Here is the link to the post I wrote recently for DC127, the foster care initiative I'm a part of in DC. Give it a read and then peruse the DC127 site for a bit, it's a cool initiative :)
"Many of us already work for the vulnerable – but I believe we are also called to know
the vulnerable. It’s a daily process, learning how to love more like
Christ – and there are a lot of days it’s hard. But it is what God asks
of us – God desires that our hearts break and our whole lifestyles be
affected because we are so personally invested in loving the vulnerable.
And He has opened the door clearly for us in DC to start with the
foster care system."
Friday, October 25, 2013
I easily forget
It is
so easy to forget the power that comes from speaking the Gospel. I was thankful to be reminded this past week through a couple intense conversations, in which I SAW that it would only be the supernatural power of Christ's truth that would break through the decades of numbness and denial before me.
I'm so thankful for these conversations and these relationships - though hard - to be reminded that we NEED the power of Christ to wake us up, to break us out of cycles of sin and pain. To be reminded that THIS is why it is CRUCIAL for the Church to be involved in our communities - why it's so important that ALL of us are investing around us. All the other programs and services we can offer people are good and important as well, but the supernatural power of Christ is what is essential to breaking through numbness and walls, to breaking the lost and hurting out of sin's entrapments.
This is why it is crucial that we go outside of ourselves and our natural friend groups and invest in the hurting and vulnerable in the community in which God has placed us. Speaking the Gospel of Christ brings power, and through living in relationship with the hurting around us, the love of Christ will be seen as well. As we live in relationship, doing life with the lost, going outside our comfort zone and bridging divides, the fullness of life that comes through living in Christ will be seen. This is what will heal broken lifestyles and change broken cultures. Christ did not go out once a month, do a service project for the poor, then go back to His comfortable life. Christ invited the sick He healed, the lost He touched, the sinners He rebuked, into His life. He ate dinner with them, talked with them, hung out with them - ministered to them through doing life with them, showing them what it looks like to love God and live a life that is glorifying to Him.
In the same way, we as His followers are called to change something about our very American lifestyles so that we are able to walk with the hurting and vulnerable. Not merely handing out food once a month and feeling we have done our part. No, Christ's example was radically, beautifully different. To live as He lived, to do justice, to walk humbly and worship our God looks different than the example we have often been given. Our broken world and dying culture NEEDS to experience the power of the Gospel of Christ. The world needs to see what it looks like to live in Christ's love. And we are the ones called to show them, through living in relationship and walking with them. This calling, our yoke, is heavy - but our burden is light. Because Christ has gone before, showing us how it is done. And His Spriit goes with us now, teaching us and equipping us.
We must go outside our comfort zones, outside our routines and our natural circles at times. We must be willing to be used as God calls us at different points in our lives. We must not be afraid to speak Truth and rely on the power of the Gospel. We must not be afraid to invite those who are different from us into our lives, to break bread and laugh and cry and do life with those who depserately need to see what it looks like to live in the fullness of Life.
We have the Light of the world in us and we are not to selfishly hide that Light. Christ asks that we follow His lead, startling the world with the fierceness of God's love. Let's walk after Him.
I'm so thankful for these conversations and these relationships - though hard - to be reminded that we NEED the power of Christ to wake us up, to break us out of cycles of sin and pain. To be reminded that THIS is why it is CRUCIAL for the Church to be involved in our communities - why it's so important that ALL of us are investing around us. All the other programs and services we can offer people are good and important as well, but the supernatural power of Christ is what is essential to breaking through numbness and walls, to breaking the lost and hurting out of sin's entrapments.
This is why it is crucial that we go outside of ourselves and our natural friend groups and invest in the hurting and vulnerable in the community in which God has placed us. Speaking the Gospel of Christ brings power, and through living in relationship with the hurting around us, the love of Christ will be seen as well. As we live in relationship, doing life with the lost, going outside our comfort zone and bridging divides, the fullness of life that comes through living in Christ will be seen. This is what will heal broken lifestyles and change broken cultures. Christ did not go out once a month, do a service project for the poor, then go back to His comfortable life. Christ invited the sick He healed, the lost He touched, the sinners He rebuked, into His life. He ate dinner with them, talked with them, hung out with them - ministered to them through doing life with them, showing them what it looks like to love God and live a life that is glorifying to Him.
In the same way, we as His followers are called to change something about our very American lifestyles so that we are able to walk with the hurting and vulnerable. Not merely handing out food once a month and feeling we have done our part. No, Christ's example was radically, beautifully different. To live as He lived, to do justice, to walk humbly and worship our God looks different than the example we have often been given. Our broken world and dying culture NEEDS to experience the power of the Gospel of Christ. The world needs to see what it looks like to live in Christ's love. And we are the ones called to show them, through living in relationship and walking with them. This calling, our yoke, is heavy - but our burden is light. Because Christ has gone before, showing us how it is done. And His Spriit goes with us now, teaching us and equipping us.
We must go outside our comfort zones, outside our routines and our natural circles at times. We must be willing to be used as God calls us at different points in our lives. We must not be afraid to speak Truth and rely on the power of the Gospel. We must not be afraid to invite those who are different from us into our lives, to break bread and laugh and cry and do life with those who depserately need to see what it looks like to live in the fullness of Life.
We have the Light of the world in us and we are not to selfishly hide that Light. Christ asks that we follow His lead, startling the world with the fierceness of God's love. Let's walk after Him.
A very clear WRONG
While I do not agree with my brother Shane in
all areas, I could not agree more with his words here.
We should "refuse to settle for the country as it is and insist on dreaming of the country as it could be." Especially as God's people, called to "seek the welfare of the city into which He has placed us" (Jer. 29:7), we should join together and help change the unjust, illogical presence of and culture around guns in our country.
I truly believe Christ desires to use our nation and all the blessings He has given us for His good purposes - and this reality is not a part of that vision. We are called to something better:
"The more I travel the world I am convinced it’s not the way the world is… it’s the way the U.S. is. ...In one year, guns murdered: 27 in Australia, 59 in England and Wales, 60 in Spain, 190 in Canada … and 10,177 in the U.S."
http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/10/22/bringing-america-back-life
We should "refuse to settle for the country as it is and insist on dreaming of the country as it could be." Especially as God's people, called to "seek the welfare of the city into which He has placed us" (Jer. 29:7), we should join together and help change the unjust, illogical presence of and culture around guns in our country.
I truly believe Christ desires to use our nation and all the blessings He has given us for His good purposes - and this reality is not a part of that vision. We are called to something better:
"The more I travel the world I am convinced it’s not the way the world is… it’s the way the U.S. is. ...In one year, guns murdered: 27 in Australia, 59 in England and Wales, 60 in Spain, 190 in Canada … and 10,177 in the U.S."
http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/10/22/bringing-america-back-life
Friday, September 13, 2013
Dr. King's dream, 50 years later - are we there?
