Joining God's Mission

I went on a walk through Homewood last night, as I so often do with Julie on warm summer evenings. We walked right past a group of people who were unloading their belongings from a Uhaul truck into a brand new house. A pastor friend of ours, the same friend who built our home six years ago, was also the builder of the home that they were moving into. We stopped and talked to the new couple in our neighborhood. They're a young married couple who have an infant daughter, and they're really excited to be owning a home in Homewood. We talked briefly about the good things that are going on in our neighborhood. We all have a sense of anticipation and hope, despite the fact that there have been several homicides in our area over the past month. We are active participants in God's redemptive mission, and we will not choose to define our streets or the people in them by what's wrong. We're focusing on what's right with our neighborhood, and we're building on that. 

When you look for signs of hope in struggling urban neighborhoods, you begin to see the work of the Holy Spirit in remarkable places. Just this evening I passed a house where a daughter was sitting on his front porch with his daughter helping her with homework. Yes, there are absentee fathers in Homewood, but there are also many actively engaged fathers who do a good job with parenting. Some kids stopped by my house for an after school snack, and they're excited about what's going on at their school and in their community. Yes, there are kids who cause harm in my neighborhood, but most of the kids love their neighborhood and they contribute to the fabric of the community. Families are moving in. Residents who have been here for a long time are enjoying contributing to things getting turned around here, and they're welcoming new neighbors. We look out for one another. We're not forcing anyone out. We're working together as we participate in God's Story as it is manifested in our own streets and homes.

God was at work in my urban neighborhood long before I arrived here, and God will always be at work going forward. Transformation is a process that takes time, and it also requires presence and patience. Simple solutions and slick programs don't work in a neighborhood facing complex problems. Neighbors working together, building meaningful relationships, and rallying around our community are what's important. God is at work in all of those things. I am thankful to be a participant in God's grand narrative. 

Encouragement

A church member has been sending me encouraging text messages and Bible verses over the past couple of weeks. That has encouraged me to strengthen him as he is navigating through a new and challenging season of life. The body of Christ works so well when we build each other up. God's mission is too important for followers of Jesus to be tearing one another apart. Regardless of issues that divide us in our culture, it is important for us to be unified. I have been experiencing that with the friendship of another brother in Christ over the past couple of weeks. I'm very thankful that God has brought so many amazing people into my journey of life.  

A Cold Bottle of Water

Young people in Pittsburgh regularly camp out over night or arrive early in the morning in order to be first in line for new shoes that are released in shoe stores in East Liberty. This happened this morning. As I was on my way to church at North Way East End, there were a group of people waiting in line for shoes. I've been encouraging our church to think of creative ways to reach out to people when these events happen. We've discerned that the best thing to do is to just stop and talk with people. We get to know their stories and ask some questions about the shoes that they are waiting in line for. The church had some left over bottles of cold water from an event that we had earlier in the week, so this morning we visited our friends with the gift of water. We invited some of them to church. They may or may not attend, but it's important for us to take the time to build the relationships. God can use little steps of faith to accomplish his amazing purposes.

A Time for Prayer

Julie and I took a walk tonight, and we stopped at the place where the shooting occurred last night so that we could pray. As I blogged about in my previous post, it is good for followers of Christ to reflect on the pain of violence but it is also good for followers of Christ to take action. Action for Christians occurs in many different ways. For us, tonight, it was a prayer walk. We are praying for transformation and healing in the streets of our little part of the city. We pray that our neighborhood will be a place where kids can safely play and ride their bikes. We pray that our streets would be a place where people can work, raise families, and grow old with one another. We are seeking God's shalom in our city.

