Mere Missions

142 • M ere M issions : M oving F orward to M ultiply

So, I’ll cherish the old, rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down And I will cling to the old, rugged cross And exchange it some day for a crown

It still touches me some fifty years later. I remember grandmas giving me a big smile, pinching my checks while giving me some hard candy to suck on during church. We had no cell phones or electronic games in Sunday School, but we had flannel graph. A wonder of wonders. As a child I was mesmerized at how the figures just stuck to the board as the Sunday School teacher told the Bible story. We sang, ate, laughed, cried, worked, prayed, and evangelized. We had friends. It was family. It was a place of belonging. I love the Church. I grew up in the 60s and 70s. Not to take a long trip down memory lane but life was simpler back then. Words and phrases were clear in their meaning. Everyone knew exactly what was meant. We knew when a fight was going to break out when you heard someone say, “Yo mama!” No one used “Yo Uncle” or “Yo niece” as fighting words. It was “Yo mama” that you knew the fisticuffs was about to take place. You never, ever brought someone’s mama onto the scene without taking the risk of the consequences. You were going to defend your mama if it cost you a bloody nose or a black eye. Cyprian was an early Christian theologian and bishop of Carthage who led the Christians of North Africa during a period of persecution from Rome. He wrote The Unity of the Church , which is considered his greatest work. In it he states, “No one can have God for his Father, who does not have the Church for his mother.” The urban hood translation according to Dr. Davis is, “If the Church ain’t yo mama then God ain’t yo Daddy.” If Cyprian is correct, and I believe he is, then those who call upon