Originally published on The Expectations Project blog
Last week I re-read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” for a staff discussion here at The Expectations Project (isn’t that awesome?) It just happened to coincide perfectly with the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. As I’ve been reflecting on Dr. King’s words and legacy, several things have stuck a chord with me.
First, though we have come far, racial and economic injustice are still very much alive in this country. But, like Dr. King, the Church gives me hope. As in Dr. King’s time, though, I think it is important to be aware of – and to challenge – the Church’s tendency to conform to cultural norms. Too often we choose what is comfortable over what is just.
As Dr. King said, “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.” I could not agree more. As people of faith, we should know better. And almost nothing is more frustrating when we – and I’m including myself here – sometimes act like we don’t.
God has a huge vision for this world, and we are invited to be a part
of it – invited to recognize that this world is not yet as it should
be. We are invited to help bring about something better. So when we
decide to quietly accept the status quo because that’s easier than
challenging those around us, we are turning into the people Dr. King
referred to in his letter from the Birmingham jail. We become a people
who choose to be more “cautious than courageous;” we remain silent
“behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.”
Looking at the life of Christ, it is clear we are to choose be courageous. Christ was an extremist of love and justice who turned the world upside down – and we are to do the same now. If we don’t, I fear that our generation will have to apologize not just for, as Dr. King wrote: “the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the silence of the good people.” I believe that it is not only a sin to do something unjust – it is also a sin to passively allow injustice to continue.
Nothing about Christ was passive. We are called to follow Christ’s example and storm into the face of injustice, helping to alleviate it to the best of the ability God has given us.
There are many, many injustices that still exist today – enough that we are clearly ALL called to action in some way. One of these areas of injustice that exists right before our eyes is our nation’s public schools:
One fifth of all U.S. children under five are poor. As if this statistic wasn’t horrifying enough, 40% of these children are African-American and 33% are Hispanic. These poor children attend the lowest performing public schools at a disproportionately high level. According to recent testing, 80% of minority students can’t perform at grade level in grades four, eight, and 12. Many children of color aren’t getting an education that will give opportunities equal to their white peers.
Instead of empowering all students to reach their God-given potential, many schools inadvertently hold them back. Instead of being a place where Dr. King’s dream of freedom and justice is furthered, many of our schools prevent children from even grasping the hope that anything can be different. If we want to see Dr. King’s dream fulfilled, we can start by improving our public schools.
Despite the sobering statistics above, I don’t believe it will take a lot to realize Dr. King’s vision of justice in public schools. But what it will take is each of us actively doing our part. It will mean walking to the neighborhood school a couple times a week to tutor a child, or finding your local school’s biggest needs and getting your church involved, or one of the many, many other ways we can each do our part.
Let’s not be a people of “good will” with “shallow understanding.” Let’s never be devoted to “order over justice.” Instead let’s be a “colony of heaven” here on earth, challenging injustice around us and being “disturbers of the peace” by bringing the true Peace.
*All quotes of Dr. King’s in this post are taken from his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Last week I re-read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” for a staff discussion here at The Expectations Project (isn’t that awesome?) It just happened to coincide perfectly with the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. As I’ve been reflecting on Dr. King’s words and legacy, several things have stuck a chord with me.
First, though we have come far, racial and economic injustice are still very much alive in this country. But, like Dr. King, the Church gives me hope. As in Dr. King’s time, though, I think it is important to be aware of – and to challenge – the Church’s tendency to conform to cultural norms. Too often we choose what is comfortable over what is just.
As Dr. King said, “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.” I could not agree more. As people of faith, we should know better. And almost nothing is more frustrating when we – and I’m including myself here – sometimes act like we don’t.
Looking at the life of Christ, it is clear we are to choose be courageous. Christ was an extremist of love and justice who turned the world upside down – and we are to do the same now. If we don’t, I fear that our generation will have to apologize not just for, as Dr. King wrote: “the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the silence of the good people.” I believe that it is not only a sin to do something unjust – it is also a sin to passively allow injustice to continue.
Nothing about Christ was passive. We are called to follow Christ’s example and storm into the face of injustice, helping to alleviate it to the best of the ability God has given us.
There are many, many injustices that still exist today – enough that we are clearly ALL called to action in some way. One of these areas of injustice that exists right before our eyes is our nation’s public schools:
One fifth of all U.S. children under five are poor. As if this statistic wasn’t horrifying enough, 40% of these children are African-American and 33% are Hispanic. These poor children attend the lowest performing public schools at a disproportionately high level. According to recent testing, 80% of minority students can’t perform at grade level in grades four, eight, and 12. Many children of color aren’t getting an education that will give opportunities equal to their white peers.
Instead of empowering all students to reach their God-given potential, many schools inadvertently hold them back. Instead of being a place where Dr. King’s dream of freedom and justice is furthered, many of our schools prevent children from even grasping the hope that anything can be different. If we want to see Dr. King’s dream fulfilled, we can start by improving our public schools.
Despite the sobering statistics above, I don’t believe it will take a lot to realize Dr. King’s vision of justice in public schools. But what it will take is each of us actively doing our part. It will mean walking to the neighborhood school a couple times a week to tutor a child, or finding your local school’s biggest needs and getting your church involved, or one of the many, many other ways we can each do our part.
Let’s not be a people of “good will” with “shallow understanding.” Let’s never be devoted to “order over justice.” Instead let’s be a “colony of heaven” here on earth, challenging injustice around us and being “disturbers of the peace” by bringing the true Peace.
*All quotes of Dr. King’s in this post are taken from his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Pull apart the darkness while we can
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Originally published on The Urban Gospel Mission
A few weeks ago, my husband got back
from bringing a group of his former students (and a couple other kids we’re
close with) to an awesome camp in PA for inner-city youth called Citikidz. At this camp the boys heard the Gospel
multiple times a day, learned what it looks like to be a true man, how to
compete for God's glory and with character…amongst many other things. Most importantly, at this camp almost all the
boys gave their lives to Christ – and one of them was baptized at our church a
couple weeks ago.
A few weeks ago, my husband got back
from bringing a group of his former students (and a couple other kids we’re
close with) to an awesome camp in PA for inner-city youth called Citikidz. At this camp the boys heard the Gospel
multiple times a day, learned what it looks like to be a true man, how to
compete for God's glory and with character…amongst many other things. Most importantly, at this camp almost all the
boys gave their lives to Christ – and one of them was baptized at our church a
couple weeks ago.
This was all possible because my
husband and I seek daily to follow Christ with our whole lives. It’s not easy, and some days we fail, but that’s why
we have to make a very intentional choice – and it is only by the grace of God
and the Spirit in us that we are able to make this choice at all. By His grace, we seek to deny our desire for
what is comfortable, and explore what it truly looks like to love Him and His
children as He has called us. Through investing in Stephen’s students outside
the classroom, supporting single parents we’ve come into relationship with, and
giving up evenings and weekends to invest in these relationships, pushing past
cultural barriers to deal with some pretty intense stuff – Stephen and I
prayerfully and intentionally seek to push past what is comfortable and live
more like Christ in our world today.
