Through the eyes of the homeless
Have you ever wondered what the homeless (and others in need) think about our theological discussions, arguments about the Bible, and other “churchy” stuff?
Yesterday, I reviewed Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski. In the book, Mike tells the story of how he and Sam lived as homeless people on the streets of six cities over 5 months. Mike and Sam are both 20-something Christian men. But, in the book, we get a glimpse of what the homeless see of us (even from a Christian perspective).
Here is one excerpt:
Suddenly a young family came into view. The dad – dressed in t-shirt, shorts, and a baseball cap – walked in front, but he was looking down, evidently listening to his wife. She came along behind pushing the stroller. As they rolled up to us, a small boy in the stroller looked out at me.
When you’re sitting on a sidewalk, you’re at eye level with babies and kids… While kids might pretend people who don’t exist do, it’s the parents who pretend that unwanted people who do exist don’t.
I held the boy’s gaze for a while and gave him a smile, which he immediately returned. From high above him, his mother said something that caught my attention. “We have to be about the gift of giving and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit,” she said.
I looked up quickly, wondering what those words might mean, what with us sprawled on the sidewalk not five feet from her. But when I caught her eye, she looked away and quickened her pace.
Now the family was well past us. But the boy in the stroller still looked straight at me… (p. 55-56)
And, here’s another excerpt:
Although Sam and I spent every Sunday morning at a church somewhere on our travels, the lack of community was taking a toll on us. Even at church, we felt isolated because of how we looked, how we smelled, and who people perceived us to be. In fact, walking into a church where we hoped to find genuine fellowship only to be met by condescension or suspicion or disingenuous flattery was the worst kind of rejection. (p. 150-151)
I hope these excerpts (and the entire book if you choose to read it) will spur all of us on to noticing the people around us, and then spending time with the people we see.
“How can I Pray for You?”
Last Thursday, our family and some friends helped out with a local food pantry again. The food pantry provided food for almost 350 families that night.
For the most part, I “roamed” around the big room where everyone was waiting for their turn to get their groceries. I walk talk to the people (usually in groups of 2-4), get to know them, and pray with them.
Alot of people mentioned how difficult it was living in this economy. Whenever someone said that, I asked them, “Do you feel closer to God or farther away from God at times like these?” Most people said closer, but I appreciated a few people who said “farther away” or “a little of both.”
I tried to pray with everyone. A few times, the people’s number was called while I was talking with them. I didn’t want to delay them from getting their food and going home, so I didn’t make them wait for prayer. But, for most people, I asked, “How can I pray for you?” Then, I could look in their eyes as we talked with God about their situations.
Here are some of the responses that I got:
My health.
My husband lost his job yesterday.
My sons are on drugs.
I haven’t worked in two years.
Pray that my cancer doesn’t come back.
My boss keeps cutting my hours.
I have diabetes.
My daughter is in a wheelchair and just got laid off.
I need a job so I can pay child support.
I’m having an MRI tomorrow.
I own my own business, and business is very slow.
I haven’t worked in two years.
It can be draining – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – to talk to so many people who are hurting and in need. I’m glad that Margaret was with me for most of the night.
I know that I can’t solve all of their problems – in fact, I can’t solve any of their problems. But, I can care. I can be there. I can listen. I can pray.
What can you do?
Just a bag of groceries
Tonight, for the second time, my family plans to serve in a local food pantry. The food pantry is actually based out of another church building that meets near us. We’ve been invited to help.
We were all exhausted two weeks ago after helping deliver groceries and talk to people who came to the food pantry. But, the exhaustion was good, because we were doing more than simply delivering a bag of groceries. We were there to show the love of Christ to people who were in need.
Tonight, we’ve invited some friends to join us. We hope that some of them choose to do so.
We know that if more people join us it will be beneficial for the people who come to the food pantry. We’ll be able to talk to more people and pray with more people. More people will hear about God’s love and grace and mercy.
We also know that if more people join us, it will be beneficial for the people who join us. They will also come out exhausted: physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained. But the opportunity to serve others and tell others about the love of God in Jesus Christ is worth it.
If you’re in northern Wake County or southern Franklin County (NC), perhaps you can join us next time.
Chosen for Mission
A few weeks ago, my friend Gary led our discussion on Sunday morning. We were talking about election and predestination.
Gary led us through several passages of Scripture that indicate that God’s children or chosen, elect, or predestined. Often, a phrase such as “from the foundation of the world” is added. The fact that God chooses some to be his children seems clear from Scripture.
Gary also led us through several passages of Scripture in which people are exhorted to choose, believe, trust, repent, receive, and accept. We could sum up these passages with Paul quotation from the OT: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” From these passages, it is clear that God saves those who choose him.
