City Grace

New Blog location

2011-11-16T20:23:00.003-06:00

My new blog location is www.joelhamernick.sunshinegospel.org.

All content will move there shortly.

Thinking about Social Justice, anti-intellectualism and the gospel.

2010-07-22T12:41:00.002-06:00

I was directed by a friend recently to read a series of blog posts by Kevin DeYoung on his blog at the gospel coalition. Kevin is a guy who from what I can tell has jumped to a wide audience in the "I'm not emergent" crowd because of his books. His intent as a young pastor to take the gospel and the reformed faith in general seriously is something I respect. . . and while I don't live or interact with folks in a context where I have to tell anyone that I'm not "emergent". . . I'm not.

Kevin decided to do a series of posts this year about the careless way that passages of scripture are regularly used by those that are activist-oriented among the growing "social justice" movement among young evangelicals. 3 Cheers from me! Let's be careful with the word of God!

I am a huge fan of CCDA, regularly attend the conference for the past decade and regard myself as enormously influenced by John Perkins. I am also concerned about the direction of the movement theologically once Dr. Perkins passes away. I sincerely hope that the theological commitments of Dr. Perkins are retained within the larger body of the movement after his passing. With Kevin, I too am concerned about the way scripture is used by many coming into the movement of CCDA and/or "social justice".

The current generation of young believers is simultaneously doing 2 things -- taking social justice, racial reconciliation and beloved community seriously and . . . . leaving the church in hoards. I don't believe that this is sustainable. So while I cheer on those who want to wade into the deep waters of social justice, I don't think they are gonna last long. . . unless they hold on to the core truths of the Christian faith, particularly as it understands the nature of the Atonement and the message of the gospel. . . writ not just "large" or "wholistic" but with specificity, care and thoughtfulness. . . a theological rigor if you will.

The current movement of many who use the term "social justice" is in fact all to often careless, even reckless with scripture and theology. Too often what is now making up the Christian left is just mimicking the Christian right and moving to re-write scripture to assume that through the blood of the Cross Jesus isn't "making all things new" but rather making all things political!

So I'm with Kev D on this: we need to use scripture carefully. Much more carefully in fact.

But that said, his series has initially struck me as an comfort for folks who already agree with him. Is his church and primary audience really using scripture recklessly in THIS regard?

I sense that his audience (in part based on my own Reformed/Evangelical heritage) already revolts against "social justice" first and foremost due to political philosophy. Is Kevin's goal to give careful thought to what the bible says about justice? Or is it to add theological/scriptural ammo to political convictions already established? I would say that he would have to work hard to not do the latter. . . more to come.

Check out his series here.

To Change the World?

2010-06-24T11:15:00.009-06:00

This year is the 20th anniversary of The Christian CommunityDevelopment Association. CCDA is one of many Christian groups of folks working to "change our world".

Those of us in the movement have been inspired by John Perkins and Wayne Gordon and many others to address injustice in our society as Christians, motivated by what is often called a Christian worldview. . . . we sense a call to leave the world different than we found it.

So how's it going?

James Davison Hunter, who wrote a book that impacted a lot of us about 20 years ago (Culture Wars) has a new book that raises important questions about what it means to effect change in our world. His new book is called "To Change the World, the Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World".

For many of us (whether we admit it or not) "worldview" thinking that has been advocated for by folks like Chuck Colson and James Dobson has shaped our approach. We think that if we can just get enough people to think the right thing, we can effect change.

Now I realize that these 2 guys are not often called upon within CCDA as role models. . . but we have clearly absorbed some of their approach in what might be called a "hearts and minds" campaign. Hunter argues for new ways of thinking about culture, institutions and the nature of power. He then constructs a response that he calls "faithful presence".

Whether we agree with Hunter or not, it's pretty clear to me that we at CCDA believe in what a guy named Wolterstorff calls "World-formative Christianity". We think we can and should change the world at CCDA. . . and for us it's grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In a conversation with my friend Rudy Carrasco this week, we chopped it up about engaging a bunch of CCDA folks to reflect on the book and to present posts here on the City Grace blog.

Our goal is to spark a conversation and healthy debate about who we as a CCDA movement are trying to influence, what we could be doing differently, where we are falling short and where Dr. Hunter's book helps us or falls short.

We are also scheduled to have a workshop at the conference this year, hosted in Chicago, at Sunshine Gospel Ministries to discuss the book and the ideas that come out of our blog entries this summer. We've invited Dr. Hunter to join us for a conference call to interact with some of our feedback. . . as of now, his office has him set to join us.

Rudy and I are in agreement that we ought to be thinking carefully about what we do and how we do it at CCDA. We should be open to (and bringing) critique and healthy debate to this movement. There are many sub-topics we can debate such as the nature of justice, power, equity, and freedom . . . and of course what programs, advocacy, congregational life and other "practical" elements can/should be done.

But how do we actually effect this change? let's talk about it!

High Standards and Diversity

2010-06-08T07:46:00.001-06:00

Leaders within Evangelical institutions often say to me things like "we want to be more racially diverse, but we just find that our high standards won't allow us to do so. . .". Denominations looking for pastors and schools looking for students are among the most common.

I have been thinking about institutional power, oppression and issues around social justice that beg the question about what we as believers in Jesus Christ should recognize, and if/how we should respond to them, and how we can call others into the Micah mandate.

I visited Jubilee Youth Ranch this week and had a great time spending time with the staff there. One of their staff members is a young man who grew up at a ministry like ours in Pasadena called Harambee. As we spoke and talked about getting inner-city kids into college we told me his story. He had been the "poster child" for Harambee. He had good grades, didn't get into too much trouble, but still, for him college seemed an impossible and scary thing.

Until he visited Nyack college. He found that this evangelical school had aprox 60% non-anglo student body. They set up a summer program for HS youth, who, even if they hadn't completed their HS diploma, could be admitted to college! Having graduated HS, he thought to himself, "If they'll do that, then they must be really ready to work with me too!" Clearly they were (and are!) serious about providing sound biblically based liberal arts education for the growing non-white world.

If you came up with a line up of Christian Colleges and universities who use the "wish we could be more diverse but must be committed to excellence" mantra you'd find that maybe one or two are schools can compete academically with the top non-Christian schools. Wheaton maybe? All the others are neither competing academically at the highest levels, NOR addressing the fact that the future of the evangelical church is primarily non-anglo by enrolling, educating, equipping our non-white brothers and sisters. Nyack is a rare exception.

Nyack has high standards and will likely effect and equip the future of the US evangelical church far more than the its counterparts that lack this form of commitment to diversity. That is a high standard of excellence in my mind, that comports with the Micah Mandate.

To understand the violence, in part.

2010-04-26T19:29:00.000-06:00

Dream Deferred, by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Preaching Social Justice, Requires Preaching Shalom, Requires the Gospel

2010-04-21T09:13:00.002-06:00

The Millenials Generation (1982-2002) of Evangelicals are latching on to the the issues of social justice in a way not seen by their forebears, yet are leaving the church in an equally staggering way. This is not sustainable.

In a recent 2 part sermon series at Northwestern University, I was asked to address what Christianity brings to the table on the topics of reconciliation and social justice. I began by talking about how Martin Luther King Jr. came to the table of the justice issues of his day, as an outflowing of his Christian convictions -- his Christian worldview.

The call to social justice is a call to what Dr. King often called "The Beloved Community", something that is effectively a description of the biblical notion of "Shalom", or "the way it's supposed to be". Christianity, in its core commitments, recognizes that in the Creation-Fall-Redemption narrative, things of inherent value lie broken and in need of restoration -- a restoration set in motion in and through the Cross of Jesus Christ.

"For in Him (Jesus), all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross" Col 1:19-20

This recognition that things are broken, in need of restoration (to Shalom), and that Jesus' work on the cross becomes a calling to his followers to respond to injustice. "all things" are being reconciled to Himself. . . to the way they are supposed to be.

As much as Dr. King's Christian worldview brought him to the table of dealing with justice issues of his day head on, it didn't keep him. Jesus did. The personal power of redemption and relationship with Jesus was the thing that allowed Dr. King to preserver through the impossible odds faced in the walk toward social justice. It was the higher calling of Jesus and the gospel that allowed him not just to face insurmountable odds, but even death.

As I reflect on the tendency of the current generation to embrace social justice and yet to leave the church, I realize that there is a great deal of skepticism about the roles of institutions. Yet, this also belies a loss of comprehension of the power of the gospel. We are called to embody the gospel in the broken places and among the broken people of or world in ways that help us shed our American Idols of materialism and individualism. Yet, we will lose both the foundational motivation to justice and the means of being sustained in the insanity of the battle if we lose Christ, his gospel and his church along the way.

This year I'll be preaching around this theme from Gen 1-3; Jeremiah 29; Micah 6; Matt 18 and other passages. Pray that we can continue the encouragement for the millennial generation to act on the need to pursue justice but to recognize that the church and the gospel are the bedrock needed to sustain the call.

(As I write this I received a call that one of my daughters was robbed outside my front gate. What will sustain us?)

A missing girl and resurrection.

2010-04-09T07:03:00.005-06:00

The call came to me about 9:00 Tuesday night, still in the wake of celebrating Easter.

"Joel, it's Sarah. . . Sheneka is missing! . . . "

Sarah explained that 6 yr old Sheneka was last seen on her front porch, that her older sister had been watching her and that she was just gone. Sheneka is in our building pretty much every day, too young for our programs, but she sits at Sarah's desk doing her homework.

I asked a few questions. . . asked what we could do. . . we didn't know. I told her we'd pray and hung up the phone.

Paula and I along with 4 older kids gathered to pray. During the prayer we all had the same gut instinct: we had to go look. So, we found flashlights, jackets and car keys and headed out. This began a roughly 24 hour period of intense turmoil, agony, faith, teamwork and learning.

We quickly learned that the Chicago Police are not set up to coordinate this kind of search effort. They can work with each other. . . sort of. . . but not with a team of volunteers who show up to help. The response we got from local cops made me so angry I almost said something to get myself arrested! To be kind, the initial response on the part of CPD was uncoordinated, unprofessional (at least in interaction with me), and uncaring.

Area 2 detectives showed up by 12:30 and while they were also not prepared to involve volunteers, they were professional and demonstrated concern not seen previously from local cops. I commend Det. Pallapully in particular who not only worked carefully on the case, gave me his contact info and encouraged me to keep in touch, but called me after she was found to see if I had questions.

We worked until about 2am, searching the local park and lagoon, and attempting to get the police to coordinate with us (which never happened). After sitting in the Third District Office for an hour with no one willing to speak with us about our search efforts, I called the 800 # for the national hotline for missing and exploited children. I immediately (about midnight I think) reached a woman there who was helpful, responsive and ultimately called the police. . . triggering a response from the sergeant in charge who would not speak to me.

The next morning we set up a search HQ of sorts at Sunshine. we cleared out a room, began copying detailed block by block maps of the community, got coffee, water and printing "missing" flyers with Shaneka's photo on it. We set up teams to re-search the park, go door to door, down alleys looking in dumpsters (yikes!) and unsecure empty buildings (we have hundreds here) and working busy corners talking to people. all the while thinking. . . is this what we are supposed to do?

We prayed, contacted the press, put up notices on facebook, called our local political officials, and prayed some more.

The press showed up and got the story out. . . for which I am very grateful. But, they also showed their ugly side in that they had "zero" patience for the mother who after giving them some initial information, was not interested in responding to the paprazzi style hoard of clamoring reporters knocking on her door after she (in a state of clear emotional angst) had told them that she had answered their questions. "How are you FEELING???!!!!" the shouted at her.

By 3pm Sheneka was found, alive. Resurrection Wednesday!

She was apparently well, found in a nearby apartment. We have lots of questions about what actually happened, but to respect the process and family I am going to leave out some details here. Suffice to say that (a) the news reports are still showing some clear errors and (b) she is healthy, safe and at home.

The interaction I had with the reporters showed me that this is an ugly business, perhaps just like the role of the late night beat cops. The press had no concern for Shaneka, only for the story. On the part of the press, there was a palpable sense of disappointment in her being found unharmed. Perhaps that says as much about the reading/listening/watching public as it does the reporters, but they were clearly unable to maintain a real concern for real people in the midst of trying to get the scoop.

So what lessons are learned here? Part of this is yet another role in urban ministry that I was unprepared for. I will be meeting with other local leaders to try to capture the process we discovered and have it as an emergency plan for future experiences like this. We have kids go missing around here every year. We have a lot of sex offenders around. We have a memorial near our building where a 16 yr old girl was found in a barrel a few years ago.

But what of the church? I was so blessed by the response we got. the church did show up. we had dozens of people from Christ Bible Church, Chicago Embassy and GRIP outreach come right away. We had others from the community and even the suburbs mobilizing to bring food, to pray and to come and search. Together we celebrate an act of resurrection on the part of God.

For the church to show up in this context, we must not only pray and comfort, but mobilize, organize and work hard together to intervene. Another aspect, however, is that we (the church), at least part of us, must already be there when death stalks the door. Those who were closest to the situation could not have responded without those further away. Yet those around the country and Chicagoland area would have had less resurrection to celebrate being a part of without the close up intimate location and role of the church who live and breath in proximity to suffering.

I know full well this is not just about us, or about Sunshine. This is about the insanity of a missing little girl, the role of the body of Christ in all of its parts, and how together we can celebrate the kingdom work of the cross and the 1000's of acts of resurrection every day. Our call jointly is to enter the suffering of others in the name of Christ.

One other thing for now: the brokenness of the police and of the press and of the entire situation stirred up in me my own anger, insecurity, and weakness. Yet another call occurs in the midst and aftermath of the day: cling to the cross, from where my help comes from!

I think it will take a few more days for the sense of panic to leave my muscles and for me to process this whole thing. Please pray for Sheneka and for her loved ones who are still sorting this whole thing out. Pray that God would be glorified in her safe return. Pray that everyone involved would learn from this in such a way that the lessons would be valuable going forward.

World Formative Christianity

2010-03-25T14:56:00.002-06:00

Glenn Beck has grabbed headlines recently by equating social justice with nazism and communism. . . really with socialism on the whole.

In the over-hyped world of talk radio (both on the left and right) demonizing your opponent is the way of the world. Actually listening, showing the fruit of the Spirit, demonstrating love is not. So initially, looking beyond the fact that such a conflation is laughable, I will do what Mr. Beck doesn't do for me (as an advocate of biblically motivated social justice): I'll take him seriously.

Here is the biblical argument for social justice. All men are both created in the image of God (ie. imago dei) and all are depraved (broken in sin). As such, all men are capable of creating great things (work, organizations, systems, rules, art, etc..) yet are incapable of creating anything that does not reflect human brokenness in some way. When we create systems, organizations and societies, none of them will be fully righteous (ie. just). . . because in the Reformational understanding of sin. . . every part of our being and work is affected by the fall. (we are not as bad as we could be, but every part of us does reflect our sin).

Personal unrighteousness (sin) is any violation of our covenant to live as we should before our God ("should" is always defined by properly reflecting God's character). But the things we create (including systems, corporations, societies, nations and more) also are capable of violating the covenant calling to always reflect God's character. In the US we routinely assume that God always deals withs us as individuals and never corporately, yet throughout the scripture we see nations and groups of people indicted for their neglect of the ways of God. Any violation by a society of the ways of God (including caring for those who are weak, broken, marginalized, cheated, young, old, fatherless, etc..) is a violation of God's righteousness (justice).

Social Justice would be anything in which a nation, society or group of people abide by the covenant to reflect God's character in truth. This is a far cry for arguing that the means of production should be held by the state and distributed "evenly" among all people (as if this were possible).

World-formative Christianity (in the descriptive words of Nicolas Wolterstorff) suggests that as Christians we are called to reform not only our lives to be in keeping with the character of God, but our societies, institutions, systems, organizations and more. That is the call of social justice.

Biblical Christianity, and this world-formative stuff, is not actually ever about being sure people lose their ability to creatively, freely, magnify the God of the universe through work and reformation. And, it is never about bringing "equality" of the socialism type, but it does challenge us to ask what it means to have enough?

Deadly Viper Controversy

2009-11-10T10:13:00.002-06:00

In recent days a controversy has arisen around the reckless co-opting of Asian culture within the curriculum, videos and books published by Zondervan publishing house in a series called Deadly Viper.

A guy I consider a friend and mentor by the name of Dr. Soong-Chan Rah has been in contact with the authors of the material as well as the publisher. The event is yet another opportunity to grow as a body. I have written a letter to the authors (posted within the comments of Soong-Chan's blog) and directly to Zondervan. I am positng my letter below.

___________________

I am writing to express my concern for the published materials within the Deadly Viper books, videos, website etc..

As an Christian of Caucasian decent, living in an African American context, I have spent the past decade or so trying to navigate the complexities of how we as Christians ought to understand and approach the issues of race and culture. I have listened, reflected, read, learned and taught extensively around these issues during most of these years.

I have learned much about white privilege over these years and have anguished about the way that this is often entrenched within our evangelical institutions. Ours is a faith of great diversity and, in the words on 1 Cor 12, one part of the body must not say to the other: “I have no need of you”. When editorial board, writers, leaders, reviewers, and decision makers within an institution do not accurately reflect the diversity of the church, they not infer their lack of need for others, but they inevitably make bad mistakes, as is clearly the case with the manner in which Asian culture (mixed up, and randomly co-opted) was done in the case of Deadly Viper.

As has been said by everyone in the conversation among the blogs, the content is not the issue. The packaging and offensive use of another culture is.

I will express my concerns along two lines: Incidental and Institutional.

As to the DV incident, I urge you to take seriously the recommendations made to you by our Asian American brothers as reflected in the open letter written to you by Dr. Soong Chan Rah.

As to the Institution: I cannot say strongly enough that institutional changes must be made at Zondervon (as with most of our Evangelical institutions). I have had the opportunity to express my concerns with leadership at a number of Christian colleges and universities, let me share with you my own reflections for change:

Institutional Leadership. The Zondervan leadership, reviewers, editors and others must reflect the broader church (not just your readership).
Institutional Knowledge. You must think about how Zondervan learns as an institution, and communicates that knowledge to all the divisions, partners, staff and other aspects of the organization. Specifically to this point, you must think about how you learn and transmit this information about race and ethnicity (this is different that individual learning). This will require ongoing learning and that ongoing pattern needs to be a part of the fabric of the organization.
A posture of humility and learning. Please, I urge you, that you communicate to the church, readers, Asian American community, authors and others a posture a humility and learning.
Cultural Interpreters. This process of learning about and understanding what has happened with the DV books will require internal and external cultural interpreters. This means that some of your staff will need to be “white people who get it” and others will need to be non-whites who can articulate (as Dr. Rah and others have done) what you need to hear in an ongoing ways. These voices must be invited to the table, with patience, both INSIDE and OUTSIDE the institution. Those inside will often, if not always be more reticent to speak clearly on these topics (its human nature, their ability to feed their families may be on the line). Those outside may sometimes overstate the case because they don’t have “skin in the game”. So this balance of cultural interpreters for you is critical.

I will tell you that if you learn well from this episode, it could be among the most amazing ways in which God is at work through and in you in a long time. Don’t learn from it and it could easily be your undoing. Please. . . Learn well, listen well.

The church caused (and could undo) big government.

2009-09-25T09:04:00.004-06:00

This is a developing thought process for me. It does seem inevitable to me that the government will continue to grow. I don't think there is an example of a democracy that has un-done growth. The conservatives say it as "doomsday coming" and proof of societal decline, the liberals as "it ought to be". Here is another take:

The unabated growth of the United States government has corresponded directly to the disengagement from society of the American church. The removal of the active role of the church among the poor, the broken, the illiterate, the oppressed has also paralleled the astronomical increase of wealth among middle class Christians in America. This increase in accumulated personal and institutional wealth, along with the absence of engagement with the poor in our country, has been a critical factor in the growth of the government.

And the only way back, that I can see, from immense and inevitably larger government, is for the Church in America to change. The average Christian tithes about 3%, and has no sense of “cap” on one’s personal wealth or lifestyle. I have only met one Christian who has made it clear that they tithe on all income: capital gains, salaries, even student loans/grants.

Before you assume I am a communist, let me be clear. I believe that limited regulation within free-market economies is the best way for individuals created in the image of God to appropriately live out what they were designed to be. Regulation is always necessary in some forms because of the fallenness of man. Yet all regulation has unintended consequences and always impinges on human freedoms.

But markets allow people to work, and working is clearly the fastest way out of poverty. A massive number of people in so-called 3^rd world countries have risen out of the depths of poverty, largely due to a growth in the economies of India and China. People have been put to work productively and poverty has decreased.

