Jesus called it.

when the church publically screws up or acts out in a way that is not very Jesus-like it should gut us to the core… but we shouldn’t be surprised…

‘Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.’ [Matthew 24.12-13]

Jesus called it.

and so, along with the sheep and goats passages of Matthew 24, as well as the assertion that in the end times we will surround ourselves with people who say what our itching ears want to hear [usually ‘how great thou art’ but aimed in our direction, i fear] and that we will turn away from the truth and turn to myths, and the warnings in Matthew 7 about wide and narrow paths, about fruit trees not producing fruit, about houses built on weak or non-existent foundations, as well as a bunch of people running around doing Jesus-resembling stuff but without the backing of a relationship with God, we need to be so aware and prepared that this is what Jesus was preparing us for.

we need to be aware of how we are standing. are we on the solid foundations of scripture or are we being swept away with the popular or cultural beliefs and ideas of our time?

and above all, and it always goes back to this, no matter what our theology says, are we known for loving God and for loving people – because that is the key – that is the master foundation to the whole building that is being built. you lose that and it all tumbles to the ground, and crushes you with it.

the warning has to be that if the majority of people are thinking, saying, doing the same thing, that needs to start ringing bells for us, because that is not what Jesus seemed to be talking about… or was suggesting the opposite of that might in fact be the expected outcome.

a ‘spot on’ thought from the lesser known younger brother of Pythagoras

okay, more than likely not, but if i had already named one child, ‘Pythagoras’ i’m thinking this name has to be in the running for my next child… [no, we’re not pregnant!]

‘Second-century Christian thinker Athenagoras wrote, “Our life does not consist in making up beautiful phrases but in performing beautiful deeds.”‘ [from this morning’s devotion in ‘Common Prayer: A liturgy for ordinary radicals’]

turns out Athenagoras [whose lesser known theorem “the shortest distance between two pints is a barstool” failed to set the mathematical world alight] and i were thinking the same thing this morning, except he thought his a few thousand years before me…

it is very easy to talk the talk and know what we are meant to do and how we are meant to treat people and so on… but when there is a knock at the door and you open it [at an inconvenient time, because surely needy people should come only when we want them to] there is usually a real person standing there, with real needs and real obstacles and it is rarely quick and easy [and comfortable and not requiring some kind of sacrifice]

and let’s be honest, i fail so many times at that point… with the gentle tune of mother teresa’s hit single “SMALL THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE, SMALL THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE” playing on repeat…

i mean, this is why i am here. and this is what my whole life is about [following the words and works of Jesus]. and so i should be doing it a lot better than the next person right? wrong.

sometimes i am irritated because i am in the middle of a meal. sometimes it is frustrating because i am tired after a long day of answering emails and making beds in the hospitality house. sometimes i just don’t feel like it. let’s be honest, i often just don’t feel like it.

but that IS why i am here. and that IS what my life is all about, in theory anyways. and as my buddy, Ath, points out: “Our life does not consist in making up beautiful phrases but in performing beautiful deeds.”

the “beautiful phrases” are nice and pretty and neat and organised and there when i want or need them to be.
it’s the “beautiful deeds” that require more time or effort or discomfort or grace or simply deciding to mean it…
and it’s messy. and that’s okay. and i probably need a lot more grace from God and people than the people arriving at my door do, just cos of how often i get it completely wrong. and a lot of the time my hope and prayer is simply that i can do better tomorrow than i did today…

intentional community… not always sexy and inspirational and life-transforming… but definitely worth it, in sickness and in health, and all of that…

Wild Goose Hunting – Day 3 [Dave Andrews]

the week before Wild Goose we had a guy called Dave Andrews coming to stay a few days with us at the Simple Way and doing a one night midrash [or mid rauch or interactive Bible/Discussion study type thing] and we had heard about this months before with no idea who this guy was and even before we knew he was an australian [intense sporting history of rivalnessity] we [or at least i] weren’t super amped that he was coming in a busy time and taking a monday night up and that we’d have to entertain him and sit through this thing and look interested…

about three minutes into the trip of picking Dave up at the airport my mind was changed – i think it might have been the line “we don’t do titles in our community” that grabbed me, but i knew we were on to a winner… the Monday night midrash was amazing and i attended all three of his talks at the Goose [and testimony to who he is the first one was not that huge but they grew immensely as he continued giving talks, word of mouth advertising being more effective than anyone knowing his name, partly because one of his principles is not to be outside of his community more than 10% of the time so he can live the stuff he speaks about]

one of the comments on his web page, which is pretty much on the nose, by a guy called Martin Wroe [from Greenbelt] says this: “I like to think of Dave Andrews as a… weirdy, beardy, proverbially wise-old, kind-old, be-slippered, fire-sided, snoozy, fearless, story-telling, grand-fatherly, rugged, tribal-leader.’