I can say this next statement
because I feel this struggle in myself personally: comfort is attractive to
American Christians. Everything around
us tells us to live the comfortable lives that we deserve and have "worked
hard for." You know, because we've “earned
it”.
And our Christian culture often implies that if we worship
God during the "worship God" time we've boxed off during the week,
don’t swear or drink, donate money to a good cause every once in a while, and
do other good things, then we are living for Christ. And we believe it, because
this is easier than actually living
for Christ. It’s easy to seek God in the
comfortable places, to be satisfied with checking the box that we are
anti-abortion, going to church, and giving a certain amount to charity. And while none of these things are wrong in
themselves, they make it easy for a lot of us Christians to live good lives without
ever passionately following Christ.
In Isaiah 1:11-17, we see God’s
anger as the Israelites go through the motion of worshipping – without actually
worshipping. We see clearly in this passage the way God desires us to live, not
going through the motions of a religion or conforming to the culture around us,
but truly worshipping through loving God and others with our whole lives. In Christ,
we see the ultimate example of the life God calls us to live: a life looking
outside ourselves, loving radically, challenging the status quo. God hates it when we do what the culture
around us does (even the Christian culture) just because it is the norm (again,
see Isaiah 1; See also Romans 12:2) We are not to do good things with empty
hearts, forfeiting true worship, love, sacrifice and intimacy with Christ
simply because it is easier to say some words and go through some motions.
Christ calls us to something more - “to pull apart the
darkness while we can,” living lifestyles that challenge us
and startle the world around us as it sees His love leaking through our lives. He
calls us to walk the harder road to that narrow
gate that Christ was talking about.
So we must be intentional about
living outside our comfort zones, letting God bring us to the challenging,
heartbreaking, beautiful, full life where we love him more than anything and others
more than ourselves. Walking the narrow
path of true worship will compel us to be in relationship with the hurting,
investing in the vulnerable and the lowly so intentionally that it affects every part of our lives.
But it is easier to say I am “pro-life” and feel that I am
doing my duty by voting for the "pro-life" candidate, rather than actually
crossing over cultural and racial barriers and walking with the women who are
considering abortion, to provide the support, guidance, and love they need. It
is easier to say we are “pro-life,” advocate for abortion clinics to be shut
down and walk away feeling we have done our duty, than to stay beside the women
who are now going to have children most of them don’t want or cannot care for. Truly
being pro-life is much, much harder. It’s harder to become involved in the
lives of vulnerable children, ensuring they have the medical services they need
and a good education and the home environment God desires for them. It is hard
to give up plans with friends to spend time with these mothers and children
after work, hard to become an advocate for our local schools to make sure these
children receive the education they need to escape the poverty they were born
into, hard to give our money to help start programs through our churches that
will provide the counseling and education many of these mothers desperately
need. It is easier to say we are against abortion and then forget about the
lives we are supposedly “for. But unless we are willing to advocate the full life God desires for these women
and children, not just for the life of the child while in the womb, then we cannot call ourselves pro-life. It is a harder path, but the path of complete
love to which Christ calls us.
Christ's radical love can so easily
get lost in the comfort of our American traditions. But we are not called to
choose the easy path. We are called to be holy, as He is holy. To love as He
loved. Through His death on the cross Christ showed us that He is not safe – He
is “not a tame lion.” (C.S. Lewis,
The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe)
He is on the move. So we should
be as well.
Are we letting Christ’s love flow
passionately out of us in our lives? LOVE is an ACTION. It is not a phrase or
an opinion. The life Christ lived is an example of the life God desires us to
live - a life full of sacrificial love, a life that challenges the status quo
and puts aside what is easy for the sake of loving the broken.
Here in the city of DC, the Church
is without excuse. Broken relationships, children without fathers, generations
of abuse, and all kinds of material and spiritual poverty surround us on every
side. We can’t help but see it. And not
just those of us who live in the city – everywhere we live there is pain and
brokenness, if we do not shut our eyes to what God is showing us. And we,
equipped with the Holy Spirit are the answer; Christ calls us to dream for and do more than we could ever ask or
imagine. He calls us to move with
Him, to walk the harder path.
And it will be harder to walk out love than to live inside the box we've
made for ourselves. But Christ calls us to this because it is what is best for us - it is the fullest life we could have to truly follow in His
footsteps, to experience His grace in the deepest way, to see His glory and be
overtaken by His love in ways we never would if we stayed in our safe little
box (Jim Martin, Vice President for Church Mobilization at IJM, puts it well here.)
We are all called to pull apart the
darkness while we can - for the sake of those around us, and for our own sakes
as well.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Stephen's letter
Following is the letter my husband Stephen wrote to thank everyone who supported us as we raised money to bring a group of his boys to an amazing Christian sports camp called Citikidz. (If you want more of the back story on this, just shoot me an email!) But I think Stephen's letter does a pretty great job of explaining the importance if this camp and why he wanted to take these boys....Also, there's a pretty insightful challenge to all of us at the end. All in all my husband is pretty good with the words, so I thought I'd share. I'm married to a pretty special guy :)
Dear Sponsors (Friends &
Family),
First and foremost, THANK YOU!
Because of your generosity, seven kids were able to escape inner city DC for a
week, travel to a remote summer camp in the woods of southwestern Pennsylvania,
and not just hear the gospel of salvation and life to the full, but experience
it daily through the love and care of their counselors, intense competitions, activities
most had never done before, Bible studies, and evening programs. It costs
Citikidz over $600 to bring a single camper to camp, but through the generous
donations that individuals and organizations make to Citikidz, they are able to
offer a one week camp experience for just $120 per camper. But even this
significantly reduced price was too much for the families of the kids I wanted
to bring to camp. So, trusting in your character and generosity, I was able to
ask my campers’ parents to only pay $40, and hoped that I would be able to
raise enough money to pay for the remaining tuition cost ($80
per camper), two rental vans, and gas (and borrow some sleeping bags). Through
you, the Lord provided! So, thank you – not only for your donations, but
especially your prayers!
It was so cool to be able to bring kids
with whom I already have a relationship – four are former students of mine, one
is a boy Blythe and I mentor, and two others are friends of the other boys.
Each one of these boys comes from a broken home, and perhaps one of the hardest
things about camp is bringing them home afterward. Only one of these boys has a
consistent father figure, a few have immediate family members in prison, and one
boy’s mother got out of a short stint in prison just two days before we left
for camp. One boy has spent time in a homeless shelter, at least two live with
a grandmother or other relative rather than a parent most of the time, at least
two have a parent who is an addict, all of them are at least a year below grade
level in reading or math, and all of them live below or very close to the
poverty line. But God reminded me of something at Citikidz: if he is big enough
to split an ocean in half – if he is big enough to make the lame walk and the
blind see and the dead live, he ABSOLUTELY can overcome the tragedies,
hardships, and mountains of opposition this fallen world has heaped up against
these boys.
