On this,
the hour I was born 25 years ago,
my heart breaks for the people on the streets.
My friends who spend their days at the library,
the park, the hospitals, ‘Sisters’ and other soup kitchens across Chicago,
and street corners where they weave in and our of the
cars so they can make some money for some food or a cigarette.
My heart breaks for my friend who though only 20 years old,
must sleep on the street this week because he lost his bed at the nearby
shelter,
all because he and a staff member exchanged some heated words on his
way out from our prayer group.
No 20 year old deserves to sleep on the street;
it wasn’t his fault he is paralyzed on half his body and
kicked out of the house by his mom when she chose her
boyfriend over her son.
And because of my friend who, though he has a place to stay during the week,
must fend for himself on the weekends,
often walking the city for 30 hours straight without getting sleep,
lest he, only 17, find a shelter that will take in a minor.
I want to have hope tonight, as I lay down my head before waking to go to church tomorrow.
The only hope I have found is a God who loved the world enough to send His only Son
to our streets as a homeless wanderer;
and a church that understands its mission of the whole gospel,
and hears the words from James 1:27 that says,
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Praise God that He not only loves us, but also those on the streets tonight. ‘Lord, use my next 25 years for your purposes and your kingdom; to look after the widows and the orphans in their distress and keep myself from being polluted by the world! Come, Lord Jesus, Come.’
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Missional Community
This summer, I am hoping to be apart of a new missional community on the west side of Chicago. As I said in my last post, I am done doing service in the city by myself. While I plan to stay connected to my church in the suburbs (which is actively involved in the city), as well as explore some congregations in the city, this is one way I hope to be connected to the Body of Christ while living in the city this summer and coming fall. The goal would be to begin gathering for Bible study and service in the summer and then move into a community living situation sometime in the late summer (having up to 10 people living on the same block in one or more apartments). As to what this gathering and living missional community could look like, I wrote down some goals I would hope the community could embrace:
- live sacrificially
- give sacrificially
- give permission to speak truth into one another’s life
- seek shalom of neighborhood b/w churches, ethnic groups, families, and across racial lines
- encourage one another to be kingdom people in our jobs
- spend time with the poor, oppressed, and homeless
- learn the needs of the community and find ways to help the community find ways to help the community care for those needs
- pray for one another
- be ready and willing to be hated and persecuted…and when it comes, praise God for it (be like Paul)
- strive to be shaped and formed like Christ
- learn how Jesus interacted with those around him
- help make the neighborhood more beautiful and friendly
- pray (prayer meetings in home for the neighborhood) – be lighthouse of prayer (connect with other lighthouses of prayer)
- encourage and celebrate community workers
- have celebrations for no reason at all
- have benevolence fund for neighbors in need
- do VBS in summer with local churches
- be a friend to immigrants
- be hospitable to visitors – have guest bedroom (go all out to make them feel welcomed and loved)
- collect shoes in summer and coats and boots in winter for homeless
- play sports with neighborhood kids and residents
- get to know police chief, doctors/hospital staff, etc.
- frequent local restaurants, shops, and convenient stores
- live simply; love a lot!
- bless, don’t curse
- give thanks
These are just a few ideas. I know there are many more, but just thinking about this gets me excited! May God add His blessing over this potential community and may all those involved be submissive to His purposes.
- live sacrificially
- give sacrificially
- give permission to speak truth into one another’s life
- seek shalom of neighborhood b/w churches, ethnic groups, families, and across racial lines
- encourage one another to be kingdom people in our jobs
- spend time with the poor, oppressed, and homeless
- learn the needs of the community and find ways to help the community find ways to help the community care for those needs
- pray for one another
- be ready and willing to be hated and persecuted…and when it comes, praise God for it (be like Paul)
- strive to be shaped and formed like Christ
- learn how Jesus interacted with those around him
- help make the neighborhood more beautiful and friendly
- pray (prayer meetings in home for the neighborhood) – be lighthouse of prayer (connect with other lighthouses of prayer)
- encourage and celebrate community workers
- have celebrations for no reason at all
- have benevolence fund for neighbors in need
- do VBS in summer with local churches
- be a friend to immigrants
- be hospitable to visitors – have guest bedroom (go all out to make them feel welcomed and loved)
- collect shoes in summer and coats and boots in winter for homeless
- play sports with neighborhood kids and residents
- get to know police chief, doctors/hospital staff, etc.
