Marigold bud

In the Spring of this year I was given two plants by a woman who was homeless. She and her husband and two boys stayed in Hopeville, a tent city that was shut down by the city of St.Louis in May. She gave me these plants as a thank you gift for our hospitality. We moved them into the house next door to ours for a month’s time until they could get into an apartment. The plants are a reminder to me of this mother. Through the month of July I brought water to these plants on the front porch. July brought record temperatures this year and as I walked by them each evening I thought about how dry they were and about how they would probably not make it in the heat. The initial buds on these marigolds had long since dried up and fallen off. The other purple plant, whatever it is, started looking worse for wear. Then the rains came and it looked better. But today as I passed by I found another bud. And it reminded me of Michelle. And I feel hope. You see, Michelle is an alcoholic. Her husband and boys grew exasperated with her the last time she did not come home. She had thrown away all the money they needed for their new life buying beer and cheap food items.
But I remember her sweet smile and her boys who kept up their courage and found a way to play games wherever they were. Her husband’s health is failing and all they have left is their van. And I don’t know where they are now, but there is hope. How do I know? Because as impossible as it all seems we’re starting Integrity Village 2.0 tomorrow in St. Louis County. I sat in a phone meeting today with our attorney and my dad, Ray our VP, and Charlie the business admin, and our attorney reminded us that should this play out badly the city could use our attempt to set up in St. Louis County in a future injunction to block us from setting up a tent community in the city.
We could wait and do it later. Or there may be no point in waiting because the city will oppose us no matter where we set up. So I said, “No, I believe we should do it because the homeless will not believe us anymore if we keep making promises to start but then don’t. Come let them arrest us on property we own this time, in an unincorporated area of the county. Handcuff me and take me to jail. But we have a right to camp on our own property.”
The news media found out about it when we left some flyers with the neighbors explaining what we were doing yesterday. Some of the neighbors were really supportive. Others wouldn’t come to the door. Someone called Fox news channel 2. So we set up a press conference for 9am tomorrow. I don’t want them on the property.
There’s going to be a meteor shower tomorrow night. I could maybe see it from the camp as there are no street lights there.
So when I look at that one marigold bud I think of Michelle and Marty and the boys and their German Shepherd and cat. They did a nutty thing and just left their homes and set off hoping there’d be a shelter or something somewhere that would take them in. They kept Marty alive and they stayed together. They found people who would encourage them to do right. I don’t know where they are anymore. But I pray for those boys. Their parents love them wildly, even with all the drinking and the anger and the dumb decisions.
And I pray for us. This crazy shelter that will advocate for the unsheltered even to the point of spending money and time and property to say, “It is wrong that the Metro area considers houseless people without income illegal.”

Homeless people are not problems

It is frustrating to me that homeless people are looked at as problems here in the Midwest. This afternoon I taped segments with five different people in NLEC’s Thirty Day program. Two white men, Two Black Men, and one Black woman. Every single person interviewed had a positive attitude. Every person is either working a job or is willing to work. All five are not from downtown St. Louis. One man was brought by the police from St. Charles, MO. One person had been living with family for two years. One man works from 5pm to 1am and then rises at 5am to volunteer here in our building.
Everyone has a different story. A preacher was among them. He said that he’d been a minister for decades before drinking and drugs ended his marriage and left him homeless. He seemed ashamed of himself, but then I asked him how long he’d been sober. Three weeks. I reminded him that it was by God’s grace that he was sober today, and I thanked him for his sobriety today. His story is a testimony to an addict out there who says he can’t stay sober even one day.
Homeless people are not problems in downtown St. Louis. Each person has a story if someone would just take the time to get to know them. I work at NLEC as a pastor because I believe in the grace of God to restore families, and to set free people who’ve been bound by selfishness for years. I believe the Metro St. Louis area needs this ministry. We don’t charge any of our clients for the services they receive.
And yet the homeless get talked about in the area like they are social pariahs. They get talked about like they’re trash, an eyesore, crime magnets, etc. One guy told me today that he never believed he’d be one of “those people” who come to Larry Rice. And that’s how it is. As George Carlin said, the poor get used by society to scare the middle class to keep working. “Don’t worry it’ll never be you.” One guy told me, “If I only had back the money garnered by my employer and given to United Way I wouldn’t have to be here.” And so it goes.

I draw strength from the stories of people here at this church. They stay positive, and they trust God, no matter how bad things seem. I dropped off a grandmother and her two granddaughters at the Greyhound bus station yesterday. They came to St. Louis two weeks ago for a short trip that turned into a nightmare. But they made the best of it in our shelter. She asked me, “Why does fear come to me so easily?” and “It seems like things went from bad to worse and are not going to get any better.” I tried to assure her that life is not all bad all the time. But truthfully, I don’t know what I’d do in her position. How does she stay strong for the grand kids? We prayed together, and I drew strength from her faith.
Because God makes a way for all these people, I believe it is wrong when churches don’t trust God enough not to welcome people without income into their families of faith. It is wrong that St. Charles Police bring men into downtown St. Louis. It is wrong that the MO Balance of Continuum, all these years after the promise to end chronic homelessness, still think its fine to rely on the city for its rural regions.
If the gospel is really for the whole person, then what kind of believers are we to not welcome strangers without income into our faith community?

Reason #1 why some people won’t just live in homes

I saw Billie (not her real name) again this morning. She was crossing the street from the park and I know she slept outside again last night. It breaks my heart that she can’t get into housing, won’t get into housing. But we live in a free country. I cannot want for Billie what she will not want for herself. And I don’t mean the housing. Billie refuses to accept that she is mentally ill. A good friend of mine placed her in housing only last year. She didn’t have to pay anything to live there. But Billie is a hoarder. She loves collecting little things. When I met her a few months ago her neighbors brought her with three small truck loads of stuff  just to help get it off their lawn. One of the neighbors explained what had happened. She had screwed her front door shut from the inside. The police had foreably evicted her. And this neighbor was asking me why the county health service hadn’t sought to have her committed rather than evicting her and dropping her off in St. Louis. Of course such good questions have no answers.

Every time I see Billie I should be praying for her. I try to arrange for a local mental health outreach worker to meet her wherever I know she is. But she always politely refuses. Her real desire is to just stay with our ministry indefinitely. I wish this were somehow possible. But with her refusal to see a doctor I don’t see how this is possible. The day she was dropped off I remember looking through her many bags with her and one of them was full of trash and broken bottles of ketchup. She was saving that one to take to the police station, she said. She had to prove that “they” were trying to kill her.

Why can’t we simply commit Billie? She poses no real threat to herself or anyone else. She’s a very sweet woman, but she’s also very stubborn in her commitment to the fact that she’s more sane than anyone else.