Luke 15:4-6 says “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the
ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he
finds it? And when he has
found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And
when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to
them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’” I am able to
say with great joy in my heart that not only did they hear the gospel at least
twice a day, I watched almost all of my boys willingly stand up and talk (and
cry) to a counselor about salvation and make the commitment to follow Christ at
one of the evening programs. I sobbed as I felt so overwhelmed by both God’s
willingness to use me in their lives, and God’s gift of knowing that the seed
of the Gospel was firmly planted in their hearts. I now ask you to join me in
praying that this seed finds good ground now that they are home.
What
these boys need now is the Church. Big C. They do need a church – a community
of believers digging into Scripture, holding each other accountable, doing good
works, and making disciples. But unfortunately, most of these boys do not have
a church to which they belong, and do not have parents who are willing to
commit to a church every Sunday. And many of the churches they would typically
attend are not biblically sound. So, they need the Church. And not just my
seven boys, but youth in general – especially inner-city youth. They need
Christians who are willing to step outside their comfort zones and build
relationships with people who are very different from them. They need
Christians who are willing to give up their time, energy, and comfort to do what Jesus COMMANDS us to do for “the
least of these” in his very sobering parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew
25. They need Christians who will not make excuses of why they can’t help, but
rather find any way possible to help and be involved in their lives.
Mentorships, afterschool programs, volunteering in classrooms, coaching,
leading youth groups, joining YoungLife or other Christian youth organizations,
and bringing a group of inner-city youth to Citikidz are all great ways to live
out the Gospel in the lives of kids. While giving financially is certainly
needed and an important part of living out the Gospel, we need to be giving
ourselves – our time, our comfort, our energy, and even our homes.
So thank you
again for all you’ve already done for my boys, and I pray that this email and
the testimony of what God has done in my boys’ lives – the way He has so
clearly moved mountains and so clearly wants to continue to do so – will
motivate you as it has me to continue to get outside our comfort zones and give
of ourselves for the children God loves so dearly.
“In that same hour, [Jesus]
rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and
understanding and revealed them to little
children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious
will.’” Luke 10:21
Monday, July 29, 2013
I don't LOVE social justice
As I sit once again, seeing and feeling Christ so clearly, I
feel compelled to say something I've said before, but that I feel is important
to remind myself and others of constantly. Especially in the city I live in:
People often comment on how I "love social
justice" or that "social justice is my thing." But that's not
true. I am not driven by social justice. I do not love social justice in itself.
I love Christ. So much. I love him so deeply, passionately, with that heart-starts-racing-when-you-think-of-Him kind of love. He is my dear friend, my Savior, my God. When I think of His reality, of the revolutionary life He lived and death He died for us - for our salvation and as a radical example - my heart quickens. Tears come to my eyes.
I have to remind myself often, with a little smile, that this God who walked the earth - shaming the proud and loving the most pitiful, who with one look could make injustice stop short, with one touch could heal the most broken - this same God is the One who I will walk with "in the cool of the evening" in the Garden, in His perfect Kingdom. I will get to see His glory, delight in His presence, kneel at His feet, celebrate His salvation around a marriage banquet table with brothers and sisters from every corner of the globe.
I love Christ. So much. I love him so deeply, passionately, with that heart-starts-racing-when-you-think-of-Him kind of love. He is my dear friend, my Savior, my God. When I think of His reality, of the revolutionary life He lived and death He died for us - for our salvation and as a radical example - my heart quickens. Tears come to my eyes.
I have to remind myself often, with a little smile, that this God who walked the earth - shaming the proud and loving the most pitiful, who with one look could make injustice stop short, with one touch could heal the most broken - this same God is the One who I will walk with "in the cool of the evening" in the Garden, in His perfect Kingdom. I will get to see His glory, delight in His presence, kneel at His feet, celebrate His salvation around a marriage banquet table with brothers and sisters from every corner of the globe.
I have to remind myself (again with a little smile) as I
walk down the street in the oh-so-ordinary moments of my daily routine, that
one day this city will be perfect and all things will be made new. One day He
will come with fire in His eyes and a voice like thunder and not just stop, but absolutely destroy, the evil we see around us -
and I will get to be by His side. All the sci-fi books and movies out there will pale in comparison to the reality of what WILL
happen one day. God is real and is Truth and will end the pain in the world,
will finish what He started with Christ, and will restore His beauty and
perfection and justice throughout the world.
Christ lived, and through his perfect live and holy death we can know true Life. Both eternal and in the here and now. We can worship at His feet forever, we can walk in the garden with Him again, we can live and breathe with Him in eternity.
And we can also know Him and worship Him and walk with Him now - which will bring us the most full lifel we will ever know. This feeling of joy and peace that helps me see Truth and Reality is what drives me to do all that I do. As Lucy sat at Aslan's feet and listened to his words of love and wisdom, I can sit at Christ's feet every day, listening and learning to be more like Him, learning to spread His revolutionary love in this world now.
It is the Gospel of Christ - the true life we can know in Him - that causes me to love others and love this world. It is the Gospel of Christ that causes me to love justice.
Love, true Love, lives and breathes today and through Him I live and move and have my being.
Christ lived, and through his perfect live and holy death we can know true Life. Both eternal and in the here and now. We can worship at His feet forever, we can walk in the garden with Him again, we can live and breathe with Him in eternity.
And we can also know Him and worship Him and walk with Him now - which will bring us the most full lifel we will ever know. This feeling of joy and peace that helps me see Truth and Reality is what drives me to do all that I do. As Lucy sat at Aslan's feet and listened to his words of love and wisdom, I can sit at Christ's feet every day, listening and learning to be more like Him, learning to spread His revolutionary love in this world now.
It is the Gospel of Christ - the true life we can know in Him - that causes me to love others and love this world. It is the Gospel of Christ that causes me to love justice.
Love, true Love, lives and breathes today and through Him I live and move and have my being.
There are so many
fiction books written about revolutions - about the brave young people defying
the evil oppressors around them and standing up for something different. And
there are so many real-life revolutions happening now. So many people dying,
seeking something better. And there are so many others who seek social justice,
who genuinely care about the people suffering under the many injustices that
exist in our world and believe deep in their hearts that things should be
different. The more I grow I understand why we care, why we desire something
better and will work so hard to make it a reality:
At the core of our being, God created us to desire MORE. He created us to desire BEAUTY and LOVE and PERFECTION. He created us to know HIM. He created us to desire FREEDOM in Him, to live in His JUSTICE, to know His PEACE. And until we do, we will dream of revolutions where we can break out of the pain we see around us - or even just the mundane. We all dream of doing something big in the fight for social justice (I know I have). We will dream, and sometimes we will act on those dreams. We will always continue to seek something better, something more, because something More is what God created us for. But unless we know that He is the More, unless we see His vision for the world and understand what it is we are seeking, what it is we are created for, our dreams will not come to fruition. We will get tired, our passion and hope will fizzle. We will always be disappointed, people will be hurt, we will realize that injustice will never disappear completely.
