joy

"when all is depressing, hold onto joy"

hold on - cling to - grasp it like a lifeline, let it seep into you, pour down, drench - fill up to overflowing so that it spills over into the darkness around. There is a lot of deeply evil and depressing things going on all around us - this world is such a broken place! how do we continue to be grounded in joy? in the Joy of the Lord... to be at peace. to be still and know that He is God. To pause and look deep into the eyes of a child and smile. let them know they are heard. they are loved. To stop and really listen, rather than multi-tasking a hundred things at the same time... to sip tea and know that we are in this for a the long haul. to not be crushed by the overwhelmedness of that thought.

Life. It's so much more beautiful and complicated, and beautiful in its very complexity, than i usually realize. there is Joy in seeing the beauty. There is joy in the glimpses of the kingdom of Heaven splashing down in unexpected places- where the usual gets turned on its head and healing and restoration - laughter, and community, spring up out of the despairing.

It isn't really something we can force to happen, its more like an attitude - a perspective on everything that happens: it is not about me, but about Christ, and His plan for redemption. we let go, and watch and follow- and in that, whatever may come, there is joy!

thoughts on the vision

As I dream and process about where God is calling me, connecting to EGC and working to end trafficking and engage the larger systems, i wrote out these thoughts below in the car on the way from CT to NY with my family yesterday. I feel it comes closer to what God has been putting on my heart than anything else i've written so far. It's bigger than one group, one city, or issue... its bigger than me - yet God has invited me to join him in it. The quote is from the book Follow Me to Freedom.

so here goes...

“Great leaders emerge. They appear out of, or enter into, the agony and pain and struggle of their day. They meet God somewhere, maybe the backside of a mountain as Moses did, and they get a vision from God. You’ve got to have vision to lead. They get a glimpse of the promise of God. You must be conscious of the fact that God is calling you to carry on the promise. There has to come a time in your pilgrimage when you become conscious that God put you in a specific place, for a specific time and He’s leading you. It’s fearful. It’s painful. It’s too big for you. Moses experienced all of these things. But, like him, you must feel that quiet sense of serenity that God has called you for this moment. It is humbling.”

- John Perkins (follow me to freedom)

so then i asked...

What is the vision? The Vision is Jesus. The vision is hope and light in the darkness- restoration of the broken. JOY and dancing through the streets of bondage and despair. Freedom for each person to be all that God has created them to be, redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

The vision is building up, supporting, illuminating the image of God in others. Seeing each other as Christ sees them – as beautiful, strong, and created for a purpose - beneath the brokenness of worldly circumstances, the oppression, the abuse, the poverty which in Christ will all be washed away.

The vision is healthy community: deep relationships, connectedness and co-dependence – sacrificial love, humility and an openness to learning from each other – across the entire mosaic of national, ethnic, cultural, educational and economical diversity. We are all broken and in need of healing, everyone has something to teach and contribute, and something to learn and receive from others.

The Vision is opening up space to listen and be heard. By sharing ideas and resources of information, we develop a more complete understanding of the interrelated pieces of the systems. We can begin to understand how and why God’s intended system that brings life, gets broken, and produces exploitation such as human trafficking, and leads ultimately to death. Together we can create and explore ways to heal the broken systems, and partner with God in His work of setting the captives free, healing the brokenhearted, justice and reconciliation.

The vision is keeping space open and flexible to allow God to move and guide. To remain humbly ready to adjust our direction as God opens and closes doors, and leads us forward in His work of healing and restoration of the world into right relationship with Him.

beauty of interruptions

Im borrowing the book "follow me to Freedom" by Shane Claiborn and John Perkins from Carol, and sat down to read a bit tonight while i'm doing laundry. Its thought provoking - i like that about Shane.

wanted to share this bit

"Interruptions are a theme in Scripture. We have a God who is continually interrupting us - interrupting our routines, our patterns of inequity, the status quo. Abraham's life was interrupted. Moses' life was interrupted. John's life and my life were interrupted by the Spirit.

The gospels are stories of interruption after interruption. Jesus was at a wedding in Cana when His mother interrupted Him and said "they have no more wine." He had just stepped ashore in a region called the Gerasenes when He was

interrupted by the cries of a demon-possessed man. He was on His way to visit a sick child when a touch on His sleeve interrupted Him and He felt the power go out from Him. The incredible thing is that Jesus was always available and attentive to the interruptions and surprises, like someone who stops to fix a flat tire for a stranded motorist.

Jesus was never so fixed on His vision for the kingdom that He missed the needs of folks right next to him. Sometimes Jesus even gets yelled at for stoping to hang out with the kids. These days, He'd get in trouble in most churches for wasting time with washing feet and drawing in the dirt; after all, there's so much "meaningful" work to be done... like attending board meetings, raising funds for buildings and sitting in on conference calls (wink). Most days, our life in Philly feels like one interruption after another. It is packed with surprises: a knock at the door, an emergency or a kid who wants to show us the first sunflower bud.

It seems these are the very things so many of us want to try to squeeze out of our lives. We love predictability. We don't want anything to alter our course, even if we know there is something beautiful on the other end of the interruption. We'd rather just keep to the daily grind and the meaningless toil that is familiar and humdrum, rather than have our rhythms broken. Yet we have a God who is all about interrupting us. What if we missed the "interruption"?"

~~~~

and i might add- what if these very interruptions ARE the kingdom of heaven coming - they ARE the work that God is doing, and calling us to do. Jesus wasn't frustrated by them, because they were the very work he was called to do. How can we live more like this?

Today a girl came up to me on crutches in the T station. I have seen her before - and she is always making up stories to get people to give her money - often she is in Copley square telling people in a desperate voice that she needs to get home to her dying mother so needs money for the bus... you get the picture.

So, she walked up to me today in Back Bay station asking for a few dollars for a bagel at DDs, and i told her there were lots of shelters around that were serving meals. She said "I don't go to shelters" and i said "Well, they have food" and she gave me an annoyed look and said "yeah ok" as she hopped away on her crutches. Was that loving of me? maybe she needed a bagel. maybe she needs a friend. what if that was an interruption i should have payed a bit more attention to. How much do i value my time and schedule? how much do i value this girl's life and God's heart for her to find Him? enough to pause and actually ask about it? see where she's living, invite her to bible study on tuesday at starlight? maybe even go buy her a bagel. I get frustrated with all the tall tales told to get money to go buy drugs... but i don't want to

become calloused to the genuine brokenness and need for a friend that is there

beneath it all.

Interruptions - they can be so beautiful.

Last weekend when i was in the Bronx with my cousin we were making our w

ay down from the train platform and as the crowds were pushing here and there i mea

ndered my way down, and turned to see that she wasn't right be hind me... and as I looked back up the stairs there she was, helping an elderly lady with her cart, walking backwards step by step down the flight of stairs. With a wave and a smile she came along to join me.

We are merely servants of the King. It is His kingdom - and we are merely called to follow him: to meet the needs of those He tells us to meet, walk along side others in need and weep with them, sacrifice what we have for some, and allow for others to learn a lesson of the beauty of giving.

oh the backwards crazy adventure of God's revolution!