I Heard Someone Get Killed Last Night

Last night at around 9pm my wife heard a significant amount of gun shots close to our house. When she turned on the news later in the evening she learned that a man had been shot and killed very close to our home. I was visiting my parents north of Pittsburgh when all of this happened last night, so I wasn't aware that anything had gone on. I arrived home after everyone was asleep for the night. This morning when I woke up Julie and I started our day as we normally do by discussing events from the previous day and talking about our plans for the current day. Julie kind of started our morning conversation with, "I heard someone get killed last night." My heart sank. I'm not desensitized, even though it's been a violent summer in Homewood. It hurts.

I'm sad for a neighbor who lost his life. I'm sad for his family. I'm sad that one person would choose to take another person's life. I'm sad for my neighborhood. I'm sad for my city. I'm sad for a culture of violence. I'm sad that I have to have conversations with my wife and children about how to process through the pain of violence. Just about a month ago another man was killed right in that same spot. It was heartbreaking for us then, as well. One of the children in our neighborhood was traumatized when that shooting happened because he was there and he saw the body. I tried to encourage him to talk about it. A unique role that I have as a pastor in my neighborhood involves helping people to heal from the pain of violence. Sometimes that even involves helping my own family to process through things.

So, how do we respond? I must turn to God in times like this. I believe that God wants my heart to break. I believe that God wants me to turn to him in desperation, through prayer, reading the Bible, writing and reflecting, and, in general, hearing from the Lord. However, pain and drawing close to Jesus in times of need must always lead me back into action. I want to passionately live out Jesus' ways in my neighborhood at all times and in all places. God has called me to enter into people's pain, and it often breaks my heart, but I don't stay in those places of despair. I become empowered by the Holy Spirit to act. I want to love my neighbors well. I'm inspired to mentor even more young people through LAMP. I am empowered to serve others as I listen to their pain and help to point people to Christ. I am equipped to provide strength for my family, even though God has given our family a challenging calling.

I will not become numb to the violence in my city. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I will stand up and do something about it. I will not do it on my own. God is on a mission to redeem the people in my city at all times, and I am just a small participant in that mission. But, it is a profound mission. It is a meaningful mission. It is an important mission. The gospel of Jesus Christ is Good News. There is hope. Even in the midst of the most dire circumstances, there is hope. We may live in a present evil age, but the Kingdom of God is here. My prayer for my family, my neighbors, my city, and the world, are for God's divine peace to reign in powerful places and powerless places.

The City as a Gift of Common Grace

I've done a lot of walking through urban neighborhoods in Pittsburgh this summer. I've spent time in places like Point Breeze, Homewood, Squirrel Hill, East Liberty, Shadyside, Garfield, Wilkinsburg, and Regent Square. I'm learning to appreciate all of the neighborhoods throughout the East End where I serve as a pastor. These neighborhoods contain many different types of people, architecture, restaurants, coffee shops, businesses, manufacturing warehouses, nonprofit organizations, churches, and lots of different sights and sounds. Each neighborhood has a unique feel and culture.

Cities are a gift from God, not some type of evil human invention that human beings need to escape from. Cities, and the different neighborhoods within them, can be seen as gifts of common grace. A defining narrative since the end of World War II in America has been the idea of the American dream, or the good life, being found outside of cities in suburban or rural environments. There are, of course, gifts of common grace that can be found in suburban and rural places, like good schools and plenty of wide open spaces that are not typically found in urban environments. There are many incredible people who choose to live, work, and play outside the city. However, the goal of families escaping the messiness of the big city may not be all that it is cracked up to be. Individual and corporate sin is just as prevalent outside the city as it is inside the city limits. There is no way for human beings to escape that reality, even though we try.

In Home from Nowhere James Howard Kunstler points out that "The idea of a modest dwelling all our own, isolated from the problems of other people, has been our reigning metaphor of the good life for a long time. It must now be seen for what it really is: an antisocial view of existence. I don't believe that we can afford to keep pretending that life is a never-ending episode of Little House on the Prairie. We are going to have to develop a different notion of the good life and create a physical form that accommodates it."

