Do You See Them?

Do you see them?

The man in the orange jumpsuit. Marked for the rest of his life. In a relentless prison system that loves to get people stuck.

Do you see them?

The one with the cardboard sign and blankets sitting on a curb. With an empty stomach and no place to rest their weary body. No place of belonging.

Do you see them?

The girl on the corner, in the short skirt, walking down a street, waiting for a stranger, with only one thing on his mind. Waiting to please and hopefully make some cash. Threatened. Controlled. Trapped.

Do you see them?

The black boy walking to the corner store, as aware of his color as he is of the cops watching him, and the sad, but obvious correlation between the two.

Do you see them?

The one on the corner, waiting to sell the drugs in his pocket, his mind occupied by the hungry little one back home. Only trying to provide a meal.

Do you see them?

The one addicted to drugs. Raped as a child, she found a way to leave it all. Tired eyes. Dependent on a substance that cares no mind to its faithful user, yet it catches her fall. It's there for her more than anyone ever was.

Do you see them? 

They are there. All around you. Don't be fooled by the stereotypes. They are human. They have faces and names and stories. Hardened eyes that cry to be seen, to be heard, to be loved.

What will it take for us to see them?

His Name Is Love

“I think that’s what our world is desperately in need of – lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about.”
                                      ― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution

We are called to be lovers.

Simple as that.

Lovers learning more and more about Love, Himself, so that we can become as He is and be able to love more fully. If we are pursuing a lifestyle of God, we are pursuing a lifestyle of love. If I am asking God to be present, love must be present.

How do they so often get separated in the mix of things?
How do we so easily forget?

Sometimes we get too caught up in the routines of life, sometimes we get too caught up in the rules, sometimes we get too caught up in morals and right and wrong and what we should do.

But what we should do, above all, is love.

Love is close.
Love means to know.

Yet we so often stay distant.

We throw money into cans of college students raising money for some distant cause, yet we won't look down into the faces of the people right in front of us.

When you think of the causes you support, do you see their faces?
Do you know their faces? Do you know their names?

Love is hard.

It requires you to step down. It requires you to humble yourself.
It requires A LOT of work. To keep loving no matter what.

As hard as it is, it is what we are called to.

I often think that if our goal, in everything that we did, was simply to love, the world would change.

When we truly start to love enough to know their faces, everything will change.

You will change.
They will change.
And the world will change one relationship at a time.

I truly believe that.

Love.
That is our mission.

Love.
That is our call.

Love.
That is His name.

And if that's who He is, it's who I want to be as well.

My God?
His name is Love.

Do you know His face?

Where I Stand.

Philadelphia is beautiful in so many ways, and as I live life in the middle of it all it starts to change my perspective on so many things...

"Where you stand determines what you see." – Kathy Kelly

A lot of times, the only thing that people know of my neighborhood is what the news and media present. My team has heard the warnings and gotten the surprised faces, but I stand in a different place. I live in Hunting Park. When I think of Hunting Park, I think of Catalina and George and Rosa. I think of the young girls that sit on our porch and laugh and draw and paint fingernails together. I think of the kids using our chalk on the sidewalks. I think of all the generosity we've received and the meals we've shared. Hunting Park is home.

When we talk about passive and active racism and other race issues, being on the privileged side of things, as a White person, it can sometimes be easy to ignore the race issues all around. But not from where I stand. From where I stand, it affects my neighbors, it affects my neighborhood, it affects my city... I am now a part of something bigger, and so it affects me too. So I work towards a better understanding, and I work towards reconciliation and justice.

Silence is sometimes scary and uncomfortable; sometimes we don't know what to do with it, but going on a solitude retreat and staying silent stood me in a different place. Silence gives everything a little more meaning. The stars shine a little bit brighter. The leaves and colors dance a little bit lighter. And God meets you there if you seek Him out, and you learn to embrace the silence. Embrace the solitude.

People walk above the homeless as if they are no longer human. It often seems like there's no common ground. But not from where I stand. How often do you come with nothing but yourself? When you sit down and offer up an ear. When you look someone in the eye. When you laugh. I see God's face in the laugh lines around her brightened eyes. I see God's face in Bibi. And we are all human breathing the same air.

I'm learning what it looks like when "them" becomes "us," and we're not so different that we have to keep ourselves separate.

"Where you stand determines what you see."

And I am standing in Philadelphia. Standing in Hunting Park. Standing on the poverty line. Standing with my neighbors. Standing with the homeless. Standing with the oppressed. Standing in the silence. And the thing I see above all is the face of God.

I thank God for starting to change and shape my perspective and pray that he continues to stand me right where he wants me, amidst all of the tension and all of the beauty, in order to see his beautiful face.

So you can tell me what you've heard; you can tell me what you know, but until you allow yourself to stand in the middle of it all you will never see the beauty that's there.
 
Don't be afraid to stand in a different place. Perspective is everything.