Reflecting on a Busy Couple of Weeks

I just wrapped up a busy couple of weeks of ministry. I had the opportunity to lead, preach, teach, build relationships with many different types of people, and to engage with some of the most challenging issues in my city. It was a tough stretch, but it was also a good stretch. Life is presenting many challenges, but God is teaching me that I must increasingly depend on him for strength as I give myself away to others in participating in God's redemptive mission.

I'm really enjoying teaching masters and doctoral students at Bakke Graduate University. Students from all over the world are increasing their capacity by studying about relief, development, and advocacy in complex urban and global contexts. I am learning so much from the leaders who are taking the course. It's been a challenge, but it's so worth it to see the difference that is made in a relatively short span of nine weeks.

As an urban pastor I've encountered the pain of violence in my neighborhood, and I've been able to challenge our faith community to passionately impact the world through healthy work. These recent weeks have been filled with counseling appointments, staff meetings, partnership collaborations, worship services, and discipleship time. There are many ups and downs in the journey, but God is faithful through it all. Urban ministry is not for the faint of heart, but God is equipping me daily for the challenges. 

Three Year Anniversary

Three years ago I set out on the amazing adventure of launching a new church in the East End of the city of Pittsburgh. There have been so many ups and downs over the past three years. Many people who were with me from the beginning are still standing with me, shoulder to shoulder, as we seek to participate in God's redemptive mission in our little part of the city of Pittsburgh. Others who were with me in the beginning have moved on for various reasons, but I'm still thankful to those individuals who helped get our church off the ground. God has brought many new people to North Way East End over the years. I'm just as excited today to be a part of the transformational work of the Holy Spirit as I was three years ago. I have to admit, I've learned many lessons along the way and I've made some mistakes. There have been times when I've done some things well. The church isn't about me, though, The church is about God. We seek to make much of Jesus every week at North Way East End through worship, teaching, community, and outreach. As we celebrate what God has done in three years of ministry, we also recognize that we can do nothing apart from the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We're expecting big things from God in 2015. Happy three year anniversary North Way East End!

Christians Leading the Way

I have the privilege of leading a multi-ethnic church in an urban context in Pittsburgh. We are a passionate community of followers of Jesus Christ, and we are committed to building healthy relationships with one another across cultural boundaries. I would like to share some of the language that I've been utilizing publicly during worship services and also privately in individual conversations with church members and community members. I am sharing it with the understanding that it may be helpful for some people who are searching for how to respond to the tension that is currently prevalent in the United States as a result of circumstances in Ferguson and New York. Here's the approach that I've been taking:

It is important for us as a church to acknowledge that there is currently a lot of tension in our country with regard to the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Followers of Jesus Christ must lead the way when it comes to reconciling human beings to one another because we have been reconciled to God. We cannot choose to be silent and disengaged on this subject. We must engage. We can get involved by praying, listening, and engaging in civil dialogue. All of those things are good, but they are not enough in and of themselves. Christians must also act. We can act in a wide variety of different and creative ways. We must each ask the Holy Spirit for discernment with how to act, but we must act. For some, action may include intentionally building relationships with people that are different from us racially and socioeconomically. Invite people to coffee, lunch, or dinner. Ask good questions and listen with an attitude of humility as Christ modeled. Uncivil discourse leads to an attitude of pride which deteriorates into an “us” versus “them” mentality. Civil discourse led by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit unites people together into a “we” mentality where we experience mutual transformation. Some may feel called to act by such things as protesting or writing or mentoring or discipling or worshiping together or advocating, but all actions should stem from healthy, cross-cultural relationships. Christians should be modeling these types of healthy relationships and authentic interactions.

Poverty, Diversity, and Social Justice

In January I'll be co-teaching a course at Bakke Graduate University called Poverty, Diversity, and Social Justice. I'm looking forward to facilitating the class and learning from passionate followers of Jesus Christ who are serving in urban contexts around the world. The students who take classes at BGU are usually involved in many different types of urban ministry and a wide range of circumstances.

Poverty. Diversity. Social justice. These are big issues in our modern world, and it is my opinion that followers of Jesus Christ should be leading the way in both learning and practice with these topics. A process of reflection and action leads to meaningful ministry. God is always on a redemptive mission to redeem every person and place in this world, and followers of Jesus Christ should be leading the way.

Bakke Graduate University offers students five life changing degree options: Doctor of Transformational Leadership, Doctor of Ministry, Master of Business Administration, Master of Social and Civic Entrepreneurship, and Master of Global Urban Leadership. Check out their website at www.bgu.edu for more details about their unique graduate level education opportunities and also for specific details about the Poverty, Diversity, and Social Justice class that I'll be teaching in January. 

The Gospel of Reconciliation

Recently, some people have been asking me for my thoughts on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. I think it's natural for people to want to talk with me because I have intentionally chosen to live in an African-American neighborhood and I serve as a pastor at an intentionally multi-ethnic church. I do have a lot to say about what is going on in our country, but I also have a lot of listening to do. Right now I'm listening a lot. I'm also praying and reflecting. I won't stop there, though. Out of listening, prayer, reflection, and dialogue comes action. It is important for followers of Jesus Christ to listen, pray, reflect, talk, and act because Christians should be leading the way in reconciling human beings to one another. If we are truly reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, then our purpose as God's church is to be a part of God's redemptive mission.