he said so much stuff and i wish i could have taken better notes to be able to share it all here, but we definitely learnt a lot and here are the 3 assumptions he makes when connecting with people:

[1] Everyone is created in the image of God

Everyone has the law [i think, or ‘lore’ – both work but hard to say with that accent which one he meant and i meant to ask him] of God written on their hearts – and so if we can slow down the conversation [there are no quick fixes] they will connect to what is already on their hearts – the heart must crack for it to get in…

[2] The Spirit is at work in any context at which I work.

the idea that we don’t bring God – wherever you see the fruits of the Spirit, the Spirit is working [whether they recognise it or not]
trust the Spirit will lead people into Truth

[3] Jesus is not only with us, He is also with them

We have based most of our evangelism on Matthew 28 where Jesus says ‘Lo, I am with you, to the ends of the earth’ and so we go, “Ah, God is with us”
But if you read Matthew 25, the story of the sheep and the goats, Jesus says that whatever you do for the least of these, you do for Me and so He is with them as well.

[the problem is not simply rich vs poor but that we refuse to admit/realise/acknowledge we are the rich… p.s. you’re reading this on a computer or phone aren’t you?]

We are not called to convert people. We are called to BE CONVERTED. To move towards Jesus. [only the Spirit can convert people]

The labels of Christian vs non-Christian are unhelpful. We should seek more passionately to recognise Jesus at work in us, but ALSO recognise Him at work in others.

Move from the implicit to the explicit [implied to explained]

it IS necessary.

spoken about this before and will no doubt speak about it again…

the famous [or maybe infamous] quote of ‘preach the gospel, and if necessary use words’ which a lot of the time encourages those who don’t want to ever use words to feel justified in doing so “because people will see Jesus in the way i live”

they might, but will they ever know it’s Him?

this is one of the issues we have to weigh repeatedly at the simple way and in pretty much any other form of Christ-following community i have been involved with.

there are some groups that have focused so strongly on “preaching the gospel” because it is all about getting people saved [whatever that means – usually raising your hand and then coming to the front of a meeting and repeating a prayer] that they have neglected the good works that should flow naturally out of a living and loving relationship with Jesus…

and there are other groups who have emphasised so strongly the need to reach out to ‘the least of these’ [poor, hungry, thirsty, stranger, imprisoned, sick, widows and orphans] in practical ways, that the name of Jesus has seldom if ever been mentioned…

a thorough reading of the bible tells us that there can never be a choice between the two, and there should definitely never be an exclusion of either of them.

yes, people should be able to notice something different about the way we live – we should be being known by the love we have for each other, we should have been thoroughly transformed from the worldly pattern of doing things by the renewing of our minds and we should be living holy, set apart lives that create serious waves in the wider communities we are part of because of our tendency to love our enemies, to be patient, to always protect, always hope, always persevere and to never hold a record of wrongs…

but unless we point to Jesus in all of that different living, people will naturally give credit to us and assume it is because i am a good person or i am trying harder or i am special or something. it IS necessary to point our lives towards Jesus. and it is necessary to say the name.

Luke 9.26 puts it well – ‘If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.’

because what else could it be that stops you from saying Jesus’ incredible name? when i had a girlfriend, people heard about it [through the name ‘the beautiful Valerie’ and not simply the term ‘a girlfriend’] and then when i had a fiance’ people heard about it [Valerie!] and when i got married there was a name [tbV!] and pictures and and and…

how much more so with Jesus who is the most important person in my life? who i have committed my whole life to. who has given up His life and comfort and physical well-being for me. who has given me hope and a purpose and motivation for each day and empowerment to be able to do the things He has called me to do.

