Last week President Obama came out in favor of same-sex marriage. He was careful to point out that this is his personal opinion and advocates for the states to govern on this issue.  His aids prefaced his statement with a statement that the President’s stance on the issue was “evolving.”  Those on the right of the president saw this “evolving” as a weakness and charged him with flip-flopping on the issue and of course those on the left rejoiced at the evolution.

Personally I am thankful we have a president who is willing to stay open minded on issues that are as complex as this one.  I also appreciate having a leader who is willing to admit that he simply does not have all the answers and is willing to consider the input of those around him.

This quote from Father Richard Rohr about the evolution of our thinking came to mind:

“What happens in contemplation is that we move beyond doctrines and dogmas to calm inner experience of the same. When we move to the level of experience, we see that this self is only a “radio receiver” and is not to be taken too seriously, for it is always changing stations and is filled with static and interference.

Even good and correct thinking is always trapped inside my little mind, my particular culture, my form of education, my parental conditioning—all of which is good and all of which is bad too. That places all of the Great Mysteries inside my little world. So we should rightfully be much more humble about our own opinions and thoughts. After all, how could the Infinite ever be fully or rightly received by the finite?” Adapted from A Lever and A Place to Stand: The Contemplative Stance, The Active Prayer, pp. 12-13

Whether you agree or disagree with the president’s position, his willingness to stay open to the transforming of his mind displays spiritual maturity and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit far more than a dogmatic closed minded stance.

I have been reading Walter Winks book, “Engaging the Powers.” In his chapter on the power of intercession, Wink argues that there is biblical evidence clearly demonstrating that God’s mind can be changed by the prayers of the righteous.  Passages like Exodus 32:14, “Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened” and others support Wink’s argument.

I really struggled this week with the idea of God’s mind being changed by humans.  I like the idea of an unchanging God.  I like the idea of black and white, right and wrong.  I like to believe we can sum up the mind of God in our doctrine and dogma.  I think most humans subconsciously seek that kind of clarity.  However, just because it is in my nature to seek it, it does not make it real.  Rohr is correct in pointing out that the finite can never hold the infinite.   The Bible does not contain the fullness of God.  Even our understanding of the person of Jesus is limited.  The scriptures give us a glimpse of the Christ but cannot show us the fullness of our savior.

The Apostle Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 12:

“Love never fails; but if there are gifts of  prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part;  but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Those who claim to know God’s will fully have obviously not read these words by the Apostle Paul.  My prayer for myself and for our nation is that we humble ourselves before the Lord and admit that we are not God. We see with dim vision and if we err in our understanding, my prayer is that we would err on the side of love.

If you asked each of my three girls how they have been impacted by my ministry you are likely to get three different answers and depending on the day of the week, even that will change.  One would tell you about how she has sacrificed; one of would tell you about what she has gained; and one of my girls knows no other reality and likely would not even know how to answer the question.  However, I think they would all say they are thankful that I choose to pursue my calling.

Like all working women, sometimes I am overcome by guilt.  It usually strikes when one of my children is going through a difficult time.  I hear voices that say, “You need to be there for her…If you were a better mom you would…”  I know these voices that lay on the guilt are not of God but I am only human.  I am susceptible to guilt trips just like everyone else.

That is why I love Mother’s Day.  On Mother’s Day, no one is allowed to make mom feel guilty.

In fact, it is every child’s obligation to think of at least one thing they can praise mom for.  Today, my middle daughter wrote me a poem.  Her words, “You do so much to help the world”, reminded me that while I often fail in the small stuff, at least my girls see the greater good behind it all.

I want to applaud all the mothers out there who are seeking to make this world a better place.  They are the school teachers, the nurses, and all those who give themselves so generously to others.  I know you often feel misunderstood.  I know you sometimes feel guilty and want to give up. I know that you wonder if in the long run you will regret your choices.  I know you fear your children will somehow pay a price. Just know that when they are old enough, your children will grant you grace.  They will see through all the small failings to the greater good you are providing to the world.   Don’t allow guilt or fear to stop you from pursuing the fullness that God has called you to.