But in Christ, we can hear His Spirit whisper "Not yet" onto the end of that last sentence. In the darkest of nights, when our hearts are breaking, we can feel His heartbeat. He will give us glimpses in the night of what WILL BE someday. Knowing the ground-shaking, sky-splitting love of Christ is what will help us see that our dreams ARE meant to come true. What we desire at our core and all seek in different ways is meant to happen. God DESIRES the world to be made right again - from every genocide, every injustice against a child, every broken relationship, every hurting person and abused animal. He desires all things to be made new. He desires to revolutionize the world. He did. And He is.
At the core of our being, God created us to desire MORE. He created us to desire BEAUTY and LOVE and PERFECTION. He created us to know HIM. He created us to desire FREEDOM in Him, to live in His JUSTICE, to know His PEACE. And until we do, we will dream of revolutions where we can break out of the pain we see around us - or even just the mundane. We all dream of doing something big in the fight for social justice (I know I have). We will dream, and sometimes we will act on those dreams. We will always continue to seek something better, something more, because something More is what God created us for. But unless we know that He is the More, unless we see His vision for the world and understand what it is we are seeking, what it is we are created for, our dreams will not come to fruition. We will get tired, our passion and hope will fizzle. We will always be disappointed, people will be hurt, we will realize that injustice will never disappear completely.
But in Christ, we can hear His Spirit whisper "Not yet" onto the end of that last sentence. In the darkest of nights, when our hearts are breaking, we can feel His heartbeat. He will give us glimpses in the night of what WILL BE someday. Knowing the ground-shaking, sky-splitting love of Christ is what will help us see that our dreams ARE meant to come true. What we desire at our core and all seek in different ways is meant to happen. God DESIRES the world to be made right again - from every genocide, every injustice against a child, every broken relationship, every hurting person and abused animal. He desires all things to be made new. He desires to revolutionize the world. He did. And He is.
In Christ, He makes us new and gives us the answer to the
deepest longings and stirrings of our hearts. As GK Chesterton wrote in Orthodoxy, "Instead of looking at
books and pictures about the New Testament I looked at the New Testament. There
I found an account...of an extraordinary being with lips of thunder and acts of
lurid decision, flinging down tables, casting out devils, passing with the wild
secrecy of the wind...His 'how much more' [statements in Scripture] is piled
one upon another like castle upon castle in the clouds."
Christ showed this world something they have never seen
before, and that we have not seen since. He pushed and pulled and changed the
world with His holy power. He challenged the status quo, peeling the blinds back from people's eyes and helping them
understand the yearning of their hearts and what it is God has made us for. He
shows us a different way to live, that He desires MORE from us and for us -
which we can see in Scripture, as Chesterton pointed out, in Christ's "How much more,then..."
He taught this world MORE and asks His followers to do the same - to challenge the world as it is and then to give the answer for what can make it right. He desires us to join Him in spreading His revolutionary love, His beauty, His glory, in this world now. He asks us to prepare the way - to prepare hearts, to help people know Who they are longing for, and to live out His truth and justice and mercy in every area of our lives, spreading a little bit more of His Kingdom here on earth.
He taught this world MORE and asks His followers to do the same - to challenge the world as it is and then to give the answer for what can make it right. He desires us to join Him in spreading His revolutionary love, His beauty, His glory, in this world now. He asks us to prepare the way - to prepare hearts, to help people know Who they are longing for, and to live out His truth and justice and mercy in every area of our lives, spreading a little bit more of His Kingdom here on earth.
He asks us to join the TrueRevolution. In it we will finally LIVE and move and have our being.
THIS is what motivates me. I love others because He has
first loved me. I love justice because our God is a God of justice. I seek
justice in this world because it is what I am made to do. It is what we were
ALL made to do. We were made for MORE, and therefore are called to live for
more and seek MORE. We see this and learn this in the Gospel of Christ. In
giving our lives to Christ, in submitting ourselves to Him and joining His
vision, we find true FREEDOM. We find hope and peace and justice.
So no, social justice
is not my "thing." And it is not the concept of social justice that I love. It is
Christ. It always has been and always will be Christ. And from Him all else
flows. I pray it is the same for you.
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
- Revelation 21:5
Sunday, July 14, 2013
How do we cross the divide?
This is a blog I wrote for The Urban Gospel Mission. Read the original post here.
As a part of my job for The Expectations Project (and during a good portion of my free time as well…) I think a lot about ways people can advocate for the disenfranchised children in our country – most especially, how people of faith can build bridges with communities and schools that are often very different from their own to better be a voice and an advocate for these children. But a couple weeks ago a question popped up on The Expectations Project’s Facebook newsfeed that resonated with something I’ve been thinking the past few months (well really, the past few years):
Basically, this was the question: “If we aren’t even willing to be in church with those who are different from us, modeling to the world even inside our own church walls what it looks like to support those with different backgrounds, how can we do it in our schools?”
Wow. The Church should be leading the way in doing life with those who are different from us, showing the world what it looks like to be in relationship with those who are different from us in ethnicity, background, or socio-economic status – showing the world what it looks like to live in community as equals, loving and supporting each other. But our churches are often the most segregated places, and as I’ve personally sought to love those different from me the past couple years I’ve wrestled with this. It is hard for us Christians to get outside our comfort zones, to get outside that crowd that is similar to us, doing things we like to do, talking about God the way we like to talk about Him. It is hard to bring Him to groups and cultures that seem so different from us. We need to get outside ourselves. We need to bridge the divide.
But how?
And we are called to follow His example in our lives. At least to try.
We are called to be discontent as long as there is injustice and inequality; as long as there are people who don’t know the love of Christ and don’t have a chance to live the life He created for them. He taught us to pray for His “kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.” We are created to long for the world as it should be – and use all that God has given us towards this reality, looking forward with hope to the day all things will finally be made new.
We are called to show the world a different way – in a way that shows the reality of Christ and foreshadows the Kingdom to come. How we do this will look different for everyone, but to truly live and love like Christ, we all must bridge divides.
For me, this means missing a night or two a week at home with my husband or out with friends so I can spend time with a 5th son of a single-mom friend. It means going outside my comfort zone and hanging out with him for a while (even though 5th graders are not an age I connect easily with!), forming a relationship with him and giving us time to become buddies – because now he lets me in, answers my personal questions, and asks me deeper things than even some of my closest friends.
Simply driving this 10 year old friend home from school once a week has opened my eyes to the brokenness of the world in which he has grown up and allowed me to feel pangs of the deep love our Father has for this young friend of mine.
And just by being there for him, God has allowed me to show some of that something different to him. One day he asked me (I’ll try to summarize a long and very heavy conversation into a few sentences here) if my husband and I would ever cheat on each other. “Why wouldn’t we, what would keep us from doing so, how could I really trust my husband and know he would never leave me, does love really mean you won’t cheat on someone….?”
