Recently I met with a young lady who has 2 very young children still both todlers and within a year of one another. She is in need of furniture because in her new place in one of the public housing she has nothing. When I went to see her there was a TV and a mattress on the floor, she has been living there for about a month. The story gets better. As I am getting to know her and listening to her story she tells me why she had to leave her last place. The house she was in was condemned because of all of the lead based paint that was found. She did not leave because she wanted to she had to leave because she was not able to afford all of the medical bills from her 2 kids being sick and could not pay the rent. The medical bills were from the lead based paint. For this lady it never stops. She wants better for her and her family but this endless cycle of poverty traps her and she is loosing the battle. By the way she is in her early 20's and life to her seems pretty hopeless.
When I left her house I was heartbroken , how could this happen to her and to her children, then my heartache turned to anger because such things happen in my city every single day. It just does not seem to make any sense. Kids dying from lead based paint poisoning and a lady getting evicted because of her sick children and for what. The system is broken in every sense of the word from top to bottom and the really frustrating part is that there are good people trying to do the right thing but there the problems are so large and the resources few.
Well Church that is where we come in. Either we bring Good News or we don't. I do not mean in a where are you going when you die " Good News " I mean new furniture for this lady, help with her medical bills, walking along side her in this moment, being a presence in her dark places. I am talking about the GOOD NEWS OF SHOWING UP AND WALKING WITH HER. I know that it sounds as if I am coming down hard on the church but from what I have seen thus far the Church and what God is doing in these communities already , before we show up , is really the only Hope we have. We must be the Church , the church that goes to the broken hearted , fights for injustice and seeks to walk humbly with our God and neighbors. This is a call to action, I am not talking about another program I am talking about relationship and solidarity. Martin Luther once said 'Here I stand" maybe the churc has taken that statement a bit to far maybe we should think "There we GO".