My girls mean the world to me.  The one thing I pray for them is that they would grow up to be fully who God created them to be.  I pray they would boldly live their lives in a way that allows them to be fully used by God.

This is also my prayer for all of my sisters who are reading this post.  God has a call on your life.  Yes, you are called to be a mother to your children, but a call to be a mom and a call to be a blessing to the world are not mutually exclusive.  Don’t allow guilt and fear to rob you of being fully who God called you to be.  Trust that God will care for your children as you care for God’s children.  May you live boldly the life God has called you to, and learn to leave the rest to your God.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I will never forget the day I first met Charles Fitzgerald.  At the time he was in his early 50’s, had a bad back, bad knees and was honest when he said that he really did not want to do manual labor.  I was recruiting people to help move furniture for our furniture bank program, so that shows you just how desperate I was when I offered him the job within 10 minutes of meeting him.  He had two things that I really needed.  He could legally drive and he made me laugh.  At the time, I did not realize just how important that latter gift would be.

Prior to launching our AmeriCorps program, I had had very little experience working with addicts.  So, when one by one my team began to relapse, I did not take it very well.  I felt I was somehow to blame.  I took each loss personally.  I can honestly say 2009 was one of the worst years of my life.  I actually tried to quit my job several times but there was no one to turn my letter of resignation in to.

So every day, Charles would find a way to make me laugh.  His funny toothless grin alone would make me smile.  There was just something about this guy.  He was making $6,500 a year and did not have a care in the world.  The world around us seemed to be caving in but he would just smile, point to the sky and say “God’s got this one.”

Charles has been making me laugh for almost four years now.  I am not talking about an occasional chuckle, I am talking about a full out belly laugh several times a day.   It is not that he knows a lot of jokes, it is more that he has a way of looking at our present reality, which is often a hard reality to face, and he adds a new twist that puts things into perspective.

For example, last week I wrote about getting thrown out of Foodland for taking pictures of pigs feet at the meat counter.  Charles and his buddy Rudy think this is the funniest thing they have ever seen.  I was so upset when it happened.  I did not want the owners to see me as a threat but Charles said to me, “Now, you are one of us.  Back in my addiction, I got thrown out of pretty much every place I ever went into.  I love that you are as crazy as me.”  He took my public humiliation and turned it into a badge of honor.  Now every time we drive past Foodland, he says, “Wendy you want me to make you some pigs feet for lunch?”  Then he bursts out laughing and we all join in.  Laughing with my teammates keeps me going.  It reminds me not to take myself or our work so seriously.

Over the years Charles’s light hearted spirit has kind of rubbed off on me.  Don’t get me wrong, I am still a type A, purpose driven, focused woman but now when I start to hyperventilate over something, I hear him whispering “Breathe Wendy, Just Breathe, God’s got this one.”   I think I have even developed a little bit of a sense of humor.  While I used to beat myself up over everything that went wrong, I can now occasionally just laugh at myself.   I still have a long way to go before I reach the level of humility of Charles, but he has been a great teacher.

Charles will tell you that his perspective on life was not always so rosy.  He spent 33 years on the streets lost in his addiction, in and out of jail and was not a very happy person.  He lost everything – his family, his home, and his sanity.  He wanted to die and was contemplating suicide.  God saved him from himself and now he says, “Every day above ground is a good day.”  Charles travels light.  He does not chase after material stuff, or hang onto resentments or anger.  He had everything stripped from him and survived.  I learned from Charles that to lighten up, you have to be willing to let go of things.  He makes it look easy but I know it was a painful process.

I recently went to a training class done by The Fund for Theological Education.  They said, “Sometimes you have to let go of something before you can receive something new.” They had us do a visualization exercise.  With our eyes closed they instructed us to grasp our seats as tight as we could.  They said to imagine that we were in a weightless room. By holding onto the chair which was anchored to the floor, we were keeping ourselves from floating away.  They then had us visualize different things that were painful, like a person who hurt us or a time when we felt like a failure.  They then instructed us to let go of the chair and to allow those things to float away.  I know this was all in my head but the sensation of feeling lighter and freer was a bit shocking to me.  It felt really good.

I think laughter gives us that same kind of release.  It reminds us to breathe and helps us to let go of whatever we are hanging onto.