- frequent local restaurants, shops, and convenient stores
- live simply; love a lot!
- bless, don’t curse
- give thanks
These are just a few ideas. I know there are many more, but just thinking about this gets me excited! May God add His blessing over this potential community and may all those involved be submissive to His purposes.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Justice in Community - Embodiment of Lent and Easter
(I realize this is long, but it means the most to me out of any of my posts thus far)
“I used to say ’My Savior,’ but now I say ‘Our Savior!’”
These simple words were spoken by one of the guests at the shelter tonight name Jesus who, through a number of phone calls he made at the desk I sit at as well as a conversation I had at him, I found out had just accepted Christ and was baptized over Easter! These words were a huge confirmation to me tonight to write this devotional response to close out the Lenten Devotionals – a fulfillment if you will – much like Jesus’ resurrection. It is a message I need for myself and I feel the church needs as a whole.
I have been serving at the shelter in a number of capacities for over a year now. I have broken through so many comfort areas of my life and shattered a number of stereotypes of the homeless. In fact, a number of the guests at the shelter are my friends now – how’s that for breaking down stereotypes. I am no greater than any of them, and in fact they have become my teachers and my encouragers. Guys like Dennis, Earl, Willie, Robert, Ramone, Jesus, Carmelo, Joe, Orlando, and Adejenka. And while they have been my mentors and teachers, serving me in a number of capacities, I too have been able to be a servant in teaching and sharing with them in a number of ways as well. I have given water to the thirsty, offered food to the hungry, clothed the naked, given shelter to the homeless, cared for the sick and cold, and befriended (nearly visited) the prisoner. If anyone has the right to boast about being a Mathew 25 sheep, I do, right? …Wrong!
A sheep is nothing by itself – it’s only chance at survival and purpose is as part of the flock and guarded by the Great Shepherd!
In all I have done, I can only boast in our Lord Jesus Christ, recognizing myself as a sinner who, were it not for the grace and love of Jesus, would myself still be a wretched man. But now I come to my point of revelation: Jesus died and rose again so that I may become grafted into His Body; so that I may experience eternal life in communion with the family of God! Out of all of my acts of good deeds to the poor, none of them matter apart from the Body of Christ. [The Last Supper, Great Commission, and Pentecost were all communal events] Throughout the last five weeks my whole notion of justice to the poor and oppressed has been shattered to pieces; it is to the extent that from this day on all my work at the shelter and among the poor must be done differently: AS AN EXTENSION OF AND EMBODIMENT OF THE BODY OF CHRIST!
The reality of this hit me a few weeks back when we were talking about justice as a function of the church in light of modern and postmodern assumptions (in a seminary class called “the church in postmodern society”). For the first half of lecture and discussion many people in the class was looking at me to respond to the professor’s questions, many recognizing that I have been serving at the shelter for some time now. What is funny (though I assure you it wasn’t funny at the time) is that though I have had numerous interactions and encounters with the poor (only one of them to which the interactions have been tied in with my current church), the majority of my time has been as a lone ranger, acting out justice in a modern function – the act of an individual, not of a corporate body of Christ. In fact, as my professor non-directly made me aware, I really had little understanding of how the church as a community, as a body, is to live out and embody the notion of justice. The sad fact is, I am not alone in my lack of understanding justice as a representation of Christ’s body. In fact, for 23 years now I have been going to churches where the worship, preaching, teaching, and encouragement has more often than not been to do acts of justice (to the poor and oppressed) as individuals. The question is often how are ‘you’ involved with the poor? If we are not involved, guilt follows; if we are involved, pride follows. What I have been learning though is that another alternative exists.
I realize this is a rather harsh critique on modern assumptions of justice. But hang with me.
The problem with seeing justice as acts done by individuals serving other individuals is that often the in the exchange of serving the other and being served, or even a friendship that is made, rarely has any connection into the body of Christ, or the local church, been accomplished. In my case, I can serve any number of the 400-500 men I have served in the last year, including the ones I have built stronger relationships with, but if I never help connect them with a local body of believers, have I really helped them in the holistic way that Christ would have? Not really.
