Do you understand what our current economic system has done to us? We dedicate ourselves to a career or job. This job then controls much of our time. In some cases it controls the majority of our waking hours. It puts us in a competitive environment every day. We compete with other businesses for a share of the market or for that customer. We compete with our co-workers for advancement. We have a benevolent yet competitive relationship with our bosses. In all this the ultimate goal is money. I’ve heard it said, “If it weren’t for the money I wouldn’t need this job.”
What does this do to our ability to live our faith in an active way? In the middle of your day can you stop to minister for several hours without the fear of losing your job? Does your employment force you to put your ministry on a calendar? Many times even those in full time ministry do not have the freedom or flexibility to adjust their schedules as the Spirit leads. Is this the way it has to be?
We are experimenting here in St. Louis. We are working in our ministry and trying to keep our focus on the spiritual. We work with our hands and try to stay flexible. So far we have learned a few things. One thing we have learned is that the 40 – 50 hour workweek does not have to fit a schedule. If you are all working together for the same goal then it results in flexibility. The other morning someone knocked on our door at 6:15am asking us to help move furniture for an elderly couple that was being evicted. We were able to re-arrange our workday to allow us to minister. Flexibility is the key. Can we truly have that flexibility when a profit motivated entity is our employer? Can we have that ability to minister in that way when our employer demands our presence from 9 – 5? We can only have flexibility when the social aspect of our faith rules over the money aspect of our work.
We have also learned that we must lead frugal lifestyles in order to enjoy this flexibility. We consume too much as Americans. We live excessive and exorbitant lifestyles. Look around your house and see what I mean. Our appetites and affections rob us of flexibility. In the end it is the pursuit of money that has robbed us. Paul rightly implored the Corinthians that it was their affections that restrained them.
Many people have bought into the lie that money will determine our quality of life. In the pursuit of “Our” money we have lost sight of the reality of community that God intends us to live out. We think we can ignore problems in other areas as if they are not our own. American’s believe they can secure their family’s future with their wealth and by relocating to “safe” neighborhoods. This is a shell game. History shows us that the poor will not be left to die. They rise up and rebel against the wealthy. In America they are doing it politically and through taxation. When God’s people store up for themselves with little regard for the care of others then God Himself will avenge the poor.
As we experiment in St. Louis we hope to rediscover the balance that the Christian life was meant to have. We work with our hands to supply for our needs and then we sacrifice our lives for others. If we are successful in our experiment we will find a balance between supplying for our needs and working in the power and leading of the Holy Spirit to minister to those around us.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
A Few Days in the Life of a Missionary to America
So I decided to communicate what it is like to be a missionary to America working in the inner city. Here is a glimpse into the last few days.
Monday starts with a full workload in the wood shop. We need to assemble and deliver three pieces of outdoor furniture. Five of us have breakfast together and get to work. Once the product was assembled we made appointments to deliver. We stopped midday to pick up a load of donated pallets and unload. A sixth missionary showed up in the afternoon to help break apart the pallets for processing. We loaded up the truck and took off to deliver.
On our way to the second stop we see a man lying on the sidewalk. We stopped to see if he was ok. He was obviously drunk but claimed he was hurt so we called 911 and waited with him for help to arrive. 15 minutes later the EMT’s show up and scold us for calling them. They said “When people that aren’t from around here see someone on the sidewalk they freak out and call us. Around here we just let them lay there and sober up”. I didn’t bother to tell them I was from around here. Instead I informed them that they could expect me to stop and call them every time I happened to see someone on the ground because it is the right thing to do.
We delivered our last load and stopped to talk to 2 young men that were starting recording studio and youth center. We left there to go do laundry at a Laundromat on the Hill. After that a stop at the Sprint store to get a phone repaired and then dinner. We finished eating at about 9:30 and made it back to the opportunity Center for some sleep. It was a long day to start the week.
Tuesday was not an early start. We had a great breakfast cooked by Suzette and visitors showed up about 9am. As I spoke with a city employee on the steps of our building he asked me to clean up the trash at the house across the street. I told him there were two homeless people squatting in the vacant house and the owner knew they were there. They were the ones throwing the trash in the yard and I didn’t want to pick up after them. He went over and woke them and threatened to call the health department on them. After six months of squatting and throwing trash outside they are finally cleaning up after themselves but still squatting in a house with no plumbing or utilities.
