when it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town
where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me"
I witnessed one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen this morning. As I sat talking to a man at the Resource Center on Lancaster this morning, I watched as my friend Becca went and got some paper and a pen to sit down with a woman and teach her how to read and write. Um, WOW. That is some radically lovin right there...There was a patience about it all, a geniune care for this woman she had only met a few minutes prior. Yet I don't think she doubted doing it for one minute. That's the character of Christ, unconditional love. You want to know how miracles happen??? Let's talk about how Becca and I were barely even friends in high school. Yet Christ worked on both our hearts for the past year, brought us together on the same beat, and before we knew it we were trying to figure out how to live this thing together. Beautiful, simply beautiful.
I cease to be amazed by the wisdom of those who "have the least" in this world. As much as we have to give to them, we have so much more to learn from them. We've type-casted them on the outskirts of society, yet they are living much more authentic lives than any of us could ever dream of!! The single mom on her own, the homeless man under the bridge, the teenage prostitute trying to support her family, they all impart a wisdom that utters to the heart of Christ. I've really been thinking lately what it would look like for us to become communities of believers again. Now I don't just mean round up all your Christian friends and throw them in a house, I mean like live on the same street as "the least of them." Live out your life alongside them, with them. Yeah it's scary, but do we really have a choice?
"So what must we do?
Here in the west we want to follow you
We speak the language and we keep all the rules
Even a few we made up
Come on and follow me
But sell your house, sell your suv
Sell your stocks, sell your security
And give it to the poor
What is this, hey what’s the deal?
I don’t sleep around and i don’t steal
I want the things you just can’t give me"
This incredible thing is taking place under our feet, under the church buildings, and it's about to happen right before our eyes. It's more than a movement, because we're using more than our feet, it's a revolution, transformed by our hands, feet, eyes, ears, hearts, souls, minds. We're not judging what's behind us, or even what we sit in now, we're just crying out that Jesus demands more, and we desire with all our hearts, soul, and mind to give it to Him. So many of us are groaning for the same things and we haven't even talked before...that's what you call Jesus' righteousness right there. It's not a blueprint, it's not a another set of rules to abide by, it's simply being driven by our hearts, our desire to live our lives as close to the beat of Christ as possible. To hold his children, ALL HIS CHILDREN, against our breast and cry for the same heartache, ache for the same pains, and forgive for the same sins. Let us not forget we are all beggars at the feet of Christ. None of us could ever be worthy of a drop of his righteousness on our own, but that's why we have each other. The bible was first and foremost a communal book, people had to wrestle in it together because there was no other choice. Yet now that it's the most published book in the world, we can keep it to ourselves, or better yet, keep it on the shelves...
"Because what you do to the least of these
My brother’s, you have done it to me
Because I want the things you just can’t give me"
Lord, let us get back to this place of community! Let us wrestle, question, beg, laugh, cry, hunger, toil, beat, and LOVE together once again! Let us shine light upon your Kingdom, the Kingdom that "is upon us", and let us not waste one drop of its glory on anybody but you...
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