But there is a second part of this alternative type of justice (the first being helping others through inviting them into the community of believers). If and when I invite these homeless patrons into a community of believers, what does that community look like? Is it one that is already taking care of the members in its own body? Not just spiritually, through a sermon or small group, but financially, socially, psychologically, and relationally. If it is not doing this already with its current members, it will struggle with being a community into which a homeless person will actually experience Jesus Christ himself. This act of justice might mean one of the members of the church would have to open up their home to take in the one without one, in order that the church congregation might live out Matthew 25 on their own turf, instead of “giving it away” as my professor would say to a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. [Even if these shelters are run by religious organizations, if the functions are kept separate from the functions of the local church, only providing physical needs, it is not capable of serving the men and women holistically like a community of believers, or Christ himself intends.]
I don’t regret or think poorly upon my last year of serving the homeless. Rather, I thank God for inviting me into the city to serve and be served by, love and be loved by, and teach and be taught by, the people Jesus himself came to serve, love, and teach 2000 years ago. My prayer, and I ask that your prayer should be this: (1) to encourage our churches to better understand this notion of justice both to our own congregation and those on the margins being invited in; (2) to invite our small groups or missional communities (for me, my discipleship mission community of 15 people) and others from our churches to begin building relationships with the homeless and marginalized (for me, to invite my church family to help at the FOA shelter); and (2) [this one specific to my situation] to start a discipleship mission community in the neighborhood where the shelter resides, hopefully starting a community living situation with some of those members by late summer or early fall.
May His Body (the Church) embody the function of justice Jesus intended – an inviting and transformational community for the poor, the marginalized, and the man or woman sitting next to us on Sunday morning. Amen.
“I used to say ’My Savior,’ but now I say ‘Our Savior!’”
These simple words were spoken by one of the guests at the shelter tonight name Jesus who, through a number of phone calls he made at the desk I sit at as well as a conversation I had at him, I found out had just accepted Christ and was baptized over Easter! These words were a huge confirmation to me tonight to write this devotional response to close out the Lenten Devotionals – a fulfillment if you will – much like Jesus’ resurrection. It is a message I need for myself and I feel the church needs as a whole.
I have been serving at the shelter in a number of capacities for over a year now. I have broken through so many comfort areas of my life and shattered a number of stereotypes of the homeless. In fact, a number of the guests at the shelter are my friends now – how’s that for breaking down stereotypes. I am no greater than any of them, and in fact they have become my teachers and my encouragers. Guys like Dennis, Earl, Willie, Robert, Ramone, Jesus, Carmelo, Joe, Orlando, and Adejenka. And while they have been my mentors and teachers, serving me in a number of capacities, I too have been able to be a servant in teaching and sharing with them in a number of ways as well. I have given water to the thirsty, offered food to the hungry, clothed the naked, given shelter to the homeless, cared for the sick and cold, and befriended (nearly visited) the prisoner. If anyone has the right to boast about being a Mathew 25 sheep, I do, right? …Wrong!
A sheep is nothing by itself – it’s only chance at survival and purpose is as part of the flock and guarded by the Great Shepherd!
In all I have done, I can only boast in our Lord Jesus Christ, recognizing myself as a sinner who, were it not for the grace and love of Jesus, would myself still be a wretched man. But now I come to my point of revelation: Jesus died and rose again so that I may become grafted into His Body; so that I may experience eternal life in communion with the family of God! Out of all of my acts of good deeds to the poor, none of them matter apart from the Body of Christ. [The Last Supper, Great Commission, and Pentecost were all communal events] Throughout the last five weeks my whole notion of justice to the poor and oppressed has been shattered to pieces; it is to the extent that from this day on all my work at the shelter and among the poor must be done differently: AS AN EXTENSION OF AND EMBODIMENT OF THE BODY OF CHRIST!
The reality of this hit me a few weeks back when we were talking about justice as a function of the church in light of modern and postmodern assumptions (in a seminary class called “the church in postmodern society”). For the first half of lecture and discussion many people in the class was looking at me to respond to the professor’s questions, many recognizing that I have been serving at the shelter for some time now. What is funny (though I assure you it wasn’t funny at the time) is that though I have had numerous interactions and encounters with the poor (only one of them to which the interactions have been tied in with my current church), the majority of my time has been as a lone ranger, acting out justice in a modern function – the act of an individual, not of a corporate body of Christ. In fact, as my professor non-directly made me aware, I really had little understanding of how the church as a community, as a body, is to live out and embody the notion of justice. The sad fact is, I am not alone in my lack of understanding justice as a representation of Christ’s body. In fact, for 23 years now I have been going to churches where the worship, preaching, teaching, and encouragement has more often than not been to do acts of justice (to the poor and oppressed) as individuals. The question is often how are ‘you’ involved with the poor? If we are not involved, guilt follows; if we are involved, pride follows. What I have been learning though is that another alternative exists.