In fact, we agree with both parts – God sovereignly chooses and people are responsible for choosing. While it seems contradictory to us, it is obviously not contradictory to God… or to Paul, or Peter, or James, or many of the other authors of Scriptures where both ideas are prominently found.
But, Gary did not end our discussion at this point. God chooses… so what? How does understanding election or predestination help us as God’s children? We talked about several points: the comfort, peace, hope, etc. that we have because God has chosen us.
Then, Gary brought up another point – a point that I had never associated with the idea of election. What point is that? Mission. He pointed us to this statement that Paul wrote to Timothy:
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. (2 Timothy 2:8-10 ESV)
Paul writes that his work at proclaiming the gospel was “for the sake of the elect” (that is, for those who are chosen by God). Paul’s understanding of election did not drive him away from mission, but toward mission – running full speed toward mission.
As my 16 year old son, Jeremy, said that evening when we were talking about this as a family: “Didn’t Paul write many of the statements about election that we read? And, wasn’t Paul known as a great missionary? That alone should tell us that if we understood election the way that Paul understood it, we would me missionaries also!”
And, Jeremy is right. We are chosen from the foundation of the world. Yes, we are chosen to be God’s children and chosen for eternal life. But, we are also chosen to carry out God’s mission while we are still in the world. We do this for God and for the sake of other people who are elect, so that (as Paul said) that also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.
Do you believe that God has chosen you as his child? Then, according to Paul, you are also chosen for mission.
Serving Incarnationally
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I joined “Blogging for Books.” When I joined, I requested the book Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski. I did not know much about the book, but the premise looked interesting.
Mike and his friend Sam spent five months living among the homeless of different cities as homeless people. (Obviously, there were differences, as Mike indicates in his book.)
When I finish reading the book – which should not take much time – I will post a review here.
But, for now, I was wondering what my readers thought about the premise. What do you think about two people choosing to be homeless in order to learn more about homelessness? Pros? Cons?
Taking the Next Step
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post called “The Next Step.” In that post, I talked about how important it is for us to talk about service and to encourage one another to serve others. But, I wondered out loud what it would look like – and what it would mean for the church – if we actually took the next step and left to serve others directly from our meeting together.
This is what I called “the next step” – the step away from concept and toward action. The step away from talking about discipleship and service toward actually discipling and serving others. I wrote:
Imagine, we’re sitting together as the church (either around tables or in a circle), and someone expresses a struggle with sharing the gospel with a neighbor. We encourage the person and pray for him or her. Then – the next step – someone offers to go with that brother or sister (perhaps at that very moment) to share the gospel with the neighbor. Or, perhaps someone else offers to take the struggling brother or sister along on a trip to the food pantry when the gospel is often shared.
There are so many possibilities, but it means taking the next step – the step away from concept and toward action.
Well, last Sunday, we started taking that step.
During the month of November, out teaching/discussions on Sundays with the church have focused on the great commandment and the great commission. We’ve primarily exhorted and challenged one another to think about how we can take the community that we share in Christ out to others. We’ve talked about taking our “shared life in Christ” to those who are also in Christ but do not share community with others, and we’ve talked about taking our community to those who are not believers.
Last Sunday, Rodney was planning to lead our teaching/discussion time. He sent an email before Sunday letting everyone know what we would be talking about, so that we could all come prepared. Here is part of his email:
How can we, practically and specifically, help each other to abide in Chirst (and thereby fuel our love for God and our love and service to others in the name of Christ)? To help us be practical and specific… what ways have others helped you grow in your faith, trust, and obedience to Christ? And in what other ways could others help you? (emphasis in original email)
So, when we got together, we did talk about practical and specific way that we could help others and ways that we could be helped. Several people shared opportunities that they’d had in the last couple of weeks to demonstrate the love of God, or times when they’d witnessed and been encouraged by others as they loved and served in the name of Jesus.
Slowly, a few people began making suggestions about how we could specifically serve others. One sister told about an opportunity to spend time in a local hospital. Another sister shared about a family who was having financial problems. A brother shared about his neighbor. A couple of sisters talked about the elderly people they see during the week. The church could serve all of these people in some ways.
Then, a young lady – a teenager actually – spoke up. She had gone with us when we had provided “More Meals” to some of the needy people in our area. She remembered that one of the elderly ladies that we had visited needed her yard raked.
And, this is where we took “the next step.” Margaret, my wife, suggested that whoever was available that afternoon could go to this lady’s house and rake her leaves. Everyone thought this was a great idea! So, we ate lunch together, then several of us (about 14) went to the lady’s and raked the leaves in her yard.
The lady was so surprised and grateful! Margaret and another friend (and our daughters) will continue to see this lady and her husband at least once per week. They will continue to be able to impact their lives with the love of Christ. And, now, because we took the next step, the whole community is involved in this couple’s life!
I’m praying that we continue to take the next step.