As one intense question after another came from the mouth of someone much too young to know enough to ask such questions, my heart hurt a little more. But my heart was also encouraged at the same time – because just by being there for him every week for the 6 months leading up to this conversation, by letting him be himself with me, by singing along to the radio together and through him witnessing my relationship with my husband…. all these moments added up to the point one day where he subconsciously (or maybe consciously) decided that he trusted me enough to ask some very deep, probing question; questions that allowed me to speak truth about God’s intention for his life and his relationships.
Crossing divides for my husband has meant working in a school that is 99% non-white, being the minority in an environment where his job is harder because of his skin color. It has meant teaching and volunteering countless extra hours of his time after school and on weekends with kids who say things he would never have known to say at their age. It means allowing himself to be yelled at, made fun of, and made heartbroken by the life so many of his kids lead and the true Life so many of them don’t know.
But through being present in his school, after school, in the summer when he takes some of his students to camp, he crosses divides. He proves he cares. He follows God’s call and shows up. And that is all God asks of him.
That is all He asks of all of us. To obediently cross the divide, using whatever path He has laid before us.
Such as people who volunteer in a classroom once a week, people who drive the neighborhood kids to school so a single mom can get to work on time, people who hang out with that angry kid after school no matter how frustrating he is, and people who cook dinner for a lonely neighbor. It’s people who enter a church with an unfamiliar style of worship just so they can worship side by side with people of completely different backgrounds and people who give up that happy hour with friends to babysit foster kids whose foster parents are about to crack and could really use that date night.
Despite my best intentions to do more, all that God has called me – and all of us – to do is to love Him and then love others, in whatever unique way He has asked of us. He doesn’t ask us to save the whole world – He has already done that. He just asks us to follow Him across the divide.
Because when did Jesus not cross the divide?
He created a new social order, and He asks us as the Church to carry this social order into the world today. We are not to be content with the options the world offers us; we are to live out His example – a social order that seeks something better for this world, that looks outside of ourselves and our own personal interests, that gives up some of our own comforts and crosses all divides so all may know the love and justice of God.
Imagine how powerful it would be if every follower of Christ, if the whole Church, was bridging the divide in some way in our lives? The world would look very different. We see throughout history how God is seen the most when the Church is united in His vision to love the least, the lost, the enemy. This is our calling.
Christ turned this world upside down with the life He lived. He talked to and touched and loved those who were so far across the divide it would have been impossible to reach but for a miracle. So He did a miracle. And He asks us as His Church to follow His example, living in the power of His Spirit, changing whatever needs to be changed about our lives so that we are in relationships with those who the world has forgotten. (or maybe those with whom we just feel really uncomfortable….)
He crossed the divide before His father in heaven so that we might know Him and spend eternity with Him. And He crossed the divide here on earth, breaking down cultural and racial and socioeconomic barriers with the Cross, so that all types and classes would be seen as equal before His eyes – and would all have a chance to hear of His Love that bridged the divide between us and the Father. We are called to follow His example, carrying His love across the divides – and in the process allowing God to change the lives not just of the “other,” but our own lives as well.
As a part of my job for The Expectations Project (and during a good portion of my free time as well…) I think a lot about ways people can advocate for the disenfranchised children in our country – most especially, how people of faith can build bridges with communities and schools that are often very different from their own to better be a voice and an advocate for these children. But a couple weeks ago a question popped up on The Expectations Project’s Facebook newsfeed that resonated with something I’ve been thinking the past few months (well really, the past few years):
Basically, this was the question: “If we aren’t even willing to be in church with those who are different from us, modeling to the world even inside our own church walls what it looks like to support those with different backgrounds, how can we do it in our schools?”
Wow. The Church should be leading the way in doing life with those who are different from us, showing the world what it looks like to be in relationship with those who are different from us in ethnicity, background, or socio-economic status – showing the world what it looks like to live in community as equals, loving and supporting each other. But our churches are often the most segregated places, and as I’ve personally sought to love those different from me the past couple years I’ve wrestled with this. It is hard for us Christians to get outside our comfort zones, to get outside that crowd that is similar to us, doing things we like to do, talking about God the way we like to talk about Him. It is hard to bring Him to groups and cultures that seem so different from us. We need to get outside ourselves. We need to bridge the divide.
But how?
BUILDING THE BRIDGE
Honestly, I‘m not sure. As much as I wish there was, I’ve realized there is no set recipe God gives us. But He has given us some pretty clear instructions in His Word for how He desires us to live, what He desires this world to look like, and what brings Him glory. We see that He clearly desires that we bridge divides – as Christ did throughout His whole ministry. It was to bridge the ultimate divide that led Him to give up His own life.And we are called to follow His example in our lives. At least to try.
We are called to be discontent as long as there is injustice and inequality; as long as there are people who don’t know the love of Christ and don’t have a chance to live the life He created for them. He taught us to pray for His “kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.” We are created to long for the world as it should be – and use all that God has given us towards this reality, looking forward with hope to the day all things will finally be made new.
We are called to show the world a different way – in a way that shows the reality of Christ and foreshadows the Kingdom to come. How we do this will look different for everyone, but to truly live and love like Christ, we all must bridge divides.
For me, this means missing a night or two a week at home with my husband or out with friends so I can spend time with a 5th son of a single-mom friend. It means going outside my comfort zone and hanging out with him for a while (even though 5th graders are not an age I connect easily with!), forming a relationship with him and giving us time to become buddies – because now he lets me in, answers my personal questions, and asks me deeper things than even some of my closest friends.
Simply driving this 10 year old friend home from school once a week has opened my eyes to the brokenness of the world in which he has grown up and allowed me to feel pangs of the deep love our Father has for this young friend of mine.
And just by being there for him, God has allowed me to show some of that something different to him. One day he asked me (I’ll try to summarize a long and very heavy conversation into a few sentences here) if my husband and I would ever cheat on each other. “Why wouldn’t we, what would keep us from doing so, how could I really trust my husband and know he would never leave me, does love really mean you won’t cheat on someone….?”
As one intense question after another came from the mouth of someone much too young to know enough to ask such questions, my heart hurt a little more. But my heart was also encouraged at the same time – because just by being there for him every week for the 6 months leading up to this conversation, by letting him be himself with me, by singing along to the radio together and through him witnessing my relationship with my husband…. all these moments added up to the point one day where he subconsciously (or maybe consciously) decided that he trusted me enough to ask some very deep, probing question; questions that allowed me to speak truth about God’s intention for his life and his relationships.
THE SACRIFICE
Crossing divides for me has also meant giving up some time on my weekends to spend time with this boy’s mother. And what I once viewed as time away from a restful weekend has often resulted in some of the best conversations of my life with this woman, who I now consider a dear friend. She has asked me questions that remind me of the deep love of God and the reality of His mercy. The time I’ve spent with her has also included laughing till my stomach hurts at our differences –recognizing them and letting those differences deepen our friendship, not make it uncomfortable. This woman is now not just someone I support and help – she is one of my closest friends, someone I look to for comfort.Crossing divides for my husband has meant working in a school that is 99% non-white, being the minority in an environment where his job is harder because of his skin color. It has meant teaching and volunteering countless extra hours of his time after school and on weekends with kids who say things he would never have known to say at their age. It means allowing himself to be yelled at, made fun of, and made heartbroken by the life so many of his kids lead and the true Life so many of them don’t know.