I realize this is a rather harsh critique on modern assumptions of justice. But hang with me.
The problem with seeing justice as acts done by individuals serving other individuals is that often the in the exchange of serving the other and being served, or even a friendship that is made, rarely has any connection into the body of Christ, or the local church, been accomplished. In my case, I can serve any number of the 400-500 men I have served in the last year, including the ones I have built stronger relationships with, but if I never help connect them with a local body of believers, have I really helped them in the holistic way that Christ would have? Not really.
But there is a second part of this alternative type of justice (the first being helping others through inviting them into the community of believers). If and when I invite these homeless patrons into a community of believers, what does that community look like? Is it one that is already taking care of the members in its own body? Not just spiritually, through a sermon or small group, but financially, socially, psychologically, and relationally. If it is not doing this already with its current members, it will struggle with being a community into which a homeless person will actually experience Jesus Christ himself. This act of justice might mean one of the members of the church would have to open up their home to take in the one without one, in order that the church congregation might live out Matthew 25 on their own turf, instead of “giving it away” as my professor would say to a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. [Even if these shelters are run by religious organizations, if the functions are kept separate from the functions of the local church, only providing physical needs, it is not capable of serving the men and women holistically like a community of believers, or Christ himself intends.]
I don’t regret or think poorly upon my last year of serving the homeless. Rather, I thank God for inviting me into the city to serve and be served by, love and be loved by, and teach and be taught by, the people Jesus himself came to serve, love, and teach 2000 years ago. My prayer, and I ask that your prayer should be this: (1) to encourage our churches to better understand this notion of justice both to our own congregation and those on the margins being invited in; (2) to invite our small groups or missional communities (for me, my discipleship mission community of 15 people) and others from our churches to begin building relationships with the homeless and marginalized (for me, to invite my church family to help at the FOA shelter); and (2) [this one specific to my situation] to start a discipleship mission community in the neighborhood where the shelter resides, hopefully starting a community living situation with some of those members by late summer or early fall.
May His Body (the Church) embody the function of justice Jesus intended – an inviting and transformational community for the poor, the marginalized, and the man or woman sitting next to us on Sunday morning. Amen.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Lent Devotional #3
Last Friday night I went to a Taize church service, a type of service focused around prayer and repetitious song. It was beautiful. The sanctuary was beautiful and the people were beautiful. There were two parts during the service that I felt tied together perfectly in relation to Lent. The first part included everyone lighting a candle we had picked up upon entering, and after singing a song with the candle in our hands, putting them in clay pots of sand in the middle of the sanctuary to represent the light of Christ. Later in the service there was a time when the congregants were invited to come up to a wooden cross located a little ways off of all the lit candles, and as the bulletin said "lay your head on the cross to lift up your burdens and the burdens of suffering people all around the world." In expectation of the light of Christ, and yet in view of the cross, I realized something. I have always been told that we must see our lives through the lens of Christ. I realized, as I bowed at the cross facing the lights, that even though we are on this side of Jesus' death and resurrection, as faithful followers of Jesus Christ, we are called for a time to endure suffering as Jesus did in patient expectation of His glorious return. And yet, even in waiting for His return, we have already experienced His triumphant victory over death and His resurrection to His rightful throne next to His Father in Heaven.
This encouraged me greatly during a hard week at the homeless shelter. I volunteered two nights last week, and yet with a heavy and nearly hardened heart. Without getting into details, I was greatly disrespected by one of the shelter's administrators who I rarely see at the shelter, having their office a few miles up town. In being disrespected, I wanted to respond the way Jesus did to His perpetrators on His way to the cross when He asked them for which of His good deeds they were trying to kill him. We find a similar verse in 1 Peter 2:12 that says, "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." And what is more, in James we are told "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." (James 1:2-3) Honestly, my experience last week was only one of many things in the last year that could have made me quit or back down. It has been through pushing through that I've developed perseverance. And joy. I'm encouraged this week by our savior's example, and I desire to know more of Him and His experiences leading up to the cross.