God's redemptive mission, reconciling human beings to God and to one another, was important to Jesus. In the book of John in the Bible, Jesus prays for the disciples that he will be sending out to accomplish his purposes once he is gone. Jesus also prays for all human beings to be reconciled to God and to one another. In referencing his disciples and all humanity, Jesus prayed, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." (John 17:20-24 ESV)

God's desire is for all of us to "become perfectly one." God is always on a mission to reconcile us to God and to one another. We were made to be in community with one another. There is no "us" versus "them" in the Kingdom of God. There is only "we" doing life together with one another empowered by the Holy Spirit to transcend all of the barriers that would keep us apart. If anyone has a message of hope in a country that has deep ethnic, political, economic, and social divisions, it is followers of Jesus Christ. We should be leading the way in listening, praying, reflecting, discussing, healing, and acting toward a more unified world. Let's have the hard conversations. Let's take bold actions that lead to a more just world. Let's demonstrate the profound love of Christ in a world that desperately needs to discern how to love each other in the midst of trying times. The love of God is strong enough to transcend individual and system sin and brokenness in our culture. 

Preferred Seating at the Lord's Table

The news has been filled this past week with controversies related to issues like immigration and racial tension in America. Political pundits passionately endorsed or railed against President Obama's new policy impacting undocumented residents in the United States. The whole country seems to be holding its collective breath in anticipation of the grand jury decision on the circumstances related to the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

Why is there so much debate and tension on these issues in our modern society? It seems that with all of the modern technology and information that we have, we should be able to get along better with one another. The problem is, though, that we still live in a present evil age. Jesus ushered in the kingdom of God, but our human existence is still infiltrated with sin and brokenness. As society advances, we can still hold hatred in our hearts. We still develop moral codes based on our own interpretations of how human beings should interact with one another. Often those moral codes end up separating people into "us" and "them." We tend to view people as "outsiders" and "insiders."

Life doesn't have to be lived that way, though. The kingdom of God is at hand. It is here. We have hope thanks to Jesus Christ. That is the transformational message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can be reconciled to God, and we can be reconciled to one another. There does not need to be an "us" and a "them." There is just "we" thanks to the scandalous amounts of grace that God is readily willing to give us. We can enjoy redeemed, joyful relationships with one another. There is no rich or poor, slave or free, black or white, liberal or conservative, or anything else in the kingdom of God.

Street Psalms authors Kris Rocke and Scott Dewey point out that, "When Jesus gives preferred seating to the hungry at the Jesus meal he isn't relegating the well fed to the cheap seats. He invites them to exactly the same seats - which as it happens, the rich find most difficult to accept. There is only one kind of seating at the Lord's table - preferred seating. Judas sits next to John. Friends sit next to enemies. We simply can't make sense of this when using the moral operating system of this world. It doesn't compute, which is why Jesus insists that we are being given a whole new operating system by the one who authors and perfects it." - Meals From Below

That's it. God is for all of us, regardless of the social norms that we might depend on to separate ourselves from one another. We all have preferred seating at the Lord's table because of what Jesus Christ did for us. As a pastor, this gives me hope. We all have hope, even when there is tension in our society. Christians should be leading the way in our society when it comes to issues like immigration or racial tension. We have the hope of Christ in us. I lead a multi-ethnic church and I live in a a primarily African-American neighborhood because I believe so strongly in the transformational power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I write and speak about controversial topics because I believe that human beings can do better than our own flawed societal constructs. God's love wins out every time. 

A Party on the Margins

In Luke 14:12-24, Jesus tells a parable about a great banquet. Speaking to a group of powerful religious leaders, Jesus explains to them that they should not invite their powerful and rich friends to their party. Instead, "when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." 

The concept of extending generosity and friendship to people on the margins of a city was a revolutionary concept to the original audience that Jesus was speaking with, and the concept remains revolutionary to modern Americans. The American Dream narrative that we live in encourages us to become as wealthy and influential as we can in the short lives that we lead. In our ambition to get to the top, we often have to step on people to get there. We distance ourselves from people living on the margins of society in order to advance ourselves. People did it back in Jesus' day, and people still do it today. It happens because we live in a present evil age, an age that is defined by sin and corruption even though Jesus ushered in the Kingdom of God. We could choose life by living in God's Story, but instead we choose death by finding our identity in the sinful desires of our own flesh, idolatry in the world, and temptations from our enemy.

The Kingdom of God looks like a big party with people living on the margins of our cities, small towns, and rural areas. If modern, influential American Christians really took Jesus' challenge seriously, we would abandon the emptiness of the upwardly mobile lifestyle and join the party with the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. It's there that we will receive our blessings from the Lord, and those blessings will surely be eternal blessings that will remain forever. We find joy in life by giving away power and resources to the people who need it the most. 

Personally, I feel closest to God when I'm spending time with homeless friends in East Liberty or vulnerable youth in Homewood. These are people with whom the Holy Spirit has given me a passion to build relationships. I still have a lot of hardness in my heart, and I miss out on opportunities all the time, but I am making progress and God is transforming my heart to care for people in need. What about you? Who are the people on the margins where you live? Is God calling you to throw a party?