Sounds and Echoes

My church is hosting a series of talks for the Advent Season, the first of which was held last night. Shane Claiborne, the social activist and author of The Irresistable Revolution and Jesus for President was the first speaker.

A friend of mine wrote a recently wrote a blog entry about how she is gentrifying her neighborhood. This is something that I've thought about on more than one occasion, and seeing as we live a few blocks from each other, it got me thinking quite a bit more. Is the only solution to gentrification that we all live with people that are in the same income bracket as ourselves or higher? If I choose to live in a neighborhood where people make substantially less money than I do, does that mean that I can't fix my house or mow my lawn? Where exactly is the line?Personally, I like the neighborhood I live in. It's safe to say that I'm in the already gentrified part, but I work at a school that is clearly not in that area, only a few blocks away. What if I wanted to live closer to the school or its students? Do I become the scourge of the neighborhood because I can afford to spend more on housing and choose not to? More important than that, is my community only supposed to be comprised of people in my income bracket? While my questions may seem a bit hyperbolic, I truly don't know the whole answer. There has to be a better answer than segregating all poor people from everyone else, and then the scarlet 'G' on any person with the temerity to want to be neighbors with someone in a different income bracket than themselves.

A recent entry from a fellow blogger in West Philadelphia is lamenting the fact that the candidates still don't get it when it comes to oil and sustainable energy usage. With the president theoretically being the least self-interested shepherd for leading us in a responsible direction, I'd agree that they are missing the point entirely when they talk about lowering gas prices. While the president should be a strong voice for leadership in this area, auto manufacturers have a responsibility as well. I'm not usually a fan of using capitalism as a tool for social change, but I think this way might actually bear some fruit. It seems to go against their best interest for auto manufacturers to say "drive less" to their current and future customers, but that sort of non-business-centric thinking is a marketing tool that can't be bought. The size and scale of our country is such that it's not practical to use mass-transit in every situation, assuring the need and market for cars. This means that it does no real harm to car manufacturers to be proponents of a sustainable lifestyle. The American automakers ushered in a new lifestyle with cars 100 years ago and they now have the opportunity and the responsibility to do it again.

A friend sent me the following a few days ago as his thought for the day, which really resonated with a lot of the missional aspects of Christianity that our church has been looking at the past few weeks. Thanks George. This quote from Forrest Gump was something that God brought to my mind around 6am today. Now, "Forrest Gump" is one of my favorite movies for many reasons, but dwelling on it at 6am is improbable for me, so I prayed, "Lord, what does this mean?" Naming someone as "stupid" is an opinion, a value judgement, and qualitative. Observing their actions, and the results thereof, however, is the true indicator of stupidity. Someone is not stupid just because they look stupid, sound stupid, or act stupidly. It's the results that verify or nullify the label. Likewise, smart is not smart unless the results in that person's life are smart. A doctor is not a doctor is unless that person's actions lead to healing. You can have the diploma on the wall, but what use is it? Which leads us to James 2. The message there is, "A Christian is as a Christian does'". Verses 14 through 26 speak to this. Being a Christian is dynamic, not a state of being. Back to the movie: Forrest was universally considered stupid or slow by everyone but his mom. But, remember that feather at the beginning and end of the movie? By God's anointing grace and love, if we look to Him in all things, in Christ, He will use the talents He has given us (that others may despise) to accomplish great things for His kingdom, and reaching others. Forrest, in his childlike trusting way, came through a remarkable life without jealousy or resentment. He ran the race in a way that made no earthly sense, yet produced results that touched and changed people's lives. Look at Lieutenant Dan, and Jenny: lives transformed by Forrest's love in action. "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

I didn't intentionally stop writing after my post in May of last year, but the speed of things just seemed such that by the time I had a moment to sit down and blog an observation on things, my view had changed or I was not interested another long post about how things weren't going quite as I'd planned them. In the past 4 months, a flurry of changes have occurred, with the quick recap being as follows: - I moved into a new apartment of my own, out of a quickly disintegrating community situation - Our church got a new pastor (albeit temporary, but a welcome change nonetheless) - Holiday time with its usual traveling and busyness - I recently became underemployed and am looking for a new configuration of employment. (I was suddenly laid off from my full time job, but consulting means that technically I am still employed. I suppose all those economics classes were good for something.) 4 years ago when I last found myself involuntarily out of work, I was in quite a panic. This time around, while I certainly have concerns, lack of provision is not one of them. More pressing in my mind is the lack of regular male fellowship and the recent realization that I have been going around hating people. The problem with the fellowship thing is that most of my guy friends are married with children. Try scheduling getting a beer, catching a movie, or a card game around that. It doesn't make accountability easy either for essentially the same reason. As for the hating people, I know that sounds harsh, and it is, but not the way you might think. The men's prayer group I'm is studying 1st John, and in our study last week of chapter two, we discussed the Hebrew concept of love and hate as the background to the passage. In Hebrew terms, there is only love and hate. This is a very powerful statement, but one that is very much in line with the gospel. In looking back to the Shema (...love your neighbor as yourself.,) we are essentially called to love everyone, as anyone could be our neighbor. Just as Jesus doesn't provide a list of people that are not your neighbors, at no time are we excused from the admonition to love. Combine that with how the Hebrews saw things, and that leaves only one pretty nasty alternative. The solution is obvious, but the practice is anything but easy. I could easily state a conclusion here, but the Shema already does it quite well. Something to think about as we go into Lent and examine God's sacrifice for us.