Being a pastor in the city is definitely challenging. The past couple of days are a good example of that for me. On Friday morning, Good Friday, I woke up early to go to a men's breakfast event on the North Side of Pittsburgh. I spoke briefly to the men there, challenging them to get involved in mentoring kids in Homewood and also to go to the March for Peace in Homewood immediately following the breakfast event. Many of the guys participated in the March, and it was so great to see an interracial crowd from all over the Pittsburgh area locking arms as we walked and prayed for the violence in my neighborhood to stop. My daughters even made it onto the local news for participating in the event (although the news didn't capture me having to carry them for the second half of the March up hill in the cold rain). After spending time with my neighbors in Homewood, I drove to North Way Oakland to connect with people at the noon Good Friday service. On the drive to Oakland I called a reporter who interviewed me about the Mathieson Leadership Award that I received the day before. The worship was great in Oakland, and afterward I headed out to pick up several of my mentees for an overnight event. We spent time in the new game room at my house (thanks to a small group from North Way that finished the basement for us), we went out to eat at the Original Hot Dog Shop, we went to the evening Good Friday service at North Way Oakland with Julie and the girls, and then that night we were up until 1am playing games and watching movies. We woke up early this morning to take one of my mentees to a job interview at McDonalds, and after that we spent the rest of the day hanging out at my house doing life together. I made a brunch with pancakes, bacon, and, of course, ice cream. To finish off our time together, we drove around the neighborhood with the windows down listening to music and stopping to visit with people. Tonight I'll be spending time with my family, and then after they go to sleep I'll study for a couple hours working on a DMin project.
I definitely don't have this whole urban ministry thing down to a science, but I don't think it is really supposed to be about balance or rhythm or safety or anything like that. Sure, I slow down to rest when needed and I prioritize time with my family a lot. But, being a pastor in an urban environment means that I am involved in a ministry of relationships and presence. You never know what is going to happen. Urban ministry is not all about a sterile church environment where things are clean and predictable. Urban ministry is messy and unpredictable, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Relationships take time, and transformation takes time. I think it's kind of interesting when Christians tell me sometimes that they like to start things up and then hand them off to other people after a few months. That's definitely not a "style" of ministry that works in cities. Sometimes the biggest thing we can do is stay in one place, investing in that area and those relationships for a long time. And that's exactly what the past couple of days have been like for me. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings! Thankfully, God is a God of risk and unpredictability. I'm just along for the journey.
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