There is no line in the bible that reads “Jesus laughed.”  But, I bet Jesus got a big kick out of the time when Peter tried walking on the water, or the time when his disciples doubted they could feed all those people, or saw the look on the disciples’ faces when they found that coin in the mouth of that fish.  I can see the disciples all sitting around the fire remembering the times they doubted, the times they thought it was hopeless and then Jesus did something totally wild and unexpected.  I can hear their full out belly laughs.  I bet Jesus and the disciples sit around heaven watching us doubt and take ourselves so serious, just for a good laugh every now and then.  We really are quite humorous creatures.

So when was the last time you had a good laugh?

Who is your Charles?  Who reminds you to lighten up?

This post is part of a Synchroblog on entitled “Lighten Up: The Art of Laughter, Joy and Letting Go.”  Below are the links to other posts on this topic.

• Jeremy Myers at Till He Comes – Lighten Up! 
• Maria Kettleson Anderson at My Real Journey - The Art of Passionately Lightening Up
• Melody Harrison at Logic and Imagination – {I Don’t Do Joy}
• Wendy McCaig - Lighten Up: Learning to Let Go From A Man Who Lost It All
• Carol Kuniholm at Words Half Heart – Resurrection Laughter
• R. Lee Bayes at Southern Humanist – Loving Light 
• Alan Knox – Be Sarcastic With One Another 
• Patrick Oden at Dueling Ravens - Truth, Beauty, and Yodeling Pickles
• Tammy Carter at Blessing the Beloved – A Tricky Little Journey 
• Christine Sine at Godspace – Lighten Up: It Really is the Best Medicine 
• Glenn Hager -  Margaritas, Metallica, and A Serious Case of the Giggles.
• Liz Dyer at Grace Rules – A Spoonful of Sugar 
• K.W. Leslie at More Christ – When Jesus Made A Funny
• Maurice Broaddus – Why So Serious? 
• Ellen Haroutunian – A Laughing God 

Several months ago, I notice a bump where one of the screws holding the plate in my arm was becoming more pronounced.  I thought it was kind of a cool way to freak my kids out until it started to hurt.  Over the past few weeks, I have noticed swelling in my hand around the tendons.  This past Monday I went to the doctor and learned that the screws have started to protrude out of the bone and are rubbing against my tendons.  This is causing irritation and swelling in my hand which is causing the pain.  What caused this?  We think the weight training that I have been doing could have contributed.

If I don’t have the plate removed, the screws could severe my tendons in my right hand which would be disastrous.  My options are to stop doing weight training and limit the use of my right hand which would likely cause the bones to weaken or have the plate removed which really serves no purpose now that my bones are healed. Needless to say, I opted to have the plate and screws removed. It will be painful but in the long run, I will be much healthier.

I think it is kind of ironic that the support structure, ie the plate, that was absolutely necessary for me to regain the use of my hand three years ago, is now threatening the long-term use of my hand.  I also find it ironic that doing what I was supposed to do to prevent my disease from getting worse, ie weight training, actually caused the support system to malfunction and threaten further injury.

I tell you this story for two reasons.  First, I will likely not be blogging for a few weeks after my surgery which is scheduled for May 14^th and secondly because I see this same phenomenon happening in other support systems all around me.

I have a friend, whom we will call Ann.  Ann was unemployed for two years,  then got a very part-time job, then recently got a full-time job.  Ann lives in public housing so her rent is calculated at 30% of her income.  Every time Ann’s income goes up, Ann pays more rent.  Every time her rent goes up, Ann feels the pain of paying more and getting nothing in return.

She is doing what she is supposed to do but the support system that was there to rescue her from homelessness now feels painful.  Ann’s rent which was $50 per month when she was unemployed is now $500 per month.  Before too long, Ann will be paying above market rent for her tiny little apartment.  When this happens, Ann will have a choice.  She can either move out of public housing and pay market rent, quit her job and go back to paying $50 per month, or stay where she is and pay more than she should for what she has.

Like the plate in my arm that was placed there to give my bones support while they healed, public housing was the support system Ann needed while she was getting stronger.  She is pretty close to standing on her own two feet.  I pray she makes the same choice I am making and goes through the painful process of removing the support systems she no longer needs.