and so preach the gospel, and as you live it out, use the words that will bring fame to Jesus, and as you speak out Jesus name, make sure you are accompanying it with Jesus action…

two gems from the daily life of Jesus

in morning prayer, the one scripture reading was from Luke 5 and here are two gems that fell out…

‘While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.’ [vs.12-13]

So simple a response and yet so profound and for those of us who know and have watched and walked with this Jesus it is like “the Du-uh! heard around the world” as how else would He respond? And yet so beautiful a moment when He does…

‘One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”’ [vs.17-26]

what stands out in this story is first of all the persistence and faithfulness of the friends… and then how God firstly gives the man what he needs above what everyone thinks he wants/needs… and then how to top it all off, God adds the want to the need and heals the man of his physical trauma as well.

the health board, the picnic and A BUNCH OF NUTTERS. [guest starring valerie luthor king jnr] part III

[let me disclaim this post and say that nothing mentioned here is official ‘The Simple Way’ stance on these issues but rather my personal reflections and experiences]

OUTSIDE

i arrived at the health board meeting venue just as Monkman [aka Aaron Condon, my housemate] did and we did what all activists do to get ready for a protest – we played a round or two of new addictive card game golf and i totally dominated… but then people started arriving and chatting to us and so we put the game away [he hardly had to force me] and got chatting to some people…

fairly soon after that the occupy philly people arrived and started setting up tables and the first sign i saw someone from their group holding up was one which read “Nutter is the Antichrist” – now I’ve read the book a few times and I’m not sure if that is true…

my big problem with that is that you have immediately thrown your integrity as a reasonably protesting group out of the window and so it actually made me quite angry and not amped to be connected or associated with them at all – other signs like ‘Greedy Pigs’ or ‘Feed the poor, stupid’ and even ‘Nutter vs Homeless’ were less blatantly ridiculous but i am not sure how helpful they are either…

when the police arrived and this guy Jessie who was serving food [and would later feature in the Valerie Luthor King Jnr speech] turned around and shouted “No Donuts” that really made me change my opinion about Occupy Philly and think these guys are people we want to be in close partnership… no wait, REALLY? Did you really just say that? Not a statement/act that is going to make anyone want to listen to any of us with any kind of seriousness and just really not helpful as people trying to give the impression that they have anything valid to say.

INSIDE

then we got to go inside in groups of twenty to observe the meeting – i was in the second group and joined Val, Shane, Erica, Jamie Moffett, Sueihn and some others of our group were let in later, and was there for the start where they explained how the meeting was going to proceed and that there would not be commentary available to the public…

the health board reviewed the changes they had proposed to the previous 14 page document and as i mentioned before they all seemed pretty reasonable… they had just gotten started on reading through the ammended regulations based on that response document when one of the occupy people started their pre-planned interruption by shouting out “Mic Check” and then everyone in their group [somewhere between 20 and 40 people] repeats and then the person makes a series of statements [well scream-ments] and everyone repeats – things like “WE LISTENED TO YOU” “YOU’RE NOT LISTENING TO US” “YOU HAVEN’T GIVEN US A CHANCE TO SPEAK ON THESE THINGS” and so on… so completely disruptive and different ones of us [from the Simple Way and friends] had differing ideas as to how effective/right/reasonable any of it was [with some thinking not at all and others thinking up to a point] – one of the girls did a “Mic Check” and took a sandwich she had “made with her clean hands” that “she would eat” and put it on the table in front of Dr Schwartz, who was chairing the meeting, and invited him to eat it [he thanked her later for the sandwich altho i don’t think he ate it at the time]…

so that was all disruptive and completely disregarded the process that was happening up front [which was the intention] but it was a little later that it really started to cross lines – there was one particular guy in a green shirt who just got really louder and obnoxious – after declaring that he was a christian and that this process was very unchristian, he proceeded to call Dr Schwartz the antiChrist [so is it Schwartz or Nutter or are we talking antiChrists here?], swear at the board and spit [have heard at someone, have heard on ground] and then the group [who passed the Open Mic leadership from person to person] just became completely disruptive and the board eventually had to leave and continue the meeting elsewhere [with two occupy philly people present apparently, but not green shirt child]