Entrepreneurialism, allows individuals to work, freely and creatively. These are each key parts of the imago dei.

I also assume that there are, as the Dutch theologians would like to say, appropriate spheres of sovereignty. . . family, church/local organizations, markets, governments. Each has appropriate roles to play. When one abdicates its appropriate role, we should expect to see others (a) pick it up and (b) not do as good of a job as the appropriate entity/sphere would have done.

“If you talk and act as a Christian should, the world will love you for what you do, and hate you for what your say”. Tim Keller (my paraphrase).

In the early 1900s the conservative, largely white church in America stopped doing what Christians should do. She removed herself from engaging with society and being an active part of addressing issues such as caring for the sick, the illiterate, the destitute, and those experiencing injustice.

During a period known as the fundamentalist-modernist controversy, virtually all of the fundamentalist churches and leaders, the heritage to what is now called the evangelical church, engaged in a theological battle over the meaning of the gospel. Out of a fear in what had become known as the social gospel, the church removed itself from actively engaging with society and took on a separatist, individualistic, and culture-war posture.
The church created her own schools, magazines, radio stations, art (sort of), literature (sort of) and more. She continued to proclaim a gospel of Jesus and Him crucified, (saying the things she should say) but became virtually irrelevant to the larger society in terms of mercy, justice and cultural engagement (thus not doing the things she is called to do).

This removal from society and the active disengagement with those on the margins of society coincided with the years leading up to the great depression, during which the government grew by leaps and bounds. Who would feed the hungry, retrain workers, fill them with dignity and purpose, educate them, speak up for those unjustly kept out of the economy? The answer became the government.

We have continued on this path for a century. The government continues to fill in roles that ought to be cared for, in my estimation, by small local organizations who are able to work with much greater accountability, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability.

But, I hear the objections now, “the government is taxing us to death!” “We can’t afford to do this until the government stops competing with the church.” “We can’t stand it when the government wades into issues like unemployment, education, health care and more. Stop the socialism!”

But I am increasingly convinced this is backwards. The church has the moral responsibility, through its manifold small organizational representations, to be the hands and feet of Jesus. To love the unlovable, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, speak up against injustice and of course, preach the gospel. Yet the church has ceded this responsibility away. . . and the federal government will inevitably continue to grow until we “do the things we should do”.

“But we can’t. we don’t have the money” . . . we say. What if every Christian in American gave 20% of our income? What if Christians who are well off capped their net worth at say $2,000,000? What sort of revolution would unfold? We would not only have enough to pay for our (ridiculously) large church buildings, we could fund (Christian) schools that would revolutionize our inner-cities.

We could transform our health care system. We could easily address our homelessness and housing issues. It would allow us to do approach the development of economic systems in urban communities through micro-enterprise, entrepreneurialism, job training and more. All of this would allow us to do it with the kind of close to home accountability, efficiency and effectiveness that cannot be accomplished through large bureaucracies.

I am not suggesting that this would replace the federal government, but I propose that this is what it will take to undo the growth of the federal government in America. I believe that if we did this, that is if we lived sacrificially and loved our neighbor as ourselves, along with proclaiming an unapologetic gospel, we would have immense credibility. In other words we could more effectively “say what we should say while we do what we should do”.

It is our materialism and individualism that has caused the government to grow. Rather than rail against our government, which will inevitably continue to grow unless something radical is done, we would do something radical. Should we wait for the government that most of us don’t trust to somehow do the right thing? No, we should stop it by doing what we ought to do.

Looking for Glory

2009-08-17T08:18:00.002-06:00

Check this out. . .

When Helping Hurts, a review

2009-08-13T19:24:00.005-06:00

Of the few books I've read recently, one of the most important ones is "When Helping Hurts, How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor . . . and yourself" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert.

Corbett and Fikkert are scholars based at the Chalmers Insitute at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA. These guys know their stuff about international economic development and have been at it a while. I was interested to see that the book was published by Moody Press.

The premise of the book is that much of what Christians do in the way of ministry among the poor (they call it poverty alleviation) is actually harmful to both parties (those "reached", those "reaching"). I agree.

As a practitioner myself, and a teacher, this book resonated strongly with me. The challenges that we have in our desire to "serve" others, purportedly under the desire to be like Jesus (who came to serve) is too often done out of an unrecognized desire to keep ourselves in the superior place. The sensibility that develops is a truth that ultimately wounds us: It is better to give than to receive, so we (only) want to give. But we are not Jesus. . . we need to receive too.

Out of this sensibility (appropriately called paternalism by Corbett and Fikkert) we think it's not only best for us always to give/serve, but we think we are the only ones who have something to offer. Acting on this (even when well intended) injures both us by adding to our pride, and others, by affirming them as fundamentally "lacking".

Here are some other highlights for the book:

As westerners we generally understand poverty in material terms. Logically, we then assume that work among the poor is primarily about leveraging resources or skills. Yet they demonstrate that poverty as defined by those in poverty is often primarily understood in fundamentally psychological terms. Terms like "powerless", "shameful", worthless" and others are self-applied.

Poverty must be understood in Creation-Fall-Redemption terms. Poverty is fundamentally the absence of Shalom. Shalom is all about relationships, therefore poverty is fundamentally about the broken relationships (with God, self, others, the creation) and NOT fundamentally about lack of something. Addressing poverty then MUST be part of our understanding of the work of Christ, the gospel, the calling of the church and the Kingdom of God.

All poverty is NOT created equal. Differing levels of distress and poverty require differing levels of response. The 3 levels of response are: relief, rehabilitation, development. Most of the work of the church is in the area of relief, whereas most of the need is for development. As Abraham Kuyper said 100+ years ago, Christians just don't understand economics and so our work and $ is put in the wrong place.

The section detailing a definition of multiple kinds of paternalism was great! It was bold to publish this on Moody Press since MBI is one of the leading senders of missionaries around the world. Yet it is clearly a topic that is important and generally unspoken about (same thing with the STM discussion below).

1/3 of all missionary giving is towards Short Term Missions (STM). Most STMs do more harm than good. I was both challenged and affirmed in reading this (we run a STM program). We have thought very carefully about this and have sought to do things very differently than most STM programs. I was about 90% affirmed in reading this chapter but was still challenged to think about sharpening some aspects of what we do.

My critique of the book is that it is too short and too wide to be a helpful tool practically. The reality is that this is an entry level book that is critical to get people started. I just wish it had more follow up tools.

The section on relief-rehabilitation-development was also so introductory that it lacked any real meat about what each of these three things are. Relief is only appropriate where there is such a crisis that "the bleeding needs to be stopped". I don't know what "bleeding" is in contexts of entrenched poverty. I also came away with NO idea what rehabilitation is in thier model. People around my church aren't getting quality food, are dealing with high rates of violence, are in schools that are a catastrophe. I assume that since it is generational poverty and crime that is at issue that the most appropriate connection is development, yet using this book I didn't know how to actually draw those lines or really define the 3 categories well (especially the first 2).

The connection between Shalom and Poverty was the richest contribution for me personally. I teach on these topics in depth every time we have an STM team here and so think about them alot. Clearly the book is a great help on the whole!

Virtual Dinner, Real Benefit. Sept 14-16.

2009-08-10T08:59:00.002-06:00

Why we need one more rule.

2009-08-06T14:50:00.003-06:00

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, 2 guys from the Chalmers Center at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain GA have really got me thinking.

At Sunshine we have 3 rules for the kids:

Respect God

Respect Others

Respect the Building

We try to keep it simple and build discernment with the kids rather than a long list of do's and dont's. I was listening to Pastor Pete (or is that "The Father"?) explain our rules for Summer Blast (50 kids in the building for summer VBS type programming all summer). The BB students help run the program. . . anyway, he was explaining this and other concepts for our working with the youth and doing a great job talking about how we share the gospel, love the kids, encourage/challenge them in these 3 areas.

The ironic thing was that I had just finished teaching about "Shalom" and on a dry erase board near the sign with the 3 R's listed above, I had written out that Shalom entails 3 things:

Joy in Relationship to:

God

Self/others

our Environment.

As I sat back listening to Pete I realized that these rules are anchored in a much deeper set of truths than "tell 'em about Jesus and keep 'em in line". Of course I already knew this but sitting back with fresh review of "Shalom" and then hearing The Father speak, it just clicked: even our rules with our kids are anchored in this pursuit of what we as Image Bearers were designed for, the Shalom of God.

Back to Steve and Brian: I am reading their new book "When Helping Hurts" which is a serious critique and overall very insightful book about "alleviating poverty" aka. ministry among the poor.

They made this connection between what poverty is and what Shalom is that got me thinking. As westerners we tend to define poverty in material and financial terms, whereas most of those who are actually poor tend to define poverty in relational and psychological terms of brokkeness.

"Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings." p15, quoting B Myers.

This is a rich and complicated statement but goes to the heart of alleviating poverty that we all suffer under, just in differing ways. The narrative of scripture is Creation, Fall, Redemption. Everything is broken. . . all relationships. . . for poverty to be addressed and shalom to be attained, we need healing in all areas and to add to our list above. When it says Jesus was about restoring "All things" (Col 1) is is consistent with his announcement of his public ministry that was equally all encompassing (Luke 4).

To consider our "rules" we have to recognized that part of our poverty is about the broken relationship we have with ourselves. We tend either toward "God complexes" (the rich) or toward "shame" (the poor).

So let's add one important aspect of shalom ruling:

Respect yourself (its part of shalom!)

Friday Night Lights. . . do it on the corner!

2009-07-13T15:12:00.003-06:00

Pastor Meeks had a prayer ministry some time ago called "Do it on the corner". At Sunshine we have been motivated to take specific active steps into areas in which violence, commotion and chaos have ruled the day.

Together, as a part of The Chicago Peace Campaign (look it up on facebook) we are working for peace in our community. We've integrated this into our normal youth work and Bridge Builders programs, along with just life in community.

After going to other "Friday Night Lights" events, we launched ours last week. We take a corner that normally has a lot of unhealthy interaction, sometimes shooting, usually drug dealing, and we set up shop! BBQ, Bright Lights, Gospel and Holy Hip Hop on the sound system, kids playing. . . all on the corner from 9pm to 1am. We gather together for prayer on the hour.

Mrs. Woods, a neighbor who has rarely made it out of the house this year due to health reasons was the first to arrive. She set up her lawn chair and talked with me about what "usually" happens outside her window. She was the first to say, "It is time to pray yet?! I'm not missing that prayer out here!". The kids played. . . . CW got on the mic and shared the gospel in song. . . the hot dogs and drinks were a hit. Dozens of people hung out, heard the gospel, laughed together, tossed the frisbee.

On one night, on one corner, it was peaceful. We didn't have to confront anyone selling drugs or fend off anyone carrying guns. We just "showed up, showed out, and shared Jesus".

Shalom: a caring, sharing community where there is none to fear.

2009-06-21T22:42:00.005-06:00

The words that serve as a title to this post are from Walter Brueggemann, early in his book entitled "Peace".

It's no small irony that I walked into my home carrying this book tonight. As I left my car I passed a young african american man who was cutting through the empty lot next to my house. He walked through the grass, stopped next to the trailer parked in front of the house with the words "Sunshine Gospel Ministries" on it, bent over, placed a metal object on the tire that clanked as it hit the wheel well, and moved on without saying anything to me.

I knew what it was. I knew he'd stashed a gun.

I went in the house, let Jessie, our dog, into the yard, and grabbed a glove. I recovered the gun and called the cops.

Soon, another young man (not the first one) came and looked. Seeing me on my porch he said "I just dropped my wallet here. . . .did you see it?"

"No", I said. Caleb had come out and joined me on the porch. He saw the gun, retrieved his camera and took a couple photos.

Shortly later, both the guys came back, looking carefully under the wheel well, this time no without pretense. "Hey, you know what we are looking for. . . let me get my stuff back".

"look, I'm a pastor" (the nuance of ministry leader vs. pastor seemed inane to describe at the moment). . . "I can't do it". "Be safe. . . " they said, and walked away.

Caleb had gone in the house and come back. I gave him my phone, told him to call the police again and tell them to get here quickly.

5 mins later (30 mins gone by from the 911 call, no police) the second guy returned.

"look, can I talk to you?" I approached the fence.

"hey, this is a grown man. . . just like you are a grown man. . . and he needs his gun" #2 says to me. "well, I'm a pastor" I said, repeating my well intentioned partial obfuscation, "I can't" .

"there's no need to get the police involved. .. and you don't have to give it to me. . just put it back where you found it . . . and there doesn't have to be any trouble. . . "

"Look, I am a minister, and there is too much violence out here. . I just can't. I can tell you about Jesus, but I can't give you the gun back. The police are on the way." He tried one more time. .. . "Look, there is no reason for you to remember me or me to remember you. I just don't want anyone to get hurt. . just put it back where you found it. . . "

I told him no again and he left. About 3 or 4 mins later the TAC team arrived (cops in unmarked cars). The retrieved the 380 out of the flower pot where I had put it. I'd met these guys before at the site of a shooting a block from here. "we know you" they told me. . . and then after shining their flashlights on my front door (the 100+ year old glass one) the coughed with some disgust. . . "still haven't changed out that door huh?!" They took basic descriptions and headed out, the gun in tow.

I returned to my book. "where there is no one to fear". . . I prayed.

Our Father, who art in heaven. . . thy kingdom come. . . on earth as it is in heaven. . . where there is no one to fear.

Exploring urban entrepreneurialism

2009-05-20T18:46:00.002-06:00

As Christians we must hold to fundamental economic principles. Work is good, we were made for it. Freedom is crucial, it allows us our ability to conduct the work we were intended to do. Creativity is a must. . . it is an essential part of our expression of the "imago Dei" stored within us from the creation.

As an urban ministry we've begun looking carefully at what it means to support, encourage and teach entrepreneurialism and the creation of free, creative work as an element of what it means to bring renewal. . . shalom. . . well-being. . . redemption. . . to the urban environment.

Today I had the privilege of listening in as one of our students, Brittany Fisher, competed in a semi-finals business plan competition. It was great. Brittany did a classy job of writing and presenting a plan to start her own resume consulting business. We were and are really proud of her.

As an organization we are considering plans for a coffee shop, a T-shirt production company, and 3 other businesses. So this meant that hearing the plans thought through was actually really encouraging. I mean, what types of businesses would thrive here? What sort of work in the city would express freedom and creativity?

We got to hear some other ideas as urban kids expressed their visions for businesses. One was an online music magazine fusing R&B and Funk. Another was an organic coffee shop. Then there was the urban clothing line for pregnant teens. . . and the company that creates organic pouches that fit into "any standard sized bra" for those who prefer not to carry a purse.

These were some true urban perspectives~!

Why we need Caris Pregnancy Centers.

2009-05-19T15:25:00.004-06:00

I had a chance to listen to a presentation by the Executive Director of Caris Pregnancy Centers today. As someone who is strongly pro-life, yet feel like my view of pro-life has widened beyond the normal view held within the evangelical community, I was wondering how I would react.

My personal tension has been in hearing the discussion about the subject of abortion become one in which a sense of panicked yelling about unborn children is the primary means of communicating about it. The woman doing the presentation started by saying that our normal discourse in the past few decades has been "if you love the woman your are pro-choice, and if you love the child you are pro-life." Perhaps an oversimplification yet it did ring true to me.

So she suggested that we start by realizing the God loves them both and so should we. Our rhetoric, our discourse and our demeanor has often not communicated this in the Christian community public discourse. (Remember the standard Paul sets up for an elder? that he is viewed as respectable in the eyes of unbelievers? I think this is an apt comparison for considering how we are viewed as believers on the whole as we interact on this issue. Does the pregnant teen think we love her, while she is considering ending her pregnancy?)

She suggested that they worked with about 2500 women last year and 2/3 of them carried their children to term. There were about 20,000 abortions in cook county last year. She also indicated that as the economy worsens, abortions tick upward. Their vision is to work with 10,000 women annually by 2011.

Most women who find Caris do so through the internet . . . people search the internet in response to traumatic news such as unplanned pregnancy. So normal things like billboards don't really work. Yet among the highest rates of abortion are lower income communities and they have the least access to technology. (I suggested they optimize their internet pages for mobile searches). They indicated they are increasingly counseling via text messages!

Planned parenthood reports that the reasons given for abortion are most often a lack of emotional/social support and lack of practical resources. . . this happens to be exactly what Caris focuses on.

Their 3 core mission aspects are: Commitment to the woman and her child, Counseling, and Connection to resources.

One of the most amazing things she said was that virtually every women at some point says "I'd like to keep the child if. . . . ". that presents great hope for working with women, supporting them and their children.

Only 1% consider adoption nationally so while we like to talk about that, the reality is that it is almost a non-starter for women considering abortion. Most women consider abortion in the 8-10 week window, most women opting for adoption don't consider it seriously until the 3rd trimester.

She framed this as a justice issue which really resonated for me. Justice for the child, but also for the mother. I would add that we must frame it as a grace issue. If we as believers don't love and fully understand the grace of God in our lives we will not be able to tolerate all that it takes to actually love women by providing them the emotional support and practical resources they need. It is far easier to rant on facebook about our government policies than it is to provide all of the emotional support and practical resources needed to an actual woman and child.

I think we have an interesting crisis of conscience when we agonize over the number of abortions yet have no sense of concern for the mothers. And that concern means loving sexually promiscuous mothers who are sometimes irresponsible, have other children, have had other abortions and such. In other words grace to the mother is very messy business that I fear we don't want to get caught up with.

Here is the interesting thing: the church thinks that Caris needs the churches money to go out and reach out to girls and women of all ages who are in crisis (remember when they were called crisis pregnancy clinics?). As I listened I couldn't help thinking that it is we the church who need Caris! We need them to teach us to love the unlovely, the broken and those whose unrighteousness is just like ours. . . except theirs is exposed. (What would I look like if my sin hung on my like a 9 month pregnancy?)

I think we have no business suggesting that we love the child and must speak up on their behalf if we can't love the mother.

The Rice and Wine (understanding urban ministry)

2009-05-07T11:01:00.001-06:00

Twitter and Facebook

2009-04-29T10:22:00.003-06:00

Well I just updated to actually use twitter. . . we will see how that works. . .

or should I say: wl c how tht wrks. . . ?

I have to learn this new language. I also began looking at how we use facebook at an organizational level for both Sunshine and Bridge Builders. I sense that short (twitterish) messages via facebook will be a good way to connect for missions teams as youth leaders are in that next generational communication trend.

you can follow me (that sounds weird but maybe that makes me old?!) www.twitter.com/joeladamsh

Peace.

Homeschoolers, Hitler and Obama

2009-04-26T14:55:00.004-06:00

We are a homeschool family. We've had at least one of our kids in homeschool for the past decade. We are not a die-hard homeschool family, but we do see and have experienced the benefits. We've tried to overcome some of the obvious short-comings and argued with those who sometimes suggest that homeschooler are inherently socially inept, short-changed and culturally unawares. These criticisms are normally overblown hyperbole from folks who have either been exposed to a few extremists, or are not plugged into the homeschool community and speak from prejudicial ignorance.

So I've been a homeschool defender, until now. I'm shaken.

This week I was at a speech and debate regional tournament in which my wife and I had several experiences listening to a line of reasoning that says we as a nation, having fallen in love with a Hitlerish figure who has no substance but is a seductive soothsayer full of promises of a brighter future and willfully lulled an apathetic nation under his spell. Just as the apathy of the Germans allowed them to blindly fall in love with and under the spell of a charismatic leader only to suffer the consequences, so too the United states is headed for a genocidal future.

The assumption here, which is uniquely white, republican (and includes almost all self described evangelicals) is that the election of President Obama signals God's abandonment of our country into moral decline and debauchery. Of course this was the same thing people felt about the election of JFK and Clinton and in the intervening years Reagan and the Bushes amounted to a reversing of courses.

There is a clear association for many of my fellow-evangelicals of defacto equality between Christian virtue and Republican ethics. Yet literally 90% of our fellow members of the body of Christ around the world, and a similar % of our non-white brothers and sisters in the US, do NOT see it this way. They spoke out almost universally against the war against Iraq, they developed deep distrust of our last President and welcomed with tears of Joy the present administration.