Ann’s story is a story of how support systems are supposed to work.  For every Ann who chooses to push through the pain of letting go of the support system, there are dozens who are not willing to endure the pain.  They begin to see what was intended to be a temporary support as something that is necessary for survival.

It is not just the federal government that is providing support systems that are malfunctioning.  It is churches and non-profits who set out to meet an emergency need through food pantries and clothing closets who now have the same people lining up week after week after week.  What was intended to meet a very real need on a crisis basis has become a long-term support structure that in many cases is actually causing harm to those who have become dependent on it.

I have another friend, we will call her Mary.  Mary has a very different kind of job than Ann.  Mary spends all her time going from food pantry to food pantry and from program to program getting her needs met.  She is so busy going to meet with her case worker and standing in lines to get her bills paid, Mary can’t imagine how she could ever find the time to go look for a job.  She thinks Ann is crazy to work so hard.  What good does it do her? Mary lives in the same housing as Ann and their kids go to the same schools.  The only difference Mary sees is that Ann is never at home with her son and she has to pay more for everything from food to rent.

My two friends view the world very differently.  Ann sees a future where she is free to live where ever she wants and is free to shop where ever she wants.  While it is hard and painful right now, Ann knows in the long run, it will be worth it.  Mary sees only the moment.  She sees Ann working harder and not getting ahead and thinks it is all pointless.

I can’t wait for the day when Ann is finally able to say good bye to artificial support systems and I pray Mary wakes up some day to the fact that these support systems have permanently trapped her.  She thinks not working is freedom but she does not realize she is a slave to a dysfunctional system.

Please keep me, my friend Ann and my friend Mary in your prayers.

What support systems do you see at work around you?

How can we build systems that produce more Ann’s and less Mary’s?

“We need to focus more on building on-ramps to the kingdom and less on parking lots for the church.”

Many would agree that the church universal spends way too much time focusing on its own needs – building campaigns, parking lots, programs for every age and gender.  What I am not so sure of is if we would all agree on what the phrase “on-ramps to the kingdom” means.

What I love about this metaphor is its sense of motion verses stasis.   Parking lots convey a sense of “we have arrived.”  On-ramp says “we are on a journey.”  As with any journey you have to start by knowing the destination. Once you know the destination, you can figure out the on-ramps you need to get you there.

If the kingdom is defined as heaven, then the focus becomes individual salvation.  With this destination, salvation is defined as believing the right things about Jesus.  On-ramps become various forms of teaching.

If however the kingdom is defined as the reconciliation of all of creation or the ushering in of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, then everything shifts.  The transformation of the individual is no longer the end, but simply the means.  The destination becomes the redemption of all of creation.  The journey becomes about following in Jesus footsteps, not simply believing the right things about Jesus.

Salvation of all of creation comes by joining in Christ’s mission. Transformation of the individual comes when we engage in the redemptive work in the world and experience the spirit of Christ flowing through us.  This power is expressed through a love of all things.   This is not “works righteousness,” this is what it means to become a “new man.”  We cease to live out of our own will.  It is Christ who lives and works and breaths through us. It is a spirit thing not a head thing.

The on-ramps to the kingdom look very different if the reconciliation of all things is the destination.  Intellectually based activities focused on teaching are replaced with action oriented activities centered on loving and redeeming.  Success becomes defined by the health of a city and not simply the health of the church.  It looks like groups of people joining together to revitalize a neighborhood or to care for the shut-in’s in their community, or tutoring children.

The act of doing what Jesus did becomes the curriculum and the processes of seeking God in that activity becomes an act of worship.  The act alone holds no power to transform the individual or the world.  However, the act pursued through the power of the Holy Spirit and an earnest desire to see God move in and through us is an unstoppable redemptive force.

If the way to salvation is “right believing” then the appropriate on-ramps are more bible studies and worship services.  If the way to salvation is “following Jesus” then the appropriate on-ramps are loving God by loving all of God’s creation, particularly our neighbors.