and so the board left [having been really well composed through most of it and most of these are mediumly old ballies so good on them] and then Val went and approached the occupy group and made me so proud by speaking her mind in a controlled yet direct fashion and letting them know that by acting the way they did they took away her opportunity to hear the rest of the process – so they disempowered her, well us who actually were really wanting to know what was going on… and it’s hard to explain exactly how it all unfolded but she was really great and when donut-screaming Jessie tried to interrupt her the rest of the occupy group got on his case and shouted him down… [he eventually came to Val outside and apologised]

i went to green shirt guy and told him that the Jesus he said he represented was not the same Jesus i followed and while i was talking to him his friend kept on interrupting and not letting me speak and then called me an idiot [kinda made my point there, guy!] and he reminded me that Jesus threw over tables and told us to have swords which i’m not sure is a fully exegeted understanding of who Jesus is and the way He would have treated people in that meeting…

what was really cool was that before that all happened, during all the craziness, a couple of people linked to occupy [altho not necessarily directly from them] came over to us to see if we were okay [cos they sensed we were not happy with proceedings] and made an effort to talk and hear and dialogue and connect and a bunch of the occupy people [i think] came over to us and apologised [especially after Val spoke] and also thanked her for what she said, and we got to chat to a bunch of them outside and realised that we can’t blanket the whole group as a bunch of morons [which would have been easy to do because the few shouted loudly enuff to feel like they represented the many] because a lot of them are doing some really good things and have a lot of good to say and do and we can definitely pursue relationship with them…

so we have connected with some groups that do regular feeding and will look at building relationship and connection and hopefully together continuing to fight [non-violently and treating people with dignity and respect] for justice and to help those who are seen by many as ‘the least of these.’

[a new friend of ours Robert Martin who drove an hour to be with us wrote this blog on his experience and captured it well]

intentional cross-cultural relationships as a form and practice of worship?

how about the idea of intentional cross-cultural relationships [not dating, simply talking friends here] as a form and practice of worship?

that was one thing i walked away with from a conversation with an australian [of all people, ha ha] here in philly where my beautiful wife Val and i currently live and minister… and it wasn’t anything he said specifically but just stuff i picked up and grabbed on to from hearing some of his story…

i walked away with a desire and intent to read more books written by non-white people [as probably every book i read is written by a white person except maybe the Bible, depending on who is making the movie] and to build more friendships with non-white people…

which, very much like B.E.E. has already caused a bunch of people to roll their eyes or stop reading altogether, but if you are in a multi-cultural community [as we are – white, latino and african-american who as Trevor Noah says “are not really african, but we’ll play along”] and you are not making non-white friends naturally, then you probably need to get a little bit intentional for it to happen at all.

so that was the plan and i started keeping my eyes open and making connections with friends of this guy via email who we will hang with sometime, but an incredible thing happened… while that was all the intentional idea in the background, God put me in a situation/space with one of the Latino guys we have relationship with as an organisation and the second time we were in the same work space i found myself thinking ‘i want to spend time with this guy’ and NOT AS A LATINO GUY TO SPEND TIME WITH but just as a cool guy. someone i want to get to know and hang out with and get addicted to card Golf or whatever we can find in common to do together.

then this morning i was in a meeting with an older pastory guy [well “bishop” to be exact which is normally something that would get my allergies going] and he gave me the book he’s written which i look forward to reading and i’m thinking “i could be mentored by this guy” and so the kind of desired intentional thing i was seeking to go and make happen just kinda pitched up [accidentally? not with the God i serve] and that is an incredible start to what i hope will end up being some authentic and stretching and incredible relationships…

how about you? what are your thoughts on pursuing intentional cross-cultural friendships if you don’t naturally have and on reading stuff written by not the usual people you read/are influenced by?

i said this before and i think i still pretty much believe it – that if everyone in your church or small group looks like you, you’re probably in the wrong place. our tendency is to commune with people who look and sound and act like us because that is a lot more comfortable. but also creates a comfortable space where less learning is likely to happen.

look at Jesus and the people he picks as His disciples. just one example is Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector and i wish we had the records to show how Jesus paired the two of them together when He sent them on mission trips, because that illustrates the kind of humour that i imagine Jesus to have had. it is impossible to read the bible and come up with the profile of ‘the person God used’ or ‘the person God spoke through’ – such completely different people which is why we have stories of ‘iron sharpening iron’ and not ‘kittens cuddling with kittens’ or something like that.