So the general view of US evangelicals rejects the outlook of the body of Christ around the world. Now, within one of the most culturally isolated (yep, I said it) sub-cultures of US evangelicalism a new line of reasoning, a new line of rhetoric, a new line of hysteria, is developing as Obama is directly identified as a 21st century Hitler.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I was recently at the National Association of Black Evangelicals annual conference. Let me just say for the record that these folks did not vote in lock-step for Obama, but these fellow believers would likely consider this race-baiting dialogue that I witnessed as a return to overt, explicit racism. You can disagree with him but do it in substance on issues rather than in racially based fear-mongering. To do that is to foment racist overtones to supplement the already ubiquitous "racialization".

I have personally both admired and been dismayed by our new President. My goal is is not to argue for his public virtue, but as I said a year ago, the current election cycle and administration is virtually guaranteed to create further, deeper divisions within the body of Christ. . . that for Christians should be a paramount concern.

My question is: Is this a homeschool (white-republican-evangelical) phenomena? Or is this a larger Evangelical theme building upon the "socialist" labels being applied to the administration?

2009-04-17T11:18:00.001-06:00

Mobile blogging from my blackberry?

Mobile Blogging from the NBEA

2009-04-17T10:34:00.003-06:00

I've been blessed to attend the National Conference for the National Black Evangelical Association here in Chicago (Oak Lawn) yesterday and today.

The conference is the beginning of rejuvenating a movement within the black church. I've been really blown away by the sessions I've attended so far and really blessed to be introduced to some new teachers/thinkers as well as reacquainted with some folks I've already been familiar with.

Carl Ellis is an amazing thinker and teacher. He's the author of Free at Last (highly recommended) which helps enormously to understand the story of the descendants of Africans within the US who have trusted Christ. He taught yesterday through a cultural analysis of the black community and its subcultures as well as the role of the black church in this time period. (the role of the black church in the Age of Obama). . . he team taught it with theologian/teacher Mr. Potter. Very powerful. Both of these guys are in the PCA which adds a layer of interest for me!

I was also really blessed by the workshop that Dr. Trulear presented yesterday on prison ministry. He has worked with the Annie E. Casey foundation to develop a program that includes churches engaging before and after those that have been incarcerated return from prison. It was a really enlightening thought process in which the church is encouraged to consider this type of ministry beyond what is normally just an evangelistic service. They've developed a set of materials, available for free, that can empower literally ANY church to be involved in this highly important work. Click here for information on working with children whose parents are incarcerated as well as a larger prisoner outreach ministry. well researched, great, great info!

The Next Evangelicalism, a review

2009-04-15T21:27:00.002-06:00

I have listened to Prof. Soong Chan Rah of North Park College and Seminary for about two years. He has spoken most often on the topic of this new book, published by IVP. The first time I got a recording from my young staff, it created a sensation of sorts.

He had asserted that "If you plan to be a missionary and you enter another culture to carry the gospel but you have not ever had a non-white mentor or spiritual leader you will not be a missionary but rather a colonialist" (my approximation). Strong stuff!

This new book builds on themes that are in my estimation undeniable. First, that the growth within Evangelicalism in the present and future is largely within minority, poor and immigrant communities. Citing statistics based in the Boston area, I think this assessment has proven to be quite accurate.

If the overall argument of the book is that (a) the US evang. church is changing demographically and (b) that the leadership and primary influence of the church is held tightly in the grasp of white evangelicals, then I think it is hard to dispute. Next, Rah critiques the central weaknesses of the cultural realities of a white/western dominated evangelicalism; namely materialism, individualism and racism. Finally, the author asserts that those who make up the future of this church have exceptionally important perspective and value to add but are too often marginalized.

The central value to this book is in its description of the coming reality of the future of Evangelicalism and the cogent articulation of the unique weaknesses of the church especially as explored through the immigrant/non-white perspective. These twin ideas that the future of the church is non-white, and from a non-white perspective the evident weaknesses in our church are strategically and relationally insightful.

A perhaps secondary but I think great contribution to literature available to white churches and church leaders is the description of the role of the ethnic minority or immigrant church. Rah's telling of his own story and lacing in the role the church played in his life and that of his friends was captivating. It's almost like I knew my brothers in the Korean church played a unique role within US society but I couldn't tell the story (of course!). This is just a beautiful chapter and made me want to more closely identify with the role of the outsider to US culture that our immigrant believer brothers and sisters play.

As someone that lives as a minority in my community and church, this really resonated with me. For about 10 years I was in a denomination that had a huge Korean presence (PCA). My current reality has changed the way I reflect on the reality of my former denomination. I hope my brothers in the white church that seem to "humor" the Korean presbyterians will read this and gain a new admiration for our korean brothers!

The weakness in the book, in my mind is the too often repeated phrase "white western captivity of the evangelical church". As I read the book I realized that Rah regards himself in the role of a prophet rather that "bridge builder" per se. In other words he's not concerned with those who may be offended. That's what prophets do. The downside to prophets, however, is that they don't make very good teachers, which is where I think Rah is actually strongest. I think he wants to be both but can that work? Will he actually persuade someone who doesn't basically agree with him already? I'm not sure.

One last point: Rah partially unfolded an expansion of his thinking (which builds on the work of Walter Bruggeman in Peace) about the differing perspectives on the culture of "suffering" vs. the culture of "celebration". This too needed further development. . needs. . . I should say. I hope he writes more about it in the future.

All in all, a strongly recommended book. . . but with my own bent toward bridge building vs. prophesying I would just caution the reader, don't let the use of the phrase "white western captivity" distract you from hearing the substance behind the provocative wording.

Who is Joel Hamernick?

2009-04-15T12:48:00.004-06:00

I had the privilege of sharing my story at a downtown men's bible study recently. If you've wondered how a suburban white kid ended up serving Christ and living in the city. . . here it is:

chicago fellowship.

Getting the Blues

2009-04-02T20:35:00.003-06:00

The experience of Adam:

"cursed is the ground because of you;

in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. . .

by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground. . . "

The experience of John Milton as expressed in Paradise Lost:

"O miserable of happy! Is this the end

Of this new glorious world, and me so late

The glory of the glory, who now, become

Accursed of blessed.

What Can I increase,

Or multiply but curses on my head?"

The experience of Muddy Waters:

"Well if I feel like tomorrow, like I feel today

I'm gonna pack my suitcase, and make my getaway.

I be troubled, I'm all worried in mind,

And I never be satisfied, And I just can't keep from cryin'."

"[The]Exile [we find in scripture] points us to our lostness, wandering. . . We want to rush on in the biblical story. We want to rush on in our lives. We want Easter Sunday, when the sun rises and the morning returns the light. The blues makes us wait in darkness."

Adapted from Stephen Nichols "Getting the Blues, what blues music teaches us about suffering and salvation" Brazos Press, 2008.

Guitar Hero

2009-03-31T21:15:00.004-06:00

I have a new guitar hero. I've been reading Stephen Nichols book called "Getting the Blues; what blues music teaches us about suffering and salvation".

There are several very compelling themes that he unfolds but among the best is a short discussion about a song Blind Gary Davis sings called "Crucifixion". If you have a rhapsody account you can find it and listen to the song.

I started there and couldn't help but listen to a series of songs and just come away with this sense that (a) this man loves the salvation the Christ brings from the brokenness of this world and (b) man this brother can play a guitar the way its supposed to be played!

I can't seem to post any of the you tube videos at the moment but search for blind gary davis and you'll find some cools stuff (unfortunately youtube doesn't seem to have crucifixion).

Great Songs: Death don't have no mercy; Trying to get home; I belong to the band

What I'm really reading. . .

2009-03-29T18:59:00.002-06:00

It's been so long since I updated my reading list that I can't remember how to do it!!

So I guess I'll delete it and start over. I find that so often I get only part way through books and that so many of them are on my shelf unfinished. I have to read based on my mood. When I'm tired I find I can only read history. I've been tired a lot lately.

So the Sweet Land of Liberty, a history of civil rights in the north; The Forgotten Many, a re-reading of the depression and FDR New Deal era; and Pillar of Fire by Taylor Branch (2nd of 3 part trilogy about America in the King years). I usually get about 20 pages read in a sitting.

Then when I'm feeling reflective I continue to wrestle with tougher short theologies such as Bruggeman's Prophetic Imagination and Wolterstorff's Until Justice and Peace Embrace.

I've also gotten through Reconciling All Things (Rice and Katongole) which was really helpful discussion and purchased another book in the series called Living Gently in a Violent World by Hauerwas and Vanier. Also started but haven't gotten too far in Race, a Theological Account (J. Kameron Carter) which will clearly be the most difficult book I read this year.

Lastly I am reading a small book from the Acton institute on Justice and a great little book by Stephen Nicols called "Getting the Blues". Wonderful stuff. hope I can finish them all in the next couple of months!!

End of a great Bridge Builders week

2009-03-14T09:43:00.002-06:00

After my rant last month about short term missions (STM) not always being a good thing. . . I need to share about our projects and approach this past week.

First let me say that probably all STM projects have some really cool, redeeming aspects and that ours clearly is not perfect. But I will say we have gone out of our way to work really hard to make it biblically based, wise, effective and community oriented.

We hosted about 80 folks from 5 different schools:

Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids MI

Judson University, Elgin, IL

Furman, Greenville, SC

Kennesaw State University, Atlanta, GA

Emory University, Atlanta, GA

The 3 southern schools came as a part of Reformed University Fellowship groups. . .

Here is what we did:

We spent nearly 20 hours in large and small group settings learning, talking, praying, thinking about themes related to our community. The history of the community. The cycle of poverty. Issues surrounding race and ethnicity. Understanding causes of and responses to the poor.

We spent a similar amount of time in various work projects. We built a fence (and rebuilt it as the neighbor kids tore some of the posts out the first night!) We hired a local artist to create 3 mural designs and the students did the painting. We nearly finished one, and got started on a second. They are awesome, beautiful, community affirming projects that will be mounted very publicly in our community. We made significant efforts to support Christ Bible Church in repairs in the food pantry, cleaning in the church and other things that the church helped identify as needed projects.

We continued work on a community mapping project in which we are using google maps to document the foreclosed buildings in our area. . . something that will allows us to work with local neighbors to stay on top of the huge numbers of buildings that are threatening the stability of various blocks. We started an ebay store!

We sent the students into different parts of the city, connecting with about a dozen different ways God is at work in the city. In short we cast vision for what it means to effectively understand, love and join God at work in the communities of the city.

Praise God for a great week. Thanks ya'll!!!

Short Term Missions: A waste?

2009-02-04T17:49:00.006-06:00

Ok, I'm going on the record, most short term missions trips are a waste.

I am tiring of explaining to short term missions agencies and groups that when they say "we want to serve you" what they mean is "we are coming on our terms, our time schedule, our choice of age (often too young) and spiritual maturity (never a consideration -- evidently ministry in our community is viewed as something anyone can do. . . ). I have spoken to at least one group each week over the past 2 months that want to come and "serve". They have money, they have people, they have time. . . but they haven't a clue about how they come off or about our community.

The average group wants to come and save our neighborhood (they say "serve" but I know better). Yet, they have no intention of long term relationship. They have no cultural understanding of the community. At the first sign of trouble they run out of patience because ministry here isn't "efficient". Meanwhile at home their church is vigorously praying for their safety (and NOT for the community they are coming to save, evidenced by the fact that as soon as the students leave, the prayers and concern stop). They appear to think they are better than the residents of our community. They give the impression they think Jesus shows up with them and leaves with them.

They think they are needed to give and have no clue how to receive, nor that they need anything from Christians in our community. They seem to have no clue how much work it is on our end to host them.

Think about this reverse portrait: how about your group stays home and sends us the money you were going to spend coming here? We'll pack up a van and show up with our kids and serve you! We'll run a program for the kids in your church and tell them about Jesus and assume that they've never heard about him before. We'll just ask that you let us go around your neighborhood drawing kids from random homes, we'll use the name of your church to get kids to come out. We will use cultural expressions of music, language, communications style, social mores and others that are from our neighborhood -- making the assumption that to be effective we'll just do what is natural in our neighborhood. And if you have time to tell us a little bit about the people who live in your community before we serve them, that would be great, but we don't really need to know. . we'll just work off of our (mostly negative, patronizing) assumptions.

The amazing thing to me is this: virtually every missionary I have ever spoken to who is honest about short termers feels this way, but for fear of alienating home churches they don't say it out loud.

Another element of the scandal: many short term missions groups MAKE TONS of MONEY off the groups and don't give that money to the communities they are serving! It's gross.

So can short term missions be effective? Yes. First, find a permanent fixture ministry in a specific community and get to know them. Second ask them if they have the time/capacity to teach you about the community. Third, listen a lot (including reading books, watching movies, eating the food, listening to the music). Fourth, through #3, learn! Fifth, fall in love with the community. Six, enter into along term relationship with the community THROUGH the permanent fixture ministry.

Ask them HOW you can serve and WHEN they could use you. And be patient, if they are any good at what they do it will be difficult for them to get you involved!! Only a process like this will work out a way of being effective in service. It is way too easy to serve badly, self-righteously, ignorantly. Those who remain in the community need you, but you need them too -- especially to minister effectively.

I know this probably sounds a bit tough, but as my pastors says, "It's tight, but its right!"

Retaining "Minority" Students

2009-02-04T16:35:00.004-06:00

Each year as I speak at colleges (usually white evangelical institutions) about things related to urban ministry, the topic of racial diversity, or the lack of it, comes up.

Occasionally -- often in fact -- school administrators tell me how hard they are trying to recruit and retain students. Usually this means that a couple of people on the staff with a passion for it, sometimes under the direction of a school president who shares this passion, are working with recruitment and student retention.

The numbers are staggering about how few minority students make it through. The Urban Educational Institute says that only 2.5% of Hispanic and African American boys in Chicago will complete a 4 year college degree by the age of 25. When you consider that this includes a VAST majority of such graduates making it through state schools and HBCUs, private evangelical institutions are failing abysmally at successfully providing education to about 25% of our country - most of whom come from higher than national average religiously committed communities.

These schools are often in close proximity to an urban area that has much higher percentage of Hispanic and Black residents. Yet they are very white institutions graduating even whiter graduating classes.

Next week I will be speaking with a faculty group about this issue. Because it has funding implications for these schools it is a high priority. I'll share some thoughts and invite your comments.

At the heart of the issue are a series of things all of which come back to what the institution understands and values.

Culture-blindness. The institutions neither understand, nor value Black or Hispanic culture. They might even dress up some of the worship or school's art exhibits but beyond this they rarely go out of the way to learn, value, appreciate or celebrate the culture. Students often feel not just "not valued" but often devalued. The institutions often think they are culture or color neutral, which demonstrate the collective blindness and lack of understanding.
Sense of Safety. In my experience when one crosses cultural boundaries it leads to feeling unsafe until one begins to understand the culture -- truly speak the language so to speak -- or perhaps when a truly trustworthy person acts as an ambassador in a highly personal way. "Where should we go on vacation?" for a white family is a very different question for that of a black family. Whites, as the dominant culture assume the whole country is fair game, safe, approachable. . . except for urban neighborhoods possibly. But students from minority communities are likely to feel unsafe in a cornfield, where many of these institutions exist. The cornfield example is just one of many I could highlight. . . but this gets back to the lack of understanding that most white institutions exhibit. Good intentions don't overcome this. Inside the institution there are many, many other things that are prone to create a lack of sense of safety, a discomfort, a distrust. This discomfort or fear makes staying focused on school a huge challenge. How long would you stay in a place where you fear you will be treated unfairly, you feel discomfort, or sense there are lots of unwritten rules no one is sharing with you?
The lack of cultural interpreters. These institutions usually have precious few people who are around (classrooms, athletic fields, lunch rooms, hallways, dorms, etc..) who can help Black/Hispanic students understand, laugh about, negotiate, and express healthy anger about the context they find themselves in. This has to do with economics as much as race. The cultural jump from a low income household to a middle class or upper middle class school environment is as tough as the racial span.
Lack of retention of minority faculty.
Lack of minority leadership.
Lack of sacrificing sacred cows.
The donor base.
Racial and Cultural isolation of faculty.
Theological and Sociological arrogance.

I would love to ask those of you who have braved this territory a few questions:

1. If you as a minority made it through, what was the thing that helped you most?

2. If you didn't, what was the biggest factor(s)?

3. What is the thing you find most troublesome about your experience?

4. Want to share a crazy story?

Love for corrupt politicians?

2009-01-23T13:05:00.004-06:00

I sat in a Starbucks yesterday working on our budget. . . . way too many numbers on a computer screen makes my head spin.

Next to me sat George W. (not bush!). George is a man about 70 I would guess. We struck up a conversation and I found out that he is a working man, now retired. Maintenance mostly which I took to mean cleaning with small repairs now and again. George was dressed respectfully in the way you can with clothes closet charm. the suit coat and slacks don't quite match, both a dark green and nice material but not often washed and not quite the same.

The white cotton dress shirt was likely a size or 3 too big, as the sleeves hung out from the coat, but that made room for the 2 layers of white long-johns underneath for warmth. This was a man of respect and simple means and probably a great backstory.

As we spoke he shared that he was behind in the rent and looking for odd jobs to try to make it right. His landlord has taken him to court twice and hit him with the court costs, but the landlord hasn't shown up. So he still has his place but went from being behind by $400 to now $800 with court costs.

his rent is $605. his income is $635 per month.

As we spoke George pulled a bus card from his wallet and told me how the card gave him free access to public transportation. This was a blessing because he has had cancer a few years ago and while it is in remission, he had gone 2 years without a doctors visit -- because he never had money to ride the bus and get around town for appointments, check-ups, medication and other things. Rod Blagojevich, who negotiated free public transportation fare for all seniors in IL, is his hero. probably saved his life literally.

As we spoke I remembered that my wife reminded me that our kids have health care only because Blagojevich used an executive order to provide the medical care program for children in IL that we are under. That's why she voted for him last time. I did too come to think of it.

So while the whole world is casting aspersions (and rightly so) we should remember that like all of us, Rod Blago is not all bad.

local history: 3 black US Senators

2009-01-20T22:03:00.004-06:00

Since Reconstruction there have only been 4 black senators elected to the US senate.

3 of the 4 live within about a mile and a half of our home. I've met our

current senator (Burris) and think highly of him and his wife, who taught in the Moody Grad School for

several years.

Obama's live (or did until this week!) at 51st

and Greenwood (you can google map their address and see the big brick home!) and I've run into Carol Moseley Braun at the Valois cafe.

Wild stuff!

More Trouble with "Success"

2009-01-20T19:48:00.003-06:00

I sat quietly as a well intentioned student dutifully read aloud my bio to a roomful of listeners, ready for my workshop. It spoke about my position, work experience and even a bit about my interests and family.

Earlier in the day I had listened as the bio of another speaker (a really good one too!) was carefully reviewed. . . all the great things he's done for God.

Call me cynical. . . but I just keep retreating, shrinking, pulling back internally from "great things" done for God. I was physically ill late last year upon visiting a new church and freshly remodeled portion of an evangelical school. . . clearly millions upon millions had been spent in both cases. A close friend recently recounted for me how "X" dollars would be spent by his church in a missions project of great efficiency and great effect. the kind of thing where if you spend these dollars a clear prediction of how many churches will be established can be certain.

This is exactly the kind of "winning" presentation that I am urged, pushed, influenced, and encouraged to use to portray our work at Sunshine. . . but I just don't buy it. Don't get me wrong, we are working on our marketing and I know its important. I just don't know if the "image" is true. At the very least its an incomplete picture and in that sense, its not true.

What kind of person or church always grows, always wins, always triumphs, always experiences efficiency and decorum, always impresses, always reflects strengths? No true church or person does. So if that's all that is presented. . . if that is what is put forward as "success". . . our honesty, and integrity, and understanding are in jeopardy.

Yet the true church perseveres through adversity, the true Christian loves without concern for accomplishment, fame, reciprocation or adulation. The true Christian fails, even in this unrequited love of neighbor.

I don't think God's work is efficient. I don't think it is predictable in a scientific, expedient, rational way. There are few Christian leaders I've known who lead out of weakness and suffering, and what Paul calls his resume of garbage.

How do we want to be introduced? Whose list of deeds do we want read aloud on our account?

How's this: imperfect dad, faulty husband, inefficient minister, lowly neighbor, slow learner, one growing only by God's grace, doing small things for a Great God. Hungry for another round of communion. . . one of sovereignly propped up faith.

a sense of belonging to places of pain. . .

2008-12-18T20:12:00.004-06:00

Chris Rice and Emmanuel Katongole have written a short book on Reconciliation that is a really helpful new resource for those who are interested. It's called Reconciling All Things, A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing. (IVP).

Perhaps the most important thing they suggest, aimed at those who are passionate about Reconciliation, is to take a time out. They argue that without a theological framework for understanding our topic, we will run amuck being faddish, individualistic, justice-fighting or "rescuers" like fireman racing into save everyone. These are all quite unsustainable, unwise and unbiblical notions.