This encouraged me greatly during a hard week at the homeless shelter. I volunteered two nights last week, and yet with a heavy and nearly hardened heart. Without getting into details, I was greatly disrespected by one of the shelter's administrators who I rarely see at the shelter, having their office a few miles up town. In being disrespected, I wanted to respond the way Jesus did to His perpetrators on His way to the cross when He asked them for which of His good deeds they were trying to kill him. We find a similar verse in 1 Peter 2:12 that says, "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." And what is more, in James we are told "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." (James 1:2-3) Honestly, my experience last week was only one of many things in the last year that could have made me quit or back down. It has been through pushing through that I've developed perseverance. And joy. I'm encouraged this week by our savior's example, and I desire to know more of Him and His experiences leading up to the cross.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Lent Devotional #2
Crossing Boundaries...
How often do we in the church go out of our way or cross over societal boundaries to minister to "others"? I have been learning recently that Jesus did it all the time!
One of the experiences I won't forget was showering during my stay at the shelter. Being a community shower with about 7 open shower stalls, and no hooks to put your clothes on when showering, I had to put all my clean clothes on the floor atop my just worn shirt in order to keep the clean ones from getting dirty. But in this process my clean, plain white t-shirt dropped on the ground, getting a wet dirt stain from the dirty floor. But being my only clean shirt left, that is what I had to put on after the shower; an experience not dissimilar to camping, but in this context, definitely a new boundary I had crossed.
As I continue to reflect upon my four day homeless experience at the Franciscan Outreach Association, I am drawn all the more to Jesus' boundary breaking activities which helped bring in the Kingdom of God. A big part of my experience over the last year at the shelter has been crossing boundaries into areas of greater discomfort and yet greater impact upon the shelter guests... as well as my life. My time at the shelter has gone from passing out sandwiches as a part-time volunteer, to filling full-time volunteer responsibilities including doing the long shift from 10:30pm-3:00am (here I pass out clothes, sign people in, monitor the dorm, build relationships with the guests, etc.), to interacting with the guests and volunteers outside of the shelter (bringing some of the guests back to my apartment or to my church, going to their church, taking them to a movie and lunch, attending their work-training graduation; and hanging out with the volunteers where they live, going on trips with them, etc.), to just recently living in the dorm with the guests.
This last one has made the biggest impact on me thus far. While serving in a volunteer position for a year, the guests were still to me homeless patrons, carrying with them the stereotypes and slack that many homeless men and women get. Even when I would spend time with the guests outside of the shelter, they were still the person who slept in the shelter, and me the one who slept in my apartment in the suburbs. But after sleeping in the same beds that they sleep in (even in the cots which are where the "marginalized" of the shelter guests sleep), for four days I was no longer on a level up, but rather at their same level. Now I realize, as my classmate reminded me the other day, that these men should not be looked at as "other" but rather as no different that you or me. But the reality is, whether we acknowledge it or not, these people are considered by our society to be the "outcasts." It was through sleeping and showering with these men that my classmate's comment rang true...THESE MEN AND WOMEN ARE NO DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND ME. Sure many are drug addicts, mentally handicapped, alcoholics, and jobless. But aren't many people living in houses in the city and the suburbs. In all reality, the majority of the men at the shelter have had or currently have jobs, don't stink, don't beg, have families (many even their own children and grandchildren), and like us were we to be in their shoes, just need a little love and encouragement to get them back on their feet.
It is amazing that after 2000 years of having the examples of Jesus' boundary breaking activities, that we as Christians still put up boundaries between us and people who are different from us...if it is not the "homeless," then maybe it is "homosexuals," "foreigners," "gang bangers," "prostitutes," or "sinners." Let us be reminded: These are the people Jesus said were entering the Kingdom of Heaven ahead of us! (Mt. 21:32) He has invited them to His Table and we say it is to "uncomfortable" or "dangerous" to invite them to ours. And what is more, Jesus didn't cross these boundaries just to cross them. Rather, He did so to set others free who had for so long been considered "unclean" or "untouchable" even by religious laws. Even Easter, and the dreadful Good Friday, recognizes and celebrates Jesus' final triumphant boundary breaking activity over death and sin - raising from the dead and providing the gift of eternal life!
