My wife, Christel, told me a while back that the blog is likened to the city gates of old. In old Hebrew days the men would stand around the gates of the city talking, bragging, making business deals, getting and giving advice, etc. while the women were probably home working and raising the kids. (Not a slam, just the facts) It was how business was conducted then. Thoughts developed and executed. Partnerships and friendship nurtured as well as arguments and disagreements. Things started there. Conversations continued on the walk home in quiet and in thought.
How do we begin something new? A quiet conversation which leads to contemplation, which leads to rumination, which hopefully leads to action. This past month of deep introspection and pain has led me to some thinking and conversations and I am hoping some actions. I have bitched a lot about the church being dead and hung up on consumerism but I really haven't done much to change anything around me. I run a christian program but do I do anything personally. I have a new fire in my belly. A calling or is it a conviction?
I am challenged to begin a practice of reaching out to the neighbors in need around us. I am thinking about including summer program as well as CommonFIRE. Nothing huge, just asking what do they need done. Give one hour to spell a single mom from her kids, tutor, give piano or art lessons, sweep, bake two loaves of bread and give them one or both, take out the garbage, go shopping for them, sit and listen to them, bring some tea or cold water, advocate for them with a landlord, etc.
Can I challenge you to do this with me? No Bible studies, no taking them to church, nothing like that unless they ask. Simply meet their needs. Bring salvation to them for an hour. Develop an hour towards eternity. Don't preach, love. Don't expect anything in return, freely give. Don't make this a church thing, make it a personal relationship with Jesus gone public. From the Spirit into the Flesh (yes, Bill, we call that incarnation ministry).
Time to move away from the gates boys and girls and into the neighborhood... or should I say into the Kingdom.
5 comments:
im thinking...i like it...im thinking.
hey... get out of my head.
I spent some time praying last night about my new neighbors. It was easy to figure out how to care for the homeless people that lived on my doorstep when I first got to Portland, but now that I'm in a neighborhood, somehow, in my head, it seems scarier to dig in with my neighbors and be in their lives in a way that is genuine.
I live next door to a family that lived in Mexico in April and now live in a shack/slummy little house next door to my duplex. By in large, they don't speak English and I can't really figure out how many people actually live there. Because there are so many people, sometimes the kids all eat their dinner out on the front step and play late into the night outside while the adults enjoy each others company inside.
Some days the little 2nd grade girl, Brenda sits outside my door calling Chicken to come out to play. There have been a couple of days this week that all of the little kids, Chicken, and I have walked across the street to the elementary school field and everyone's run around and played and made the most of the last of our good weather.
It's when the weather changes that I get a little boggled... I know that it will mean letting them in to my life in a practical sense...
Okay, okay, sorry to process on your space, but seriously, it was just last night that I was talking to the Big Guy about this...
This I like...
Church us where we are...
Church is life with Christ in it...
Thanks for sharings what's sparking!
As always, I appreciate what's coming out Tony. Thank you for your commitment to sensitivity to the Spirit of God.
Tony, I think this is a wonderful thing. I'll be praying about it.
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