Some are threatened by this definition because there is the false assumption that the latter can be done apart from the church.  The exact opposite is true.  It is far easier for me to read a spiritual book and get right information about Jesus or to sing a worship song in my car and worship God all by myself.  It is far harder to usher in God’s kingdom here on earth on my own.  I can’t reclaim the abandoned places or rebuild the walls of our city or love the widows and orphans all by myself.  It is a vision too big for one person.  It is a destination that is too far off for me to journey toward without the company of other believers.

The reason some people are leaving the church is because we have not cast a vision that requires all of us.  The reason why consumer Christianity has taken hold in your churches is because we have made the pew on Sunday the destination. The day’s when people went to church simply to be seen are over.  Guilt and fear no longer motivate people.  Sitting safely in a parking lot no longer satisfies the spirit.  We need to build on-ramps that lead to something God sized.

Reggie McNeal in his book “Missional Communities: The Rise of the Post-Congregational Church,” points to missional communities as a “new church life form” that provides this on-ramp.  McNeal writes,

“Loving God and loving their neighbor, loving God by loving their neighbor—these are the rails that the missional community runs on.”

I agree with McNeal who sees these new life forms are the path forward for the church and am thankful to be working with several congregations who are willing to experiment with these new wine skins.

What on-ramps to the Kingdom have you seen in your community?

Over the past few months we have been meeting residents of all the neighborhoods near the church and for the most part, everyone seems to like their neighborhood.  While there are some blighted properties, it is less than 10% of the housing stock.  While the prices have plummeted in this area during the recent housing crisis with foreclosures in some sections selling for less than $40,000, the neighborhood had been experiencing healthy growth prior to the recession with these same homes selling in the $150,000 range.

We found radical diversity in the demographic make- up of the neighborhoods.  There are a lot of elderly folks who have lived in these neighborhoods for a long time and they are being replaced by young families as the houses turn over.  When the neighborhood was built it was an all-white community then it transitioned to an all-black community.  While the community is still more than 80% African American, prior to the recession the individuals moving into the community were almost all white.  Household incomes range from less than $20,000 a year to more than $100,000 per year. This is a radically diverse area.

While the church we are working with  is technically in a relatively affluent neighborhood called Ginter Park, it is just blocks from a less affluent community.  If you travel just a few more blocks, you end up on Brookland Park Boulevard which is a severely distressed commercial corridor with a high level of drug trafficking.  Only about 30% of the 70 properties along this 4 block commercial zone are in use.

While we were not shocked by the amount of diversity in the communities, we did encounter one surprise.  Along the business corridor, there is a completely different group of people.  The locals call them “the foreigners.”  In the 1970’s this business district was alive and the majority of the businesses were owned and operated by black families.  Today, with the exception of the hair salons (of which there are many), the other businesses are largely run by individuals who were not born in the United States.

As we have been visiting with the business owners, this issue of the “foreigners” has come up several times.  Some of the American born business owners openly use racially charged language and express a dislike of the foreign owned businesses.  As we have visited the various businesses, we have experienced some of the tension.

Roy owns the corner store and from his thick accent, I think it is safe to assume Roy is not born in the states.  Roy’s store is welcoming, well lit with wide rows.  Roy makes a point of hiring young people from the neighborhood.  He always greets his customers with a smile, will engage you in conversation and shake your hand on your way out.  Roy even gave me a cold bottle of water on a hot day when I did not carry any money on my walk.  Roy’s shelves are well stocked with the same variety I find in my suburban neighborhood.  Roy has no real problems with people loitering outside his store and I felt safe hanging out there.

The Hanes Market is a totally different experience.  The aisles have been arranged in such a way that there is only one way in and one way out.  The rows are narrow and the store dimly lit.   The vast majority of the inventory was either beer, wine or cheap junk food.  The staff sit behind a bullet proof window and collect your money through a metal tray.  The store manager came out and followed us around the store when we came in with a scowl on his face never saying a word.  We tried to engage the cashier in conversation but I don’t think she understood us.  She never even smiled.

