My hope and endeavour here is to spur myself on toward "love and good deeds": to rekindle the vision and calling God has given me.
I am writing this as I would a sermon - keeping in mind the two places I know best: West Auckland and Chicago.
I write this hopefully and prayerfully as an encouragement to those who read these words: they are just my prayers, ramblings, opinions and thoughts about straining to to become and live in a way worthy of my calling.
It will probably be put onto the blog in 6 sections; as I have time and as it flows! We'll see what happens:
Embracing A Vision of Courageous Faith:
What embraces us when we think about the problems in Chicago, in Auckland and the world?
We just need to observe and look and we will see the devastating effects of poverty:
Gang warfare and initiation, domestic violence, bug eyed crack and meth(P)-heads, junkies, alcoholism, street kids, homelessness, evictions, precariously housed people, imprisonment, hospitalizations, prostitution, street corner faa’fafines, psychotic disorders and gut wrenching hunger are just a sample of the realities that devastate poverty stricken families and neighborhoods.
· Do we ignore this fact?
· Do we pray in the privacy of our houses, requesting the Lord’s mercy?
· Do we cower in fear, lacking courage, as we contemplate it’s very real, present and scary dangers?
· Do we grasp for a revolution, yet it turns into a fleeting dream as we realize that such a movement means effort, pain and hardship?
· Do we, like Moses, express our weakness; and as a result, instead of embracing God’s power, we shrink away from rugged responsibility wanting others to lead and to do the work?
· Do we feel guilty for our lack of action, yet fail to do what we know we should do?
· Do we give, volunteer and seek to do what we can, when we can and how we can?
· Do we blame the government, the pastors, the elders and other people for not embracing the mission of liberating and helping the poor, and thus, ignoring our own responsibility?
· Maybe we just blame the poor for being poor, and thus think, let them live to their own demise.
· Do we seek to follow the Lord’s example, but struggle to find like-minded believers to embrace the narrow path together – thus having the same vision, quest and passion?
I know I have grasped at and lived most of these ways.
YET, sadly: The reality remains, poverty exists and it exists with devastating and fatal results, and we, as followers of Jesus, are called to set life’s captives free and proclaim the good news. This message is NOT meant to be a rebuke, but an encouragement, a spur on, a gentle nudge to embrace the poor: The poor in our neighborhoods, our cities, in our lives; the poor who Jesus embraced with the words He quoted from Isaiah;
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
My quest in this message is to discover how a weak fragile individual, like me, can live a life embracing a vision of courageous faith. In this endeavor, I am going to encourage us all to embrace 4 things. The reason I love and use the word embrace is that it suggests a lot more than just grasping; to me it suggests seeking, finding, waiting, grabbing and a long hug – like the loving Father of the prodigal son. Taking something and making it my own! Not letting go! Persevering!