There are so many reasons why people live outside and struggle to survive. And there are many more reasons why they don’t qualify for homeless services. It doesn’t take much to overwhelm me. Sometimes as I drive through downtown I feel like I recognize everyone in the parks, but not really. Many more people are stranded here temporarily. There are so many more new faces.

God has enough love for all of them. He has enough courage and strength and hope and love to fill up what is lacking in all of us. And more to spare. He has already accomplished in Christ what all of us are lacking. And this is all my hope. Maybe God can use me in spite of myself. Maybe that extra reminder today that I say only half-heartedly but really mean despite my wearied tone is enough encouragement for that one soul to keep going until something breaks.

Give me love but don’t tell me what to do

“Give Me Love But Don’t Tell Me What To Do.”

Sermon for Friday, Feb. 25, 2011

 

Dear Friends,

 

One of the central questions of my life is in the issue of authority. “How can I love and serve Jesus when I don’t like being told what to do?” I grew up in a very loving home with both a mother and a father active in Christian ministry. Just like every child does, I tested the boundaries with my parents. If I was told not to wander far I would wander to the very edge of what was considered far, so as to be called back. Like my own children do now, I loved the art of being contrary. My grandfather would tell me that I could argue that the sun rose in west and set in the east. And just to test whether he really knew I pressed him on that point. I learned how to get under the skin of someone in charge so that they knew I was there, and so that as long as I did the bare minimum of what they asked, they’d not bother me anymore. I never thought that I’d be the on the receiving end of that behavior one day. But now it comes to my wife and I every Saturday as we press our children to spend hours doing their chores.

When it comes to following Jesus, many people who have no problem saying their prayers and reading their bibles have a BIG problem with this issue of submitting to another believer out of love for Jesus. They don’t mind the rules, they’re just very bothered by the other troublesome personalities who also know the rules and want to remind them of them. It’s said over and over again, “I love Jesus, it’s just other Christians I can’t stand.” We could probably go around the room and list the things about authority that have always bothered us, giving examples of employers who used and cheated us, preachers who spiritually manipulated us, politicians who lied and stole money. Each of us have different reasons to not trust authority. But I think at root what we really want to know is that the people in charge are completely trustworthy. We want leaders who don’t need to be questioned because they’re perfect.

In real life I started to suspect by about age three that my parents were not going to give me everything I expected in return for obedience. Things happened to me and to my parents that were outside of our control. Cars broke down, money got low, tempers flared, and in general life threw us things we didn’t like. I started to suspect that maybe mom and dad were not the superheroes I thought they were and maybe I was not really the center of their world anymore. Let me tell you what I did learn from them though. It’s very simple. Whenever we had a need I watched my parents pray to God for it and expect that He heard and cared. When I needed something they couldn’t afford they’d encourage me to pray for it. When I lost something in my room my mother taught me to stop and pray and ask God for help finding it. In this way they instilled in me a trust in God. A trust that God was personal and powerful. That no matter what happened to us in life, God was our source and determined our very existence itself.

I had no idea how silly that seemed to many people. I remember driving a couple of classmates home in high school one day. We got in the car and as I adjusted the mirrors and started the car I bowed my head and quietly prayed for a safe journey. The girl sitting next to me thought that was the funniest thing she could think of. “Don’t you know how to drive?” “Why would you need to pray?” And that sentiment is the prevailing one in this world today. Why would anyone with the skills to drive and a means going places need to ask God for anything? And with all that America provides for her citizens, why does anyone need a heavenly deity? It’s fine to practice your religion personally. Do whatever gets you by, let Jesus be your personal drug of choice. But don’t dare take that out into public. Don’t dare presume that anyone else should care. In this way privatized religion poses no threat to the wheels of progress. So long as God stays out of the way of making our money and doing with it what we want, religion in America can continue to be useful in blessing our way of life.
But what does the Bible say? Matt 28:18-20. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

When Jesus said, “All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me,” he was saying he is the ultimate authority. Not just over religious individuals but over all the known world. Over every high authority that can be named. And all authority in our lives comes through Jesus Christ. How did Jesus’ authority come to Him? His authority came through submission to death. Authority and leadership in the Scriptures always flow out of worship, love and gratitude. This gratitude demonstrates itself in hospitality. Real authority has learned self control and mutual submission. It is others focused; service oriented. Leaders begin with listening and rely on God for wisdom and discernment.

Common Views and Practices regarding Authority

In our world authority and power are words often used interchangeably. Authority is imposed by force of arms or force of argument. It usually involves some form of compulsion or persuasion. Real authority is in the power to influence someone to do something they would not have otherwise done. Along these lines we could argue that the world’s greatest influence is in capital. The power to influence markets is what everyone follows. People are far less impressed with what you say you believe than by your power to spend money and influence other’s power to spend money. So when we talk about Jesus’ power and authority many people think they understand this. Every US President in history has acknowledged his membership or involvement in some particular Christian denomination, because this is what many of his voting constituents wanted to hear. Jesus can have all our prayers, but he’s left the power over the movement of money to others.

Many people want nothing to do with organized religion because they’ve been manipulated and conned against their wills in the past. In the 1970s the issue of brainwashing and authoritarian religious cults was everywhere in the news. We were warned that there are certain predisposed personalities who can easily be brainwashed. We’re told such people need to be taught to think for themselves. As a culture we’re repelled by the lure of cults but are far less afraid of how controlled we are by other message systems like advertisers and infotainment sources.

Today people don’t want to feel like they’re being told what to do, but they respond well to the idea that a website is most visited and most popular. They come to believe that something must be right for them if it’s right for most people. If a video or type of software has over a million page views it is a sensation and many other news outlets will beat a path to their door. One morning a young teenage girl may have “Good Morning America” call her on the phone about a Youtube video of her playing in front of the mirror when she was three because it’s what everyone wants to see.

Now, through the power of social media, every individual has the power and freedom to choose to do what every other informed person has done. For many people this has become true autonomy and unquestionable authority. But, truthfully, something’s utility to most people may not make it worth everyone’s time. Just because one million people age 14 to 44 were online watching a teacher sprawled on the floor punching his student over and over does not mean that everyone else needs to. Just because “cutting,” that sick form of self mutilation, has become popular to share with others online, doesn’t mean it is something everyone needs to do to feel noticed.

Fruit of World’s Values related to Authority

What the world wants from its authorities is in constant flux. Persuasion, influence, money, and the desire to know what is popular and change quickly are what’s most important. In the name of national duty leaders use their authority selfishly. One day’s servant revolutionary is the next day’s cruel tyrant. We watch the news and see one country’s people use social media and protest in the streets to topple a dictator. The next day we see the people in a different country attempt the same thing only to have their dictator turn anti-aircraft missiles on his own people. This world is in decay and is passing away, the Scriptures warn us: “¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^[a] is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2: 15-17) Do not spend your love on this world. Do not fall prey to wanting what this world wants. If you do the Father’s love is not in you.

