genuine thankfulness and genuine service

this saturday my church, quest, hosted a thanksgiving meal for the homeless community. actually, they hosted two meals. a five o'clock and a seven o'clock. over 150 homeless people came and were fed. but it wasn't just about the food. the invitation and the fellowship were instrumental in making the night "a success." the people i talked to were so happy and so appreciative to be there. to see them enjoying each other's company as they ate is what really made it a thanksgiving meal. it was great to be able to sit down with them and hear their stories and talk about their experiences.

but as i think about it a couple days later the thing that strikes me isn't the 150 people served, but the 50 people who volunteered to make it all happen. people were more than willing to come and help. there were more than enough people to set up, decorate, cook, serve, sit and chat, and clean up. i even think pastor deanza had to turn away help because so many people volunteered. people (me included) really wanted to help and be involved. quest is pretty clear about its stance on how believers need to be serving the poor and marginalized and this was a great example of that. not just the meal itself, but the number of people turning out to help for it. but i am still a little concerned...

i guess i kind of fear that we, the numerous volunteers, will look at our contribution, pat ourselves on the back, check off our service to the poor box, and wait until next year to think about how we can serve the homeless again, most likely, via the thanksgiving meal. but when christ talks about providing for the "least of these" it isn't a check a box off kind of service. its a-your heart yearns to provide for the least of these. you understood that serving the destitute was as true of a love for christ as one can find. you didn't do it to ease your conscience, but because you truly understood that christ called us to continually care for the poor. but how do we make caring for those in need part of the fabric of who we are? we need to make it so our heart is always seeking to serve, not just so our minds can feel at ease. but it does start with being intentional, looking to serve, and looking to do it as often as possible. i think part of the answer lies in something i already mentioned. quest cares about the poor and the marginalized. its leadership understands this and there is a core of people who really see christ in those who are in need in the community. lord willing that core becomes a core of 50+. that the social justice and compassion ministry is strengthened by the volunteers growing hearts. that quest members would continue to be encouraged and challenged in their service. that innovation and creativity would continue to spring up. that we would truly understand christ's call to serve the least of these all the time. lord hear our prayer.

books and THE book

lots of thoughts bouncing around in this head of mine. trying to make some connections, trying to create some articulation. i fasted today. it had been a while since i last embraced this spiritual discipline. it was good. still a lot of praying, thinking, discussing, and journaling to be done, but its been a good day. i have been learning a lot lately, it has been good. i am reading a few books right now. jesus for president by shane claiborne, the great emergence by phyllis tickle, rich christians in an age of hunger by ronald j. sider, and i just picked up the cloister walk by kathleen norris but i havent started it yet. its a lot of reading (obviously i don't have a job...yet), its good stuff. but i am realizing more of late its important to be staying in the word too. kind of why i bought the cloister walk...uh...yeah. i wanted to get down with my liturgical self and look into developing some good disciplines.

i was reading jesus for president the other day and shane was talking about creatively responding to Christ's message. and placed prominently placed in these steps for reimagining the world was reading the Bible. not a huge revelation or news flash there, but it struck me. we can be reading all these books about church movements and our roles as christians in this world we live in, but even more importantly is getting truth straight from the word. if we are looking for a creative response then that is huge. in my realization that being a christian is bigger than just being personally disciplined and "having devotions" every day i have lost sight of the simple truth that the Bible is still the most important book i can ever read, a good thing to remember as i seek God's wisdom.

in an uncharacteristic blog move driven in curiousity i want to know what "my blog readers" (aka you few friends and family out there) are reading. leave a comment. how is it? any revelations from it?

imagination and responding to revelation

i heard shane claiborne speak at Quest on sunday. a few random thoughts from it...

-the man is funny
-his southern accent is stronger than i thought it would be
-he speaks with truth (not a surprise)
-he spoke simply
-i wish i could have heard a little more about intentional community from him
-he is a truly humble dude
-its no wonder eugene and he get along. part of what he said was exactly what eugene spoke about that day in church. makes me grateful for great teaching in my community.
-two things i really took from it was first, a call to more imagination in our pursuit to love God and love our neighbor. and second, the simple articulation of something that has been on my mind for some time now-a need for us to respond to revelation.

these two things were the big go-aways for me. we need a creativity in our love, in our response. they are tied very closely together. our convictions and our response. i think we often look around us to see how others are responding to similar convictions or revelations, but i God doesn't say look at others and then love. God/Christ say look at Christ. thing is, Christ lived 2000 years ago, his words remain true, but our context has changed. JC didn't have the internet, cars, cell phones, 21st century culture, or globalization. but he did have the marginalized. he did have neighbors. he did have a Father. and he called us to love those people. we need to be creative and imaginative in how we do that. there are many people out there not doing it well so surely we don't want to copy them. there are people out there doing it well, but is copying them all God wants us to do? we need to learning, we need to be discussing, we need to be imagining, and we need to be responding. for the most part this can be done individually, but i believe for it to be done best, it should happen in community.

i have just been invited to join a "book club." we are reading jesus for president, shane's latest book. i am excited for great discussion, but i am also excited to have intentional time to talk with people who's heart strings are being tugged at in some of the same ways mine are, but as importantly, are being tugged at in different ways as well. it's my hope that we all may grow and that we can imagine even greater things together and then, of course, respond.

a whirlwind week

i returned back to seattle on friday night. it was the end of a crazy week. on monday ric and i woke up early and caught a ride from nh to boston with a friend. from boston we took the megabus to new york and then on to dc. when we arrived in dc my cousins picked us up and we stay at their place in virginia. we spent the next two days checking out dc and adam was able to come down from delaware (where he is serving in the air force) and hang out with us which is really cool. we watched election results* from a bar in georgetown and then on the huge plasma tv that my cousins have. i really enjoyed dc. it was my first time. it was good to see all the things i so long learned about in us history class. it was lots of history, lots of information, and lots of patriotism and pride. a very interesting experience.

from dc we went up to nyc for two days and stayed with our friend beth ann. she lives in spanish harlem, it was sweet. the city is big, needless to say. lots of concrete, lots of famous places. it was good to see it firsthand. it would be cool to go back some time and check out neighborhoods other than manhatten and see what that is like also. it was a good time though. some highlights/cool random parts were visiting jamie in her apartment that overlooks time square and walking along st. marks place with beth ann, ashley, and ric.

it was a long week though. by the end of it my feet, knees, and back were killing me. on friday night i flew from nyc to seattle and had a great weekend. watched arsenal beat man u in a crowded pub on saturday morning, hung out with bk and josh a lot, went to quest with carly and tay, and heard shane claiborne* speak at quest last night. it was a great week and its good to be back in seattle. not sure when i will be interviewing (the big reason i am back in seattle), but it should be soon.

*i will post more about the election and shane claiborne this week, i just needed to write out where i have been, not only so you could know, but also so i could reflect a bit on the experiences as well.