I realize I am being forthright, though by no means am I saying I have it all right either. Even 4 days in a homeless shelter can't break 23 years of boundary making. I am simply saying that the precedent has been set. Jesus left his place of comfort and glory to interact with lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners...all this to show that no one is out of reach of the Grace of God. If we aren't out of His reach, then the 23,000 homeless people in Chicago tonight are not either. As His followers, and having received His grace, we are called to be like Him - to put on our white t-shirts and get a little dirty :)
How often do we in the church go out of our way or cross over societal boundaries to minister to "others"? I have been learning recently that Jesus did it all the time!
One of the experiences I won't forget was showering during my stay at the shelter. Being a community shower with about 7 open shower stalls, and no hooks to put your clothes on when showering, I had to put all my clean clothes on the floor atop my just worn shirt in order to keep the clean ones from getting dirty. But in this process my clean, plain white t-shirt dropped on the ground, getting a wet dirt stain from the dirty floor. But being my only clean shirt left, that is what I had to put on after the shower; an experience not dissimilar to camping, but in this context, definitely a new boundary I had crossed.
As I continue to reflect upon my four day homeless experience at the Franciscan Outreach Association, I am drawn all the more to Jesus' boundary breaking activities which helped bring in the Kingdom of God. A big part of my experience over the last year at the shelter has been crossing boundaries into areas of greater discomfort and yet greater impact upon the shelter guests... as well as my life. My time at the shelter has gone from passing out sandwiches as a part-time volunteer, to filling full-time volunteer responsibilities including doing the long shift from 10:30pm-3:00am (here I pass out clothes, sign people in, monitor the dorm, build relationships with the guests, etc.), to interacting with the guests and volunteers outside of the shelter (bringing some of the guests back to my apartment or to my church, going to their church, taking them to a movie and lunch, attending their work-training graduation; and hanging out with the volunteers where they live, going on trips with them, etc.), to just recently living in the dorm with the guests.
This last one has made the biggest impact on me thus far. While serving in a volunteer position for a year, the guests were still to me homeless patrons, carrying with them the stereotypes and slack that many homeless men and women get. Even when I would spend time with the guests outside of the shelter, they were still the person who slept in the shelter, and me the one who slept in my apartment in the suburbs. But after sleeping in the same beds that they sleep in (even in the cots which are where the "marginalized" of the shelter guests sleep), for four days I was no longer on a level up, but rather at their same level. Now I realize, as my classmate reminded me the other day, that these men should not be looked at as "other" but rather as no different that you or me. But the reality is, whether we acknowledge it or not, these people are considered by our society to be the "outcasts." It was through sleeping and showering with these men that my classmate's comment rang true...THESE MEN AND WOMEN ARE NO DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND ME. Sure many are drug addicts, mentally handicapped, alcoholics, and jobless. But aren't many people living in houses in the city and the suburbs. In all reality, the majority of the men at the shelter have had or currently have jobs, don't stink, don't beg, have families (many even their own children and grandchildren), and like us were we to be in their shoes, just need a little love and encouragement to get them back on their feet.
It is amazing that after 2000 years of having the examples of Jesus' boundary breaking activities, that we as Christians still put up boundaries between us and people who are different from us...if it is not the "homeless," then maybe it is "homosexuals," "foreigners," "gang bangers," "prostitutes," or "sinners." Let us be reminded: These are the people Jesus said were entering the Kingdom of Heaven ahead of us! (Mt. 21:32) He has invited them to His Table and we say it is to "uncomfortable" or "dangerous" to invite them to ours. And what is more, Jesus didn't cross these boundaries just to cross them. Rather, He did so to set others free who had for so long been considered "unclean" or "untouchable" even by religious laws. Even Easter, and the dreadful Good Friday, recognizes and celebrates Jesus' final triumphant boundary breaking activity over death and sin - raising from the dead and providing the gift of eternal life!
I realize I am being forthright, though by no means am I saying I have it all right either. Even 4 days in a homeless shelter can't break 23 years of boundary making. I am simply saying that the precedent has been set. Jesus left his place of comfort and glory to interact with lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners...all this to show that no one is out of reach of the Grace of God. If we aren't out of His reach, then the 23,000 homeless people in Chicago tonight are not either. As His followers, and having received His grace, we are called to be like Him - to put on our white t-shirts and get a little dirty :)
Friday, February 22, 2008
Lent Devotional #1.5
As I was thinking about my first Lenten Devotional, I sensed a need to take the verse from 2 Corinthians 8:9 one step further, completing this amazing story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Whereas the last devotional focused more on Jesus’ life, here I will try and draw upon His death and resurrection.
