Loyalty without covenant, loyalty without commitment!

I recently wrote an op-ed piece as an assignment for a class I am taking through Mars Hill Church in Seattle. That article can be seen here. The assignment was to interpret and comment on a particular aspect of culture from a Christian worldview. I have invited some of my friends from the Albuquerque portion of the class to share their papers as a guest post on this blog. I will be sharing some of their pieces over the next few weeks. As a side note, several of their papers deal specifically with Albuquerque culture. However, all of them have some great insights that are relevant and applicable to a variety of cultures. Enjoy!

Westside 'Til I Die!

Loyalty without covenant, loyalty without commitment!

Burque is my city! I may not live in Albuquerque proper, but should anyone ask, I'm from Burque! This city, my city, is all about loyalty! It's "blood in, blood out" vato!

We won't even consider someone who didn't grow up here their whole life, from Burque! We’re loyal to our ethnicity. As a Hispanic man, it is all about Brown Pride. We're loyal to our high school. When people from other parts of America ask, "What school did you go to?” they mean college. Here we tell them our high school. I went to West Mesa, by the way. We're loyal to our side of town (see title). We're loyal to our family. Don't you dare say something about my family, and don't even come close to saying something about my mom!

A friend of mine said that to understand Albuquerque is to understand contrasts. It's a city of low river valleys and high mountain peaks; A city of cultural contrasts, where you have vestiges of ancient cultures right next to the newest in high technology.            

We say we love local restaurants alone, but we have every chain imaginable.

We mock the "Land of Entrapment", but don't move away.

We say we're, "Born Catholic, Die Catholic", but we don't go to church. Most only go for baptisms, weddings, funerals, and maybe Christmas and Easter. We use the church.

We have old friends that have been together 15+ years, but seem to have no intention of ever getting married.

We say we want kids safe, but we have strip clubs and porn shops next to children's amusement parks.

Moms stick up for dads that are deadbeats, dad’s that don't stick around, don't love, don't serve, don't pay, and yet are still called good dads.

We say we’re about family, but we leave our wives, if we marry them at all, and we abandon our kids to chase pleasure.

We're very vocal about being loyal, yet we're hypocrites.

We may "know" about loyalty, but we know nothing of covenant! We know nothing of swearing to our own hurt! Albuquerque has the second highest rate of divorced adults in the Southwest, as of 2011.  Albuquerque has a huge fatherlessness problem, statistics range from 43-58% among Hispanics in New Mexico. Nearly half of the kids in our state have no dad in their lives. As a father to four wonderful children, that breaks my heart! We know nothing of binding commitment. 

Jesus is more than loyal. Jesus was and is a man committed to covenant. At one point Jesus, "set His face towards Jerusalem", which means He was committed to going to the cross. He was committed to dying for the sins of Burqueños, dying for my sins! Jesus was a man who was willing to give up His freedoms and hobbies and to do what was best for His family. He was committed to doing the will of the Father. He was committed to dying and rising for you and for me. Jesus is the faithful son. He grows up. He doesn't remain the "Baby Jesus" that everyone loves. He grows up to live the life we couldn't live and die the death we deserved to die. He rises again and He is coming to judge the living and the dead! Jesus keeps His covenants! Jesus is the loyal covenant keeper! The Bible says, “When we are faithless, He remains faithful.

Burque needs men who aren't just "loyal", but men who are like Jesus! Burque needs men who are willing to lay down their lives for their friends. Not in a gang fight, but like Jesus did, as a sacrifice for all! Burque needs men who with their dying breath are going to be planning who is going to take care of their moms, just like Jesus did for His mother Mary. Burque needs men who are going to care for the abandoned children and ask that the little children come to them. Burque needs men who are committed to their churches. Burque needs men who are committed to their brides! Let us follow the words of Saint Paul, as he tells us, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." Burque needs men who don't just like the idea of family but who love their family. Men who love their wives and who love their kids. Men who love Jesus!

Burqueños can't do this on their own. It is impossible for us to achieve this. Only Jesus can do the things that we need to do. We need the righteousness that Jesus has achieved and we need Him to give it to us. The Bible describes this in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." This is called “The Great Exchange." This is where He gets our sin and our false "loyalty" and we get Jesus’ righteousness, His covenantal faithfulness.

Jesus loves Burque and Burque needs Jesus!

Carlos Garcia is a lifelong Burqueño who lives next door to his parents in Corrales. (Contrast!) He has been married to his lovely bride Michelle for 10 years. Together they have four children, two sons and two daughters whom he loves very much. He is a Deacon and Elder Candidate at Mars Hill Church, where he serves as the head of the Premarital Ministry and Coach over Community Groups on the North Westside of Albuquerque.