They ask "what and where are the patterns of life and social structures to sustain a vision of reconciliation?" and "the question we want to ask is, reconciliation toward what?"

Quite rightly the authors suggest that for Christians reconciliation is a gift of God. It can't be pursued like a check off added to the long list of "to-do's" or well intended newest church "programs." Real reconciliation is anchored in the dramatic legacy of the story of God. It is about creation-fall-redemption-culmination. It is interlaced into this story of redemption. To find it cheaply or quickly scheduled into our strategic plans or even our "calling" is to miss the point.

The legacy of the story of God includes the idea that some of the wounds of Christ are yet to be fulfilled. That is, Paul tells us that for the Christian we are going to fill up the suffering of Christ that is not yet complete. The process of reconciliation is anchored in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Suffering is part of the deal to enter into reconciliation. (Rice sites the experience of many IV staffers who found that literal death set in early for many who thrust their life into reconciliation).

So I am in agreement with Rice and Katongole that we must pull back, reflect and develop a theology sufficient to sustain us in a walk. I am also in agreement with them that this is NOT primarily for experts, scholars, pastors or ministry leaders. It is for ALL who call themselves Christians.

What I don't completely understand is how. How do we find the space in our lives to pull back? It seems like a luxury I don't have. How do we engage the body of Christ beyond the experts and leaders and a handful with a passion? I don't know but hope I can learn.

Such communities of reconciliation are not possible without transformative experiences and engagements sustained by prayer and listening to God, life together worshiping communities, a sense of belonging to places of pain, the long term power of persuasion, and practices such as the capacity to absorb pain without passing that pain on to others. All of these arise from the deep conviction about God and Jesus Christ.

more to follow. . .

What are legitimate marks of the Church?

2008-11-22T12:08:00.003-06:00

I had an an interesting exchange about the role of the church. Historically there are a central set of marks of the church (Preaching, Sacraments, Discipline). But I would argue there is a wider role that all churches play do play. In thinking about racial reconciliation in particular (or Biblical Diversity if you prefer) it seems to me that we must broaden the discussion from "narrow systematics". This doesn't mean that carefully constructed minimalist outlines are not true, but that real life implementation always holds other aspects that are assumed to be unwritten truth. This often includes cultural expression and identity reinforcements.

It gets a bit heated but here is the part of my recent exchange that focused on what church is:

____________________________________

My Comment: On the issue of theology and church. The black church is in its social context a completely different thing than the white church. It's history and witness and role is different. This is in part why when someone suggests that in Christ there are only churches and not ethnic churches, it is a very shortsighted pronouncement that only white American's would suggest. No Christians from other ethnic groups, nor from any other country in the world is likely to suggest such a thing. But white American Christians, from a position of power and privilege to which they seldom really comprehend, have a tough time with this. They think colorblindness is a real virtue. None of our ethnic brothers and sisters in Christ (aprox 90% of world Christians) see it this way. I think it is arrogant to be ignorant and/or unconcerned about this.

T's Response: you say the role of the black church is different than the role of the white church, yet where do you find any differentiation in calling of churches in Scripture? The role of any church, is to teach the Scriptures, administer the sacraments, and oversee church discipline. No church should be involved in any politicking for any party, but should firmly stand in and pronounce the Truth of God's Word. Whether that be everyone's need of a Savior or the evils of abortion, that is what the church is called to do. The methodology is what may be different, but not the role, saying otherwise goes wholly against 500 years of Reformed ecclesiology.

My Response:On the issue of the church: Here you have suggested that a narrow reading of Reformed systematics is the only way to understand the role of the church. This could only be suggested from within the framework of one from a culture of power. Clearly if you read Calvin you will find a radically broader understanding of the church. Or Kuyper. Or Keller. etc....

The black church was started because blacks were kicked out of white churches. They serve not only the central marks you mentioned but a myriad of others, including a place of cultural expression that is largely forbidden, mocked and rejected in the wider culture. One's church is also a reflection of one's culture and serves to reinforce cultural identity, sense of meaning, and the understanding of the world. It goes well beyond what you've suggested whether you recognize it or not.

And of course the church's validity is also whether or not it reflects truth, righteousness-justice, peace, deliverance both from worldly oppression and from sin (ie. the wrath of God). Its validity is compromised if it is not a place in which believers exercise their gifts, the modest parts of the body are treated with extra grace, parents are equipped to lead their children, the community reaches out as the hands, feet and mouth of Jesus Christ. All of these are aspects of legitimate churches that are beyond your narrow set of marks. The expression of these are very different in the black community-- one that is rooted in its history of oppression. This cultural history shapes the church, giving it both strengths and weaknesses. All churches reflect both the imago dei and depravity.

While I am willing to defer to your desire not to be labeled a typical white evangelical, your description of the church makes it hard for me to see a distinction. Perhaps the black church is too big a leap, but I would encourage you to learn from others about the value of Asian, Latino or other ethnic churches. You will find them reflecting the grace of God in the role local body's play in ways quite different than your own. It's a beautiful (and biblical) thing.

T's Counter: I'll be very blunt. You are a Ruling Elder in the PCA, live up to that title, and don't throw any of this pomo garbage back at me. When you were called and ordained, you vowed to uphold the teachings of Westminster Standards, and as such YOU are bound to a "narrow interpretation" of systematic and biblical theology and to abide within the standards laid out in the BCO. If you find yourself in disagreement with any of these, it is your duty to report that to your session and your presbytery. So, I caution you, don't presume to lecture me on "narrow readings" of systematics. You signed on to a denomination that is most narrow in its interpretation of Scripture,and doesn't show any favor or liberality towards unorthodoxy.

Lastly, your presuppostions, generalizations, and general prejudice towards, what you term the "white church" are disgusting, peurile, and frankly border on racism. You pass judgements on me and my church, and yet have no basis for such conclusions, except for the fact that I, and most people who attend my church are white. Really, you are no different than the cloak-wearing Klansmen, in that you presume the worth of an individual and his/her character based solely on the color of his/her skin.

Joel, if anything, this interaction has shown me and taught me that individuals who cry for reconciliation between anything besides our reconcilation to our Creator are merely trying to push their own agenda, and are motivated by a spirit of hate, guilt, or a combination of the two.

________________________________________________________________________________

Wow. Does anyone get this???

Urban Entry

2008-11-20T23:16:00.003-06:00

You have to check this out. . . I wish I could import the video entry but I can't so you just have to follow the link.

Scott Lundeen is doing some cool video stuff. If you are joining us for Bridge Builders this year you'll get to see the video. . . he's done a great job capturing what I keep telling people: the hood is moving to the burbs!!

I just keep laughing. . . watch it and you will too. . .

"I live in the suburbs"

Mourning the election?

2008-11-20T22:36:00.002-06:00

I am wondering about 2 groups of Christians that I seem to be running into. None of them are out loud, out front.

One group is mourning the fact that they voted for a man that may very well increase the rate of abortion in the U.S.

The other is mourning the fact that they had the chance to vote for the first African American president but couldn't do it.

Both are quietly hurting.

Real Life Together -- Bonhoeffer on Visionaries

2008-11-10T14:46:00.002-06:00

I am reading "Life Together" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and finding his words a challenge to my own attempts at thinking about the division in the church across racial lines a well as a our outcomes requirements on Christian ministries.

"God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first the accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself.

. . . we think we dare not be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience and love that has been given to us, and that we must constantly be looking forward eagerly for the highest good. Then we deplore the fact that we lack deep certainty, the strong faith, and the rich experience that God has given to others and we consider this lament to be pious. We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from him the little things. If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where this is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness and small faith and difficulty; if on the contrary we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from our expected, then we hinder God form letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches that are there for us us in Jesus Christ.

This applies in a special way to the complaints often heard from pastors and zealous members about their congregations. "pp. 28-29

This guy would not have made it in the church growth era! But what he says rings true to me about my own make-up (visionary) and oft found lack of contentment with the church.

It also bolsters, in a way, my feeling that perhaps in adopting market principles for evaluating ministry we can overstep or over-reach what God has for us.

There is a beauty in serving out of weakness-without-triumphalism that at the heart of the gospel.

Race, Politics, & Christians.

2008-11-06T17:19:00.003-06:00

Do you hear that loud ripping sound? It’s the church of Jesus Christ tearing further apart around politics, race, and specifically: President Obama.

Here in Chicago, across the city, black conservative Christians (including some who voted against Obama) can be seen weeping, wailing, celebrating, and cherishing the historic step taken this week in the narrative of the United States. Also, across the city and throughout the suburbs are white Christians in shock or dismay, expressing fear, incredulity and sometimes even anger.

Nearby, the white leadership of a local Christian school that prides itself on its diversity (and has a student body that probably exceeds 50% non-white) failed to even acknowledge the election results. “Its not in the history books yet” said one teacher. Black parents are supremely offended.

So how can white Christians be so insensitive to our black brothers and sisters? How can black and white Christians have no comprehension about one another in spite of all the Promise Keeper’s Racial Reconciliation stuff? (Or as a black colleague likes to call it “reconciliation blah blah”. )

We live in a country in which, as Mark Noll has documented carefully, there are no two voting blocks closer to one another in personal standards of morality than white evangelicals and black protestants – and there are no two voting blocks further apart. How can this be?

Even as I write this I am listening to comments about the election, coming from white Christians, that are deplorable. Love is patient? Love is kind? Love doesn’t envy or boast? Love doesn’t insist on it s own way? Love is not irritable or resentful? In relation to our black brothers and sisters I have to say that for far too many in the white church this love is not known today.

“The body is one and has many members. . . the [white] eye cannot say to the [black] hand ‘I have no need of you’. . . But God has so composed the body . . . that there may be no division in the body , but that the members have the same care for one another. . . If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored all rejoice together” (1 Cor 12.)

For the record, my interest here is the body of Christ not supporting any political candidate or party.

To my white Christian friends: yes I’ve read the Huntley Brown Letter. That doesn’t change the fact that more than 90% of our conservative, bible-believing, Christ serving, spirit-indwelt black brothers and sisters LOVE our new president. Out of love for Christ and His bride – shouldn’t we want to know why? Aren’t you curious in the spirit of Christ’s reconciling love? Or is all our talk about biblical reconciliation dead upon its lack of political expediency?

There are many good questions to be asked. There are many dumb questions to be dealt with. There are many bridges to build. Citing Huntley Brown, ignoring the presidential election, remaining indifferent to the history that has been made will only exacerbate our dilemma of a divided body.

One very interesting observation was made about Obama by a white, conservative ideological opponent of his at Harvard University. That is, he is capable of discussion in which he presents an opposing view, learns from those he disagrees with, and doesn’t make enemies with those opponents. Shouldn’t we as Christians be able to do this too?

For those interested please consider the following resources (assuming a preponderance of desire to learn over/against a desire to “battle”) here are some tools:

Book: Divided by Faith, Michael Emerson and Christian Smith

Book: Reconciliation Blues, Ed Gilbreath

Book: God and Race in American Politics: A Short History, Mark Noll

Blog: The Reconciliation Blog (www.http://edwardg.wordpress.com/)

Blog: Beauty and Depravity (http://eugenecho.wordpress.com)

Blog: 17 seeds (http://www.llhdirect.com/17/)

Presentation: Dr. Soong-Chan Rah’s CCDA presentation can be ordered. This lecture that is both professorial and pastoral in nature explores the differing theologies that develop in communities of “suffering” (ala. Marginalized communities) and those of “celebration” (ala. Middle class/mainstream US). Fascinating with HUGE implications for understanding our own theology more deeply. (www.ccda.org).

Discussion/Workshop: For interaction at a personal or small group level please contact Sunshine Gospel Ministries and ask for Lauren Dillon or Joel Hamernick. We will work to facilitate a discussion/workshop, or connect you with a facilitator in your area.

Good discussion topics might include:

· African American Church History

· Biblical Reconciliation

· Black Theology

· How the Imago Dei and Depravity are evident in other cultures

A few good questions: (Disclaimer: It will be very difficult for someone who doesn’t know these answers to ask the them of someone with whom they have no relationship. If you are really interested, go slow, listen long, start where you have relationship credibility, be willing to be vulnerable and to be worthy of someone being vulnerable with you --. Ie. Re-read 1 Cor 13 slowly)

Why would Black Christians who voted for McCain be overwhelmed with joy and emotion when Obama was elected?

Why would someone who is opposed to abortion and gay rights be open to (or excited about) voting for Obama?

What is the personal connection for an African American parent, seeing Obama’s family walk out on that platform with him at the end of the speech in Chicago?

What is the significance and beauty of a black woman being the first lady of the United States (ask this question of a black woman)?

What are the most fun cultural changes that might take place in the white house?!

Hey Dad, can you measure this?

2008-10-30T11:09:00.005-06:00

Sorry I've been away a for a long time. I decided I better slip a post in during October just so I don't miss a whole month!

The topic of my thoughts today: The downside of Outcome Based Programming.

In case you don't know this, the entire world of not-for-profit is moving in the direction of measuring outcomes, including faith based ministry. The basic premise is that the market economy and business world on the whole, have figured out how to operate efficiently. They do this out of a profit motive and competitive demands. Limited resources + unlimited demands = the necessity of making decisions carefully, using thrift, and creating models of efficiency. The larger for-profit world then tries to ride those models to success.

At Sunshine we've spent nearly a full year creating a framework for carefully clarifying out outcomes and devises to measure this. We've worked with a great guy who knows this stuff inside and out. He's brought the adage "if you can't measure it, it isn't real" to the table. I think most NFP's resist this to some degree, partially out of a desire to shirk accountability (just being real here) and partially out of a sense that "you can't measure all fruit" and sometimes the activity fulfills faithfulness rather than demanding a measured result. [e.g. As a Christian can you demand "X" number of converts for "x" amount of preaching?]

Suffice to say there is a debate but the "we need measurable results" group is dominating the landscape. This is why No Child Left Behind is in the schools and lots of NFP's are working hard to define, forecast, and measure results. For the moment I'll just say this: there is a huge upside to creating better models of efficiency and measurability. It creates accountability for the NFPs and clarity for donors. All very important.

BUT. . . . my wife and I had a conversation about expectations and control when it comes to our children this week that has me really thinking. I'll admit that my life is not the norm: 7 kids, plus we are homeschooling a "daughter" (yeah Porsha!) and a full load of leading ministry and living in an urban environment. Our kids are in a total of 4 different schools, 2 sports teams, and 3 in debate/speech, 3 volunteering and in Bible Study at Sunshine.

What we find is that every child-institutional relationship creates pressure on us as a family to (a) meet expectations and (b) meet THIER expectations. This is a good, normal thing and varies in demand (e.g. Sunshine wants a form filled out and signed, with "x" money by "x"date and certain homework done). Every day we have demands placed on us that create various levels of stress. Sometimes a lot of stress. The school administrators, coaches, teachers, and other leaders we interact with as parents have a LONG list of demands. It is alternately understandable, discouraging, frustrating and even creates angry responses at times.

If you don't do this you get a demerit! If you don't do that you'll be fined! If you don't turn this in then you can't advance!" If you don't achieve this you fail!" Much of it comes across in this negative tone. Especially once you are behind on pretty much anything. Oftentimes it comes across this way before you are behind!

Why are these folks doing this? They are all under pressure from their leaders and donors to conform in various way to efficient, effective, predictable outcomes. What is the response at the level of "personhood"? Some can handle it and grow. I am beginning to think that the pressure to produce measurable targeted, predictable, efficient outcomes virtually guarantees the failure (or the declaration of failure) on a significant group of "the least of these".

Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing against using outcomes. I am just wrestling with the human cost associated with it and the cost to the kind of ministry that, as is often reflected in the gospel, is not efficient or predictable.

Separate. Equal? No way, build that bridge!

2008-09-01T18:19:00.001-06:00

There is a really difficult situation boiling in Nashville. The school board there is about to re-segregate, to a large degree, the urban, poor schools. I’d like to share with you some of what shapes my perspective that this remains a radical injustice in US society.

I was visiting with a man (RS) out in the burbs recently that, as it turns out, grew up near where we live. He lived in Roseland (south of here around 95^th street) in the mid 1960’s. His family was one of the last white, mostly Dutch, families to move away as the neighborhood became black.

He shared with me about his very difficult high school experience in which he was one of 23 white students in a school of about 3000. He shared with me how these years engendered bitterness and bigotry. As the year passed he found a way out of that set of attitudes. The Lord worked in his life to show him a perspective on urban youth that attend racially and economically isolated schools – he understands what they face in a very real way.

My son Jared, for the past 2 years, has had that experience, being one of 3 white kids in a school of about 850. Jared’s experience, however, was very different. Jared’s experience was extremely positive. He loved the school, his teachers and classmates seem to love him as well.

Recently we decided to take Jared out of the school to finish his HS career at home. The reason has to do with our family process and desire to see him graduate a year early and to spend a year traveling abroad (or some other adventure) next year.

At any rate, the principle, a terrific guy, really tried to convince us to leave him in the school. When we inquired as to why (we thought it might be an anti-homeschooling perspective) he spoke about the value Jared’s classmates got from interacting with him. He was perhaps the only white kid they would know up close before walking into college where they would, in most instances, face a majority white classroom and school. He spoke about the value in simply interacting with his worldview, his value system, his way of thinking. All good we thought.

Then I spoke with RS and as he was telling me his story he talked about how when he went away to college in Iowa, and walked into his first class (450 white freshman) he just about panicked! “How am I going to compete? I don’t know the rules for a place like this!” Self doubt overwhelmed him. And he was white!

I put the two stories together and realized that the principle was really putting his finger on something of value in my son’s presence in the school. The real point, however, was not so much about my son (although I’ll brag all day about him!) but that desegregating schools (both racially and economically) has real empowerment and justice implications.

So when I read the article about what is happening in Nashville, I saw again how the old system of separating out society both by race and by class is devastating. Of course we also see this in our community. Our neighborhood schools are much like those in Nashville, except they are already (still) segregated and (with few exceptions) failing our students.

RS also spoke to me about how he walked from his block, which was still primarily white, crossing over a bridge in the black neighborhood. Each day the trouble of that school was mitigated to some degree in his life as he crossed that bridge back into a more balanced community. A resourced community.

But, as RS pointed out so aptly, most of these kids don’t have a bridge.

Seek Peace in the City -- 2009 Urban Missions

2008-08-27T12:57:00.006-06:00

2009 Already? Yesss!!!!

We just finished an exciting season of summer missions here in Chicago. I am already getting really pumped for next year. We just booked our 6th college group for Spring Break and even summer registrations are starting.

All of this leaves me energized about diving into new sections of scripture to better understand what it means to Seek Peace in the City.

"But Seek the Welfare (shalom) of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare (shalom) you will find your welfare (shalom)."

Jeremiah 29:7

What does it look like to enter some of the most marginalized places in our country and find not only a place God is at work, but a place in which God will work on us? What does God have to teach us not only about our capacity to give but our need to receive, in the city? How in the world can we find peace in the city?

These are all things that I believe God is answering in the city, through Bridge Builders, as college, high-schoolers, and even adults find Him waiting to work in their lives!

If you know of a college ministry (spring break) or high school group (summer) that would benefit from this ministry, by all means hook us up! (check out the Bridge Builders link at www.sunshinegospel.org)

Peace,

Joel.

Where are all the Brothers?

2008-08-07T08:54:00.003-06:00

What a great, and sad, title for a book.

Pastor Eric Redmond has written a short book designed to passed out to (and perhaps by) African American men who have lost interest or fail to see the value in the church -- and by extension, faith in Christ.

When one enters a black community it quickly becomes apparent that a whole lotta brotha's are missing. What look like bizarre statistics that often appear in mainstream US publications come alive as painful reality within inner-cities. Too many black men are "missing".

There is one set of realities that come together that remove or alienate black men from family and community (e.g. out of wedlock births and incarceration rates) and for most of us who didn't grow up in a black family or black community that particular set of realities is pretty much all we can see. But, for the record, most black men are not in prison, on drugs, or living below the poverty line. (My black friends will think this is so obvious as to be stupid to write. . . . but, sorry brothers, too many white folks I talk with don't seem to get this!)

There is another set of realities that are far too common in the church that drive black men from the church who are present in the community and whose presence is sorely needed in the body of Christ. Pastor Redmond understands this second set of realities and addresses them head on: Apathy, disenchantment, a sense of hypocrisy, veneration of pastors, and the approach to money are all examples of such issues.

This is an important book. As one of my black pastor friends said when I gave it to him "anything for the men is key!"

