went to the homeless conference yesterday. whew. today i am paying for the 3 missed meetings, 27 emails and 11 voicemails.still, glad i went.
not sure what my part will be, but i signed up for an email list to have a more focused gathering next month, to make an action plan. 665 homeless in sioux falls. over 100 churches. if you do the math, this thing is DOABLE. we need to get at it.
anyway, couple of nuggets i took away:
The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.
Matthew 26:11 was brought to new light for me. i never heard it described this way before. Bill Hackett said that in the context of the scripture, Jesus is assuming that his disciples will ALWAYS spend their lives dining with/serving/helping the poor.
not that they will get a good job, nice car, go to church on sunday, and forget about the poor 99.7% of the time.
this one got me good.
also, Bill mentioned the book Making Room by christine pohl. i ordered it today from amazon. he talked about how christians (ie, ME) have twisted the meaning of hospitality to mostly entertaining EACH OTHER instead of the needy.
um. yeah. when is the last time i made treats for someone / anyone who was a stranger? yet just on monday i had the "girls" over for worship and coffee and cookies.
hospitality is what Jesus was all about. we need to return there in our hearts.
k. that's it for now. more to come, i am sure.
4 comments:
thanks for sharing your 'tug'. chuck and i are both feeling 'tugged' toward the pro-life movement -- one of those 'it's-time-to-stop-talking-and-start-doing' feelings. there's a conference here next week that we've debated attending. just reading about your experience is nudging me even more.
yep. the "tug" is a good thing, except for if we choose to make it "tug of war."
:) b
i know that this is a calling of yours. i know that i know that i know, if you know what i mean...it was placed in your heart about 2 1/2 years ago.
can't wait to see where this takes you.
You know how when you start hearing about something and it repeats itself throughout different areas of your life? Last Sunday a woman I barely know approached me with a 10-page printout about a house for homeless men in Montgomery and asked if I would pray about doing some fundraising for them/it. THEN, not two days later someone was telling me about how statistically there are no homeless in Prattville...because the police pick them up and give them a ride over the bridge and into the next county, where the churches take turns housing them. Disgusting, when we have a billion churches right here, sitting pretty and helping only themselves.
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