Living Missional in the Burbs..

I have been thinking a lot lately about living in a missional community and what exactly that means. Working in the city I have plenty of chances to live out a missional call, serving alongside people who are different from me. It is great and often I think well maybe it is time to move into town into an under resourced area and live in a missional community in that way. How cool is that to live in that sort of intentional way loving and caring for those around us. But lately I have realized that I am living in a missional community now or at least the potential is there.
Here is what I mean, we intentionally walk around our neighborhood everyday, we say hello to as many people as we can and we actually really like hanging out with our neighbors. We know our neighbors by name and they come over to our house all the time as we go over to theirs. We are now talking about our yearly block party which this summer which will be Epic. We are really trying to live in this community with intentional purpose and offering hospitality to our friends. The truth is that as much as living in the city would be cool , we need community in the burbs too. In fact we need community no matter where we live. As followers of Christ we ought to be those people no matter where we live, we can live in intentional and missional ways without having to move. The truth is that poverty exist everywhere , it may mask itself in different forms but neighbors in need are everywhere. It is just up to us if we choose to answer the call of those in need. Can we offer Christ in such a way that it makes where we live a better place. Where people know one another and share in the journey that is life. I think if we live in such a way we can help bring forth the Kingdom of God even if it is in the burbs. So it is not about where you live but more about how we live. So here is the challenge , do you know your neighbors name, do you know anything about the lady up the street? If not let me offer this advice go for a walk and say hello to those you pass . You will be surprised where those hello will lead you.

What does church really look like...

I heard the story of a lady from one of our community meetings that I would like to share.Last week her church had a fire. So the church decided to cancel Sunday morning services. Fran decided that instead of canceling who ever wanted to come to her house and have church they could. So the Minister came and the the piano player brought a small portable keyboard and made a Sanctuary in her living room. They were not sure if anyone would come, they just planned on the three of them being there. Well one by one they came and Fran ended up with over 100 people in her 2 bedroom house. No place for anyone to sit, so everyone just stood inside, outside on the porch, in the kitchen and worshiped for 2 hours together. Did I mention she lives in the projects. So picture this the gathered community worshiping an all mighty God litterally in one of most under resourced communities in the city.
When I worship I need a good band, comfy seats,good projector and sound system and a well versed message. She just needed the Holy Spirit and 100 of her closest friends gathered in her house. Which one is more like church in Gods eyes ? By the way they are having Sunday School this week before worship in her home. I might just go.

Blessing Day at Embrace Richmond

Martin Luther King Day in Fairfeild Court and Hillside Court

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFXW2e2QA0I

A few weeks ago we had our volunteer appreciation and community celebration in the East End. It is a time where we welcome new residents in the Fairfield Court Housing Community and celebrate our community volunteers who live there. It is a great time of hanging out, getting to know one another and celebrate what God is doing in this community. It is the truest expression of who we are as Embrace Richmond. (Selfish plug) Also during this time we recognize new community members who have joined the Embrace team with a very stylish Embrace t-shirt. This past time we recognized Trudy as the newest member of our team.
Trudy recently started coming to our community gathering and is there faithfully everytime we meet. She gives herself to the work we are doing in community and has a genuine sprit of hospitality. Trudy has a story full of trials and turmoil but still every week she is there and she gives with a servant’s heart. Her son is in jail, she has no job and her mom is in failing health. She has every reason in the world not to give but she gives anyway. So we gave her a t shirt.
When Trudy got her t shirt, you would have thought she just won a million dollars. She had invited her mom to the lunch to watch her get her t shirt and she beamed with pride as we presented her with her very own Embrace T. Believe me when I say the t shirt is cool but not that cool, it was about something more and bigger then a t shirt. Maybe for the first time in her life Trudy felt as if she belongs to something, she is a part of something. Perhaps she feels that she is a part of something that is making a difference in the world and that she is a valued part of that. Whatever the reason she cherishes that t shirt and she belongs with us.
There is something powerful about belonging, about finding a place where you fit, in fact most of spends lots of time and energy finding places to belong good and bad. It is so beautiful when we find a place that fits us and we fit it. Everyone is longing to belong to something; there is something primal about the need for and the desire to have community. A place where we are known and that gets us, the church should be that place. The truth is however most churches are not, we have to pretend, we have to put on our Sunday best, a t shirt would never do. We miss the simple joy of belonging because we are afraid people will not like what they see. Here is the good news Jesus was all about giving t shirts to people who just showed up, granted there were often strings attached ( no pun intended) like go an sin no more and such but the people to whom he offered most of them took the t shirt- the chance to belong. Let us not miss the invitation to invite people to belong because who knows it may be the first time they have ever been offered a t shirt most likely they will be thrilled for the chance to belong.

Here is an exaple of what it looks like when belonging to the the Kingdom looks like when it is lived in real life. A video from our last Blessing day at Embrace Richmond. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFXW2e2QA0I

What a gift...

Merry Christmas everyone .. May the King of Kings show up for you in unexpected ways this Christmas...

Check out my friend Wendy's blog about an incredible gift shared by one of our team members.

http://wendymccaig.wordpress.com/

Fruit Roll ups...

Today I had the great privilege of having lunch with Devon jr in one of our schools we partner with at Embrace Richmond. He is a first grader and knows allot already about life and the way the world works.As we were eating lunch talking about life and flag football, he pulled out a fruit roll up. Not just any fruit roll up but a fruit b the foot roll up. There was a foot of yummy sugar deliciousness before him and he was preparing to devour it like a lion after his prey. he starts to pull the fruit off of the paper and rejoices in his triumphant victory and prepares to take the first bite. He lifts the fruit goodness to his mouth and stops before taking a bite , he puts the roll up down and tears off two pieces one for me and one for his friend Jamal. Before he takes the first bite he offers it to us first. Who does that no one ever really thinks about others before himself, I mean we say that and sometimes consider doing it but none of us actually ever do it. Devon did , he offered his snack to us before he takes a bite. It was a powerful moment. At first I did not want to eat it because I felt a bt guilty accepting this gift from a friend , who knows really when the next time he will eat but I quickly realized he was extending hospitality to me and his friend , he was showing us a real life example of grace.He was wiling to share what he had with his friends. It is amazing to me how such a simple act, can be such a Godly experience. It was if I was experiencing the broken body and blood of Christ right there in an elementary lunch room Who knows when Jesus said no greater love is this when a man is willing to share his fruit roll up with a stranger.. There is much we can learn from our friends on the fringes when it comes to extending hospitality and grace.

So what do you think about this ..

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".