The book is easy to read, engaging, and short -- therein containing a good formula for a book designed to be passed out and to get a guy thinking.

It also has good resources, however, as follow up reading for further study. I think its a brilliant little book for its purpose and pray God will use it for it's intended purpose.

Eric Redmond blogs at "A Man from Issachar"

What creates "radicals"?

2008-07-19T13:49:00.004-06:00

We had another break in this week about 5:30am.
As the governor noted publicly yesterday, over the past 2 weeks we’ve had almost 1 child per day killed in the city. On Tuesday our BB team was on a public bus and someone screamed “get out, he has a knife” and half the bus emptied. . . . Then this morning our building was burglarized again — for about the 6th or 7th time this year.

While there has been a lot of violence city wide, we are fortunate to have experienced relatively minor damage (a few broken windows, some missing TV’s and a computer, a few somewhat alarmed teens). Each week when we have missions teams teams here we wrestle with what Luke 6:30 really means.

“give to whomever begs from you, and for the one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. . . . .love your enemy”.

Over the past several months I have been wondering about how Christians that work in distressed urban contexts become “radicals”. When the names and words of people like Rev. Wright and Father Pfleger break out into the open they appear to be nuts to the “average” American.

Crazy. Radicals.

Now I am not trying to equate what we do with them but just want to make these three observations:

1. The people in their communities love them.

2. These radicals are seriously moved by the word of God.

3. They don’t look that crazy from here.

Further, I think that if the “average” American Christian heard the conversations that go on at CCDA and other gatherings of Christians who work in urban contexts they would be perceived as “radical”. My own pastor, who is regularly heard on mainstream Christian radio, uses different terminology and descriptions when preaching in our church than when he is invited to preach at places like Bible colleges. Christians in the developing world are also notoriously perceived as radical in their faith by US evangelicals.

So what is it that creates these radicals? Is it the context of injustice, violence and marginalization? Perhaps. But more than that I think it is the word of God. If you give the words of Christ to people in desperate settings. . . The word radicalizes. Common sense would never suggest always giving to beggars, letting the thief get away, or staying even temporarily in harms way — let alone loving those who hate you.

These are challenging lessons requiring patient reflection, prayer, faith in God, and even a sense of humor. Please pray that we’d have all of these. Thanks for standing with me as we seek the renewal of the city through the power of the gospel preached and lived out.

the value of outsiders

2008-07-13T16:04:00.007-06:00

I have had a bunch of conversations lately about the role of outsiders in marginalized communities.

The assumption is that outsiders -- white, suburban, christians (WSC)-- want to be involved in the urban context. They want to give of their time and money effectively and, of course, not be disrespected in the process.

But often, insiders -- urban Christians of all hues (UC)-- feel disrespected along the way. They feel that the WSCs are not actually giving freely, that they are not giving without strings attached or hidden agendas. Additionally, the UCs feel that the WSCs give out of such imperiled motives and limited (privileged) perspectives that they do more harm than good. I just spoke with a pastor who all but told me he wants his supporters to give money but stay away -- they'll screw things up if they are around too long. And he is just more honest than MANY I know who wish they had the freedom (luxury, privilege, power) to say the same thing.

This is why we started Bridge Builders. We expect that the giving in the body of Christ must be two-way to be genuine. When we have missions teams here, we literally try to give them more than they give (they probably don't always perceive it this way). We want them to be able to give financially and of their time directly and effectively.

Here is the reality: we need them (everyone see this) and they need us (really? how? few see this).

Given that it is our assumption that the need goes both ways, we want to figure out what it means to genuinely equip our donors in terms of personal connections. We want them to visit, to learn, to see and of course to support the ministry financially. We want them to enter into the joy of ministry of which they are really a part, in a way that affirms all involved. We want them to receive, not just to give.

I am entering into a new challenge at Sunshine -- over the next three years to raise 1000 monthly donors averaging $50/month. As I do this I am seriously trying to figure out how we invite these donors into a sort of covenantal relationship with our community. My hope is that we as a ministry, as an urban community, can give back to the donors, and give well.

So my question is this: What is the value of the outsider beyond money? How does someone in an urban context honor and minister in return without exploiting those here in the community? What are the unrealistic expectations of the outsider? How can those expectations be responded to from a ministry standpoint?

Winning can be awkward.

2008-06-13T13:23:00.006-06:00

There are 2 white kids at Wadsworth Elementary School here in Woodlawn. I know because they are both mine.

Corban (5) and Caden (4) are "moving up". Corban is headed from Pre-K to Kindergarten and Caden is going from Pre-K3 to Pre-K4. They had an all school assembly which we enjoyed attending. Corban got the "Pre-Kindergarten Honor Role Award for a scholarly mind".

(no, he couldn't quite read that sentence yet, but evidently he has the mind for it!)

Out of about 500 kids 2 would be awarded new bicycles out of a drawing. Guess who one the boys bike? Caden! It never occurred to me that they might have any chance to win so I left before they did the drawing and didn't get to take pictures at the time.

There are many things about living in the community we've gotten used to that many would find awkward. . . but being the only boy in the school to win a new bike (one that is actually too big for him -- something that was pointed out loudly by the 2nd grade classroom boys across the aisle) that's awkward!

Fortunately Caden and Corban are oblivious to the perception of privilege and favoritism. And their teachers were only encouraging. We love being here you just never know what you'll face next.

(That's Kaylie that decided she needed to sit with the Pre-K3 class next to Caden -- she's right at home too. . . )

8th Grade Graduations! What?

2008-06-09T14:04:00.003-06:00

What does a commencement speaker talk about at an 8th grade graduation? What kind of a party do you throw? Why would one even celebrate 8th grade "graduation". . . ?

Those are all questions I keep asking myself (and have for a few years) as I attend graduations in the city. Today I attended a graduation service at a nearby elementary school.

The speaker was a motivational speaker who followed a young graduate who prayed his prayer to Jesus in no sheepish way. (To that point in the service the audience had been surprisingly quiet, but when he say " in JESUS name. . . Amen" the crowd came alive.

So about 50 students, approximately the same number of girls and boys, dressed "to the 9's" in new suits (mostly white). The shoes were classy high heels with fancy tie-backs or classic looking baby blue -- or orange with white stripes. Corsages, graduation caps and gowns. . . all the works. The picked up their diplomas, they threw their hats. . .

The commencement speaker's topics: Boys, you are not a statistic. . . Girls, you are queens. The audience was charged to stay in the life of the kids and cover them with prayer. Through God all things are possible. You can stay away from trouble. You can stay away from incarceration. You can go to high school and make your dreams come true. You can stay away from teen pregnancy. The school, the family and the church must be active in your life. You can embrace your heritage (African American) and know that God has blessed you and made you strong. You won't be able to go to school in your neighborhood now, you'll have to ride buses and trains but you can do it. . .

The drop out rate in Chicago among African American boys is 57%. The rate of unemployment is at least 4 times as high for a drop out as a college grad. . . and that doesn't even consider the type of employment open to a college grade vs. a drop out.

I have very mixed feelings about this type of service. It embraces the youth and congratulates them for making it through 8th grade. . . that is terrific. The speaker was also able to (amazingly) speak freely about faith, the church and Jesus.

Then again how sad is it that many if not most of these youth won't make it to the next graduation? How sad is it that incarceration and teen pregnancy are so likely that they warrant discussion at an 8th grade graduation?!

Urban Ministry? Expect Problems.

2008-05-31T12:20:00.005-06:00

Urban Ministry is growing because, for Christians, the city is our future. The city is where the body of Christ is growing most rapidly, not only in the US, but around the world. The mere fact that the population of the world is rapidly urbanizing combined with the truth of the great commission leaves us with this inescapable conclusion. But. . .

Christian leaders in the city get neutralized almost as fast at they appear. I could give you a list of a dozen or more personal friends and colleagues that have thrown in the towel, had the rug yanked out, or have regressed into apathy just in the past couple of years. Part of the sad truth is that a hugely disproportionate number are African American -- among the most needed leaders in our urban ministries.

In his great book Reconciliation Blues, Ed Gilbreath paints a picture of coming into a room full of CCDA leaders, all forlorn, heads down. Palpable Discouragement. I think for most ministers in urban America this picture resonates.

So why is this the case? I believe that the overall spiritual, emotional, physical and financial impact of urban ministry is simply more than "normal" people can deal with.

One problem is that many if not most urban ministry leaders are being prepared in notoriously non-urban frameworks. Success is defined in efficiency, relative comfort, and all-too-often distinctly partisan terms. Theology itself, as well our sense of ortho-praxis, is done in the sanctity of the air-conditioned, well stocked, comfortable classroom. The racial, economic, physical, social and spiritual context of the urban center constantly challenge what one has always heard before.

About a year ago I went to a highly regarded leadership forum in which one of the most recognizable Evangelical leaders in the country (I'll call him Jack) did a workshop called "the life cycle of a leader". I was looking forward to it because I knew that he had been highly effective by most standards, I had really appreciated his teaching in the past, and I knew that he had faced significant trouble during his ministry (I also had a sense of skepticism about the super-leader model but was keeping this at bay). By the time the guy was done talking, however, he had "charted" on a white board a line that looked like a stock market growth chart during a time of nothing but affluence. Up, up, up.

Who could possibly live a life like that, let alone lead ministry in which everything is always up, up, up. . . on to the next level of success -- the top of which was reserved for a few super-duper leaders like Moses, Jesus, and Jack.

Regardless of Jack's optimism about ministry leadership, this is not only a false confidence in one's personal leadership, but a patently unbiblical example to hold up for Christian ministers. It is also a destructive standard to carry into the urban context. It won't happen. It can't be maintained. It is a front. A hustle. It's untrue.

In the urban center you will get wounded as you enter into the suffering of others. You will fall into pits, face persecution, deal with obstacles unknown and almost unimaginable in the affluent and "safe" places beyond communities of relegation. The urban leader is alternatively viewed as "hero" by those who would never dare to go there, and as villain by those who don't think a responsible adult would allow their children to live there, go to school there, etc...

Of course the truth is that urban leaders are neither hero, nor villain, but simply parts of the body of Christ who are surrounded by other parts of the body of Christ. I don't think "super-peoples" are what is needed for urban ministry either. Rather, people who know they are weak, and therefore remain dependent on God. As one of my closest mentors once told me: "Expect God to work slowly but consistently . . . and expect lots of problems. That's how God normally works." Outside of scripture. . . . truer words were never spoken!

All of that said, there are some specific issues that must be considered about the challenge of urban ministry and why so many leaders hit the dirt or skip town. I want to suggest a few possibilities and love it if you add your perspective:

1. The urban spiritual battle. The urban context almost inevitably involves reconciliation between people who just don't "get" each other (racially, economically, and educationally).

2. Change. The rate of change and information is so intense, you can't ever really get used to it - you are never all caught up!

3. The need:give ratio. The amount of need in your face on a daily basis radically exceeds anyone's capacity to give to the point of "fixing".

4. Family. Are the kids safe?

5. Money Irony: It is expensive to live in poor neighborhoods.

God Girl's Sin Boldly: A book snuck into the mix.

2008-05-26T21:01:00.010-06:00

Zondervan is releasing a book by the religion writer at the Chicago Sun-times, Cathleen Falsani.

Falsani is the pop-culture-eclectic Wheaton grad that some how landed a job at the tabloid mag Times ("somehow" not because of her skills but because of her pedigree).

First I should say that I enjoy the Sun-times. As my father-in-law pointed out to me years ago, all cities should print at least one paper like this -- it is so much easier to read while walking down the street or standing on the el! I have also enjoyed reading Falsani who passes the "is she really an evangelical?" test the way Bono passes the "is he really a Christian test?": hopefully but with one foot conspicuously out of bounds.

Falsani's book made me think about a recent argument made by Tim Keller that religion advocates typically are so disconnected from disbelievers that they caricature one another in argument, find no common ground, and therefore have meaningless conversations that are more attack than discussion. Keller would like her I think. . .

Falsani presents a series of short chapters sharing quite personally from her life's quest to find grace in the nitty-gritty, ebbs and flows of life. She is quite atypical for an evangelical in that she finds comfort in realizing her own failings and eagerness to discover lessons on grace from pop culture, foreign countries, an odd nun, sexist African tour guide and other places.

The chapter reciting her quasi-obituary for Jerry Falwell (she was honest about her embarrassment about Falwell's fundamentalist ranting and pleasure not to have to explain him anymore as a fellow "evangelical") and the section in which she explains her testimony that doesn't fit the prescribed order both had me chuckling over my wet burrito at La Cantina Grill.

I found Falsani to be someone who approached things the way Keller would appreciate; avoiding antagonism, asking questions, looking for truth. I also read her as someone who finds joy inhabiting my urban world -- not in the inner city sense of my community, but a Chi-town evangelical institution grad (her at Wheaton, me at MBI -- both weirdly, grudgingly respected institutions in beer-drinking brat-eatin Chicaaago) who is is most comfortable being whatever kind of Christian is the opposite of loud-mouthed and predictable. She rocks out to my favorite radio station, gets spiritual insight from Lin Brehmer (local old school rock dj-philosopher) and quotes U2, Martin Luther (for the title) and many others.

My initial thought was that this is a good leave-it-by-the-pot book. You know what I mean; the kind of book you read a few pages in a sitting, chuckle, give it a little thought and forget about it. But once I read past the first few chapters I found the connections between her various trips (memphis, Africa, Ireland, Rome, etc...) enough to string me along for the ride.

Reading this book will not give you a complex theological definition for grace, but it will give you some implicit encouragement to see the hand of God at work, as grace, woven into the fabric of urban pop culture life. That is always a welcome encouragement in the city.

Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace
Cathleen Falsani. Zondervan, $19.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-310-27947-1

Facing Poverty

2008-05-19T08:09:00.004-06:00

I have been watching and reading about the face of poverty in the US and hearing more about various ways to address it. In reading Sowell's book on economics I am not yet to the point where I understand what answers he might give to address poverty -- beyond his confidence in the market's ability to address things better than government. Hopefully I will develop a more nuanced understanding as I continue reading.

But I have gotten his point that all government policies to address social ills through funding have unintended consequences as they create incentives or disincentives. For instance, "fixing" costs for things like rent prices or gas (on behalf of low income citizens) increases demand for the same amount of goods (since artificially lower prices don't increase production), thereby putting those intended to be helped at the same or greater disadvantage.

Still, there at times when NOT doing something is more expensive than doing something. If I don't fix the leak in my roof while it is small (saving money) the problem will definitely get worse.

So I am reading the most recent campaign to end poverty (called Half in Ten) which calls for specific legislative remedy around specific topics to reduce the current number of Americans living in poverty (36 million) in half in the next decade. The drafters of the campaign and its reports suggest that this will cost $90 billion per year in additional government expenditures, but imply that it will save a larger amount of money in the long term costs of poverty to the economy (unproductive citizens both cost $ and remove their positive production from the economy.

So I am left very interested and yet asking questions: What disincentives will be created through these programs? How would you calculate the long term costs/savings from such a project? What is the role of the church?

H'nick Support

2008-05-15T11:21:00.004-06:00

For anyone who is on our personal mailing list you should have gotten a letter from us via email. If you didn't please send me a note with your current contact info. As follow up to the "hood gets personal" thread, we are very close to closure with a new mortgage company. Thanks to all of you who've been praying and looking to help. Our latest letter gives the process a bit more detail and what we still have to do to get through. Email me if you'd like a copy (or post a comment) and I'll be happy to send it your way.

Blessings! Joel.

(Here is a link to photos of the house and family)

Using the Word of God for advantage. . .

2008-05-14T07:08:00.002-06:00

Corban (5) to Kaylie (2): God says everyone in the world should share!

Mom (who overheard Corban): Corban, have you learned that lesson yet?

(Corban is silent . . . )

Kaylie: God says "No" to Corban.

The unfolding drama of the kingdom. . .

2008-05-12T08:19:00.003-06:00

I preached recently at Covenant Presbyterian Church here in Chicago which was our home church for about 15 years. We still think of it as home in many ways. It is an amazing church on the northside of Chicago in a former Polish Catholic Cathedral. The simply do not build (protestant) churches like this anymore.

Here is a link to the sermon. . .

PS. I did in fact post that last one at 1:30 in the am. I had just gotten back from another episode meeting our local late night beat cops. Our building was broken into again and our flat panel TV's stolen. If you are one who prays for us please pray that we would find what God wants us to in this. Understanding. Perspective. Love for one's enemy.

Reading, reading, reading. . .

2008-05-12T01:28:00.005-06:00

I am reading way above my head. . . again. Fortunately my sense is that if one does this often enough and sticks to a given topic, one can learn to swim.

Reading Anthony Bradley's blog has challenged me to take seriously the viewpoints of Thomas Sowell, a highly regarded, and to some, highly controversial African American author. Sowell is unusual in that he is a very conservative public figure in the AA community.

While he is viewed as a conservative republican, he is more of a self described libertarian. Thus far I find his analysis of economics sort of a heavy duty common sense approach -- thus pretty much an accurate subtitle.

As an example of the importance of the subject, however, is his description of how rent controls end up depleting the presence of affordable housing. As prices are kept artificially low those with the most money still benefit most and the quality of the cheapest housing, being in such high demand, no longer compells owners to care for it. Sowell uses specific examples from New York, San Francisco, Sweden, Russia and other places.

As someone who is interested in seeing justice within a given community addressed, and wrestling with the place of both government and Christian ministry here, this is a tough pill to swallow, yet bears marks of common sense so strong that at this stage I can't respond with anything more than. . . ok, that makes sense.

I am already learning a lot from Sowell but I also hope to read Sowell's critics. I hope to be able to consider ways in which injustice, descrimination and uneven playing fields tilt the market in favor of some. I hope to be able to better understand what it means to encourage the market to become healthy in our community. I hope to keep my head above water as I read this!

Strange Fruit by Nina Simone

2008-05-08T06:57:00.002-06:00

Thanks to Jazz Theologian and Pastor Robert Gelinas for direction to this video. Fair warning it is tough to watch. It is a combination of haunting lyrics, a voice that is beyond description and photos that even in our overly violence laden society are still shocking. Yet as I referred to in a recent post, they have a direct family connection to many.

City Signs: It's just different in the city.

2008-05-06T10:11:00.005-06:00

Elmo is just a guy I really want to meet. Every time I drive by this sign (and a few others I am planning to share) I slow down and sometimes stop. This one always makes me laugh.

I'm pretty sure he isn't red with a big nose and lots of fur. . . but you never know.

I think this is part of what it means to live in the city -- trying to figure out what stuff means. This is the only Elmo I know that is surrounded by barbed wire.

And this is on South State Street where Robert Taylor housing projects have been since the early 70's (a very tough neighborhood that has now been torn down).

So who is Elmo? Why would you call him before you go? Why would you want to wait for your tombstone? It's just different here. . .

Rev. Wright, Malcom X, and my (non) experience with Lynching

2008-04-30T09:26:00.007-06:00

The blogosphere and the TV and Radio are alive with comments about Rev J. Wright, Obama, race, religion and politics. I have been reading and doing some commenting on other blogs about this but felt like the choice morsel to delve into here is one that relates to racial reconciliation.

I have a passion to see the country led well, to see the black church better understood, and other topics related to this discussion, but the core of my personal calling is to see brothers and sister in Jesus Christ in relationship across racial (and economic) lines.

To wit, let me comment briefly -- primarily thinking about my white brothers and sisters that are choking about Rev Wright and especially feel that (a) he should be summarily condemned and (b) that anyone, black or white, who defends him must have lost his mind or salvation. . . (I'm a calvinist so that was sort of a joke).

Please consider this from my personal experience: Rev Wright's comments -- especially the conspiratorial comments about the US govt -- come from a specific place. When I started working with Sunshine in 1999 my boss at the time made the following statement: "When my mother was growing up in the South it was legal for her to be lynched". I almost spit up thinking to myself "there is no way that is true. Murder has always been illegal in the US. that simply can't be true". Fortunately I kept my mouth shut because I knew Dana personally and admired him and figured I would straighten him out later.

I happened at the time to be reading William Manchester's history of the US from 1932 to 1972. As I am reading through the 1950's I get to the part where the State of Mississippi tries to pass a lynching ban -- and it fails. repeatedly. Most of my students still don't realize that it was NEVER passed at a national level and only in 2005 was a formal apology finally issued from the US senate for never having banned lynching in spite of its ongoing crime against humanity.