God’s Vision of Authority

We are all frail creatures made in the image and likeness of God. For this reason all humans are worthy of our love and respect. We are not meant to be alone. We are social creatures. If there is anything we can see from all government institutions it is that their authority is important and it is never enough. No government can remove hate from the heart of its people. Every ruler comes into office to inspire hope that he or she can restore confidence and hope. But God’s vision of what authority is and does has something else in mind entirely. 1 Kings chapter three recounts he way Solomon received authority from the Lord:

^“5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”⁶ Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.⁷ “Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. ⁸ Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. ⁹ So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”¹⁰ The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. ¹¹ So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, ¹² I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. ¹³ Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. ¹⁴ And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” (NIV)

Solomon’s authority came through confession and humility. “I am only a little child. . . I don’t know how.” He asked for a discerning heart to govern and distinguish right and wrong. Finally he asked “who is able?” This is a very different posture for authority. It lacks assumption, and instead challenges human action, asking, “Who can?” It knows that God is all powerful and wise and knows human hearts better than any leader. God’s reply is to give him more than he asked for, everything he didn’t ask for. Wealth, honor, supreme power, and long life if he walks in obedience like his father David.

Now what happened to Solomon? He did get wisdom and authority. The Holy Spirit used him and his words and is still using them today in the Bible. But as an authority he fell short. He serves as a witness to the Son of David yet to come, who we believe is Jesus Christ. Solomon began in humility and deference but his heart turned from the Lord and he left a wicked legacy for his own son and a broken kingdom. He married many foreign wives who spread his influence, but took his spiritual devotion as payment. And his story serves as a warning for us today. There is no authority so God-given to men and so great that it cannot become corrupted and taken away. This story has been repeated for thousands of years in the lives of countless individuals.

Jesus Christ is the true Messiah in David’s line, the true King. And with his appearing we await a new heavens and a new earth full of righteousness and justice. He has conquered hell and death and is Lord of all creation. The apostle Paul leads us through how this happened:

“⁵Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] ⁶Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, ⁷But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being. ⁸And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross! ⁹Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,¹⁰That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,¹¹And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:5-13, Amplified)

As followers of Jesus no less is expected of us than can be seen in the example of Jesus. By God’s Holy Spirit we are being made into the image of Christ. We are drawn into the love of the trinity. And that love began with total sacrifice. We can never know the same kind of sacrifice God has made for us because we’re not God. But by His Spirit we are being made willing to empty ourselves. Now emptying ourselves involves total trust. We trust, as Jesus did, that God is in control. When Jesus suffered and died on the cross he cried out, “Why have you forsaken me?” But with his final words he breathed, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” We may feel as though God’s love is not present with us. Fear and ego at times cause us to panic. But we must remember that Jesus took all that on the cross for us so that we never have to fear God’s abandonment. The same Jesus who said “All power is give unto me” says “I am with you always.”

With authority turned upside down, coming to us through trust, service, and suffering, we give up the right to personal unquestionable authority. We learn not to be offended when our reasoning is questioned, when our decisions are questioned, and when we face resistance and hostility. We learn through mutual submission that time and space are gifts not to be taken for granted. Gradually, we learn that obedience is a part of love. Jesus said to his disciples, ^“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:21, NIV) So we know we have to be careful when we go on about how much we love Jesus. It is better to let people see our love for Jesus by our obedience to him. Jesus said to his disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35, NIV)

By this measure instead of telling you I am a Christian, it would be wiser to say, “Ask my wife or my children. Ask my church.” The credibility of my witness can be seen in the people I am called to serve. Regardless of what I say, can you see by my actions that I obey Jesus and am filled with His Spirit? The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a matter of polite talk, but of power to save. Can those who know you say of you that the power of Christ in you is alive? Do you speak and act with an authority not of yourself but of Jesus Christ who is your determining ground of being?

In this book The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Leslie Newbigen wrote, “The idea that the gospel is addressed only to the individual and that it is only indirectly addressed to societies, nations, and cultures is simply an illusion of our individualistic post-Enlightenment Western culture.” The strength of this illusion can be seen in how Christians speak of Jesus as though he were the path to self-actualization. “Jesus wants you to be the best and have the best of everything. There’s no reason you can’t have your best life right now.” Personal bibles, personal quiet times, personal devotions, and now with the internet, personal teachings delivered to your phone, allow us to feel like we’ve got God at our fingertips. Some preachers make it sound like God will move heaven and earth to give you more money than you need just to prove He is God. God doesn’t only care about you. And He is not an extension of your wants.

We can never become a people willing to obey Jesus and serve each other so long as we see God as our personal “bless-me machine.” The closer you get to Jesus the more He will reveal to you what He knows of the pain this world. He will give you His love for all those broken and suffering. Your mind will be renewed and you’ll begin to be marked by suffering, humility, and dependence on the living God. Let’s return to Philippians 2. Paul makes his appeal for obedience in light of Christ’s self-emptying. It is clear that Paul has no personal right to demand such obedience of this church. His appeal is in light of God’s work in their lives.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Phil. 2:12-13, NIV)

Authority in Christ’s body, the Church, of which all believers are a part, is not imposed by manipulation. It is not created with threats and accusations. God’s Holy Spirit is working in us to will and act to do His will.

That power to act together in mutual submission, serving and obeying in divine love is a wonder to behold. To an outsider it seems too good to be true. But the Christian life is not an ideal, it is a life given by God’s Spirit. In Christ’s authority the Church is making disciples of all peoples. A disciple is not simply a religious convert. A warm body to fill a pew in a church. A disciple uses her freedom to serve. “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself”¹⁵ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Gal. 5:13-15, NIV) That word “servant” makes some cringe. It brings to mind harsh treatment, slavery, shackles, being bought and sold like an animal. That’s certainly not what the family of God is like. “There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out all fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 Jn. 4:18, NIV)

God knows that if we do something because we’re forced to do it we can’t do it with our whole heart. He wants our whole hearted obedience. There are times when we do things from mixed motives until we get our hearts right. But God can’t use us at all if we’re totally resistant to doing his will. What God is bring about in us is the fruit of His Spirit: “. . . love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Gal. 5:22-23, NIV)

 

In second grade I had a crush on two little girls at the same time who were twin sisters. Now in second grade I was hardly old enough to want to have a girlfriend. But I just knew it felt good to be around them. Every day I hung out with and held hands with Amy. She was a cute little Vietnamese girl. She talked constantly and so fast that I could barely hang on to what she said. We stood in line under the flag pole together before recess. When the class crossed big bad Grand Avenue to play in Tower Grove park all I wanted was to walk beside her. But she set new rules every day for the things I should like so I would look good being with her. The way I dressed, the way I stood, the way I spoke, all these things were questioned and closely scrutinized. So after a while I started to notice her sister Ann. Ann was quieter if I remember correctly.