But through being present in his school, after school, in the summer when he takes some of his students to camp, he crosses divides. He proves he cares. He follows God’s call and shows up. And that is all God asks of him.
That is all He asks of all of us. To obediently cross the divide, using whatever path He has laid before us.
WE ALL CAN CROSS THE DIVIDE
In addition to my husband, there are countless other examples of people doing this all around us, showing us practically what it looks like to bring more of God’s Kingdom onto this earth:Such as people who volunteer in a classroom once a week, people who drive the neighborhood kids to school so a single mom can get to work on time, people who hang out with that angry kid after school no matter how frustrating he is, and people who cook dinner for a lonely neighbor. It’s people who enter a church with an unfamiliar style of worship just so they can worship side by side with people of completely different backgrounds and people who give up that happy hour with friends to babysit foster kids whose foster parents are about to crack and could really use that date night.
Despite my best intentions to do more, all that God has called me – and all of us – to do is to love Him and then love others, in whatever unique way He has asked of us. He doesn’t ask us to save the whole world – He has already done that. He just asks us to follow Him across the divide.
Because when did Jesus not cross the divide?
He created a new social order, and He asks us as the Church to carry this social order into the world today. We are not to be content with the options the world offers us; we are to live out His example – a social order that seeks something better for this world, that looks outside of ourselves and our own personal interests, that gives up some of our own comforts and crosses all divides so all may know the love and justice of God.
THE RESPONSE
So I guess the right question to ask wouldn’t be how do we cross the divide, but are we crossing the divide? How will depend on the unique calling God has for each of us.Imagine how powerful it would be if every follower of Christ, if the whole Church, was bridging the divide in some way in our lives? The world would look very different. We see throughout history how God is seen the most when the Church is united in His vision to love the least, the lost, the enemy. This is our calling.
Christ turned this world upside down with the life He lived. He talked to and touched and loved those who were so far across the divide it would have been impossible to reach but for a miracle. So He did a miracle. And He asks us as His Church to follow His example, living in the power of His Spirit, changing whatever needs to be changed about our lives so that we are in relationships with those who the world has forgotten. (or maybe those with whom we just feel really uncomfortable….)
He crossed the divide before His father in heaven so that we might know Him and spend eternity with Him. And He crossed the divide here on earth, breaking down cultural and racial and socioeconomic barriers with the Cross, so that all types and classes would be seen as equal before His eyes – and would all have a chance to hear of His Love that bridged the divide between us and the Father. We are called to follow His example, carrying His love across the divides – and in the process allowing God to change the lives not just of the “other,” but our own lives as well.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
A Crisis
This is a blog I wrote for The Urban Gospel Mission. Read the original post here.
God’s call for us to love His children and defend the poor and the oppressed is as urgent as ever. And a major way we can love and defend these children is through advocating for public education reform.
Consider the following statistics:
• Nearly 23% of all young black men ages 16 to 24 who have dropped out of high school are in jail, prison, or a juvenile justice institution in America
• Male dropouts of all races were 47 times more likely to be incarcerated than their peers of a similar age who had graduated from a four-year college or university.
• More than half (54%) of the nation’s dropouts ages 16 to 24 were jobless on an average month during 2008.
• Nearly 37 of every 100 dropouts live in poor or near-poor families.
Children of color and lower income families are much more likely to live in neighborhoods with low-performing public schools. Attending these schools makes it much more likely that these students will end up being behind grade level, dropping out of high school, committing a violent crime, going to prison, being a single parent, and ending up living in poverty in a very similar neighborhood to the one they grew up in – continuing the cycle of poverty and racial injustice they were born into.
Living in DC I have seen these statistics first hand. My husband teaches in one DC’s lowest-performing public schools. The school’s population is 99% African American, and only 27% of the students in the school are on grade level in math and reading. I’ve seen firsthand that there is a whole generation of kids disappearing before our eyes. A generation of kids who do not know about Christ, who are living in a culture of poverty and violence and who are being prevented from entering into the full life Christ has for them.
Academic inequity and failing public schools have an enormous impact on an individual’s quality of life. Advocating for public education reform is a clear way the Church can help prevent an enormous amount of the injustices God calls us to fight against. A more just education system – effective, high-performing schools, high curriculum standards, more quality teachers, and more after-school programs and parent support – helps prevent poverty, joblessness, homelessness, incarceration, single-parent homes, and much more.
It is a crisis, an emergency, and we cannot be content. This is why it is of the utmost importance that the Church advocate for education reform and involve ourselves in the public school system. These kids need us PRESENT, need our examples, our words, our time, our voice, our love. Showing them something different than what they know, the more full life God desires for them. We can show them something different, something they might never see otherwise.
Through working at The Expectations Project this past year, I have been filled with hope as I’ve seen how much can be done to seek justice for all God’s children. We can be advocates for these children. We can help work toward ensuring every school has the teachers and the curriculum and the supplies every child deserves. We can help ensure that every child is being given the same chance to succeed in school, that every family is being supported, that every opportunity is being given to every student – this is one of the most crucial ways a child will be able to escape the bubble they might otherwise have been trapped in their whole lives. Right now so many of our nation’s public schools prevent children from living up to their full, God-given potential, rather than helping them live into it.
Nationwide, there are over 322,000 churches and only 44,500 schools that meet the definition of “high poverty” schools. This means that our country has more than seven times as many churches as we do high poverty public schools! (Educating All God’s Children, 160)
With these numbers, there should be NO child living in poverty, no family unsupported, no failing school. There are more than enough churches and more than enough followers of Christ to ensure every child has heard the Good News of Christ, and to ensure every school is providing every child of God an equal opportunity.
This is why our mission at The Expectations Project is to partner with “faith-motivated individuals, leaders, congregations and organizations to develop local and national campaigns that help enact transformational change for low-income public schools.” We as the Church have the biblical imperative AND the resources to make sure justice is done for all children. If the Church unites together around the children of our nation, if the Church invests in broken communities and failing schools – it will be powerful. Throughout history, the Church has been able to motivate, mobilize and lead change in a way that no other group has. It is crucial that the Church now bring this vision of renewal the public education reform movement, unifying people around this crucial issue that has the power to prevent so many other injustices.
As my pastor, Aaron Graham, says, “The Church cannot simply lobby for a new social order, it must be that new social order.”
And it is, bit by bit. There are churches and individuals across the country investing in their schools and communities, seeking equality for all God’s children. More and more of the Church is catching Christ’s vision to redeem all things – individuals, institutions, cultures – and is living out this vision of redemption in our schools. In the words of CS Lewis, Aslan is indeed on the move.