Not only did this experience with Dana, who I love and felt great admiration for, help me to see that our government has been supportive of incredible injustice and deservedly damnable offenses well beyond slavery . . . but it became personal. That was my brother's mother. In the body of Christ that means it is pretty much my mom. It would have been my mom if I was black.

Another step for me was realizing how valuable the autobiography of Malcolm X is to virtually every one of my Christian brothers who are black. Yes, nation of Islam leading, Black radical Muslim Malcolm X. Because I had heard from these brothers, because I love them, I read the book with a listening ear. I was overwhelmed by what Malcolm did in the way of condemning white America (it is tough to hear) and in the way of affirming dignity of black Americans and people of African descent. When you read it you realize that a non-Christian has much to say that we need to hear, that our government is allowed terrible things to happen (and in the case of Tuskegee syphilis experiments and other episodes, caused them).

I share this with you to encourage you to (a) not jump to conclusions about Rev Wright and (b) much more importantly -- use this an an opportunity to hear from our black brothers and sisters. As much as I need(ed) folks from across the racial divide to understand Malcolm, most of us need others (like Ed Gilbreath, Anthony Bradley, or Melissa Harris-Lacewell) to digest Rev Wrigth, Obama's response and the incessant commentary.

We won't find a unified voice among the way African American's respond to Wright. . . but in general we will find insight and patience that only comes to us across the racial divide. If we cannot tolerate this insight and patience than we have no business suggesting that we are interested in racial reconciliation conversation. Let's not get fixated on Rev Wight but seek out a multi-racial or cross-racial Christen lens -- seeking wisdom from our brothers and sisters who have a different experience than we do.

Emerson and Smith show in no-uncertain terms that those of us who are white that are isolated by race (the vast majority of us!) cannot see racism or prejudice. We not only can't see the racism we think is "imagined" by people who we perceive as "playing the race card" but we can't see any. No one interested in racial reconciliation can remain in this blind, isolated position.

The single greatest factor for changing what we see is by being in relationship with blacks (or other minorities). Take this whole Rev Wright flap as an opportunity to entering into relationship across racial lines. Perhaps not with Rev Wright or Barack Obama -- but with African American brothers and sisters. In person, through the blogs, in your community. Someplace!

God's Glory through Heroes in the Hood.

2008-04-26T10:04:00.005-06:00

City of Death. City of Rousing Apathy. City of Let's Get Together and Do Nothing.

That is how I almost titled this entry. We've had more than 40 shootings in the city during the past week. About half have been in our immediate area. I've also attended at least 3 community meetings in which nothing was done about it in any way. Lots of talk.

But does either the the violence or the lack of direct response define how we approach the day (or the blog entry)? If it does then I am lost.

So as I wrestle with what to do practically this summer in our neighborhood and struggle with too-much-talk-not-enough-action, let me highlight someone that hasn't given into the discouragement that Satan wants to shroud us with.

Mattie Butler. Mattie Butler is a small woman with a big voice and a massive weight. 28 years ago a building down the street from her burned down here in Woodlawn. Arsonists set fire to a building to get the insurance money and 13 children died. This horrific crime barely resonated in a city that responds very little to the deaths of African American youths. But for Mattie it started something that she felt God had for her -- a calling to be sure that decent affordable housing was present in the community.

Mattie long ago could have left and gone on to have a career in blues, singing with her brother Jerry "Ice Man" Butler. Instead she stayed, worked, sweated, stood up to the power brokers in the city and community and fought for the preservation and restoration of over 5000 units of affordable housing. I recently attended an award dinner for Mattie and after saying a few words of gratitude Mattie broke into a rendition of "My God is an Awesome God" that brought the house down! Mattie is a hero.

So on tough days and violent nights and through a thousand meetings that might go nowhere, I will remember Mattie and be encouraged.

Who do you know in your community that prevents the difficulty of the community from being all defining?

The hood gets personal. . .

2008-04-19T09:23:00.003-06:00

I've been wrestling with whether or not to comment about some things we are facing as a family right now. Much of what I write, think and teach about is in the 3rd person. Sometimes I venture into 2nd person and challenge others specifically, especially as I feel strongly about issues of racial reconciliation, the gospel, issues of injustice, etc...

Today I am working on a message called "The Drama of the Unfolding Kingdom". I will be tracing the way in which God is bringing renewal, deliverance, salvation, peace, joy, righteousness-justice, healing alive in the world through us as His people.

As I am working on this and consider the parable of the illegal alien (the good samaritan slightly modernized!) I find myself in the story. See the story captures this idea that the least expected people turn out to be agents of the kingdom. I personally prefer to be the agent and dispense grace to others. . .

In the past couple of years we've been blessed to be in the position to dispense the gifts. Specifically we've helped several people get into housing, make homeownership affordable, avoid losing their home. . . etc..

Yesterday when I was at a local neighborhood meeting (acting in my role of agent-dispenser) working on technology empowerment projects for our community, a recent acquaintance -- a guy from the neighborhood -- came up to me and reminded me that he coordinates a local neighborhood housing assistance program (WECAN). His boss is a hero of mine that I had recently hoped to invite to join our board of directors.

He said he wanted to talk with me after the meeting (probably affirming my role in helping others I thought, or sharing a new way for us to work together). He told me that he gets a report regularly called a pre-foreclosure report (or something similar). "Hamernick is a pretty unusual name" he said. "Yep", I responded, "so what?" "Your name is on the report". I was stunned.

I can't really describe what we've put in this house to make a home in the community here. A year's worth of renovation in which I learned electrical, plumbing, HVAC and other things to get the work done. Time, blood, sweat and now tears. The circumstances of increasing taxes, renters not paying, downturn in housing values and sales, increase in mortgage qualification requirements have put us on the brink. Ok, Lord. you can have it all.

Lest I leave the impression that I am not to fault in any of this. . . we bit off more than we can chew. I have made significant errors in judgement during the past year. I wish I could tell you I was wise and innocent in all things. But it wouldn't be true.

How can I help? He asked. I was speechless.

I don't know. I replied. (this is one of the many ironies here. So often when I act as agent I have the answer but those with whom I interact don't know what to do. . . the tables are now fully turned.)

I spoke with my Dad later that night. Like several people he said "If I could take care of it I would. . . " but he added, "we have to trust God and realize that you can't carry this or anything by yourself".

All words of grace to me.

Who is the agent of the kingdom now?

Jim Wallis has great big. . .

2008-04-14T17:12:00.002-06:00

Ok, let's just say that Jim Wallis is very bold. Last night a number of leaders of faith communities had the opportunity to ask questions of the democratic candidates during a forum held at Messiah College. They called it the Compassion Forum.

Normally when these types of things happen there is no drama. You know what answer the questioner wants to get. You know what answer the questioner is going to get. It's so predictable (and often awkward) that its tough to sit through.

Most of the questions were "softballs" lobbed out there for the candidates to swing at. Usually there are a corresponding number of "high and inside fast balls" designed to make the candidates look dumb. They must have controlled things pretty well because I didn't see too much of these.

But then Jim Wallis said:

"The year that Dr. King was assassinated he was about to launch a poor peoples campaign. The reality is that since then the poverty rate in our country is virtually unchanged. Something like 30 million Americans live below the poverty level in the richest country in the history of the world. Would you be willing to make a commitment tonight, that if you are elected president, you will initiate programs and legislation to to reduce the poverty level in half, over the next 10 years?"

(My paraphrase!!)

I was shocked. Talk about putting the guy on the spot. I was not only astonished by the question and its directness but by Obama's willingness to respond. He said: "Yes, I will." He then qualified it slightly by acknowledging the enormity of such a task and the fact that the economics of the country on the whole exacerbate the dilemma (e.g. the mortgage crisis is currently sending hundreds of thousands of Americans' back into poverty). At any rate, as a guy who believes this is not only possible but must be part of the process of addressing systemic issues of injustice I (my independent, non-partisan self) cheered.

Here is a caveat: I am not a huge fan of Jim Wallis to be honest because too often his commitment to social justice is indistinguishable from being anti-republican party. As with guys like Hannity or Moyers, I find it difficult to listen to them because they can never admit to any virtue across the aisle nor any vice on their side of the aisle. Clearly there are some aspects to what Wallis has championed (like Campolo) that are centrally aligned with my ministry at Sunshine and our commitment to Mercy, Justice and Discipleship. So all that to say I am proud of him for how he used that moment. Let's hope it goes beyond being a moment.

So what would it actually take? Is it possible? What role does the church play? These are a few of the questions that ensue.

Opulence and Poverty.

2008-04-03T13:01:00.004-06:00

I am in San Diego this week attending a conference, doing some reading and resting. I took these 2 photos near my hotel. I am absolutely amazed at the wealth here (it's in Chicago too but I don't usually hang out in this kind of area there).

I am also amazed by the homeless population. Folks are everywhere!! I am reading a book that is page for page the book that has taken me longer to read than anything in my life. I have been carrying this thing around for at least 3 years and still not done. Mainly this is due to the fact it is over my head and secondarily to the fact that I am a painfully slow reader. (Just ask my wife!)

Anyway the book is called "Until Justice and Peace Embrace". Each chapter has brought serious challenge but the one I have read here is called "The Rich and Poor". The author concludes that it isn't that we don't know what to do about poverty but that we (the Christian church) refuse to do what must be done.

Walking around here I have to admit that from my perspective there is clearly enough money here to house, feed, clothe and care for the poor that are walking around here. Perhaps that's not the American way. But is it the way of Christ?

What would it take to actually do something about it? On the issue of "extreme world poverty" I highly recommend Jeffrey Sachs book "The End of Poverty". On local poverty I would suggest John Perkin's 3 R's are a good place to start (Reconciliation, Relocation, Redistribution). On personal level how about just taking Christ at his word?

Luke 6:30: Give to whoever begs from you.

Luke 14:2-3: 12Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

In the city and in the Word: But did Anything Change?

2008-03-31T11:19:00.004-06:00

During the past 3 weeks we've hosted more than 120 college students from around the country here in Chicago. My M.O. is to get pretty wrapped up in issues that connect a Biblically informed vision of what life should look like and then connect that to the issues facing urban America. We discuss and explore these topics experientially together in the city and in the Word.

(What does God's call to uphold justice have to do with the fact that we have a drop out rate in Woodlawn that exceeds 50%? What does God's call for us to love mercy have to do with those homeless folks who put us in awkward moments on the el? What does discipleship have to do with our resources beyond our money? What does an ambassador of Christ have to do with infant mortality, the working poor, or predatory lending?)

This week I am wrestling with how our work to raise funds connects with this overall vision of seeing Christians live out Micah 6:8 in relation to the inner-city. It is critical that those in relationship with Sunshine see the connection as a commitment to the cause of the Kingdom rather than an emotional (short lived) response.

So for those who have been with us in the past or were here this month, I just want to ask two questions here and invite you to respond.

1. Is it likely that anything actually changed in your life as a result of your week with us?

2. Our desire is not to lead you to partner with us through pity or emotion but by leading through our values. Did this happen with you and if so, what values did you perceive we hold most dear?

How just is that coffee?

2008-03-24T17:49:00.001-06:00

What's a fair price for a pound of coffee?

$6.95
$3.45

$1.26

A fair price for coffee isn't what you pay in the grocery store, it's what the coffee farmer is paid. Available in Europe for more than a decade and recently in the United States, "fair-trade" coffee has been purchased directly from coffee farmers for $1.26 per pound, instead of less than 50 cents.

According to Transfair USA (www.transfairusa.org), an agency that certifies fair-trade practices, coffee is the second largest trade commodity in the world, next to oil. An estimated 80 percent of Americans drink coffee.

Ten years ago, the world coffee economy was worth $30 billion, of which producers received $12 billion. Today, it is worth $50 billion, with producers receiving just $8 billion, according to the Fair Trade Coffee Campaign of Global Exchange.

Last year, Starbucks became the first U.S. company to agree to a "code of conduct," promising it would tell its suppliers that in order to sell to Starbucks, they must pay workers a decent wage and respect their rights. Many gourmet coffee companies now offer fair-trade products, too, says Deborah James, fair trade director for Global Exchange, including the Bucks County Coffee Co. in Langhorne (800-523-6163). More are listed on the Global Exchange Web site (www.globalexchange.org).

This entry taken from a social justice quiz.

The most important book white Christians will read this summer.

2008-03-19T22:03:00.007-06:00

Not to go out on a limb or anything. . . but can I suggest that the most important book a white Christian can read or re-read this summer is Divided by Faith by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith?

Watching the whole episodes surrounding Barack Obama and his pastor and his speech, and then following the commentary about it, I remember just how isolated from the black community, its concerns, its burdens and its perspective are most of my white friends, families and the wider evangelical community.

I have gotten to the point where I can predict white answers to black questions and vice versa and watch for the predictable facial expression across the table. I see this on CNN, Fox and in the community. Here is an example: Several months ago I was listening to Moody Radio as a well known black leader was being interviewed by a well known white christian talk radio host. The white interviewer clearly had very high affirmation for his guest and was talking about how dymanically God was working through his black brother in a poor community. Then the minister referred to Dr. King in passing.

Then the interviewer asked this question: On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you say we are doing in improving race relations in America since Dr. King's life. I knew in that split second that the interviewer was looking for a much higher number than he was going to get. He was eagerly anticipating it. Was it 9? Maybe 8?

"5. Maybe 6 on the whole." came the answer. Radio silence is always awkward.

The reason for the silence? The reason for the different expectation is simple. White Christians are on the whole isolated by unrecognized privilege from the ongoing struggles of black America. It is strictly optional for whites to enter the discussion and since it quickly (usually) becomes uncomfortable -- we don't. Or we do and then leave as soon as we get our toes stepped on.

My experience has been that my white friends feel unappreciated very quickly. . . .and my black friends feel used and cheated. That black minister could easily have interpreted the white guys lack of responsiveness about the plight of black America as indication that he didn't actually care and that the point of the radio show was just that -- its just a show (and his black "friend" will make for a great show).

The reality is that in that example the white guy asked the question not knowing what answer he was going to get and (I would guess) the black minister provided the answer knowing full well the discomfort that the answer would recieve.

Why am I saying all of this? With Obama running for president -- and let's assume he gets the Democratic nod -- the insensitive comments, the unresponsiveness to Obama's explicit Christianity (over against Bush's) will leave our Black brother and sisters even more frustrated with the white church than before -- even if they have no intention of voting for him.

This will be a record year for the following (offensive) words in the white churches across America which foment division between Black and White Christians:

"I'm not a racist but. . . "

"It's not because he is black. . . "

"I have a black friend . . . and he/she isn't voting for Obama"

"I don't see a race problem in America. . . it's only because they keep talking about it. . ."

"He says he's a Christian but how can any Christian be unapologetically black? If we had an unapologetically white church they would call us racist!"

If you are a white Christian and have any sense that racial reconciliation is important, please read Divided by Faith. Read it slowly and thoughtfully. . .

(I have added a summary of this book to my other blog. Click here).

Is Colorblindness a virtue or a vice?

2008-03-15T16:21:00.006-06:00

There are a number of subjects, dozens actually, that come up during the course of our Bridge Builders weeks at Sunshine, that inevitably deserve extended thought and discussion. One of those subjects is the issue of "colorblindness".

For anyone interested in seriously addressing racism or racial reconciliation, colorblindness is one of those subjects that is incredibly important to consider. It is a topic that is understood entirely differently within the black and white communities.

For Whites, Colorblindness is viewed as a virtue.

For many of us in the white community the term colorblindness was defined and experienced in our growing up as a concept that stood in contrast to racism. It was the movement of a generation (our parents) away from their parents (our grandparents) in which racist jokes and terminology was done away with. The assumption was that without explicit racist terminology, racism was done away with and colorblindness was its (virtuous) replacement.

For Blacks, Colorblindness is viewed as racism.

For most within the black (and other non-anglo) community the term colorblindness is a term that whites use to excuse racism. To suggest that ones race is not seen in the US when one is Black (or other minority) is preposterous (unless you are literally blind, and even then awareness is VERY apparent to most). Further, to suggest that one is not treated differently because of one's race is also absurd. Finally, to not allow the value of one's identity and culture to be an open discussion or expression is to devalue what is different and to lay claim to the idea that that which is dominant is normative and therefore "best". So colorblindness is not only not a virtue, but is a nice way of holding onto white privilege, racism, vice. (Did anyone seriously look at the picture of Jesus above and NOT notice race? or did you not realize it was Jesus because of your attribution of what Jesus' race "really" is? and if you are "taken aback" by a black Jesus are you equally offended by a white Jesus?)

"Double Vision" is the only way to continue the discussion. In Miroslov Volf's book, The End of Memory, the author describes what he says is "double vision"; imaginatively entering the the experience of another before claiming to understand. While I believe this is crucial for those committed to learning in general, it is also key for anyone committed to reconciliation. On the topic of colorblindness it is key for blacks to do this to create space for patience for their white brothers and sisters, giving us time in the dialogue to learn. For whites, this double vision is important because in it they will find out that black folks are right.

In my personal experience, the importance of my African-American friends giving me space to understand this has been indescribably important. I have been blessed by these friends in that they have allowed me this benefit of the doubt: I was genuinely attempting to move away from racism of earlier family members and oblivious to white privilege (this is another entire topic and something that my black friends have helped me to see). Many, if not most, blacks (in my experience) believe that any white person claiming to be unaware of the racism of colorblindness and the reality of white privilege is disingenuous at best, and -- more likely-- simply lying. Those who have chosen to enter in to conversation are often worn out by this process of allowing whites this space and even trying to help us. Ed Gilbreath's book Reconciliation Blues will help with insight on this topic.

The reality is that this posting shouldn't waste time trying to make the argument to blacks to give us space. The primary argument that I need to present is this: Blacks are right, colorblindness is tantamount to ignoring discrimination, racism, prejudice and white privilege.

So to understand the topic, whites need an entire education. They need an entire experiential set of lessons that are far removed from daily life. Race is strictly an optional topic for whites. Racial privilege is not understood.

Racism is understood in white community as something that is what one person does to another person. Since they haven't seen their parents enslave someone, or use the N word, or crack jokes, they assume racism doesn't exist.

In the white evangelical community this is exacerbated by our understanding of sin in the same way: we understand sin primarily as something one person does to another (or against God). We basically ignore the biblical concept that groups of people sin against other groups. Our individualistic notion of sin makes it all the harder to understand racism as experienced regularly by our non-white brothers and sisters.

The black (and other "minority") experience is totally unfamiliar to most whites. We either don't know anyone who personally deals with this regularly, or those we know don't talk about it (often because we don't believe it and are therefore unwilling to really listen).

As W.E.B. Dubois and others have noted, blacks have almost no need to be educated about the white experience. But whites know almost nothing of the black experience. So when coming to the topic of colorblindness I can only ask my black brothers and sisters for patience. I have to ask my white brothers and sisters to become students.

For all of us interested in reconciliation be have to apply the wisdom of James in being "quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger".

What does Purdue, Judson, Southern Indiana and Montana have in common?

2008-03-12T21:27:00.002-06:00

We are now just over half way through our Bridge Builders week here at Sunshine. I have been enjoying one of our larger groups (46 folks) spending time learning, listening, experiencing and serving here in the city. We have colleges from 3 campuses listed above, plus a church from Montana here.

I've been doing most of the teaching but at the moment had to take a night out with a cold that I'm fighting that has been getting worse all week. For those of you who read this regularly please pray for the health of the group and of my family. Between colds going around and days that last sometimes from 7am until 1am, the days get a little long!

I am continually amazed at the way I learn each a week a bit more about God's love and patience for us. I was reminded today about Romans 2:4 which says that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.

Am I a saint or a communist?

2008-03-03T09:50:00.003-06:00

When I feed the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor are poor, they call me a communist"

Martyred Nicaraguan church Bishop, Oscar Romero as quoted in "Deep Justice in a Broken World". p17.

The gospel setting the stage for Justice.

2008-02-29T11:06:00.003-06:00

A speaker (I didn't get his name) I listened to recently left me with this paraphrased quote which I found helpful:

The gospel replaces pride with confident teachability and fear with love. Both are needed to pursue justice.

A Raisin in the Sun -- P. Diddy & The Hansberry family

2008-02-29T10:11:00.005-06:00

Here it is February 29th and I have only now gotten around to a post recognizing Black History month. I have been encouraging folks to read a book AT LEAST once a year around black history. A book about the civil rights era, a biography of Fredrick Douglas, or perhaps Dr. King or some other place to start.

Another great option would be reading or watching "A Raisin in the Sun". This story has close to home implications for me as the story actually took place between where I live and where I work.

