The Dregs…

What do you do when you have five children, have just kicked out your abusive paramour, and have exactly $45 more than your rent for the month because your former lover, the father of your youngest three children, stole your food stamps card when he left? What do you do when you have no vehicle to get to food pantries in the city? What do you do when you can’t afford the child care for your five kids so that you can even begin looking for a job? What do you do when you have no phone to receive calls from prospective employers even if you find a way to apply for jobs on foot that are within a couple of miles of your house? How do you wash your dishes without any form of soap? What do you do when you have twins of 19 months and have nothing with which to diaper them?

This may be the plight of one woman that I know, but she is not the only one who is caught in a similar cycle of poverty. Poverty is a trap from which it is almost impossible to get out. It lays its snare, lies in wait, and won’t let go of its victims without the victim losing something dear. More often than not, getting out of poverty requires the leaving behind of many of one’s closest friends and being disowned by those that one has possessed (and been possessed by) in a way that the middle and upper classes can not grasp. Leaving poverty behind requires a wrenching and clawing out of a trap that will not willingly let go.

I feel so helpless as I watch hopelessness feeding bad choices and an attitude of fatalism that leaves its mark on multiple generations.

Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  Lord have mercy.

Our Father who art in heaven…

God, you are everywhere and you see everything.  You know what’s happening among us right here on the corner of North Limestone and Stanton Street in Springfield.  You see all of Springfield, Cedarville, the big cities and one-horse towns of our nation, and the vast expanses and dark corners of every part of the world.  You hear every shout of joy and cry of anguish from the people on earth, experiencing them all as a perfectly loving parent.

Hallowed be your name…

We long for people to respect and love the mere mention of your name, God.  Rather than using it as a curse, may the utterance of “Father God” be a remembrance of your love, mercy, and creative power.  May the name of Jesus be a warm, pleasant and fragrant breeze that carries the message of hope, forgiveness, and the beauty of the once-dead now perfectly alive.  May the mention of the Holy Spirit be a blanket of comfort and the fresh energy that comes before we bless others as you have blessed us.

Your kingdom come…

God, we groan as a woman ready to give birth.  We cry like an injured child waiting to have a broken arm removed from a cast and restored to full use.  We want your originally-intended world to break in on us now and usher in the Days of Friendship between lion and lamb, black and white, rich and poor, strong and weak.  Bring in the Time of Freedom from the politics of fear, betrayal, cruelty, and death, and give us your absolute rule of love, grace, and peace.  Make happen the Years of Restored Nature when no living thing wilts or dies but instead thrives and calls out in praise of your creation and, indeed, your name.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…

We want this earth to be a place where hurts, injustices, and evil will disappear.  Where we will be instruments of your healing, justice, and mercy.  Where we will feed the hungry, visit the sick and imprisoned, uphold the weak, and bind up the physical and emotional wounds of the injured until your kingdom comes, bringing with it Eternal Jubliee.

Give us this day our daily bread…

Grant us, Father, the food and money to provide for our children, our families, and ourselves.  We don’t need extravagance, just enough to be healthy and strong so that we can live life fully and do the work you set before us.  Provide us, Jesus, with the emotional food and the good relationships our spirits need so that we can continue our emotional giving to others.  Satisfy us, Holy Spirit, with nourishing food for our spirits so that we might grow into the people you intended us to be.

And forgive us our debts…

God, we know we are selfish and prideful.  We hurt others, sometimes not caring that we have wounded a cherished person made in your image.  We ignore the suffering of those around us and in far off places, abandoning them to the bone-chilling coldness of their pain and grief.  We damage your world, leaving scars across its face.  We slash and bruise ourselves.  We don’t understand that in each of these ways we have stolen from you the beauty of your creation.  Save us from our destructive ways!  Rescue us even though we can never completely make up for the devastation we have caused.

As we also have forgiven our debtors…

God, we’ve been beaten, kicked, and maligned by others.  It is no more or less than we have done to some with our cruelty, gossip, criticism, selfishness, short-sightedness, and dismissal of their need.  We forgive those who have done these things to us.  We don’t hold their sins over their heads because we know that you don’t hold our wrongs in front of us.  When we have difficulty not wishing evil on those who have done us wrong, help us, Merciful God.

And lead us not into temptation…

Show us how to keep from blowing it, God.  Keep us from wanting and buying things we don’t really need.  Hold us back from becoming self-serving like the world around us.  Help us to see that what pleases you are the same things that create a better life for ourselves, others, and all of your creation.  Lead us into the kind of quiet lives that glory in blessing others not for recognition’s sake but for your sake and those around us.

But deliver us from evil…

The world is broken, God.  Everywhere there is physical, emotional, and spiritual disease, hunger, injury, impoverishment, and bondage.  We ask you to remove it.  Get rid of these cancers that would threaten to eat away every healthy part of life if you did not see fit to intervene.  Deliver us from the evil we would do and the evil done to us.  Deliver the world from the decay and rot of wickedness and the suffering it creates.  Deliver us because we cannot deliver ourselves.