So one day I didn’t show up at the normal spot under the flag pole near Amy but instead met Ann on the other side of the building. Ann was shy and quiet, a lot more like me. And she was harder to get to know, which I liked, so without any real commitments I was free to follow Ann around—until Amy found us together. Amy pulled Ann aside and spoke to her in Vietnamese. They giggled and Amy asked me who I wanted to be with. I didn’t really understand what it meant to be “with” someone. All I knew was that I just wanted to be liked for who I was. I didn’t want to be an outsider, but I really didn’t want to have to worry about how to dress and stand and talk. I also had the strong feeling that if this was what it meant to be popular, which is all Amy talk about, then I had no desire to be popular. Of course I wanted to be liked, but not at the high cost of losing myself. The next morning when Amy and Ann strolled by together I’d made a clear decision. Girls were just not worth it.

Now of course I changed my mind about girls later. As a young adult I even invested in a few bad relationships where once again I cared more about being noticed then being known. Did you know there’s a big difference? Getting noticed is relatively easy. Really being known is something many aren’t sure they even want. Being known takes time and commitment. It’s very important to be known by a few people who really love you for you. A few people who are committed to walking with you, praying for you and holding you accountable. When I talk about authority I’m talking about trust. When I say trust I’m talking about love and yes obedience.

My little story about a second grade crush is humorous in hindsight. But the desire to love and be loved is truly serious. The need to have an anchor for our souls, to hold tightly to something and be held onto tightly, that is in all of us. We also need to be part of bringing the light. It is not enough to know the love and warmth of Christian community. The grace and love we know is ever being tested by human pride and hostility. But giving up is not an option. The love I know is not mine to steal away and keep to myself. The love of Christ is shared love. It belongs to all of us.

At just the point where we beg God to take away our weakness and pain God reminds us: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul said, ”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:8-10, NIV) This glory in weakness will never make us popular. We will ever be surrounded by other broken people in need of love. And though foolish to many, we know the Source of the richest love anywhere.

Like it or not this gospel of Jesus is a threat to those who desire the world’s pleasures. They want their piece of the promised pie, their ticket in the grand lottery as they see it. To relativize money’s power by giving it away to the poor, to take in those who’ve been cast away, is a reminder to them of the futility of their striving. That is threatening indeed. Our authority in Christ enables us to overcome in this world. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 Jn. 4:4)

Our authority to overcome is in our new story. The story of how God redeemed us from striving to be noticed and accepted, only to be used up and left spiritually dead. Our desires have changed. Our minds are being renewed. We now finally want what God wants for us. Our purpose is to glorify God and serve Him wholly. “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Rev. 12:11)

We face death knowing that we are not alone. We are witnesses. Remember that word for witness in Greek is martus, where we get the English word martyr. To die as a witness in the first centuries of the church was a believer’s crowning glory. With John the Revelator as the only exception, tradition tells us that all the apostles were executed as martyrs. When you die will those around you know what you lived for? Do you have a story worth telling?

 

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Chris L. Rice

 

New sermon: “Jesus our dwelling place”

The police dropped her off. She got soaked in the rain and so did all her bags. Around 3 am, we can’t really remember the time, there was a knock at the door and they asked us to take her. She hadn’t had a shower in days. Her bags were soaked and she had little more than the clothes on her back.

“Can one of us go down and get her some things to wear? The free store isn’t open.”

“Of course.”

“And what about getter her a shower?”

“We’ll have to work on that too.”

 

Class is going to start in two minutes and he shuffles in as I hurry around trying to get started. “I’m illiterate. I can’t read. What are you going to do for me?” I didn’t know the answer to that question. Life Skill classes involve listening, review, and planning for the immediate future. The other staff and I quickly make the decision to involve this man anyway. After the class I ask him his story. He’s been living outside here in downtown for years. I start to ask him about who else knows him, like other ministry’s outreach workers, and other places he frequents. And I get a picture of how often he’s engaged by other outreach workers. He’s been resistant to serious involvement since the State released him from prison years ago. I remind him again of what many others do every day. Where to go to start his journey back to housing as soon as he’s ready. When called on to speak during a church service the following night I can’t keep from mentioning his name and asking for intercessory prayer for him.

 

This year I was deeply offended by an otherwise very funny film that dedicated two scenes to mocking street homeless men. I was offended not so much by the typical caricature of people as bums, but by the very comfortable notion that human beings become like fixtures on city streets and there’s really nothing we can do about it. It reinforces the stereotype that homeless people are pursuing their own little carefree life on the streets, and they’re having fun doing it, so just leave them alone. That they have rights as people to be left alone and when you have unfortunate encounters with them, just laugh it off. They’ll sleep off their drink down at the local mission that night and repent for this episode right before dinner and a shower.

 

I’m offended that people of all races, sex and body type get fit into social expectations because of their income. What movies and TV take for granted is that its normal to have enough money to live to excess. Enough money to waste food and time and space in the self centered quest for something very much the same and new at the same time.

 

The gospel of Luke reveals a whole new world where all different kinds of people come down to the River Jordan and ask “What then should we do?” They’d gone to see a man who by all accounts looked creepy. His clothing was made of camel’s hair, he wore a leather belt, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. He was preaching a baptism of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. And people were coming out to him from Jerusalem, Judea, and everywhere along the river.

 

The people wanted to return to true faith. They looked around at the morally and spiritually bankrupt practices of their religious and political leadership and they were ashamed and knew there had to be a better way. They could tell that the Word of the Lord had come to this man John son of the priest Zechariah. It hadn’t come in the temple in Jerusalem. They had to leave there to find it.

 

So they come out and John calls them a brood of vipers. He says that showing up out there is not enough but they’ve got to live different lives.

Luke 3:10-14 tells us a bit about what they change would look like. John preached that repentance involved an economic redistribution. He didn’t have some kind of new political policy map for that he just told them how to start. “If you have two coats you must share with those who have none. And if you have food do likewise.”(NRSV) Simple enough right? Okay, can we get dunked in the water and go home now?

 

Think about what he was saying. Imagine that your family spends a considerable part of your year making and repairing the clothes you wear. Imagine that you only have so much material and that you know how far you’ve got to walk, what sort of work you’ve got to do. Add to this the little money you scrape by with to feed your family after having to pay an exorbitant tax to a foreign power who could care less about your way of life and your family. Yes, you’re oppressed and just making it. But share what you’ve got. What sort of repentance is this?

