It’s been almost exactly two years since I last posted this and it’s time I did it again. Christians everywhere should watch and follow the example set out by the beloved Mister Rogers. I think this is truly a beautiful video.
First off let me apologize for the disjointed nature of this post. The reality is that I keep getting distracted and have much more important things to do than to post a blog. But I was so moved by what I’m sharing that I had to post it. Enjoy.
Who would have thought that Billy Graham wannabe (I say that in the most positive and joking way!) Luis Palau and his son would be on the cover of Portlands urban magazine/newspaper Willamette Week in a positive light! You can read the story here and it’s a very good one.
Kudos must be given (credit, not the granola bar) to WW for being “edgy” enough to write this story and for highlighting something that has its roots in the gospel of Jesus. But even more credit must go to the Palau Association for giving WW something to write about. For too long churches and Christians have made headlines for all the wrong reasons, for too long we’ve called the world around us to come to our events, and it is exciting and refreshing to see the Palau Association going to the community and showing through their actions what a Jesus movement looks like. What Palau has done is transitioned from revival type events and instead focused on sending Christians and churches to the community in service. For more info about their work you can read here. It’s about time that we stopped defining sharing our faith as something that happens only verbally, may we all follow the Palau Association and start sharing our faith with our actions, our money, and our presence.
My only regret is that I missed the downtown Vancouver Season of Service. I’ll end with this quote from Portlands Commissioner Nick Fish concerning Palau’s partnership with the city in bringing renewal:
“If we’re succesful, perhaps someday we’ll be known as Jesus’ favorite city.”
I’m learning to live on mission. That is, to live in a way where I am open and available to stop the “important” stuff I’m doing in order to spend time with people.
So…Marcell’s Latte House is my office. I go there three or four mornings a week to study, meet with people, work on things, etc. But while there I’m doing my best to interupt peoples conversations, ask people questions, and care more about others than my “holy church work”. Today that translated into helping them unload a trailer full of kitchen equipment. And when I say kitchen equipment I’m talking industrial ovens, coolers, display cases, etc. I’m sweaty. I haven’t gotten any of my “important” church work done, but I’m getting to know more people and I’m showing that I care more about them than about my “work”.
Jess and I are helping to coordinate a veggetable swap that will happen during the summer here. Anyone from our neighborhood will be invited to bring their extra garden produce to swap, share, and trade.
I might get a part time job here in the mornings too.
How can you start puting yourself in a place (physical location) where you’ll have the opportunity to get “interupted’ by people? Think about it.
On a “side note” I’d like to say that I’ve enjoyed all the “” in this “blog”.
On Sunday at our worship gathering we we talked about how when the Spirit of God lives in you, you become aware of “the coming judgment” and therefore live your life with a sense of urgency. Before you get all worked up, however, I’d like to contextualize “judgment” for you. We defined hell as the absence of God’s presence. If God is good, if God is love, if the results of following God are qualities such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control then hell would be a place that is void of those qualities. So the worst judgment, then, that could befall us would be God allowing us to choose not him, letting us choose our own way away from him.* And if hell is the absence of God then heaven would be the continual presence of him. Heaven would be a place that is characterized by the qualities and nature of God: love, joy, peace…So as followers of Christ, aspeople filled with the Spirit of God we are walking around in constant communion with God, we are living in a piece of heaven now! That also means that some people are experiencing a piece of hell now too! I could tell you story after story of hell on earth, where people are living and experiencing things that are contrary and opposed to the love filled, good, and holy nature of God.
Those who were there on Sunday were commissioned to go out and allow the Spirit of God to bring you a greater awareness of the presence of hell in this world, the reality of judgment, of pain, suffering, fear, loneliness, greed, abuse, etc. Those who were there on Sunday were commissioned to go out and love people, bring people a slice of heaven that we carry around with us daily. Those who were there were commissioned to stop hanging out with Christians, stop ‘going to church’, stop praying, and start spending time loving people who need hope, heaven, love…Jesus. Jesus promised that the gates of hell won’t be able to stop us. The gates of hell may not stop us, but you know what will? Church activities! We can’t storm the gates of hell if we’re too busy talking about Jesus in our holy huddles.
So if you’re reading this, I challenge you to live differently. If you see your neighbor outside, go get your mail and talk to them! If you notice that your neighbors lawn isn’t mowed, then mow it! If you see someone who needs a meal, feed them! If you’ve got a coworker who is experiencing tragedy, buy them flowers! Stop telling people things and start asking lots of questions! If you don’t know about hell int eh world around you then you need to ask more questions! Let’s start caring, lets start listening, and lets start urgently loving hell right out the door.
* This must be balanced with the mystery that Jesus has been to hell and back, that Jesus dwells with those who experience and choose hell. While we may choose the absence of God, Jesus has chosen to find us there and wait for us to begin to choose better things. What a great God we serve!
It is a constant battle within myself between conscience and frugality. Well first off, let me say that I am a firm believer that it is much cheaper than one often things to eat healthy and to live a healthy life (not that I live the most healthy life!) My family of four are able to eat primarily organic and local food, we eat very little canned food, frozen food, and processed food, and we eat gluten free (try paying $6 for a loaf of bread). Oh, and my son has to eat lactose free now! And yet, we’re able to do all of this on a budget that would look midgetized next to many. I can go into detail about how we do this if you’d like me to, but in reality it all comes down to my amazing and sacrificial wife. The point is that it really is possible to do make many healthy choices and still be relatively cheap at the same time.*
Nevertheless there are times when its just plain ol’ spendy to shop with my conscience first and my frugal nature second. I didn’t buy any new clothes last year. Period. We didn’t buy anything new last year (except for food, medicine, underwear, and a pair of shoes). It was a cool experiment, it was valuable. But I’m tired of buying used stuff. I want to buy some new crap! But I want to buy it cheap. The problem is that many of the cheap places to purchase things are places that hurt my conscience (or should hurt my conscience). Want to ruin your life? Try going to this website and doing some research about which companies are in active human rights violations in order to get you something cheap: http://www.greenamericatoday.org/
It’s easy to dismiss, and I often do, but do you really want to put on your sweater that you bought for $15.99 at Walmart (just as an example) knowing that some eight year old child worked in a factory 18 hours straight in conditions that are dehumanizing and illegal? Can you wear that sweater without your conscience crying out? The sad thing is that often I’ll choose to not do the research so that I won’t have that annoying conscience whispering in my ear! So there I lie, at war within myself to pursue truth and justice, or to live cheaply in ignorance and bliss.
I truly believe that being a follower of Christ dictates that I am in a constant pursuit of truth, beauty, and justice…following Jesus often requires much!
* Though, I must say that it amazes me that often people say they can’t afford to eat healthy, because it seems to me that it should be one of the most important thing that you spend your money on. What you put into your body affects your health, your personality, politics, your community, your emotions, etc. If you’re going to spend money on anything, good quality healthy food would be a good place to start.