Education Reform and the Power of the Church
God loves children. He loves the downtrodden, the poor, and the oppressed. He deeply desires for them to know His love, as well as have access to the full lives He created all of us to live. And He makes it clear that His intention is for us to help make sure this happens. As His followers, we are to advocate and defend.SHOCKING STATISTICS
In the United States, almost 15 million children (21% of all children) live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level – which is $22,350 a year for a family of four. And research shows that, on average, families need an income of about twice that level to cover basic expenses. Using this standard, 44% of children live in low-income families.God’s call for us to love His children and defend the poor and the oppressed is as urgent as ever. And a major way we can love and defend these children is through advocating for public education reform.
Consider the following statistics:
• Nearly 23% of all young black men ages 16 to 24 who have dropped out of high school are in jail, prison, or a juvenile justice institution in America
• Male dropouts of all races were 47 times more likely to be incarcerated than their peers of a similar age who had graduated from a four-year college or university.
• More than half (54%) of the nation’s dropouts ages 16 to 24 were jobless on an average month during 2008.
• Nearly 37 of every 100 dropouts live in poor or near-poor families.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN THE SYSTEM
Our nation’s public education system is not just. In fact, in many cases it actively perpetuates injustice by keeping some children – mostly those from disenfranchised populations – in cycles of poverty and oppression.Children of color and lower income families are much more likely to live in neighborhoods with low-performing public schools. Attending these schools makes it much more likely that these students will end up being behind grade level, dropping out of high school, committing a violent crime, going to prison, being a single parent, and ending up living in poverty in a very similar neighborhood to the one they grew up in – continuing the cycle of poverty and racial injustice they were born into.
Living in DC I have seen these statistics first hand. My husband teaches in one DC’s lowest-performing public schools. The school’s population is 99% African American, and only 27% of the students in the school are on grade level in math and reading. I’ve seen firsthand that there is a whole generation of kids disappearing before our eyes. A generation of kids who do not know about Christ, who are living in a culture of poverty and violence and who are being prevented from entering into the full life Christ has for them.
Academic inequity and failing public schools have an enormous impact on an individual’s quality of life. Advocating for public education reform is a clear way the Church can help prevent an enormous amount of the injustices God calls us to fight against. A more just education system – effective, high-performing schools, high curriculum standards, more quality teachers, and more after-school programs and parent support – helps prevent poverty, joblessness, homelessness, incarceration, single-parent homes, and much more.
It is a crisis, an emergency, and we cannot be content. This is why it is of the utmost importance that the Church advocate for education reform and involve ourselves in the public school system. These kids need us PRESENT, need our examples, our words, our time, our voice, our love. Showing them something different than what they know, the more full life God desires for them. We can show them something different, something they might never see otherwise.
Through working at The Expectations Project this past year, I have been filled with hope as I’ve seen how much can be done to seek justice for all God’s children. We can be advocates for these children. We can help work toward ensuring every school has the teachers and the curriculum and the supplies every child deserves. We can help ensure that every child is being given the same chance to succeed in school, that every family is being supported, that every opportunity is being given to every student – this is one of the most crucial ways a child will be able to escape the bubble they might otherwise have been trapped in their whole lives. Right now so many of our nation’s public schools prevent children from living up to their full, God-given potential, rather than helping them live into it.
THE CHURCH’S ROLE
We, the Church, must demand the change these kids need, and act to help make it happen. As I’ve worked in the city the past couple years, God has opened my eyes more and more to the POWER of the Church – God has given us His Spirit with the intention of us joining Him in His work of redemption, helping Him to put the world to rights! He taught us to pray for His Kingdom to come, on earth as it is in heaven! He asks us to live like He lived, crossing racial and socio-economic barriers to ensure all people are seen as equal before God, and have the chance to hear of the great love of Christ that truly does make us all equal before God.Nationwide, there are over 322,000 churches and only 44,500 schools that meet the definition of “high poverty” schools. This means that our country has more than seven times as many churches as we do high poverty public schools! (Educating All God’s Children, 160)
With these numbers, there should be NO child living in poverty, no family unsupported, no failing school. There are more than enough churches and more than enough followers of Christ to ensure every child has heard the Good News of Christ, and to ensure every school is providing every child of God an equal opportunity.
This is why our mission at The Expectations Project is to partner with “faith-motivated individuals, leaders, congregations and organizations to develop local and national campaigns that help enact transformational change for low-income public schools.” We as the Church have the biblical imperative AND the resources to make sure justice is done for all children. If the Church unites together around the children of our nation, if the Church invests in broken communities and failing schools – it will be powerful. Throughout history, the Church has been able to motivate, mobilize and lead change in a way that no other group has. It is crucial that the Church now bring this vision of renewal the public education reform movement, unifying people around this crucial issue that has the power to prevent so many other injustices.
As my pastor, Aaron Graham, says, “The Church cannot simply lobby for a new social order, it must be that new social order.”
And it is, bit by bit. There are churches and individuals across the country investing in their schools and communities, seeking equality for all God’s children. More and more of the Church is catching Christ’s vision to redeem all things – individuals, institutions, cultures – and is living out this vision of redemption in our schools. In the words of CS Lewis, Aslan is indeed on the move.
You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror. (Psalm 10:17-18)
Thursday, May 30, 2013
That ache
I've come to realize that satisfying this deep longing for holiness does not lead to legalism, as we so often tend to think. False holiness does. But seeking this true holiness of God leads us to His true justice, helping us better see the world as it should be and equipping us with the lasting passion to help make it so.
We were all made for something more, and in this life we get reflections "as in a mirror" - little glimpses of glory and beauty. For me, it's standing at the top of a mountain and closing my eyes, hearing the Spirit of God breathe around me and feeling that in the whole expanse of the earth it is only Him and me, walking in the Garden.
I feel this ache also when I encounter Aslan in Narnia as I re-read the Pevensie's adventures. I feel this beautiful longing as I imagine that I, like Lucy, can see Aslan in the distance, beckoning me to follow, and know that He desires to use me in my own small way to fight for Narnia.
These pangs remind me there is MORE and fills me with passion to share the hope that this ache for holiness points me toward. What fills you with this ache for more? What reminds you of God’s beauty, His holiness?
Today, dwell in this ache for a moment and let it lead you to the One who created you for more. Let it push you to be holy as He is holy, ushering in more of His Kingdom. Let it remind you of His promise of what is to come.
Revelation 21:1-7
Then I saw “a new heaven and a
new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there
was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy
City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard
a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among
the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God
himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every
tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or
pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He
who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said,
“Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
He
said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the
End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water
of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I
will be their God and they will be my children.
I have come home at last! This is my
real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my
life, though I never knew it till now...Come further up, come further in!”
- CS Lewis, The Last Battle
- CS Lewis, The Last Battle
And as He spoke, He no longer looked
to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so
great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all
the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after.
But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in
this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the
title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story
which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter
is better than the one before.
- CS Lewis, The Last Battle
- CS Lewis, The Last Battle
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