As unpleasant as I found the Hanes Market, I have to say the most unwelcoming place we visited was the “Foodland.”  My friend Charles has insisted there is no fresh produce in the area, so when we walked in and I saw tomatoes, I got excited.  There was actually a whole produce section.  I turned to the cashier and said, “I am so excited to see tomatoes!”  The young Asian girl just looked at me like I was crazy and I guess I probably looked like I was.

I whipped out my iPhone and took a picture to show Charles.  We went to the back of the store and I was excited to see a real butcher shop with thick cut pork chops.  I was a little disgusted by the fresh cut pigs feet but I thought it was cool so I whipped out my iPhone and took a picture.

Up to that point I was totally unaware that we were being followed.  Suddenly I hear, “No, No, No!” I turned to see a tall Asian man whom I guess was the store manager.  He then said something like “No picture, no compete, you no do that!”, with a whole lot of words I could not make out interspersed.  Rudy tried to explain we were not from the health department and I tried to explain that I was just impressed with his selection but he did not want us in his store and make that clear.  Yes, I was thrown out of the grocery store – a less than welcoming experience.  Of course I am to blame for much of this experience.  As Rudy pointed out, we should have taken the time to meet the owners and explained what we were doing first and we may have had a completely different experience.

As I have reflected on all that we have learned about this area, two words come to my mind – diversity and divisions.  While there are racial tensions in pretty much any radically diverse community, what I have seen is that some people like Roy join in and become a part of the neighborhood.  They see the residents as their friend and seek to build relationships.  Those who take this approach seem to be thriving.  Those businesses who see the residents as a necessary evil, who seek to build up walls of separation and who operate out of a sense of fear appear to be creating divisions that are driving the racial tensions.

Now I don’t blame these business owners.  I am certain that much of the attitude toward the foreign owned businesses is just racism and has nothing to do with the business owners.  I think it is also highly possible that the walls that I felt were built for protection from a very real threat.  One business owner even told us that the local gangs target foreign owned businesses. I even heard that the cashier at the Hanes Market was murdered a few years back, so the fear is well founded.

However, for this commercial corridor to ever thrive it is going to take all the business owners working together with the residents.  My prayer is that God would take all this diversity, heal the divisions and usher in the kingdom with every tribe and every tongue celebrating that we are all part of the human family created by the same creator.

I realize that for me and my team to build these kinds of bridges, we are going to have to learn how to be more sensitive to the needs of all these business owners.  So, please pray for us.  Especially me, sensitivity is not my greatest strength.  I can be a bull in a china shop when I get passionate about something.  Pray God opens the door to us building relationships with all the businesses and uses us to be a bridge builder.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.        Howard Thurman

Pastor Sammy Williams recently asked his congregation,

“What makes you come alive?”

After spending much of Thursday, Friday and Saturday in bed feeling near death due to a virus, I got to spend the next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday feeling fully alive.  What makes me come alive?  That is easy – watching the body of Christ unite around a shared mission.

Tuesday I facilitated “Dream Day” at our Brandermill missional community, which we call Dream Teams.  This group has been meeting together for several months and is made up of individuals who live largely in the Brandermill area as well as women who are from the Hillside Court community.

Dream Day is one of my favorite activities.  Our teammates had a month to pray about this question.  “If you could do anything for God and knew you would not fail, what would you do?”  We then challenged them to put their dreams and visions into a visual presentation of some kind.  The result was a room full of dream boards.  We then had our friends work in teams to summarize their dreams into just a few words.  Here is what our friends are dreaming of:  Mentoring, A Pizza Garden Project, Creative Learning with Teens, Wellness Projects, A Youth Empowerment Center, Helping Youth Battle Addictions through Knowing your Worth, Purposeful Community, Family Financial Counseling,  Faith in Action, Faithful Family Communications, Promoting Strong Family Values, Helping Families in Poverty, Cross Cultural Story Exchange.

Seeing people of every race, class and religious background prayerfully and faithfully seek God’s call on their lives is what make me come fully alive and this team blessed my socks off.

But wait, it got even better.  Tuesday night our Salisbury Dream Team met for the first conversation after doing a project together last month.  Again the group was radically diverse with individuals from Hillside, Northside and the Salisbury community represented.  This group did my second favorite activity, the treasure hunt.  We had everyone list 3 gifts of their head, hand and heart and the result was a wall full of gifts.  My question to the group was “What can God do with all these gifts?”  That is their homework, to pray that God reveal how we can work together with their shared passion for gardening to help people discover their God given potential.