The neighborhood I live in is called Woodlawn. In the 40's it was an all white neighborhood. At this time the community was at the south end of the rapidly expanding and horrendously overcrowded black south side (called the Black Belt or Bronzeville). The neighboring white neighborhoods made what were called "restrictive housing covenants" to cooperatively agree to keep blacks out of the neighborhood.

The Hansberry family bought a place at 6140 South Rhodes. (Our building is on the corner of 61st street and Eberhart -- one block West of Rhodes). They faced incredible

neighborhood persecution (terrorism, racism, zealoutry, bigotry. .. whatever you want to call it it was extreme!). Thier daughter Lorraine Hansberry wrote a play to tell the story of the families expeience mainly leading up to the decision to move in and the play (A Raisin in the Sun) became the first Black written play on Broadway.

Ultimately the Hansberry's fought in court (Hansberry vs. Lee) and went all the way to the supreme court, winning a victory against these racist housing covenants.

This past Monday night a made-for-TV movie aired staring Phylicia Rashad and Sean (Diddy) Combs. I thought the performances were extremely compelling and mid way through the show I read aloud to my wife the poem by Langston Hughes called "A Dream Deferred" from which the title comes. Given the intensity of injustice and hardship permeating the the Black American experience, the Hughes poem drips with a rich texture that rings true. Combs and the movie also captured this truth in rich imagery -- heartbreakingly so.

Here is the poem.

A Dream Deferred, by Langston Hughes.

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

City of . . . immigrants

2008-02-22T21:09:00.002-06:00

I need to let everyone know that I took the name of my blog (which may change!) from a Steve Earle song called "City of Immigrants". I don't know any other song by him. . .never heard of him before this but love the song.

It captures the beauty, wonder, complexity and variegated face of the urban world.

Here are the Lyrics and check out the music on Rhapsody.

Livin’ in a city of immigrants
I don’t need to go travelin’
Open my door and the world walks in
Livin’ in a city of immigrants

Livin’ in a city that never sleeps
My heart keepin’ time to a thousand beats
Singin’ in languages I don’t speak
Livin’ in a city of immigrants

City of black, city of white, city of light, city of innocents
City of sweat, city of tears, city of prayers, city of immigrants

Livin’ in a city where the dreams of men
Reach up to touch the sky and then
Tumble back down to earth again
Livin’ in a city that never quits

Livin’ in a city where the streets are paved
With good intentions and a people’s faith
In the sacred promise a statue made
Livin’ in a city of immigrants

City of stone, city of steel, city of wheels constantly spinnin’
City of bone, city of skin, city of pain, city of immigrants

[All of us are immigrants
Every daughter, every son
Everyone is everyone
All of us are immigrants
Everyone]

Livin’ in a city of immigrants
River flows out and the sea rolls in
Washin’ away nearly all of my sins
Livin’ in a city of immigrants

Evil's 2 victories

2008-02-19T14:59:00.005-06:00

From The End of Memory, Remembering rightly in a violent world by Miroslov Volf.

"To triumph fully, evil needs two victories, not one. The first victory happens when an evil deed is perpetrated; the second victory, when evil is returned".

As I read about and explore the issues of justice this year, I am drawn to consider things surrounding the subject including forgiveness, reconciliation, and grace. Volf has written among the most compelling work on reconciliation I have ever read in his book Exclusion and Embrace.

In the book quoted above Volf is exploring what it means for someone to remember who has been hurt while maintaining the goal of neither hating the perpetrator nor disregarding him or the event but of actually doing what Christ has done: Love your enemy.

Fredrick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr and others would agree with Volf's premise that we tear the fabric of our own souls and wound ourselves beyond that which has been inflicted on us when we seek retribution. Volf suggests that it is a "given of the Christian faith" that we must pursue justice but ultimately move beyond it for the sake of love of one's enemy.

discipleship: what difference does it make?

2008-02-18T17:36:00.004-06:00

At the risk of asking a really obvious question, I would like to ask the most important changes in your life as a result of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

What knowledge, attitude, values and skills would you say are a direct outcome of your walk with Christ?

How do you behave differently?

How has the condition of your life improved?

Can we be Christians first?

2008-02-14T21:18:00.005-06:00

I've gotten several emails forwarded to me lately from family and friends that are really troubling. Some of them have come asking for my thoughts, others have asked for my support.

One of the most troubling is about Obama. I've gotten this email several times. . . you know what it says: he is secretly a muslim, he attends a wacky church that is so pro-black and pro-Africa that it is "scary" to imagine him as president. His dad belongs to a sect that is terrorist and his mom is an Atheist.

Another one is about how George Bush is going to sign a document giving all illegal aliens social security benefits. I've gotten this one a few times too.

The problem with each of them is the thoughtlessness and lack of any semblance of Christian patterns of thought, spiritual scrutiny or biblical insight. While I could easily wax eloquent about either topic, I hesitate because the more you discuss these topics (especially immigration or political candidates) you are immediately thrust into partisan political debate -- somewhere that I prefer not to go until AFTER I have a strong sense of what a biblical perspective is or at least what biblical categories of consideration ought to be brought to the fore, prior to making strong assertions of a political nature.

It seems to me that contrary to mainstream American values, biblical wisdom indicates that we ought to be slow to speak (i.e. slow to pronouncements about political propositions) and quick to hear (i.e. taking a long time to listen carefully). These are principles that are contrary to the media and political processes. But they are central to our body, community, family! This is particularly true in cross-cultural settings, something that God is taking us toward as a planet in a rapid way.

I'll give you 2 examples from the recent emails I referred to earlier. Anyone who calls themselves a Christian and forwards the Obama email should realize that the scorn heaped on his church is equally heaped on us. We are with him under that scorn. you may think at first that the ridicule is on him for the Black focus and nature of the church, but the the heart of the scorn is that the church actually believes the gospel. (look carefully at their website and you will find that they recommend books by white authors and that affirm people -- not just black people). (Here is an article in CT in which Obama addresses his faith specifically).

The anti-illegal alien email is just as anchored in fear mongering as is the anti-Obama email. there is a phrase in the email that says we should give them "no free services". does this mean, as it suggests, that pregnant women who don't have legal access should not be granted medical care? what about thier children? I think the email means what it says: don't give them ANYTHING.

What is the biblical position on how we are to treat strangers and aliens? I know this sounds radical, but can we please be Christians first in our thinking about these subjects and our examination of political candidates and issues prior to being partisan?

Comments

2008-02-11T14:41:00.000-06:00

I have opened the site to comments. . . actually i have tried this about 4 times but think I have finally figured it out. . . so, for those who have been reading and emailing. . . thanks, but feel free to use the comment function if you'd like!!

Camp Illiana

2008-02-10T16:14:00.001-06:00

I had a great time this weekend at Camp Illiana. I was privileged to be invited to speak to college groups from around the State of Indiana about God's heart for the poor.

We did 4 sessions:

1. God's heart for the poor (Ps 113) and for the city (Jerm 29)
2. A regular dose of the gospel energizes mercy (and makes Christ visible). (Matt 18 and Luke 6)
3. Remember the gospel. . . Rom 3; Re-evaluate our wealth (1 Tim 6)
4. Reconciliation through the "likemindedness" of Phillipians 2. (a first step in making justice issues personal).

I am grateful that a number of the students will be joining us for a week of Bridge Builders missions experience in Chicago this spring. I was also really encouraged to hear from various members of the group that had attended BB in previous years that through their experience God led them to encourage students to move in the city, take on new majors in school and find other effective ways to remain committed to mercy/justice issues in their ministry and life.

Thanks for allowing me to come and may God grant us a heart that clings to the cross, doesn't shrink from suffering, and pursues justice and mercy out of gratitude.

Not the way its supposed to be. . .

2008-02-08T09:50:00.000-06:00

Cornelius Plantinga Jr. wrote a book by the above title on Sin. It is a very helpful book in exploring what sin is, how it functions, how others have understood it. In closing the book (or perhaps I am remembering this from an interview with the author some place) Plantinga suggested that the book longed for a follow up with a book on Grace.

As I am now reading about the subject of Justice and trying to understand it within a biblical framework, the title of Plantinga's book came to my mind. Justice is fundamentally about "The way its supposed to be". Sin and injustice are very closely related and its easy to see that using the question or even "sense" of what is supposed to be.

It should come as little suprise that the root words in the NT for righteousness and justice are interchangeable. The greek word is dikiaos and is translated both as justice and righteousness. Here are some interesting definitions (from crosswalk.com online lexicon):

1. in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God

2. the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God

3. integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting
in a narrower sense, justice or the virtue which gives each his due

So Justice is (a) the condition acceptable to God and (b) the virtue which gives each his due.

How is justice doing on your block?

Too Hot to Handel. . .

2008-02-06T17:51:00.000-06:00

Paula and I went to a jazz and gospel rendition of Handel's Messiah last week. It was quite an experience hearing "unto us a child is born" with scat and swing! The first half was truly remarkable even though we had the sense they were just warming up.

The second half was a disappointment, however, as the arrangements made us think that whoever did them was clearly not a believer. "We all like sheep" was done in a very upbeat jazzy, party style tempo.

The remarkable thing about jazz, blues and gospel is the range of emotion AND content that it can support. This has been a part of my own great appreciation for living in an African American community and learning so much from the culture and tradition. I am still a presbyterian at heart and being in a black Baptist church constantly challenges my own sense of emotion about various messages. (can ya feel it??!!)

So while I likely often appear to be a frozen chosen one amidst a sea of openly celebratory faces, I love the way the message of Christ and His gospel is made viscerally relevant. We should be emotional about God's goodness, His provision, and His glory! Jazz, gospel and the blues has the ability to support this important content and make it live.

But. . . in Too Hot To Handel the song of mourning (we all like sheep have gone astray. . . each of us has turned to our own way) upbeat jazz was just the wrong form. A song of lament could have been carried by either gospel or blues in a way that delivered a crushing sense of truth to this. The repentant and sorrowful voice should have replaced the party-boy that we heard at the show.

Still, it was such a great intersection of Western culture and African American tradition that I was glad we went.

The pain of ministry in transition. . .(a bit more on Sunshine Cove)

2008-02-04T16:46:00.000-06:00

Our pastor had the following thing to say yesterday in church:

"Today you are either coming out of a trial, in a trial or about to begin a trial. . . why do I know this is true? Because that is life. . . "

He was teaching about trials and how God uses them in our lives. It was an apt point of consideration for me to think about the process of camping ministry at Sunshine.

12 years ago my wife and I were finishing Moody and had a clear calling into ministry . . . we were headed for a field of ministry called Christian Camping. The main point for me was that I sensed God's leading in my life to teach the scriptures and I wanted to do it in a context that allowed for something beyond what I saw in pastoral ministry . . . something where you really have time to get folks away from their normal context and spend quality time together in God's word. Camping was that context.

After a year in an internship in north-central Wisconsin at Camp Forest Springs, we were called by our home church (Covenant Presbyterian Church of Chicago) to return to the city and investigate the potential for starting a new camp from scratch, somewhere within 2 hours of Chicago. Our conclusion was that most quality camps were (a) full most of the year and (b) a LONG drive from Chicago. Through this process of investigation I met Dana Thomas, Executive Director of Sunshine Gospel Ministries.

I shared with Dana my vision for running a quality camp and a key part of that vision: working with inner-city kids. Dana responded favorably and explained that his organization (Sunshine Gospel Ministries) owned a camp (called Camp Sun-Chi-Win) that the board was debating about how to develop or sell.

Dana loved the idea of camp but his focus was on growing the city ministry. We visited the camp and immediately fell in love with the place. We decided that this was where God was calling us but felt that the camp should really be a separate organization to have the appropriate amount of attention from the board. So we asked Sunshine's board to give it to us.

As a point of discussion we decided it would be good to call it something else. Since we were currently working with Covenant Pres we drafted a proposal and called the new organization "Sunshine Cove". The board turned us down on the idea of giving camp away but Dana encouraged us to consider coming on staff and pursuing the vision of camp under Sunshine's auspices. Over a period of a year or so the Lord led my family to join the staff at Sunshine to essentially restart a property and camp that was all but abandoned. We saw huge potential!

So we packed up our 4 little kids and moved into a frozen, leaking, drafty, wobly old mobile home parked squarely in the middle of camp. I quickly learned a few things about plumbing and tested the limits of existing knowledge about carpentry and caulk. (Can you caulk 1" wide seams??)

The following 2 years are a blur as we ran short camps, fixed things, raised funds, fixed things, networked with new churches, fixed things, got to know the neighbors, fixed things. . . . you get the idea. It was a massive investment in a place God had long been at work with an eye toward many more years of living and working and ministering there. Years earlier one of Sunshine's camp directors died on the property . . . I pretty much expected the same.

Then in the early part of 2001 Dana Thomas resigned his role as Executive Director. By then we'd recruited 7 staff and had a lot of momentum invested in getting camp moving ahead. I felt that it was pretty much my duty to throw my hat in the ring to be the new E.D -- even though I knew that likely meant the end of the dream for me personally and that one day I would need to return to the city.

I commuted for 3 years from camp to the city before arriving at the conclusion that God was calling me and my family back to the city. I was meeting with a local pastor who was not very involved in neighborhood ministry and became very frustrated with his lack of readiness to engage the community. . . I realized he wasn't ready to move and I was. So that night I drove back to Michigan and told my wife Paula, I sensed it was time to return to Chicago. This time to live in the community we were being called to serve.

God had drawn my heart away from camp and back to the city. But my children and my colleagues who remained at camp. . . their sense of calling and their heart for ministry remained at camp. The challenge in this has been that I love camp and my kids and my colleagues. Yet just as when I was interviewed by the board 12 years ago I suggested that the camp would be better off separate from the city ministry, I still believe this is so. Furthermore, now that I have been changed through the fires of urban ministry, racial reconciliation, seeing God's passion for the city, wrestling with issues of mercy and justice. . . I find that the demand for real leadership it takes to run camp actually detracts from the intensity and demand for leadership here in the city.

So I am incredibly torn. I visited camp with the kids about 3 weeks ago and was overcome with emotion at the idea of selling camp. It is just crushing. Yet if I consider the role of our mission in steering our focus of time, prayers, finances, I know that separating the camp from the city ministry is the wise thing to do.

I am glad for Sunshine's highly committed board of directors who have prayed and agonized about various decisions. The current board has wrestled with various options for months. Previous boards have wrestled with the options for camp for decades. I, for one, trust God to work through them and am glad that no one person, myself included, can or would make such monumental decisions.

God has blessed Sunshine with about 50 years of camping ministry which we were blessed to operate ourselves. In recent years the leading and blessing of God has been directed back in the city. We have a new building, an expanding reach, a new community, a growing missions program and outreach and the list could go on. The pain of seeing camp go does not mean that the impact of camp was not meaningful . . . it was life changing for thousands. It also does not mean that camp will not continue to be a transformational tool used by Sunshine.

But it is still exceedingly painful. Fortunately God meets us in our trials and his grace is sufficient to sustain us through the trial.

(For an article explaining what the board decided regarding camp visit the Sunshine Gospel Ministries blog.)

Nope, I'm not dead.

2008-01-15T15:05:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the long delay in updating the blog. I have been getting pestered, almost threatened, so I take that as a good sign.

On the family front we have moved in, celebrated 4 birthdays, our anniversary, plus Christmas and New Years! Between Dec 31 and Jan 1 I wired the second floor AC and on Jan 2 I put in my first oak stair way. We will have to push pretty hard during the next 2-3 weeks to wrap up 2 bath installations, finish the exterior siding and lights, detail some of our cabinetry, install about 10 doors and then start on the trim work. . . details are not my strong suit but that is where we are at this point!

On the ministry front I have been loving a new bible sent to me by a friend in the bible biz (thanks BP!). It is an ESV translation that is bound like a journal (hardback with one of those elastic straps that holds it shut) and room to write on all pages, but with no notes. I am going to make this my study bible for the year and concentrate on considering Biblical Justice from front to back.

As I have mentioned earlier, I believe that attention to mercy (something all Christians are wired and called for) inevitably leads to a conversation about justice. So what is justice and what is our role in seeing justice and peace roll down?

Can you have peace (even the peace of Christ) without concern for Justice?

But if anyone has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? (1 John 3:17).

Rescue Crew from Elmbrook!

2007-12-05T18:44:00.000-06:00

I am so greatful for the help I got from a handful of people over the past 2 weeks. First, my father in law came during Thanksgiving (THANKS TOM!!) and helped with many small tasks to get the drywall going. These finishing touches on electrical, plumbing, ductwork, and carpentry were all things within his ability.

Then we had the Crepensiks and Mark Wilson come and put in the underlayment for the kitchen tile (Thanks guys!)

Finally a crew from Elmbrook Church in Wisconsin came downa dn helped get the hardwood going, set a new rear door and start the stairs and banister project. Since Saturday I have completed the hardwood, wrestled with 3 fautly and 1 successful paint sprayer (see Mr. White guy) and gotten the kitchen tile in (mostly). I hope to finish the tile tonight.

Then comes kitch cabinet assembly, wiring the outlets on first and second floor, finishing the stairs, and lots and lots of trim.

Living in the Rift

2007-12-05T18:29:00.000-06:00

One of our neighbors left me a message last week saying “Hi Joel, a reporter from the Chicago Tribune would like to visit with us at the ministry center about the recent murders in the community and the rift they evidence.” I knew what she was talking about, we had discussed it at a staff meeting the previous day. The whole thing had me thinking about the parable of the good Samaritan and Micah 6:8. Let me first tell you what happened.

The most recent murder in the neighborhood was a tragic scene (as they all are) that occurred midway between our ministry center and my home. Amadou Cisse was a young Senegalese student at the University of Chicago. He was killed by a few young men looking for some money. 3 weeks previously he had successfully defended his dissertation for his PhD, but with one gunshot wound to the chest his brilliant life was brought to an end.

People of reputation responded. The police, local politicians, and media (local and national) responded strongly. We have a new police station set up with 24 hour monitoring as a result just a few blocks from here. It was covered nationally and locally. Community bulletins were circulated. Money was raised for the family in Senegal. The case was pursued and the culprits were apprehended. A well attended memorial was held and the doctoral degree awarded posthumously. A good overall response to a serious calamity.

What stings about the whole thing, however, is that Mr. Cisse’s murder wasn’t the first one this summer. It was just the first one that “counted”. A few weeks ago the body of Theresa Bunn (21 and pregnant) was found burnt and stuffed in a dumpster 4 blocks from here. A few weeks before that 2 people were shot and killed. A month or so before that a 14 year old young man was murdered a block from the home of one of our staff members. But none of these were students at a prestigious university. None of them bore a reputation. Therefore none of them garnered comparable attention or proactive response.

In Luke 10 Jesus tells about a man of no reputation, beaten and left for dead. Those who came along had means to respond but didn’t. Then a Samaritan man (a man of ill-repute!) came along and saw the beaten man as a neighbor worthy of response, worthy of love, worthy of attention. The Good Samaritian responded in a personally costly way to someone no one else wanted to help and in a way that was virtually invisible to the outside world.

It is interesting to me that in this story Jesus was not primarily asking his disciples to come up with a crime prevention strategy (there is a place for that and people to do it!) but rather to be Micah 6:8 people. To LOVE MERCY and give it in abundance, especially to those of no reputation, those who are outcasts, those who you never hear about or from. Our neighbors.

As we pursue our calling to live out the principles of Micah 6:8 and Jeremiah 29:7 here in the city we needn’t become hardened toward those of reputation who respond vigorously to others of reputation in need. Instead we must thrive at responding to those of no-reputation with loving-kindness and even those of ill-repute with great mercy.

(The Tribune article that was written as a result of the reporters visit is at this
link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-trice_03dec03,0,6589395.column )

Joel Hamernick
Executive Director
Sunshine Gospel Ministries

312.446.7264

Love Mercy. Do Justice. Walk Humbly.

Is this the last load?

2007-11-27T12:17:00.000-06:00

This little truck has experienced a ton of work. I made a trip with Jared last night at about 10:30 to get the mud and tape. We decided to head to Home Depot on Clybourn so that makes 5 different Home Depots that have been used in the making of this production. No Home Depot carts were seriously hurt.

After about 15 trips hauling 20 sheets of drywall each time this load was the mud. . .

6am this morning. . . Ismael the tape guy. . .

Let the mud slinging begin!

How much does drywall weigh? Too Much.

2007-11-20T11:08:00.000-06:00

I am pushing to get the drywall done . . . by LAST week. So, hopefully at least by this week! Here are photos of the 3rd floor which is about 50% done and the kitchen which is now drywalled.