i’m ready for some different kinds of people in my life – speaking into my life, mentoring, challenging, inspiring… and i’m excited that it looks as if God has started indicating some of who those are going to be.

let’s worship.

blessed are the poor [just as long as we can keep them out of sight, out of mind]

last night the beautiful Val and Monkman and myself went to a homeless memorial service in town where a bunch of different organisations who work with homeless people, such as project home where will [who runs our alternative seminary classes] works to specifically remember those homeless or previously homeless people who had died in the last year – more than fifty names were read out at one part of the service which took place outside in the gentle rain…

at one point in the service a friend of the simple way played Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philadelphia’, one of my favourite and most moving of songs, which has never felt so apt [actually being on the streets of philadelphia] and the words are as follows:

“I was bruised and battered and I couldnt tell
What I felt
I was unrecognizable to myself
I saw my reflection in a window I didn’t know
My own face
Oh brother are you gonna leave me
Wastin´away
On the streets of philadelphia

I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
Black and whispering as the rain
On the streets of philadelphia

Aint no angel gonna greet me
Its just you and I my friend
My clothes don’t fit me no more
I walked a thousand miles
Just to slip the skin

The night has fallen, Im lyin awake
I can feel myself fading away
So receive me brother with your faithless kiss
Or will we leave each other alone like this
On the streets of philadelphia.”

[Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bruce+springsteen/streets+of+philadelphia_20025067.html%5D

Jesus said, “There will always be poor people among you” and I think we often receive that in a resigned way – oh well, Jesus said there’s always going to be poor people so why even bother trying to make a difference. But i think He was speaking prophetically, not so much about what has to be the case [we do have enough resources for everyone at this present time] but from a place of knowing the heart of man – because you are greedy and put yourself first and choose your comfort over someone elses need, as a result of that, there will always be poor people among you.

this blog has the word ‘poor’ in the title so it is not going to get as many hits as say my relationship blogs [how can I do MY relationships better?] and the people who made it down this far are most likely not the ones who need to read or be reminded of any of this stuff, except maybe a little, and maybe it’s that little which counts. i know i need to hear it [and i have chosen to live in a poor neighborhood and work with poor people] because there is still a lot that needs to change in my own life.

but standing in the rain last nite with a whole lot of homeless people from all diverse backgrounds [poverty is not racist] and walks of life, and the people who work with them, i was moved once again that we can NOT SETTLE FOR THE WAY THINGS ARE – where those who have keep piling up more and more while those who don’t are left to suffer alone… especially as the church… part of our mandate is to look after the least of these.

“The night has fallen, Im lyin awake
I can feel myself fading away
So receive me brother with your faithless kiss
Or will we leave each other alone like this
On the streets of philadelphia.”

intention. all.

yesterday i took a 6 hour bus ride to pittsburgh for a conference i am attending with a friend of mine called matt pritchard. i sat for four hours not talking to the guy next to me and then the last two hours we somehow got chatting and it was so inspirational…

andrew was an interpreter who became a baker and really has a passion for being a man with a craft [he also does some incredible iconography painting but that’s another story] and the main focus of his bakery is different kinds of breads, especially those from eastern europe… then every thursday evening him and his family volunteer at a food distribution place in town and the bakery he works at [which his friend runs] supplies the bread…

i attended a community dinner at matt’s place which they do once a week [totally funded by the family in whose house their community are living] with about 30 people from all over and it started out a bit awkward for me as i didn’t know anyone and was feeling a bit out of it, but eventually managed to connect into a conversation through the merits of ‘the big bang theory’ and other tv programs and so vibed with a bunch of the people for a bunch of the time. but it was afterwards as people were cleaning up around me [i was helping clean up a cheesecake plate] that i got into a couple of conversations around the topic of intentional community and met a few people and got to hear what they were involved in and it was so inspiring.

and it got me thinking back to certain friendship groups or even church contexts back home [not saying this is a back home thing, think it happens a lot of the time over here as well] and how so many conversations make it to the movies, sport and food place and then go no further… and a lot of peoples’ lives seem to get to the movies, food, sport place and then go no further.