I did not think there was any way to top my Tuesday experiences but then God blew me away on Wednesday with the launch of our newest Dream Team.  Like the others, it is a radically diverse group.  We met at Twiggy’s Restaurant which is located in the heart of the Brookland Park Boulevard corridor that we are feeling drawn to.   Outside the window we could see what we have lovingly nicknamed the BUBB (Big Ugly Bank Building) which we are in the process of praying over.

We laid hands on this beautiful old theater which has been closed down for decades and prayed in front of this house which has been condemned by the city.  I don’t know if any of these properties will figure into our work on the north side, but we will never know if we don’t pray about them.

As great as all of these gatherings were, I think the highlight of my week came on Thursday when Rodger, a friend of Embrace who has experienced homelessness due to addiction and who has turned his life around and now lives in north side, sent me this note reflecting on his participation in the North Side dream team:

“Wendy, I just wanted to thank you for the hope that I received tonight at the meeting, not just for myself but also for chance to be useful in my community. I’ll be in continuous prayer for direction concerning my role in this development. Thank you once again and look forward to learning about community work.”

This is what our work is all about.  It is about helping people like Roger come fully alive and live out their call in the world.

We are using the Ezekiel 37 story of the valley of dry bones as our key text for this group.  This week, I feel like I was living this part of the Ezekiel passage:

“So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.”

This week I witnessed disjointed parts of Christ body coming together and I felt the spirit of the Lord breathing new life into all of us.

What makes you come alive?

Where do you see God breathing new life into old dry bones?

The goal of this group is to discern how God might be calling Embrace Richmond, Northminster Church and each of us individually to be agents of blessing to the north side.

We will be using an asset based community development approach committing to presence, listening, prayer and focused attention on the dreams and desires of north side residents, business owners and congregational partners.

For those of you new to this blog and Embrace Richmond, Dream Teams are our version of Missional Communities and this team represents our third missional community that we have launched since January.  Our Brandermill Dream Team is supporting our work in Hillside Court particularly with families and our Salisbury team is looking at community gardening as a way of building community that crosses the boundaries of race, class, geography and religion.

With the north side conversation we are feeling drawn to the Brookland Park Corridor.  The group is made up of residents of the north side, members of Northminster church, and individuals who are friends of Embrace Richmond.  One of these friends is Forrest White.  Forrest is the Youth and Missions Director at Trinity United Methodist Church.  He is also a former journalist.  Forrest has been participating in our work in Hillside and was at the launch of our north side conversation.

Forrest agreed to be my first ever “guest blogger.”  Here are his insights into the work that we are doing in Richmond:

The phone rang inside my office at the suburban West End church where I work. I answered to find an anxious mom on the line, calling with questions about a short-term mission trip up the road to D.C.

After some small talk, this mom cut straight to the heart of her call.

“Can you guarantee that my daughter won’t get shot if she goes on this trip?

I did my best to hold back my laughter.

“I can’t guarantee she won’t get shot in our church parking lot,” I said.

Only days before the call, a police chase ended 500 yards from the church parking lot.  I’ve come to realize over time that many people think of our nation’s largest cities as a modern-day wild, wild west, with armed bad guys around every corner.

Many Richmonders see areas like the north side of town and Hillside Court in a similar light.   They would be shocked to know I prayer walked a city block along Brookland Park Boulevard Wednesday evening with Embrace Richmond and emerged without a single gunshot wound.

I did have a man about my age walk up and tell me I looked really fit and clean-cut, something that almost never happens here in Suburbia.

There are problems in this area. I am not naïve. Through their community listening, Embrace staff found that the residents here like their neighborhood and their neighbors. However, amid the financial and racial diversity there is a shared concern – crime.

But there’s something else here, something bigger than the biggest crime or the “baddest man in the whole damn town” as a song from my childhood days put it – God.

A friend tells a story of an airport encounter with a group of well-intentioned Christians waiting to depart for a distant country. They were all wearing the same t-shirts. Those shirts said the team would be “taking God to” their destination. My friend wanted to go over and remind them: God is already there!!!