He really “got it”
A friend of ours has lived in Europe for the last two years. She will often send us email updates and prayer requests. Often, these emails tell us about the people that God has brought into her life.
Recently, I received an email from our friend with some wonderful news! One of her European friends had recently confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, and she wanted to share the news with us.
I asked her if I could share this story on my blog, and she consented. Here is part of the story:
S. was one through whom we were allowed to reap the harvest. He had been searching for a while and personally has a lot of interest in ideas, reading “literature” (such as the bible) and talking about spiritual things. He had always been very critical of what he grew up seeing in the Catholic Church and knew that what they present could not be the full truth. In the last year, God has brought several believers in his life through work and various other venues. He got to know a couple, G. and E., who are evangelical believers. E. is a professional cyclist and is also a member of our Christian athletes group. S., being a 26 year old sports journalist, met E. through work and recently wrote a book on his biography as an athlete.
I met S. one weekend in August at G. and E.’s house outside of our city. That weekend we were able to have several spiritual conversations and S. asked many questions, proving to have a soft heart desiring to understand the truth. We found out we lived only a couple stops away from each other on the metro and decided to hang out more. He joined the next “dinner group” we did at J.’s house with 4 of my other friends and absolutely loved the study. He began pouring through the Bible and would often call me and share with me what he read and how it impacted him. We spent a lot of time together and he very much became part of our “group.”
S. and another friend of mine who also participated in the “dinner group”, C., came over for dinner Saturday night. We had an excellent conversation covering all sorts of spiritual topics. I noticed S. actually answering many of C.’s questions. I could tell he was super close and it was just a matter of that final “click.” The next day, I read a message he sent saying he had asked the Lord to enter into his life, declaring that he believes, needs, and thanks him for everything he did for him on the cross. The message was beautiful and showed that he really “got it” all the way down to his heart. We talked today and he is as giddy as ever and had a joyful laugh throughout our conversation.
I love the way our friend combines relationship, intentionality, and patience. She actively pursues relationships with those that God brings into her life. Then she seeks opportunities to express the love of God through Jesus Christ. Finally, she waits for God to bring them to repentance.
This looks like a great “model” to me.
Video Interviews Coming
In the next couple of weeks (perhaps as early as next week), I’m going to add a new feature to “The Assembling of the Church”: video interviews. This morning, I recorded the first part of my first interview with my friend Jason White from “Second and Content.” During three or four interviews, Jason is going to tell us about his recent decision to move to South Africa for a year.
My plan is for my interviews with Jason to be the first in a series of video interviews with people that God has brought into my life or used in my life in some way. I’m hoping that their stories and examples of serving others in the name of Jesus Christ will be an encouragement and a challenge for all of us.
I haven’t decided if I’m only going to set up these video interviews as a separate category on this blog, or if I’m going to also publish them as a video podcast. Do you have any suggestions?
Launch 150
As many of my regular readers know, my family has been spending time over the last two years or so in a government assisted housing project that we affectionately refer to as “The Neighborhood.” This housing project is actually one of a few near our home.
Last week, while we were helping some other friends work at a local food pantry (see my post, “Feeding People“), we met a lady who works in a different housing project on the other side of town. She and her husband have started a more organized ministry called “Launch 150.”
I like this (part of the description of their work on their “Current Ministries” page):
We try to be “here.” Ready to serve, help, whatever is needed. Sometimes that’s having a house/yard full of kids; sometimes it’s praying with a neighbor; sometimes it’s providing transportation. Sometimes it’s crazy busy, sometimes it’s not. God seems to time our activity pretty well, if we are listening to Him.
While there are several differences between what they’re doing and what we’re doing, I think it’s great that we’re all working toward the same goal. I look forward to getting to know them better, learning from them, and growing together as we serve others, demonstrate the love of God, and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
Feeding People
A few months ago, we met a couple who organize a food pantry with the help of one of the large churches in our area. This week, we had an opportunity to help as they provided food for over 300 families. They do this every other week.
They are well-organized, with bags of groceries and other items waiting for the people. The people are called one family at a time, and a team of 2-3 people carry their groceries to their car. They get a very personal touch, and the teams are encouraged to talk with the families and pray with them. My family made up two teams who helped walk with people and take their groceries to their vehicles.
While they are waiting for their turn to get groceries, the people wait in a large room. For part of the time we were there, I was asked to roam through the room, talking with and praying with people that I met. I “roamed” in this manner for just over an hour.
During that time, I met, talked with, listened to, and prayed with from 25-30 people… maybe more… I didn’t count. But, easily, there were ten times that many people there that I did not have time to talk to.
I think my new friends have a great ministry and a great opportunity to impact people’s lives with food (physical and spiritual). I’m hoping to enlist some of my friends to come back next time and “roam” through the crowds with me.