 

But then it says “Even tax collectors came to be baptized.” Tax collectors were the sort of people in every town that the locals hated. The practice was called tax farming. Essentially rich men put up their own money in order to bid on how much more they can collect from their neighbors than the State could otherwise collect by force. They were in everybody’s business and they kept watch on who had what and where they got it from. The people saw them as the worst sort of sinners, because not only were they in league with the heathen Roman State, they were folks with a seared conscience, blood suckers making extra money off their neighbors. And here they show up to get baptized too.

 

What did John tell them? “Collect no more than the amount prescribed to you.” He didn’t tell them to leave their jobs. He just told them to stop cheating people. He believed in essence, that this repentance was for people who were known cheats. People despised for their livelihoods. People considered no better than the filthy pagan gentiles they served. This baptism was for them too.

 

What’s happening here? Instead of viewing people according to their usual place in society Luke tells stories of unapproachable people having their lives turned upside down by an encounter with Jesus. Zacchaeus, a certain chief tax collector, is one such person. He made the profit off the collectors! If there was corruption Zacchaeus was at the heart of it. To the people he represented everything that was wicked about the system. If there was a hand getting into their pockets for the pagans, it was his. In Luke 19:1-10 we learn that Zacchaeus was not only rich and corrupt, he was also vertically challenged.

 

I can imagine that the running joke about Zacchaeus was that he had a Napoleon complex before there was a Napoleon. His money and power made up for everything lacking in his stature. He didn’t care what people thought about him because he got their money anyway. But Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Jesus is the man John the Baptist called “the Lamb of God,” the Messiah, the man the people were expecting John to be. John introduced a new way of life for all and Jesus was the center of that new life. It was a new kingdom in process and Zacchaeus wanted to see what that looked like.

 

Trouble was, he couldn’t see. Jesus is passing by and he’s going to miss him so he scrambles up a tree. That tree happens to be a sycamore, the fruit of which is unclean for Jews. So here’s an unclean man up in an unclean tree and Jesus stops to call him by name. “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” Suddenly the Messiah, the center of attention, stops the camera and points to the corruption in the tree and asks to be its guest. If there had been a director on the scene he would have pulled Jesus aside to point out this doesn’t make for good PR. Blind people, fine, lepers OK, lame folks, good. But corrupt rich people? Somebody yell, “Cut!”

 

Zacchaeus hurried down out of that tree, happy to welcome him. Something was different in Zacchaeus. He wanted to see Jesus because he wanted the new kingdom. Yeah, he was rich, but he was repentant. Can rich people really repent? Jesus said of another rich man in the previous chapter of Luke, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:24-25) These were hard words for folks to hear back then. In reply they asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus said back to them, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.” So here with Zacchaeus we see the impossible happening. The local heart of corruption, the economic blood sucker gets to host Jesus in his home.

 

But when a rich power broker has an epiphany the people always get uneasy. They think they can see this for what it is. Jesus is gonna get duped. He can’t turn the world upside down and include the local heart of corruption. There’s no place in God’s kingdom for such people.

 

In the midst of the people grumbling, Zacchaeus announces, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” That’s a lot more than John the Baptist had been asking for. John just said in essence to stop cheating. Zacchaeus, fully aware of his part in the economic destruction of his people, demonstrates his repentance with restitution! The offer to pay back four times is an action straight out of the law for the theft in Exodus 22:1-15. Where the nation of Israel had no power to require Zacchaeus to do this, he took it on himself to obey the law out of his belief in this new Kingdom Jesus represented.

 

Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

 

There are many people today who consider themselves religious but are still lost. The words of John the Baptist are for us today, “Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:7-9)

 

The true sons and daughters of Abraham are sick of the social pressure to get warm and well fed and fattened for no reason other than to oil the wheels of a corrupt State where greed is God. Our money says “In God we trust” but it really should say “In Greed we trust.” And that greed is found not just among the rich and powerful, but also among the poor and vulnerable. The greedy rich are only too happy to let some crumbs fall on the poor for a while if it causes them to get enough money to want to become part of the greedy system again!

 

A big part of repentance and following Jesus in our North American context involves reestablishing our values based on hearts of servant-hood rather than hearts of collection. Religion in America has been the maidservant of the gospel of wealth for too long. We’ve preached, “Money is not wrong, it’s all in how you use it” for too long. We’ve lost the practice of repentance through economic redistribution and the radical restitution obedience of Zacchaeus. Within churches all across America there are rich Christians regularly defrauding people by setting “market prices” on houses, apartments, cars and goods without any thought to the injustice of the system. There are Christians working for banks only too happy to help people with bad credit get further into debt. They’re part of a corrupt system but they’re just happy to have a job in this economy.

 

So what on earth can be done? How can any of this change? I believe Zacchaeus can speak to us today. It is possible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. And let’s face it, by someone’s standards on this planet all of us in this room are rich. We may not be able to afford bus tickets every day but we’re all rich. Someone is huddled in an abandoned building in this city right now and we’re pretty rich sitting in this warm room right now.

 

Zacchaeus shows us that obedience to Jesus is possible for any of us. Zacchaeus did three things. 1) He got to where he could see Jesus. 2) He demonstrated his repentance. 3) He took Jesus into his home.

 

Our hope for change comes not from adopting some new political ideology but from the love of Jesus Christ. It is this grace of Jesus that leads us to repentance and obedience. It is in the midst of this very dark corrupt hopeless world that John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” God emptied himself on our behalf in Christ because we need a new place to live. We’ve screwed this world up so bad that nothing less than becoming new people will change things.

 

Jesus promises us in John 14:23 than “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we’ll come to him and make our home with him.” He also said, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places (homes). If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going to prepare a place for you.”(John 14:2, Amplified) We all need a home. Even if you’ve never known homelessness, the dread of getting soaked head to toe in a cold rain, you can still relate to residing somewhere but not knowing it as home.

Having somewhere to stow your stuff so you can cruise around and buy more stuff and then come crash on a couch and escape in front of a computer or a digital TV is not the same as inhabiting a home. And God knows this about us. He knows that far from having real comfort and warmth in our lives, our greed has made us all homeless.

 

But Jesus says we can have a real dwelling in Him! He says there is a love, a habitation possible through obedience and discipleship. A home made of hard work, and a sense of Place born of fellowship in the Kingdom of God. It’s true we’re waiting for our true habitation to be revealed with Christ’s appearing. Rev. 21:3 says, “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.” This is what God’s plan has been all along, and He is doing it in the world right now. By his Holy Spirit he has called and is calling a people to Himself, out of the wicked corruption of this world into the Kingdom of His dear Son.

 

Maybe you know that you need to be saved from the greed in your heart. Maybe like Zacchaeus you’ve had enough of yourself and you know that Jesus represents a fresh break, a new world. Hurry down out of that tree and take Jesus into your home!

 

Does Jesus love people we can’t?

Does Jesus love people we can’t have near us? Like sex offenders for instance? Pastor Dick Witherow and his church made up of homeless sex offenders is profiled by NPR here. The book the article mentions, “The Modern Day Leper” looks quite good.