That is actually what I see when I walk through the urban neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. People are moving back into the city to experience the good life. People who remained in the city all along are welcoming new residents back into the neighborhoods that they love. New buildings are popping up everywhere. Old buildings are being renovated. Block clubs are forming. Community development organizations are networking the city and accessing power. Churches are not only thriving, but working with one another. Religious institutions, businesses, and political entities are working together toward the common good. The signs of a healthy city are everywhere, even when there are also many signs of brokenness. The process of transformation continues on and on when humanity is willing to invest in their cities instead of trying to escape from them. I'm thankful to have a small role in that process in my little part of Pittsburgh where I live and where I serve as a pastor.

God's Got This

I had the opportunity to go out of town on vacation this past weekend with my family. We had a good friend from church house sit for us while we were away. It was interesting trying to explain to him about what to expect while we were away. Sure, we showed him the usual things about how to take care of our dog and also some of the quirks of the house. However, we also had to explain to him about our ministry in Homewood. He needed to expect the unexpected. Our neighborhood is a wonderful place, but it is also filled with its share of challenges. We did our best to prepare him for the week ahead.

Our friend did a great job of house sitting for us. When we returned home, he shared about some of the highlights and lowlights. Right before we left for vacation, I had placed an important letter in our mailbox that needed to be mailed out the next day. After we left one of the kids in our neighborhood had snuck onto our porch, taken the letter out of our mailbox and ripped it up. Our friend heard a commotion on our porch, and he ran outside to try to see what was going on but by that time our little mailman was gone. The Homewood experience with our house sitting friend had started out with a negative event. It's really not a big deal. At different times over the past five years that we've lived in Homewood, we've had drug addicts steal our front porch furniture while we were on vacation so that they could get money from the scrap metal to get high. We now have plastic front porch furniture. There have been other little things over the years, but we've just adapted and moved on. I'll learn not to leave important mail in my mailbox next time I leave on vacation.

After the rocky start, our friend shared that, as expected, a bunch of kids and neighbors stopped by to visit him. This is the best part about living in our neighborhood. On hot summer days, little kids stop by to ask for a freezie pop to cool them off. Teenagers stop by to jump on our trampoline or to talk about the latest drama that is going on in their lives. Adult friends and neighbors stop by to chat. We all look out for one another. We are caught up in one another's stories. Our friend who stayed at the house last week got to experience these things. A little girl who must have been four or five years old rang our doorbell, and in her cutest voice she asked, "Can I have four freezie pops? One for my grandma, one for my mom, one for my sister... and, um, oh yeah... one for me!" We had told our friend about our strict one freezie pop per person per day rule at the McCabe house (hey, you gotta have boundaries, right?), but the little girl was so cute that he just had to give her four freezie pops to go.

Our friend got a taste of the ups and downs of our urban neighborhood. He took walks and got to know people. He got caught up in people's stories, and they got caught up in his. Julie and I went for a walk in the neighborhood yesterday just so we could reorient ourselves after the week of vacation. Children played in the streets and found joy in lighting fireworks for the 4th of July. Our neighbors grilled out and had parties, just like many other people in America on Independence Day. We were also reminded of the pain in our community, though, as a thirty year old man was murdered right down the street from us at 3pm in afternoon on a beautiful Pittsburgh day. Our hearts break for the violence in our part of Homewood.

Our urban neighborhood has many signs of hope and many signs of need. My neighbors do amazing things to love each other well in our little piece of the world. I also have neighbors who steal and kill, causing harm to one another. Sometimes it's all too much to take. Joy and pain. Beauty and affliction. We live in the now, but not yet. The Kingdom of God is here, but we still live in a present evil age. What are we to do with all of this? I certainly don't have it all figured out, but I have hope that God does. Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)

This life will have struggles. Those struggles should be handed over to Jesus. In this life we will experience powerful forms of joy, purpose, and meaning as we interact with one another. We must also view those experiences through the lens of Jesus' love for us. God is with us through all of it. I am thankful for that this week as I reengage in the realities of urban ministry. God's got this.