a person experiences the grace of God through His provision of a substitute...when a person knows that she deserves God's wrath, but that it has been satisfied in the person and work of Jesus Christ...well, that changes everything. It changes her thinking, her actions, her attitudes, her relationships, the way she eats, the way she relaxes, the way she creates, the way she checks out books from the library...it changes everything. She doesn't 'do' to earn God's favor she 'is' because of what God has already done. And, I believe, that when she 'is' in Hollywood, by the power of the Gospel, Hollywood will begin to be a better city...a step forward in joining God in His Kingdom work of making all things new.