Three stories from Jeremy

A Guest Post From Jeremy Nicholls

Jeremy Nicholls works at Chicago’s Homeless Shelter, Cornerstone Community Outreach, and is a fellow member of Jesus People USA Covenant Church. These stories relating his experiences were posted as notes for Facebook friends but are so good that I asked if I could repost them here for the all of you.

In memory of N I C K …… (I wrote this in 2005)

Yesterday at 9:39pm

The men filed through one by one printing their names, writing their ages and signing their autographs. Different demeanors, temperaments, smells and personalities would grace us as we checked the men in and assigned each man with his mattress and two gray woolly blankets.

One can discover a lot about a man through this simple procedure. One man waits patiently for his turn, another tries to push in, another manipulates his way up the line. A drunken sleepy man stooped in posture, an energetic twitching man grins talking to an imaginary friend and four friends joke, talk and laugh loudly with each other.

One gentleman who would grace us frequently at Macon Overnight Ministries during its whole 3 year existence was an Italian Polish 53 year old simply called Nick; he would stand quietly in line and keep to himself and suddenly splutter into a coughing fit dispersing the crowd around him with loud accusations of rampant TB. Ironically Nick never had Tuberculosis. Nick would jump in anger to his own defense, and we assured the crowd that he was not contagious.

Nick shuffled to the sign-in sheet and murmurs “hi Jeremy” and with snail-like swiftness awkwardly writes N I C K with his face several inches from the paper. No last name, no age and no signature. He often scribbled his name in the place he was not supposed to write on, hardly ever keeping his 4 letters between the 2 lines.

Nick lived with a horrific disability rarely seen or admitted on the shores of America. He was illiterate. He could not read or write a single lick, except for those 4 magic letters – N I C K. Until one witnesses such a man struggling through life, it is hard to put oneself in such a man’s shoes. Illiteracy affects every aspect of their lives.

Nick’s struggles did not end there. He had some horrible asthmatic and bronchial problems, issues dealing with excessive weight and mental illness and a host of medications; thus, we ended up calling 911 for him more than any other man. After a few nights in a hospital he would arrive again on our doorstep needing another night’s rest. Nick always wanted to offer something; he picked up a broom or mop and proceeded to clean, often resulting in rapid panting and the need to sit. We told him repeatedly that he did not need to help, but he insisted and would grab the broom. Nick had a heart of gold.

Penniless. Unemployed. Homeless. He did not fulfill society’s perception of homeless men; Nick was not a drug addict, an alcoholic, a criminal or a gang-banger. His curse was simply, he was unable to read or write. He was unable to breathe like the rest of us. But as with all of us, Nick was a human being searching for his God given purpose, eternal life free of suffering and for love. Nick experienced glimpses of that at Cornerstone.

We loved Nick. Nick loved us. He erupted with outbursts of emotion from time to time, but Nick was part of the Cornerstone family. We never knew of any family he had. A new guy would come in, ridicule, provoke and taunt this poor man, and many a CCO veteran would jump to his defense. Nick had found a family at CCO, and we proudly accepted him. We needed Nick! Nick needed us!

After months of encouraging Nick to join Harper House (our day time supportive service program), he enrolled, and we were able to help him more thoroughly. We spoke with the doctors who monitored his health and prescribed his medication from the local free clinic. We helped him take the right dosage. We helped him eat the right foods. He was losing weight, looking healthier and had gentler deposition.

Every night “The Word” was spoken to the men as they lay on their mattresses. For 20 – 30 minutes we expounded truth from the Word of God. It was Nick’s highlight in his long days. He waited in anticipation. As he sat up gazing at the speaker, he was angered when another made a noise and was frustrated when the wrong person delivered the message. He would burst out with a question as he tried to understand. He longed for “the Word”.

Out of the blue, the MOM and Harper House programs lost funding and they had to close. My thoughts and prayers went out to all the men; I knew some guys would take advantage of the situation, a lot would find their struggle harder and some would resort back to the life they had been fighting to defeat. The stories are immense! But, my heart went out to Nick; the question was how he would or could survive a brutal winter in Chicago. He did not end up in another shelter, in a transient hotel or a nursing home. His disability sadly caused Nick to disappear and sleep under any viaduct or tree. He was hard to find.

Three and half months later I heard on the streets, Nick had passed away, in mid December 2004, in a Chicago hospital. Through a little investigation I discovered he had pneumonia and an infection. The cold Chicago winter had captured his life.

I believe we were able to offer this lonesome warrior a little concern, a little love and Jesus. The “least of these” stood in our midst. Jesus loved Nick. Nick loved Jesus. I believe this lonely man passed into His loving eternal arms, where there will be no crying, no pain, no suffering and no injustice.

The Rejected Community

Monday, September 14, 2009 at 10:07pm

When I walk to the Shelter, I normally pass a number of men and women I personally know, who struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse. Most of them, being homeless or precariously housed, have isolated themselves from almost all social services and society. Because of their addictions, lack of impulse control and lapse in hygiene, they have become America’s ultimate rejects. This country’s poor of the poor! Sadly their lifestyle results in homeless shelters constantly having to bar them due to their extravagant behavior, yet ironically, a strong little community has formed.

This community of ex-offenders, drunks, prostitutes, crack heads and the mentally ill may seem ugly, but in reality, they have created a network of support and security. They eat, drink, fight, play and pray together. Amongst the chaos that constantly lingers, they have a system that functions to uphold one another, to cry for mercy and protect the weak. Whereas, they often indulge in illegal activities and enable each other’s addictions, their ultimate goal is to lift each other from their poverty! They are caught in a seemingly endless cycle that echoes their despair, yet in desperation and when opportunities arise they join forces to push their friend from that pit.

I have discovered that my calling is to infiltrate that community and offer answers and hope. They have welcomed me into their clique and I have found myself loving these men and women greatly. I mourn when they mourn, laugh when they laugh, play when they play and pray when called to pray, Yet, I also try to help them escape the vicious cycle of addiction, break the bonds of incarceration and be a peacemaker in their times aggravation and threats. I thank God for the loving relationship that has formed between us.

While they may welcome me with open arms, fist pumps and smiles; their beers and bottles of gin are placed in pockets, behind their legs and in other hiding places. Conversations also silence and their language changes. They do this out of respect and to keep certain activities in the dark! I have seen and heard the call of “here comes Jeremy” as I wander around the corner, momentarily any drinking ceases. Naturally, days also come when the intoxication peaks and tempers flare, the cops come and arrests are made as they struggle to keep hidden their obvious misdemeanors. God has gifted me with this sad, yet beautiful, position!