God is at work on the north side of town. Of that, I have no doubt.

How do I know? Because I know God loves the people there, even the drug dealers at the corner stores on Hanes and Barton. That’s a tough concept for us to grasp. We know sinful choices break God’s heart. But we welcome the term “unconditional love” when applied to us without ever really thinking about the implications for those people whose sins are “worse” than ours, do we?

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them,” Jesus said, in Luke’s gospel. “And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

God is at work in the North Side.

We don’t need to take him there.

He’s at work through his people who live there and already acknowledge that they are his children. He’ll work through people who are already there and through those who come from the outside to help those considered the least, the last, and the lost by worldly standards know they, too, are his beloved children.

Maybe no one has ever told them, “You are a child of God!”

How sad would that be?

No, God doesn’t need us to take him to the north side.

He simply needs us to join him there.

My eldest daughter who is heading off to college in a few months wanted to spend the day with us as a family at our property, my absolute favorite place.  It is rare that she is the one asking to go.

My youngest daughter committed to working in the children’s area at church.  She loves working with little children and takes her commitment very seriously.  I am thankful she has found something that makes her want to be a part of a church.  At age 13 that is a miracle.

My husband would only do one or the other.

My heart felt drawn to spend my Sabbath in the wilderness with my family.  However, there was this nagging sense of guilt telling me that I should be more fully committed to going to church.

I hated the sense of strife and unrest in my spirit this morning.

Honoring my daughter’s commitment to the church won out.  So off we went.  The service was great,   the message uplifting and somehow God changed my husband’s heart and he agreed to go with me and my two eldest girls to our property.

While I love a good worship service and a well delivered message as much as the next person, something about being close to nature does more to nurture my soul than any activity orchestrated by humans.

It was ironic that today’s sermon was on centering prayer, something that just naturally occurs when I am out in the country.  The rustling sound of the tree leaves, the babbling of the creek, the birds singing, the stillness is like a beacon to my spirit.  It calls me to sit and just be present with the Lord.  My active mind that can’t seem to slow down in the city comes to a screeching halt and all my worries and concerns shrink down to nothing.

The sacred word that Pastor Sammy gave us during our centering prayer exercise this morning was the word peace, which is exactly what I found while watching my 18 year old chase frogs along the shore of the creek.

I started out this day torn, feeling like I could not honor God in both places but somehow God worked it out.

I am in a season where I feel like I have to make choices that appear to be mutually exclusive.  I have been feeling pressured to choose between two very exciting opportunities.  My logical mind has been saying,  “You can’t do it all, you have to choose.”  After watching God work things out today, I am wondering if these choices are simply my limited finite mind lacking faith in God’s infinite possibilities.

I pray I have the faith to trust God to work out some of the bigger choices I am facing.  My friend Charles has a favorite saying, “I just show up.”  I tend to over think everything.  I think I am going to try just moving through the doors that open as they open and trust God with the rest.

May God be with those of you who are struggling with hard choices right now.  I pray for peace and direction for you all and ask that you pray the same for me.  Peace be with you.

Last night my family played the game Apples to Apples and one of the words was the word, “Majestic” which Apples to Apples describes as “grand, magnificent, regal.”  These words of Psalm 8 flooded my mind this morning when I stepped on to the balcony:

¹ LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under theirfeet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

As I sit marveling at the awesome power of the crashing waves, the vastness of ocean, the brightness of the shimmering light of the sun reflected off the waters, I wonder how anyone can doubt there is a God.  I am with David who wrote these words recorded in Psalm 19:

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
⁵ It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Today is Easter, He has risen, not only so that we can be reconciled to God individually but so that all of creation might be liberated from decay.  As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8:

¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

As I look at this magnificent ocean, I am reminded the resurrection is not about me, my salvation, my role in God’s plan.  The resurrection is about all of creation being restored to the fullness of its original design. It is about God’s kingdom coming to earth as it is in heaven.  Through the beauty, power and majesty of this ocean God is revealing a small slice of heaven here on earth.

Where have you seen God’s glory revealed today?