Celebrating One Year in Homewood

Julie and I recently celebrated the one year anniversary of our move to Homewood. We've had a fun time sharing stories about all of the adventures. I have written about some of the more dramatic things in this blog, but most of the experiences we remember are the subtle stories of new friendships or the overcoming of our own stereotypes. On our first night of sleeping in Homewood, I thought that I had moved my family into a war zone. There were 'gun shots' breaking out all over town. It turns out that those were just the fireworks associated with people celebrating their independence just like millions of other people all over the country. There have been countless other presuppositions that we've worked through along the path of our journey here. I am so thankful for those learning opportunities.

What stands out the most following our first year is the relationships. We have built relationships with many children and neighborhood residents. We know addicts. We know prostitutes. We know social workers. We know hard working people. We know mothers, and fathers, and grandmothers who are doing their best to make Homewood a better place. We know some teenagers who are trying to make Homewood a better place, and we know some teenagers who are contrubuting to the destructive forces in the community. We love both of those types of kids. They've all spent time in our living room, whether they've decided to make good choices in their young lives or not.

Hundreds of thousands of Christians in Pittsburgh intentionally drove right past Homewood last year in order to avoid having to face the harsh reality that poverty exists in their own city. To take that even further, many of those same Christians have made lifestyle and business decisions that have actually contributed to the pain of the people living in my community. These types of 'Christians' elevate themselves at the expense of the poor. In my opinion, they are missing out on much of the richness that life has to offer by insulating themselves from the poor. Our family has had the pleasure of receiving many uninvited visitors and dining with many different kinds of people over the past year, so I'll end this reflection with the words of one of my heroes, Bartolome de las Casas. We've done our best this past year to live out his challenging words to all Christians: "Can you consider Christian those whose bread has not fed one single hungry person? whose drink has not satiated anyone's thirst? or whose table is not known by any poor person? Christian are the ones who are merciful to all; who are moved by those who are injured; who do not allow the poor to be oppressed in their presence; those who help the needy; who frequently aid the indigent; those who suffer with those who suffer; who feel the other's pain as their own... Anyone, therefore, who wants to be a friend of the world, becomes the enemy of God (James 4:4)."