On Labor Day, I walked down the street to the cry, “Jeremy, look we’re all drinking today, ya want one?” and they all held up cans of sprite and laughed. Joking continued as they spoke of changing their addictions from alcohol to sugar! They show me four 12 packs of various sodas. After a few hours of work, I start wandering home and a usual suspect, Francis, approaches me snuggling a Natural Ice. We are discussing some of life’s concerns with Bernard, when 2 young men, looking out of place, approach us and mumbled a request. Francis and Bernard immediately act shocked claiming “we know nothing about that.” The young men slowly walk away, and Bernard tells me they wanted to buy a nickel bag of weed.

Jerome sits on a stoop daily. He continually drinks his woes away. Almost 60, he has never learnt to read and write. He has never been assessed and does not receive any income. His plight, like many serially inebriated homeless folk, is the fact that he has been ignored, despised and rejected, left to live in the literal gutter.

And who tries to pick him up, offer a glimmer of hope and give him a sense of fellowship? It is not the government and not even the Church. It was and remains to be, this community of rejects who are barely surviving. They intercede for him, begging for us to help give him shelter and meet his needs. And together, we fight to break the bondage that has gripped Jerome since his teenage years.

On a practical level, we have got his social security card, birth certificate from Alabama, school records and, most recently, his State ID. One of the loitering crew escorted him downtown to help him get his identification, and they all proudly celebrated this accomplishment and made fun of his photo, with his unkempt hair that made him look like Don King. We have also helped him set up appointments for housing and his medical needs. There has also been a concerted effort to help him apply for SSI online. It is a long and tiresome procedure! Often I need to find and see Jerome and all I need to do is send out a word. The community will hunt him down, and he’ll walk into my office faster than if I’d sent an e-mail.

It is a hard life for these folks, as their community is riddled with disease and death. This is not a case of drunkards needing to pull themselves up by their boot straps. This a group of people enslaved in bondage so strong and so deep, there does not seem to be answers. It is a corporate effort of people being willing to climb down into their world and live! A marvelous thing is witnessed by entering their world; hope, progress and miracles happen!

Amongst the stench of urine, sweat, alcohol and cigarette smoke, one often catches a whiff of a sweet smelling perfume. That perfume ignites a reminder of how Jesus sits on crate enjoying the company of America’s “least of these”. It reminds me of how their little community often shames Christian communities, and how we can and could learn from their examples of faith, generosity and love. It reminds me of the faithful widow generously giving her all; a mere mite. It reminds me that Jesus came to save sinners in need of a physician. That sweet smell reminds me of Jesus giving props to the sinner who prayed that simple prayer sobbing, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!”

I need to be reminded that within the Kingdom of Heaven, God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak to shame the strong and “God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are.” Jesus upended the glory of money, strength and power, by simply proclaiming that within His Kingdom “the first shall be last, and the last, first!”

Fleeting Allegiances

Monday, August 31, 2009 at 7:48pm

At work, I see the devastating effects of young men and women dedicating their lives to a Chicago gang. It will grip them and hold them and it won’t let go! They pledge allegiance to a philosophy, power and financial gain. The results are sometimes fatal, but at the very least, devastating. A dream was sold, a concept was grasped, a life was imprisoned and a family scattered!

As I ponder; I witness, speak to and engage these gangsters and realize a life behind bars is not just the physical reality of seeing the inside of Cook County Jail and an impending movement down state to another cell block. An internal imprisonment is granted as another young soul pledged allegiance to the “5 or 6 pointed star” nation! It is a bondage that is so strong, this young soul carries this burden his or her whole life. After seeing the dream was a lie, the now older soul struggles to tear this burden from his tired back only for it to remain and stick like super-glue!

Often in vain, I have discouraged the young from joining and encouraged the old to escape. Like an addiction, people flee only to find themselves embraced once again by the life “they know”. Ironically, I would say this is a life of uneasy security and uncomfortable comfort. My souls mourns over these imprisoned souls and I can only retreat to the wonderful gift of prayer, knowing this “power” or “force” is too great for mere mortals to tangle with. “Be still and know that I am God”

But, how different am I? They, like me, seek to live a life worthy of the heavenly kingdom. “What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of this body of death?” The battle in Romans 7 only echoes the inner turmoil of gang bangers seeking redemption. It is not an exclusive trait; it permeates throughout humankind seeking to devour its prey through our own pledging of allegiances to fleeting realities such as the flag, country, military, social status, family, sex, sports, church, music, technology and media! Yet, we cannot and must not forget the power and influence of money and materialism, which Jesus aptly gave the title “Mammon”, knowing humanity will struggle not to bow down and worship it.

My battle is to make sure that my allegiance bows to the foolishness of the cross, not the power and influence of kingdoms like Mammon and Technology. Dreams are sold and faith is lost, but the cross breaks the bondage and sets us free. Jesus told us plainly we cannot serve two masters, and the Kingdom of God is continually fighting against the many kingdoms that rise against it. Yet, we can rest in the beauty, seen in Revelation, that the weak Lamb murdered on a foolish cross defeated all kingdoms and beasts, and we can live in a resurrected hope!

Loaves and Fishes review

Loaves and Fishes: The inspiring Story of the Catholic Worker Movement

By Dorothy Day

Orbis Books, 1997

ISBN 978-1570751561

221 pages

$18.00

Reviewed by Chris L. Rice

Sometimes the most radical ideas are the simplest ones. Take for instance the idea that every family have a room set aside for hospitality for strangers. It’s said to originate with St. John of Chrysostom, and such a room is called “the Christ room,” because, after all, the stranger in need is Jesus. Why is this idea so radical? Well, there are many reasons. Families don’t feel safe taking in strangers. Children are taught not to talk to strangers. We all know stories of well-meaning do-gooders who were thoroughly cleaned out for their naïve hospitality. The most sensible thing to do is to see that the stranger is taken to the nearest state sponsored non-profit who handles such things professionally. Either there or to the police station, where they may really belong. But is this common wisdom really sensible? Is it even Christian?

Dorothy Day set out to ask such hard questions, not just with words, but as a life’s vocation. Loaves and Fishes is her 1963 account of the story. This edition from Orbis thirty years later includes a Foreword by Thomas Merton and an Introduction by Robert Coles. With the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Catholic Worker upon us, I took it upon myself to visit this book for the first time. Its pages contained what felt to me like the warm, personal words of an old friend. Dorothy writes that way, explaining what her life looks like, what the people who surround her are life, and why she lives this way. (The “why” only comes with the journey.) Her style epitomizes what is now known as creative nonfiction. She is a tried and true journalist, but she is a personalist, not writing what we expect to hear, but about a new life she believes is possible only because of Jesus Christ.