The last day of my homeless experience was a Sunday morning, and though like the other mornings I was kicked out at 6:30am, this particular morning I did not leave alone. I had invited one of the guests, a 53 year old African man from Nigeria to come out with me to my apartment in the suburbs and have a place to catch up on some sleep, take a shower, do his laundry, and eat a home cooked meal (though nothing like what my mom can make). It was through my experience of living in the same dorm with this man for four days, along with the last year of volunteering on a weekly basis, that I was able to develop enough trust for him to come stay with me for a day. In addition to caring for his physical needs, I also invited my friend to church with me that Sunday morning, but he chose to stay at the apartment for two reasons. First off, he needed to sleep (only having gotten 3-4 hours of sleep the previous four nights), and he knew that he would have dosed off during church anyway. Secondly, though having spent a good part of his life in the church, including teaching a Sunday school class, he had recently been hurt by the church and had been struggling with his faith and trust in God’s people. But needless to say, he appreciated my invitation for him to come stay with me for a day, leaving much more refreshed and revitalized.
And now for the parallel. If I were to have stayed at the shelter, living as each of the others, then I would have in essence been neglecting to share the numerous material resources (shelter, shower, food, laundry) as well as spiritual resources (my church community and personal faith) with any of the men. And the same would have been true with Jesus had he just died and not risen to His rightful position in Heaven. You see, it was through His death and resurrection that He was able to effectively bring others into the Kingdom of God to share in His Glorious inheritance. The burden of sin was set free, and the way to the Father made clear. Though not attained on our own, we have been invited into and offered accordingly the invaluable gift of eternal life. When we see it like this, it is a truly remarkable story!
But what is the Church, and we as members of the Church, to take from this? I suggest that through my own experience and the experience of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we must continue to be called out of our lives of comfort and control into lives of service and sacrifice. In doing so, we will break down barriers and stereotypes (to be talked about in a later reflection) in order to join God in his work of inviting others into a relationship with Him. As a professor suggested in class today, quite in line with Jesus’ own ministry and parables, it is to those on the margins of society that we must take this invitation, and of those from whom the banquet guests will be!
May we be filled with His mission and His purpose during this Lenten season, and take some time to reflect once more upon this verse to which our focus has been given:
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."- 2 Corinthians 8:9
The last day of my homeless experience was a Sunday morning, and though like the other mornings I was kicked out at 6:30am, this particular morning I did not leave alone. I had invited one of the guests, a 53 year old African man from Nigeria to come out with me to my apartment in the suburbs and have a place to catch up on some sleep, take a shower, do his laundry, and eat a home cooked meal (though nothing like what my mom can make). It was through my experience of living in the same dorm with this man for four days, along with the last year of volunteering on a weekly basis, that I was able to develop enough trust for him to come stay with me for a day. In addition to caring for his physical needs, I also invited my friend to church with me that Sunday morning, but he chose to stay at the apartment for two reasons. First off, he needed to sleep (only having gotten 3-4 hours of sleep the previous four nights), and he knew that he would have dosed off during church anyway. Secondly, though having spent a good part of his life in the church, including teaching a Sunday school class, he had recently been hurt by the church and had been struggling with his faith and trust in God’s people. But needless to say, he appreciated my invitation for him to come stay with me for a day, leaving much more refreshed and revitalized.
And now for the parallel. If I were to have stayed at the shelter, living as each of the others, then I would have in essence been neglecting to share the numerous material resources (shelter, shower, food, laundry) as well as spiritual resources (my church community and personal faith) with any of the men. And the same would have been true with Jesus had he just died and not risen to His rightful position in Heaven. You see, it was through His death and resurrection that He was able to effectively bring others into the Kingdom of God to share in His Glorious inheritance. The burden of sin was set free, and the way to the Father made clear. Though not attained on our own, we have been invited into and offered accordingly the invaluable gift of eternal life. When we see it like this, it is a truly remarkable story!