We loaded up a bench for one more delivery and as we were preparing to leave we see metal being thrown out of the basement window of the other vacant house across the street. I approached the house and asked the person what they were doing. They said they worked for the city and were turning off the water to prepare to demolish the building. Metal theft is rampant in our area so I asked for some ID and paperwork. I called the city employee that was visiting earlier and he came over and immediately called the police. Long story short – they were authorized to be in the building turning off the water. They were just stealing whatever scrap was in each building as they went about their business. Police made them put the metal back and let them continue to work.
Later that day we picked up a load of dirt, mowed one of the garden lots, set the base for a prairie kit to be installed and called it a night about 7pm. We all decided it was becoming a long week so we went to the Dubliner on Washington Blvd. And ate dinner on the sidewalk in the cool evening. Then we stopped at Gelateria Tavolini for some gelato and again made it home about 9:30.
In between all of this I found out that a woman that we work with at the Catholic Church had her appendix explode. The sponsoring organization for the festival I am chairing had their funding cut and cannot do what they committed to do. We made contact with the pastor of a new church in the area and asked him to pray with us, still waiting for that answer. Had three people ask me for handouts but not for work. Referred one of our workplace re-entry participants to a new job he started Monday.
Today we prepare for a group of volunteers to work in the gardens. We still have a full load of work in the wood shop. We have one less missionary today, as he is off at his other job. We are already tired and we aren’t even half way through the week.
I guess when I put it likes this – I do have a great life!
Monday starts with a full workload in the wood shop. We need to assemble and deliver three pieces of outdoor furniture. Five of us have breakfast together and get to work. Once the product was assembled we made appointments to deliver. We stopped midday to pick up a load of donated pallets and unload. A sixth missionary showed up in the afternoon to help break apart the pallets for processing. We loaded up the truck and took off to deliver.
On our way to the second stop we see a man lying on the sidewalk. We stopped to see if he was ok. He was obviously drunk but claimed he was hurt so we called 911 and waited with him for help to arrive. 15 minutes later the EMT’s show up and scold us for calling them. They said “When people that aren’t from around here see someone on the sidewalk they freak out and call us. Around here we just let them lay there and sober up”. I didn’t bother to tell them I was from around here. Instead I informed them that they could expect me to stop and call them every time I happened to see someone on the ground because it is the right thing to do.
We delivered our last load and stopped to talk to 2 young men that were starting recording studio and youth center. We left there to go do laundry at a Laundromat on the Hill. After that a stop at the Sprint store to get a phone repaired and then dinner. We finished eating at about 9:30 and made it back to the opportunity Center for some sleep. It was a long day to start the week.
Tuesday was not an early start. We had a great breakfast cooked by Suzette and visitors showed up about 9am. As I spoke with a city employee on the steps of our building he asked me to clean up the trash at the house across the street. I told him there were two homeless people squatting in the vacant house and the owner knew they were there. They were the ones throwing the trash in the yard and I didn’t want to pick up after them. He went over and woke them and threatened to call the health department on them. After six months of squatting and throwing trash outside they are finally cleaning up after themselves but still squatting in a house with no plumbing or utilities.
We loaded up a bench for one more delivery and as we were preparing to leave we see metal being thrown out of the basement window of the other vacant house across the street. I approached the house and asked the person what they were doing. They said they worked for the city and were turning off the water to prepare to demolish the building. Metal theft is rampant in our area so I asked for some ID and paperwork. I called the city employee that was visiting earlier and he came over and immediately called the police. Long story short – they were authorized to be in the building turning off the water. They were just stealing whatever scrap was in each building as they went about their business. Police made them put the metal back and let them continue to work.
Later that day we picked up a load of dirt, mowed one of the garden lots, set the base for a prairie kit to be installed and called it a night about 7pm. We all decided it was becoming a long week so we went to the Dubliner on Washington Blvd. And ate dinner on the sidewalk in the cool evening. Then we stopped at Gelateria Tavolini for some gelato and again made it home about 9:30.
In between all of this I found out that a woman that we work with at the Catholic Church had her appendix explode. The sponsoring organization for the festival I am chairing had their funding cut and cannot do what they committed to do. We made contact with the pastor of a new church in the area and asked him to pray with us, still waiting for that answer. Had three people ask me for handouts but not for work. Referred one of our workplace re-entry participants to a new job he started Monday.
Today we prepare for a group of volunteers to work in the gardens. We still have a full load of work in the wood shop. We have one less missionary today, as he is off at his other job. We are already tired and we aren’t even half way through the week.
I guess when I put it likes this – I do have a great life!
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