I want to keep this review about Dorothy’s experience, but I have to tell you why her story touched me so profoundly. I grew up in a home that, while not modeled on Dorothy Day’s particular story, was dedicated to living and identifying with the homeless and poor. My family ate donated food, invited homeless women and children into our home, and wore clothes from a “free store” set up to give everything away. I can tell you from my own experience that such a life is not easy. My parents were under a lot of pressure trying to balance finances with the hospitality itself, which my sisters and I endured in-kind. Sometimes we made the mistake of trying to bear the strain alone.

Dorothy’s example is that she seemed to always know that the work wasn’t hers personally. The vision was one brought by a vagabond Frenchman whom she felt she treated badly. Peter Maurin’s Easy Essays reflected his manner of oral delivery. He’d just walk up and talk to whoever seemed to be listening. Her stories make it clear that whether they were listening or not he’d go on talking. Sometimes they couldn’t seem to be rid of him. Even so, Dorothy knew that what he was saying was true.

When Dorothy writes about her fellow workers at the Catholic Worker with all their idiosyncrasies, she makes me laugh, and she makes me feel at home. The old man with a cane who was hopelessly racist, who started a fire and fought with a black man constantly, whose only prized possession in life was his cane, with which he could defend himself. Another old man lived on the farm in a little shack down by the gate. He stole the community’s new tools and sat on his porch with a shot gun lest they try to get them back. She loves these people and humanizes them. She feels called to be their neighbor, and so she asks God for love for them. These candid accounts make her way of life appealing. On a personal level I felt finally understood when I read this book. Like my way of life, growing up in one community and then choosing another as an adult, made sense to someone else. But the truth, I know, is that Dorothy was doing this long before my family.

This way of life is still radical. Not having to pay taxes to fund the war because we annually make so little income that we just don’t count. Asking what we can do for a neighbor in need, without asking first whether we have the means. Taking Jesus at his word: “Freely you have received, freely give.” Dorothy seemed to believe that sainthood was for everyone. I think about that now that the canonization process has begun for Dorothy. She wanted to see everyone after Christ’s likeness. Her writing here reflects that. Her chapter on her brief stay in a women’s prison finds her looking for Jesus in the very women who were spewing profanity at her and looking to violate her. I’m still a bit bewildered by that approach. I know she’s right, and I’m still praying for that kind of love, those eyes to see Jesus suffering and the heart to welcome him.

Dorothy Day more than Augustine

I was asking earlier for autobiographies that tell the story with the Church in mind. Augustine’s Confessions was mentioned, but lately I’ve been reading this beautiful little online autobiography of Dorothy Day’s, From Union Square to Rome. Actually it’s addressed to her brother, who was a communist. Here’s an excerpt from the Catholic Worker’s website:

Do you remember that little story that Grushenka told in The Brothers Karamazov? “Once upon a time there was a peasant woman and a very wicked woman she was. And she died and did not leave a single good deed behind. The devils caught her and plunged her into a lake of fire. So her guardian angel stood and wondered what good deed of hers he could remember to tell God. ‘She once pulled up an onion in her garden,’ said he, ‘and gave it to a beggar woman.’ And God answered: ‘You take that onion then, hold it out to her in the lake, and let her take hold and be pulled out. And if you pull her out of the lake, let her come to Paradise, but if the onion breaks, then the woman must stay where she is.’ The angel ran to the woman and held out the onion to her. ‘Come,’ said he, ‘catch hold, and I’ll pull you out. And he began cautiously pulling her out. He had just pulled her out, when the other sinners in the lake, seeing how she was being drawn out, began catching hold of her so as to be pulled out with her. But she was a very wicked woman and she began kicking them. ‘I’m to be pulled out, not you. It’s my onion, not yours.’ As soon as she said that, the onion broke. And the woman fell into the lake and she is burning there to this day. So the angel wept and went away.”

Sometimes in thinking and wondering at God’s goodness to me, I have thought that it was because I gave away an onion. Because I sincerely loved His poor, He taught me to know Him. And when I think of the little I ever did, I am filled with hope and love for all those others devoted to the cause of social justice.

“What glorious hope!” Mauriac writes. “There are all those who will discover that their neighbor is Jesus himself, although they belong to the mass of those who do not know Christ or who have forgotten Him. And nevertheless they will find themselves well loved. It is impossible for any one of those who has real charity in his heart not to serve Christ. Even some of those who think they hate Him, have consecrated their lives to Him; for Jesus is disguised and masked in the midst of men, hidden among the poor, among the sick, among prisoners, among strangers. Many who serve Him officially have never known who He was, and many who do not even know His name, will hear on the last day the words that open to them the gates of joy. O Those children were I, and I those working men. I wept on the hospital bed. I was that murderer in his cell whom you consoled.’ “

But always the glimpses of God came most when I was alone. Objectors cannot say that it was fear of loneliness and solitude and pain that made me turn to Him. It was in those few years when I was alone and most happy that I found Him. I found Him at last through joy and thanksgiving, not through sorrow.

Yet how can I say that either? Better let it be said that I found Him through His poor, and in a moment of joy I turned to Him. I have said, sometimes flippantly, that the mass of bourgeois smug Christians who denied Christ in His poor made me turn to Communism, and that it was the Communists and working with them that made me turn to God.

She writes in a way reminiscent of Augustine’s Confessions, but with an emphasis on her relationship to the poor. I think this book would be wonderful when read aloud to a group. It’s a treasure indeed!

story: picketing city hall

“God executes justice for the oppressed. . . gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free.” Ps. 146:7

I remember being at a demonstration at city hall in downtown St. Louis. A small group of homeless women were carrying poster board signs with reminders to do justice. One of these signs was Psalm 146:7 itself. I was watching this young African American mother walk in circles with this sign with the others, when up walked a couple of young African American men. They laughed and pointed at the sign and one of them made a pass at the woman.

“If you’re waiting for God to give you some justice and food, you’ll be waiting a long time. Why don’t you come home with me baby?”

In that moment the audacity of this Psalm was clearly demonstrated for me. When we make our society and our religion so closed to God’s Outside judgment, by speaking and acting as self-contained moral agents, the Scriptures become nothing more than pleasant human sympathies. We can’t make sense of passages that describe God himself as our life source, the judge, the Ruler.

“In him we live and move and exist.” Acts 17:28 (NASB)

“For not from the east, not from the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation; but God is the Judge; He puts down one, and exalts another.” Ps. 75:5-6 (NASB)

From outside the biblical frame we hear the passionate cry of humanity, “So which is it? Will God set the prisoner free or will the State? When will God judge the nations?”

The answer to which and when is, frustratingly, “Yes.” As in, God uses and judges the State. God acts within history and yet, history itself is contained in His promise.

Now, back to my story. The woman with the sign held to her own. The men left and she laughed and kept picketing. She remained a profound witness to God’s check on human pride and the apparent absurdity of God’s Name in the context of human services.