i have been privileged to meet some incredible people since coming over to americaland and being connected to the simple way [my role is hospitality so i generally get to connect with all the visitors who pass through in some shape or form and especially those who stay over at the hospitality house] and i imagine this big conference on community that starts later tonite will be a whole lot more of that – and often it’s almost overwhelming stuff that leaves me with a “flip am i doing anything?” kind of feeling just cos some people are doing so much stuff or having such a wide reach – changing communities and neighborhoods and even sometimes whole countries as opposed to simply influencing one or two people. [and i definitely know a bunch of people back home who are doing the same and some to some pretty huge life and community affecting extents]

i don’t know that i know how to express this amazingly now. i am certainly not trying to say people need to do more than they are if they are doing something. but a lot of people are just not doing anything – they are living at the level of movies, food and sport and it never gets deeper… when you stand before God one day He is going to ask who you fed, who you clothed, who you took a few minutes to ask their name and listen to their story, whose neighbor’s kid you sat with and helped with their homework and so on… not so much as a bunch of stuff to do but as an intentional reflection and living out of the love of Jesus shown to you.

if your life as a christian culminates in you going to a meeting once or twice a week with a bunch of people and it doesn’t invade your life beyond that then something is desperately wrong.  i wish i knew how to break this lived out message into peoples lives but i don’t. i want to stand on a mountain and scream it out as if that would help anyone to really ‘get it.’ as much as the Holy Spirit is the one that empowers this work, i still believe that there is some kind of responsability and personal accountability for getting off your butt and accepting His invitation.

if you find that the majority of your life is food, movies and sport conversations and it never gets deeper i want to deeply implore you to take a risk and jump beyond that. find a moment to introduce a life topic. if you’re doing some kind of intentional community or pouring into other peoples lives then bring that conversation up. ask a question. make a statement. just start with something. you’ll be blown away by how God will use it [think little boy with lunch at feeding of five thousand miracle – God will take your little bit and use it to His huge ends]

this is just written in the heat of the moment of having been challenged by this stuff for the last few days and maybe months. i will hopefully write something a bit clearer and more direct later when i have more time to think and express it better. but at least give it some thought. life is too short to just stick with movies, food and sport.

i need an eye op. urgently.

i probly have a good 30 or 40 more blogs i could write about the goose fest but i don’t know if i’m going to get to them – i don’t want the blog to become a sort of dairy [as i spell it] of events and lose the heart of what is happening here – i also don’t want to be caught up too much in blogging that like a person filming or photographing an event i spend so much time filming the event i wasn’t really part of… i still don’t know if the simple way folks may some day see this blog as part of my ‘online ministry’ and ask me to take a sabbattical from it too for 6 months… so i feel i should write this one at least before it happens…

after listening to shane again at the goose [by far my favourite talk or session and largely because it was the first time in three days i remembered hearing the name Jesus more than once and heard passages read from the bible] i was reminded or challenged by the fact that i need an eye operation. i need to start seeing people the way Jesus sees them – he retold this one story about this argument he had with a buddy of his who told him ‘Jesus never spoke to a prostitute’ – shane whips out his bible and is ready to argue and quote scripture and claim battle victory but his friend continued, “the reason Jesus never spoke to a prostitute is that He never saw a prostitute, He only saw a child’ and that hit me once again and i know it needs to do so much more than give me a moment of “oh yes, that” – it needs to become my dna.

i know with some of the kids on the street and some of the parents whose names i am already learning it already has, because they are not statistics or a demographic – they are now a name and a person and a personality and a story – i have not come close to connecting with people on our street like i want to but i have started connecting and at least that is something, but with them i already have a growing sense of how God sees them.

but i know with a lot of the people i don’t have those eyes and i certainly don’t have the heart of Jesus that is desperately needed in the community – those dealing with or doing drugs and those who look worn down with the ugliness of life and some of the barely dressed women we pass in the streets and so on – i judge and i think i am so better and my sin and uncleaness is forgotten in a horrible instant of somehow thinking i may have earned everything God has so freely given to me.

i need God to give me new eyes. and i need a new heart. to see as He sees. to love as He loves.

i have realised since being here how little i actually care about the poor in for-real terms – and that’s another blog – but if i really cared for the poor as much as i needed to then my life back home would have looked dramatically different from what it does now – i can’t change the past but i know i need to be changed so that i walk a different future. that excites me. i know it starts with personal connection with God as well and that needs my attention too.