Articles and thoughts by Steve Green.
Our Town
December 20th, 2007
According to TripAdvisor, Franklin, TN is listed in the “Top Ten Hot Destinations” for 2007. In another best-selling travel book by Patricia Schultz, Franklin is touted as one of the “1000 places to see before you die.” Our town has been named one of the top 10 places to retire and one of the top 100 places to live. It has received the Clean Cities Award and the Great American Main Street Award. You get the idea. From every outward appearance you would think that if one lives in Franklin, the next stop must be heaven!
Yet beneath the idyllic surface, Franklin is a town made up of folks who bear the marks of fractured lives. So even though visitors will find commemorative brick sidewalks, beautiful landscaping, lovely Victorian architecture, and stunning renovated historic buildings, there are chapters in our collective stories that I’m sure we’d prefer to keep unpublished.
Still, we try and keep up the image of an ‘All American Town’, proving that we are good people who have good jobs, good kids, good schools and who display a good amount of benevolence. That is part of what attracts more people to our town. You won’t read any of the real stories of hurt and brokenness in the brochure.
Last Sunday, our founding pastor read through the genealogy of Jesus from Matthew chapter 1. Have you looked at it lately? You would think that Matthew, inspired by God’s Spirit would start his gospel with an impressive list of noble people in Jesus’ lineage. Not so. The Bible is not a brochure to elevate people to the status of heroes. It is a story of God’s gracious working in the midst of our poor, fallen world, rescuing poor, fallen people. Matthew’s genealogy includes stories of multiple marriages, lies, incest, prostitution, murder, adultery, economic difficulty and geographic displacement.
As Scotty reminded us, the beauty and comfort of the Biblical genealogy is that “there is nothing of life’s bitterness that cannot be woven into God’s providential, redemptive history for me. My story is not over; there are more chapters to be written.” Rather than cover up the reality, the Bible accentuates the glory of God’s salvation against the backdrop of our true condition.
I still like our town. It’s just that now I pray for God’s mercy and grace to rescue us from our foolish facades and bring spiritual healing to our broken lives. May the same be true for your town.
Wonderful thoughts. Thanks for sharing. My sister lives in N’ville and I have been to Franklin. It is a lovely town, but of course, everywhere, “People Need the Lord!”
Comment by Erin Groff — March 10, 2008 @ 7:50 pm