Light

"The real crisis isn’t one night of young men in the street rioting. It’s something perhaps even more inexcusable — our own complacency at the systematic, long-term denial of equal opportunity to people based on their skin color and ZIP code."

 

Nicholas Kristof, "When Baltimore Burned,"

The New York Times, April 29, 2015

those sinners!

Faith, alive and well on inner city streets

Consistently over the years, well-meaning people have asked again and again what we do at CitySquare to "share our faith" with the people we serve.  Again and again, I've tried to explain that the matter and the issues of faith come up again and again in our various workplaces.  The interesting twist, however, is the fact that our neighbors, those who come seeking our assistance in various ways, initiate conversations about spiritual things.

I've learned over the years that "faith" keeps poor folks going.  Most would tell you that faith is about all they have upon which to depend.

One of the latest examples of this reality--it happens numerous times every day--can be viewed in the video below.  I caught this "testimony" out at "the Corner" where I hang out on Thursdays.  What this friend said just erupted from his heart after I asked him how he was doing.

And, I'll say again, it happens all the time in my world.

Action speaks louder than words

About six months after the earthquake that killed twenty thousand people in Gujarat, India, in 2001, I visited there.  The region had been flattened; nearly every house and building had collapsed.  Several of my colleagues and I were there to dedicate the first of hundreds of new houses built through a partnership between Wold Vision, Habitat for Humanity, and USAID.  The resilient Indian people, with some help from outsiders, were beginning to put their lives back together and move on, even though their human losses had been unimaginable to most of us in the West.

During the dedication proceedings, a group of village elders sat just a few yards behind us, observing everything.  They looked like majestic and dignified figures from the pages of National Geographic, with deeply lined faces; long white beards and mustaches; and turbaned heads.  As the event wore on, they were having quite a lively conversation in their local dialect.  They could not have known that one of my colleagues Atul Tandon, had grown up in that very region and understood every word they were saying.

After the ceremony, Atul share with me what he had overheard.  He said the the men were speculating as to why 'these Christians' had traveled thousands of miles across the ocean to help their community rebuild.  They wondered what motivated complete strangers to help them.  They were experiencing the love of God and the kingdom of God in profound ways through the concrete love and action demonstrated by Christians, acting through the Habitat for Humanity and World Vision organizations.

Saint Francis of Assisi understood the power of faith put into action to change the human heart, for it was he who said, 'Preach the gospel always; when necessary use words.'  We had not yet spoken a word in their language, but the village elders had already 'heard' the gospel.

-- Richard Stearns

The Hole in Our Gospel

pages 22-23