But what is the Church, and we as members of the Church, to take from this? I suggest that through my own experience and the experience of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we must continue to be called out of our lives of comfort and control into lives of service and sacrifice. In doing so, we will break down barriers and stereotypes (to be talked about in a later reflection) in order to join God in his work of inviting others into a relationship with Him. As a professor suggested in class today, quite in line with Jesus’ own ministry and parables, it is to those on the margins of society that we must take this invitation, and of those from whom the banquet guests will be!
May we be filled with His mission and His purpose during this Lenten season, and take some time to reflect once more upon this verse to which our focus has been given:
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."- 2 Corinthians 8:9
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Lent Devotional #1
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."
- 2 Corinthians 8:9
Prior to laying on the cot the first night, I never understood the full significance of God sending His son Jesus into this world in the form of a man, dwelling among us as a lower-class citizen. You see, God, in all his glory left his throne room in Heaven to come live with us! He had it all - even the richest man in the world cannot come close to having a fraction of the riches God possesses in Heaven - and yet he became poor. He took up residence in a tiny town called Nazareth to experience the mess man had gotten himself into.
Laying in my bed, surrounded by 25 to 75 year old men, men who did not have a home and had to stay in temporary shelters to get out of the cold, I realized why Jesus did what He did. You see, staying at the shelter as a guest put me at a level with the men that I didn't have as a volunteer who after serving go back to my bed in the suburbs. By stepping into their world, they told me things they wouldn't have told me otherwise, and they allowed me more of a chance to minister to them. Jesus did the same thing! By coming to earth in the form of man, He allowed us an opportunity to be in relationship with the God of the universe once again.
Then, as we read in the Bible, Jesus died a criminal's death, taking on our sins, and then raised from the dead, conquering death and sin once and for all...and all this so that we could become rich (in faith, hope, love, life, and humility; not wealth, privilege, and power)!
I'd like to pose some questions for us this season as we remember Jesus' death and resurrection:
How do we, in following the example Christ left us, leave our positions of wealth and privilege to minister to those who are less fortunate than us (both here and internationally)?
How are we doing with taking up our cross to follow Jesus' command to those wanting to be His disciples?
What about our churches? Do they look like places of sacrifice and service, or comfort and consumerism?
I want to encourage each of you in this next month leading up to Easter to follow the example of Christ and get uncomfortable for a change. That may be serving at the local soup kitchen or shelter, inviting a non-Christian friend or co-worker over for dinner, or tutoring at an inner city school. We have been called to follow Jesus to the very "least of society," and in doing so to experience and exhibit abundant life.
Be blessed and encouraged this Easter season!
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- 2 Corinthians 8:9
Prior to laying on the cot the first night, I never understood the full significance of God sending His son Jesus into this world in the form of a man, dwelling among us as a lower-class citizen. You see, God, in all his glory left his throne room in Heaven to come live with us! He had it all - even the richest man in the world cannot come close to having a fraction of the riches God possesses in Heaven - and yet he became poor. He took up residence in a tiny town called Nazareth to experience the mess man had gotten himself into.
Laying in my bed, surrounded by 25 to 75 year old men, men who did not have a home and had to stay in temporary shelters to get out of the cold, I realized why Jesus did what He did. You see, staying at the shelter as a guest put me at a level with the men that I didn't have as a volunteer who after serving go back to my bed in the suburbs. By stepping into their world, they told me things they wouldn't have told me otherwise, and they allowed me more of a chance to minister to them. Jesus did the same thing! By coming to earth in the form of man, He allowed us an opportunity to be in relationship with the God of the universe once again.
Then, as we read in the Bible, Jesus died a criminal's death, taking on our sins, and then raised from the dead, conquering death and sin once and for all...and all this so that we could become rich (in faith, hope, love, life, and humility; not wealth, privilege, and power)!
I'd like to pose some questions for us this season as we remember Jesus' death and resurrection:
How do we, in following the example Christ left us, leave our positions of wealth and privilege to minister to those who are less fortunate than us (both here and internationally)?
How are we doing with taking up our cross to follow Jesus' command to those wanting to be His disciples?
What about our churches? Do they look like places of sacrifice and service, or comfort and consumerism?
I want to encourage each of you in this next month leading up to Easter to follow the example of Christ and get uncomfortable for a change. That may be serving at the local soup kitchen or shelter, inviting a non-Christian friend or co-worker over for dinner, or tutoring at an inner city school. We have been called to follow Jesus to the very "least of society," and in doing so to experience and exhibit abundant life.
Be blessed and encouraged this Easter season!
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