Wall-a-Wall-a

2007-11-15T23:52:00.000-06:00

Well, I didn't get as far as I'd hoped today but I did get some of the detail work done on the drywall -- around the bay window and up the stairs. I hoped to finish Caleb's room but only got part of it done.

Also had a plumber visit today. Good guy but still expensive. still working on this as far as planning. Will I get the home ready to live in by Dec 1st for Jared and I? By Dec 10th for the rest of the fam?

Stewardship of Suffering

2007-11-14T21:17:00.000-06:00

What does it mean for us to suffer? Does our suffering have meaning? Since no one is sticking flaming spears into my extended armpit, does my pain count as suffering? Since I am a member of a privildged class and race, does my suffering bear meaning? Am I just feeling sorry for myself? I think these are all questions that many of us wrestle with when it comes to considering so many different things in which we experience pain but wonder if it is "real" pain or "relevant" pain. For those of us who sense that our culture is perhaps overly pre-disposed to find theraputic answers, we bite our tongues and bear it.

Unlike previous generations -- those who bore the pain of WWII and could never bring themselves to discuss it with their children. . . that generation in which men found it difficult to say "I love you" to thier kids -- we are more expressive than those who've gone before us. But our relative comfort has left us wondering if we actually suffer, or if we are just having a pity party.

I have become convinced that one of the aspects of our "wealth", one of our gifts from God, one of the very real aspects of what it means to be ambassadors of Christ, members of the body of Christ, brothers and sisters is the gift of the capacity to suffer.

Now obviously all people suffer. But as Christians we know that Christ causes "all things to work together for good for those that love the Lord" and this includes our suffering. We have been granted the joy of knowing that our suffering is not in vain. It is a witness to the love of Christ. As John Piper has said: the suffering of Christ was propitiatory, the suffering of Christians is proclamatory.

Furthermore, we have the capacity to enter into the suffering of others. For many of us our suffering is primarily the bi-product of others -- we enter into the pain of those God has put around us. Children. Friends. Neighbors. Family. Strangers.

Often this simply means sitting. . . .listening. . . honoring. The more you do this the more you realize the very real pain of others. When I say "realize" I mean "experience in a learning way, a way that helps others to see that the pain they experience is in fact real. We help others with our own question. Is my pain real? Yeah, I feel it too. Is my pain meaningful? Absolutely. Do I know exactly how it is meaningful or what the meaning is? No. that has yet to be fully realized.

First Corinthians 12:

22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

One more for the day

2007-11-14T00:12:00.000-06:00

One more post for the day. . . (couldn't resist the shots of Corban and Caden on pajama day at school!)

I have been working for the past week on drywall. As a friend once told me: Gravity is your friend. Well, I am sore enough to suggest that some days, a little less gravity would be great.

Since my wife and family are in Florida and staying away for a month I am posting these before getting and posting all the interim photos so they can check it out and see that I am NOT loafing.

They are gone for a month during which time I need to get this place literally ready to live in . . . by Dec 8th. And, I and Jared need to move out of our current home by Dec 1st. So I guess I actually need to have it ready for mankind by Dec 1st. I hope to finish drywall on 1st and 2nd floor by the end of this week. Here are some photos:

The last shot with the peace sign is for Caleb. Caleb, that's your room!! At least it has a ceiling. . .

H'nick Abode in process

2007-11-14T00:07:00.001-06:00

We have had literally hundreds of volunteers at our home over the past 6 months. I will try to add posts and photos as I collect them from groups that have been in. If you have some photos please send them to me!

Here are some good shots of Westminster tearing out the flooring on the second floor.

A comment on the "before" photos

2007-11-13T23:54:00.000-06:00

Did you notice the diagonal line in the living room wall photo? This is from a stair way that used to enter into the living room.

In the before photos of the front of our home you will notice 2 front doors. The one on the right was added sometime after 1950.

Like so many buildings in our community, during a time of high density, overcrowding, etc... a home designed for one family was divided into multiple living units. We are "deconverting" the unit, as the city calls it.

There are literally thousands of empty lots in our community -- most are from buildings that simply wore out and were torn down. This traces directly back to a time when the city was cordened off in specifically racist ways --- the black community there and no where else. "Restrictive housing covenants" they called it. (look up the Hansberry case on wikipedia!! the Hansberry's lived in our neighborhood, one block from the Sunshine building! Raisin in the Sun!)

There are at least 10 lots on our block in which buildings didn't survive. Why did this home survive?

H'nick Abode Before (2)

2007-11-13T23:43:00.000-06:00

I finally found the photos that I took inside before our project began. It is interesting to look at them and think about how much work has gone on since then. It is also interesting because when I look at some of the photos I think "hey, that didn't look so bad. . . did we really HAVE to do all that we've done?!!" and then I think about the termite and water damage that we found and the change in layout once the chimney and numerous walls were removed. Yup, we had to!

A New Cityview

2007-11-04T09:07:00.001-06:00

I am preaching at Cityview Presbyterian Church in the west loop nieghborhood in Chicago today. One of the topics that I am touching on is how we see the city as believers. I would like to develop this thought with input from others. Here is a summary of the concept.

Assumptions:

1. Most of the places that God is readying his Bride are urban
2. Most of the places that God is calling his church to start new works are NOT racially homogeneous.
3. Most of the places that God is directing his people to proclaim his cause are NOT isolated, but densly populated.
4. Most of these places have high levels of poverty – the poor will be with you in these places.

Why do I suggest that this is true:

1. God has clearly called his people to start new works, proclaim his name, and live for him among the nations of the world – and the nations of the world, most of the people in the world now live in the cities of the world.
2. Most of the 70 million annual migrants to the cities of the world are poor – squatters in fact.
3. The isolated SUB-urban communities that many of us have experienced or perhaps view as the “real” American dream are rapidly being urbanized in the sense that as gentrification happens in the urban core, the racial diversity and presence of the poor in the SUB-urbs is growing rapidly. In America, the inner-city is moving the burbs.

I won't elaborate here but outline a distinction between what I think too many of us generally think about the city as opposed to what my above assumptions should call us to in A New Cityview:

Average Cityview
Negative, “user” mentality (I hate this place, especially the traffic but I'll drive through, go shopping and get out!)
Overwhelming
Temporary (I’ll put up with this for a while)
Optional involvement
A place for some fun

New City View:
The city and the believer as mutually redemptive
The city as a place calling and instilling a deeper dependance on God
A place of identity for the Bride of Christ
A place of calling for believers
A place of Joy

H'nick Abode Before

2007-11-01T08:35:00.000-06:00

Here are some photos of what we started with. The exterior structure in the front was and is in good shape. It was originally single family home built in 1888, during the era of the Worlds Columbia Exposition.

During the 1950's (aprox), like most of the housing stock in the community, the home was divided up to serve multiple families (notice the 2nd front door). For the past 50 years or so the Franklin family lived here, raising their children who attended neighborhood schools. Mrs. Franklin had the roof done and new windows put in in recent years but found the interior repairs that were needed to be too much for her.

The rear portion of the home was added after the original construction. We found papers in the walls of this addition dating back to the 1930's so it is still pretty old! Above the brick (painted green) is an old 3-season porch that was rotted away. We had to tear it off, including the 1st floor ceiling.

The back area used to have a garage, only the pad is left which is pretty much totaly broken up at this point. We hope to rebuild a garage some day. The fact that the home has a side yard is an incredible blessing in the city. Our young kids and dog are very excited about it!

The Hamernick Abode

2007-11-01T08:20:00.000-06:00

During the past 9 months the hamernicks have been working on rehabbing a home in our neighborhood. As a family of 10 (7 kids, 2 adults, 1 home-school helper!) we are quite tight in our current 3 bedrooms plus laundry room. So in February we were blessed to be able to buy a 120 year old house that needed to be gutted and have been working on it ever since. (serious termite and water damage!)

As usually happens with these projects it has taken longer than we'd planned and is costing more (gulp!) but we are anticipating a home in the community that will be a tremendous blessing and create both a bit more family space but also a great place for ministry itself.

I am working to collect a series of photos from the hundreds of people that helped with the demolition of the interior in particular so if you were here and have photo evidence, I'd love to see it!

God's Economy Indexed to Obedience, not Performance.

2007-10-31T09:06:00.000-06:00

Quoting John Hayes from "Sub-merge" p 92:

"[Deuteronomy 15:11] is a very important verse for twenty-first-century Christians who are motivated primarily by success. Essentially, God clarifies that we will never win the war on poverty. But he goes on to command that we should pursue the battle vigorously. For us this feels like a paradox. Why fight a battle you can't win? But to God, His commands are not contradictory; His economy is indexed to obedience, not performance. We have found this verse to be critical in our spiritual formation as we attempt to wean ourselves from performance and make our incentive biblical obedience."

The verse that Hayes references is the one quoted by Jesus in Matt 26:11, when he says "you will always have the poor with you". Often in Hayes (and my) experience people take this to mean that you can't do anything about the poor, so don't worry too much about it. But this is the opposite of what the verse actually intends.

What I appreciate about Hayes quote above is that he has touched on our tendency to only want to respond to that which we can "fix". We want our ministry, our giving, our counsel, even our evangelism to be effective and efficient on our own terms -- otherwise we don't want to give them. It seems like such a waste, like pouring money down the drain. Like shining a flashlight at the sun. There is just no point.

Back in June I mentioned Luke 6:30: "Give to everyone who begs from you. . . " All summer I have been working on taking Jesus at his word on this one. There is an unbelievable amount of nuance in the lessons learned from this. At the top of the list is this: Jesus could not possibly have had in mind that you give to people, in obedience to God, in order to fix their problems.

So what is the point then? I have figured out that the obedience is about my walk and my character and how I value or understand my own wealth (time, money, insight, etc..) and how I look at others. The result has been spiritual growth for me. A rather simple sort of obedience in my life this summer has trumped my natural tendency to prefer efficiency and effectiveness. I have problably given away $100 to $150 since June. (what do you do when someone asks for money and all you have is a $20? Yep, sometimes you get mad and give it to them; sometimes you lie and say you don't have any money; then you vow to NEVER leave the house without plenty of change and $1's!!).

As someone steeped in a past decade of presbyterianism and reformed theology, committed to God being a God of order and decency, I have been seeing again this summer how my sense of effeciency and effect and giving only to what can be "fixed" is opposed to God's call to obedience. Lavish obedience. Lavish Kindness. Lavish Mercy.

What is a "dangerous" neighborhood?

2007-07-18T20:57:00.000-06:00

I am reading Mary Pattillo's book Black on the Block. In the final chapter on violence she discusses briefly the concept of what makes a neighborhood dangerous or at least what causes it to be percieved as such.

Pattillo follows Sally Engle Merry by primarily considering the issue of danger around the concept of the "unknown". Contexts in which we don't know what to expect leave us fearful. We don't know how to expect people to act. That sense of unknown makes us fearful.

I think there is great merit in this. Often the various public housing communities in Chicago are labled as dangerous neighborhoods, yet in 8 years of regularly being in and around such communities I have never been physically harmed or threatened.

I read an article in the Chicago Tribune last year (I wish I would have saved it!) that compared two suburban communities. One black, one white. Other than race very similar demographics (median income, age of community, density, etc...) but the crime was higher in the white community but percieved to be higher (or presumed or prejudged to be) in the black community. This of course caused the appreciation of the real estate in the white (higher crime, more dangerous) community to far out strip the black (lower crime, safer) neighborhood.

So in my experience that the concept of a dangerous community is often more about perception that reality -- and labeling communities that way is unnecessary and harmful. When I discuss such areas with people from the burbs I often use positive descriptors of the community as follow up to the "dangerous" labels that my interlocuter has posited. Usually this changes their language to somewhat neutral and they seem to realize thier own lack of awareness of what actually goes on there.

Then again, there are truly high crime areas, high crime blocks, high crime corners. But on and around those corners are young children growing up. There are people celebrating, laughing, loving, spending time together. In other words to someone those places are home -- not "that dangerous place".

So what is a dangerous neighborhood? First, in Christian terms I have to say that it is a place in which people live -- "Beings" then who are by definition created in the image of God and therefore worthy of lables of dignity. Second, it is fair to say that these places are usually places that are widely misunderstood, marginalized and ignored. Third, they are places in which people reside who did not "make the neighborhood" that way. Fourth, they are usually places of rich and nuanced history combined with a crushing wieght of "the forces that be". Finally, again in Christian terms, they are places where sinners live, as is every other place.

Is there a movement more radical in US history than the Civil Rights movement?

2007-07-07T14:19:00.000-06:00

There are many things in Charles Marsh book "The Beloved Community" that were new and challenging to me. Perhaps the thing that most jumped off the page at me was the way in which he described the work of Dr. John Perkins as substantively more radical than the civil rights movement.

This was not an off the cuff statement. The entire book traces what the subtitle suggests: "How faith shapes social justice from the civil rights movement to today". Marsh looks closely at the work of Dr. King, Clarence Jordan (Koinonia Farm) and SNCC. He looks at the way in which the ideas and dreams of beloved community that each of these held dear essentially died in the years following Dr. King's assassination.

He also traces Dr. Perkins work in a way that highlights his long standing work within the civil rights movement. Perkins brother was shot unnecessarily by a local law enforcement officer in the south and died in his arms because local medical rules and authorities perferred Jim Crow to mercy. They delayed treatment until it was too late. Perkins was jailed, beaten and persecuted as were other civil rights workers.

But Perkins work for equal rights was energized by his understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through years of toil and a longstanding committment to the poor, Perkins developed 3 guiding principles: Reconciliation. Relocation. Redistribution.

When I read about the civil rights movement and African American history I have often felt a sense that I wish I could have been there. I wish I could have been a part of it, part of doing what was right that most of the US white church evaded, ignored and castigated. Marsh communicates similar sentiments when he says in the acknowledgements: "This book emerges as an expression of gratitude for the courage and conviction of black church people in the South. . . " In other words for Marsh the writing of the book is I think in part an act of repentance and association.

With Dr. Perkins I feel called to work toward the 3 R's. What Marsh has helped me realize is that this 3R vision is a movement whose legacy is squarely rooted in the civil rights but under Perkins thought process is far more radical. Even Dr. King didn't call for middle class people to be reconciled in love with the poor. There was no call for middle class Americans to move back into neighborhoods among the poor. And while the civil rights movement clearly provided a fore-runner to the call for reparations, the person to person movement of those with personal networks, financial and educational resources to open themselves and thier homes to those with less is something that goes beyond even the height and beauty of the civil rights movement.

Dr. Perkins has been a personal hero of mine for many years. I am a member of the Christian Community Development Association (http://www.ccda.org/) which Dr. Perkins and Coach/Pastor Wayne Gordon started many years ago. This international organization's annual conference is among the most exciting events I have ever attended (and remains so year after year). But for all of my study of civil rights and for all of my love for Dr. Perkins, I have never really realized that the joy here is a very real connection to that repentance needed for white evangelicals who missed (rejected) the civil rights era.

(All of the above is in no way meant to be a discredit to the wonder of the civil rights movement or the stature of Dr. King. Marsh speaks with great admiration of civil rights leaders including SNCC and clearly articulates the way in which the entire movements, in all of its parts, were rooted in the black church and in a desire to work for "the beloved community")

Everyone's in the Middle?

2007-06-25T13:07:00.001-06:00

Before dismissing 1 Timothy 6:17ff as being for "those REAL rich people":

I have noticed that no matter how much $ Americans had when they were growing up the tend to see themselves as "middle-class". I know exceedingly wealthy folks who regard themselves as such because they know a handful of folks who have a lot more. Or as someone said to me recently "There is always another Bill Gates around the corner" -- so they must not be "rich".

Then again both in my personal experience with folks who grew up with very little and in reading Mitchell Duneier's book "Sidewalk" you find folks at the other end of the spectrum who won't use the word poor to describe themselves. Partly this is an identity issue (who wants so say they were poor? or rich for that matter?) and partly it is perspective. In a clip from the movie "Killer of Sheep" (regarded by Richard Roeper as the greatest African American film of all time!) there is a man who says (I'll have to paraphrase here) "I ain't poor -- look at so-and-so, he eats grass! that's poor! I ain't poor!"

So no one wants to be regarded as rich. But I'd say that if you live in a household with income greater than $50K annually, and/or if you have (or will have) a college degree, you (and I) are flat out RICH. Check out www.globalrichlist.com for perspective. If you go there and enter your income you will find out what number richest person in the world you are. Most fill find that they are in the top 5%, at least. Probably the top 1%! So if you are among the richest, even 10% of people in the world currently -- and that means you'd be in the top 1 or 2% of the richest people in the history of the world -- I'd say that makes the label "rich" appropriate.

Native Son

2007-06-20T13:38:00.000-06:00

I read Native Son this month. It is basically a historical fiction genre book - but it wasn't called that when it was written. I am not a big fiction reader so I'm not sure about the category, but it does trace the life of a fictional character that could have existed in any one of many US cities during the past 140 years. The book is about an African American man who lives a life of oppression and is almost type cast to commit horrific murder against one or more white people.

Written by the much heralded Richard Wright, it captures in agonizing detail the life of Bigger Thomas during the period of a few weeks. Bigger is based on a number of men and boys that Wright new growing up in the South during Jim Crow. The story is set in late 1930's Chicago -- amidst the slums of the black ghetto.

I live just off of 46th street about 3 blocks from "4605 South Drexel", the location of the home in which Bigger worked and committed his initial crime (we live on the black side of the "color line" spoken of in the book -- a line that to this day remains intact). This was definitely a hook for me as the primary characters travel around my home and community. The park that they drive around in for 2 hours (Washington Park) separates my home from our ministry site and I drive those roads daily.

It will take some time for me to process the book and its lessons or interest for me. I think that besides the geographic setting the interest I have is in seeing the community through the eyes of an African American author. I think to some degree Wright is just "tellin the truth" about the life of an oppressed people. On the other hand "hope" is what sucks the life out of the characters, they live without any joy, and the preacher is just a wishful thinker -- not really a real character. These are all things that I know are core aspects of the community and therefore I think not honestly portrayed.

On the other hand he has a great ability to describe the effects of oppression and injustice to the community as a whole and why a real estate tycoon who gives millions to assist the community he helps oppress is really someone trying in vain to do something helpful -- basically the man is just applying balm to his own conscience, not actually working for change.

The other critique I had was that Bigger was externally void of almost any words or thoughts but internally able to articulate his feelings and sense of the world in masterful prose. Partly I think this was Wrights means of showing how someone who appears to be less than a man externally is actually much more than what he appears. But I kept thinking that the contrast between the Bigger external and internal was too much -- the internal man was Wright himself. Maybe that was his whole point?

Justice & Fish

2007-06-20T08:47:00.001-06:00

Ok, briefly here, a breakdown on approaching justice issues using old proverbial wisdom as an outline:

1. Give a man a fish.
2. Teach a man to fish.
3. Be sure the man has access to the pond and that no one is destroying or polluting it!

Are Christians called to engage at all 3 levels? (Usually we prefer option 2 since it is moderated, efficient, avoiding politics on the one hand and handouts on the other.)

Practical Justice

2007-06-20T08:25:00.000-06:00

I have been reading a book lately called "Practical Justice" by Kevin Blue. I picked up the book because I am not sure what it means as a follower of Jesus Christ to "do justice". I alluded to this in my last entry. Are there categories of justice that we should and should not pursue? Isn't justice a code word for political activism? Isn't political neutrality the real call of the minister? Isn't the separation of church and state essentially biblical (or at least wise)?

Here are a couple of my assumptions: The scriptures are true and reliable. They form a more solid foundation for all of my activity in life than the political leanings of anyone or any system. I neither want to be a simpleton when it comes to reading scripture nor do I want to use my theological or political reflexes (or systems) to undermine what scripture says.

So all that to say that while I don't think we should be afraid to look the scripture and see a call to justice activties (if they are there). Does the bible have much to God's people that call us to justice? Inescapably, yes. Ok, so what does that mean?

My feeling is that we should take our Jesus straight. Don't water him down.
So when Kevin Blue reminded me about Luke 6:30 I was (and still am) pretty unsettled.

Luke 6:30 -- Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

Every one of the 5 or 6 beggers I meet each day? The guys who just broke into my house and stole the keys to my car, house and my kids XBox 360? You've got to be kidding Jesus!

That's crazy. But "read the context" my bible education background responds. That only makes it worse. The context starts in verse 27: "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. (vs. 27-29)

So "taking Jesus straight" on the whole justice issue starts with my willingness to set conventional wisdom aside and obey. So I'm broke this week -- and trying not to get caught with only a $20 in my pocket!

More to follow on categories for thinking about Justice. If I can't swallow this lesson I can't move to the next.