Thankful that He Moved into My Neighborhood

"The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood."
                                                            - John 1:14 (MSG)

And today I'm thankful that he stepped down.

I'm thankful that He chose to be born homeless and celebrate with those lowly shepherds.

Today I want to thank Him for choosing to come.

For coming in the humblest of ways.

For being born on the margins.

For coming helpless into this world as a babe.

For being immersed in the struggle.

I thank Him for taking the hardest path in staying.
With all of the tensions, beauties, struggles, and relationships.

For being in it for the long haul.

For not giving up.

I thank Him for His example.

I thank Him for causing an unexpected scandal.

For going against the grain.

I thank Him for being Immanuel.

For walking side by side.

I thank Him for being here.

The Most Powerful above all, not only coming to the least of these, but becoming the least of these.

This is hope.
and I am thankful.

SEPTA Community

There's a beautiful thing that happens when you ride public transit. You become a part of a unique community. I've gotten to watch it for a while now and it's a beautiful thing.

I watch young, tough guys help ladies bring grocery carts on and off the bus.

I've been the one with the grocery cart.

I watch a lady hold a child that she doesn't even know, so that the child's mother can carry all of her stuff and not stumble with the child in her hands.

I watch a kid get everyone around her smiling and mothers laughing with the ones around her.

I've had kids make my whole day on the bus, and talked with mothers as we laughed together.

I hear strangers help each other out with directions or questions.

I've had my questions answered.

I watch people sharing a hearty laugh with people they don't even know.

I watch guys with loud voices help others shout, "back door" when they need to get off so they don't miss their stop.

I've been the one they've helped.

I hear strangers wish each other a Merry Christmas as they leave.

You rub shoulders with strangers, people you may never interact with apart from that bus ride, but there's something that's okay about it.

SEPTA inspires me.

There's something binding about riding public transit.
A community is created.
And I think I might have something to learn...

Committed.

When I was in Houston, Texas for a week long Mission Year training, Leroy Barber, while speaking on diversity, explained the difference between "value" and "commitment."

The idea has resonated deeply with me recently.

To value something is to believe that it's important, to see it's usefulness, and to hold it in high opinion.

To commit to something is to make a decision that you won't continue without it, to be dedicated to it's cause, and to be actively working towards it.

There's a big difference in what the two look like.

I've been thinking a lot about what this looks like in my own life...

For all of my life I have valued God and living a Godly lifestyle. I grew up knowing it was important. In my mind it was always one of the most important things in life. But I was never consistent.

I swerved in and out of living in right communion with God. I would pursue it for a time, but would quickly revert back to my old nature when things got hard. My lifestyle and what I was pursuing didn't always line up with what I valued.

I would hold God highly, and when I felt like it, would walk in step with Him, but I wouldn't give Him all, because if I fully committed, I knew I couldn't jump right back into my sinful nature whenever I wanted to.

My heart was divided...

I struggle with commitment. I always have.

But something changed in me within this last year that I've continued to let stir inside of me.

I made a choice.
A choice to commit.

"But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely."
                                                       - Galatians 5:22-23 (The Message)

In the last couple weeks, I've found where the hard work of commitment comes in.
And I realized how little I truly committed to God throughout a lot of my life.

I've always valued God, but commitment is work...
A lot of hard work.

These passed couple weeks I've sat in the tension of learning what the messy parts of commitment look like.

The place where simply valuing isn't enough anymore.

I'm still trying to get a hang of this commitment thing.
I'm learning how to stick with it through the tension and the mess.

I'm not good at commitment. I may never be. But thankfully, I serve a God that holds more grace than I can ever truly comprehend and could ever come close to deserving.

I think, I can confidently say now...
That to God, I am committed.

I will live my life, to the best I can, to work towards His Kingdom and beauty in the world.
I will be wholly dedicated.
I will not settle for living without inviting Him to be present in every moment.
I will not give up. No matter the work. No matter the mess.

I am here. And I am committed.

...

Do you simply value God or are you committed?

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.

Inspiration

"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
                                                       Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
                                                       Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
                                                        Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
                                                       Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
                                                        Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
                                                        Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
                                                        Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
                                                        Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
                             It was never between you and them anyway."

                                                                                                    -Mother Teresa

Singing Hope

Chapel happens every Thursday outside in the school yard.

The seventy nine kids gather in our small outside area. They sing songs and listen to a teaching about God's character and love. They speak truths they've memorized and sing their Bible verse for the week in a catchy tune.

This week I watched as these kids sang out with all that they had. And I listened to the words that they were singing...

"I have a future. God has a plan for me."

I look at each kid. From Kindergarten to 8th, all singing the same words. And I start to tear up...

I hope that as life goes on they hold onto the truth in those words. I hope they still believe it. I hope that when things get hard those truths will stand stronger than ever before.

And I can hear their voices lifting and filling the neighborhood. With every person that passes. Overflowing into the streets and open windows. They get louder. They sing above the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

This is hope.

And I think about the power that comes in believing those words. And how powerful they can be in restoring and choosing something different than what we see all around us. I hear the truth in those words that bring about dignity and worth and a purpose that goes beyond this Earth.

This is the stuff that will change things. Seventy nine kids that believe in the truth of those words. I pray that they continue to choose to let it empower them.

And God is here working for justice and something more than we've seen. And there are people working faithfully to further the kingdom. Working to bring truth and healing to lies that engulf people and communities and cities...

God is present in Philadelphia. Revealing Himself in kids singing truth through the noise. Singing about a future and lifting their voices above the chaos. Above the expectations. Above the brokenness.

And maybe this is a taste of redemption...

From a God who loves to use the little things and the little ones.