For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever…

This world and everything in it is yours.  Heaven is yours.  All of life that ever was and ever shall be is yours.  You set it in motion – every molecule and atom – with a creative act that took place in a simple word.  Such power is too wonderful for us to fathom!  All living things owe you everlasting praise as the Creator and Sustainer of Life, the Merciful and Just One, the Lover and Redeemer of Mankind, and the Eternal King.

Amen…

We have spoken what is right and true.  Make it so, God.  Let it be as we have said!

I have a confession to make. I’ve rediscovered Keith Green. He’s not cool like U2 (and I don’t even know who else right now), but I find myself listening to a CD of his a couple of times each week regardless of his current popularity ratings.

He was around during my junior high and high school era. I loved his music and knew all his songs for memory. I sang or hummed all parts of them – lyrics and melody, harmonies, and accompaniment – at different times. (Yes, sometimes I was quite annoying to live with and still am!) This year for Christmas, I bought my kids a Keith Green compilation CD for Christmas because I knew they would love the song “So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt,” which they did. I was gratified. Now they’re listening to the rest of it.

Aside from being a sentimental thing, I find that I’m reconnecting with some of the lyrics of his songs. Songs like “Grace By Which I Stand” finally have become more relevant to my life.

Lord, the feelings are not the same.

I guess I’m older.

I guess I’ve changed.

And how I wish that it’d been explained

That as you’re growing

You must remember

That nothing lasts

Except the grace of God

By which I stand in Jesus.

I know that I would surely fall away

Except for grace

By which I’m saved.

Now that I understand my own weaknesses better, I appreciate these words so much more.

His songs calling Christians to get off their backsides and be the hands, feet, and voice of Christ are even more compelling in my life right now, particularly because of the church plant in which we are involved. (And I know the integrity with which Keith Green lived out his faith.) Here are some other lyrics I particularly like:

Open up, open up

And give yourself away.

You see the need;

You hear the cry;

So how can you delay?

God’s calling and you’re the one,

But like Jonah you run.

He’s told you to speak,

But you keep holding it in.

Oh, can’t you see it’s such sin?

‘Cause he brings people to your door,

And you turn them away

As you smile and say

“God bless you. Be at peace.

And all heaven just weeps.

‘Cause Jesus came to your door.

You’ve left him out on the streets.

Keith Green was a challenge to the white, bright, and uptight group of Christians with whom I went to church and school as a youth. But while I appreciated the sentiments of the songs and felt a lot of guilt about not being radical enough, it wasn’t much more than that back then.

Now I find myself living more like the kind of Jesus Freak he was. (What an unfortunate name pinned on the hippie Christians of the 70’s!) My life is bound up with the Jesus that comes to the door of our church and calls me on the phone during the week in the guise of the poverty-stricken, physically reduced, emotionally bankrupt, and spiritually impoverished of Springfield, Ohio. But as I see it, a central difference between then and now is that the 21st century equivalent of the Jesus Freak is less strident and more relational in carrying the good news of the Kingdom of God. And the 21st century Jesus Freak doesn’t just bring the Good News, she becomes Good News for the sake of those in need by feeding, clothing, and helping people to become reconciled to themselves, others, their environment, and God.

So maybe I am a Jesus Freak, but I prefer to be thought of as The Good News of Christ to those around me – the Good News, I hope, as it was intended to be. Or at least until the Christians of the upcoming 30’s (as in 2030) figure it out even better.

Blessed are you if you’re cold because you can’t pay your heating bill.
Blessed are you if you frequent food and clothing pantries because your income doesn’t make it through the month.
Blessed are you if you’re forced to rely on other people for transportation because your car has broken down more times than you can count and there is no money to fix it.
Blessed are you when you go without things so that others might be blessed.
Blessed are you who are poor because God helps you see and participate in the life of Jesus more readily than those who believe they have no need.

Blessed are you if you go without meals because there is no money to buy food.
Blessed are you if the food you receive from the food pantry doesn’t stretch far enough to fill the hole in your stomach.
Blessed are you when you look in your cupboards and see only empty shelves.
Blessed are you when you go hungry because you give some of your food to someone else who lacks plenty.
Blessed are you when you’re hungry because God will fill you up with food that you don’t know about.

Blessed are you who have lost children, family, and friends to drugs, violence, and disease.
Blessed are you who have felt the sting of broken relationships with family and friends.
Blessed are you who grieve over loved ones who have followed lifestyles that have ruined their lives and the lives of those around them.
Blessed are you who have been torn apart by the abuse of those that were supposed to be your protectors.
Blessed are you when you cry, weep, and wail because the God of all comfort will turn your tears into the laughter of those who know no pain.

Blessed are you when people do evil things to you because you choose to act in the love of Jesus.
Blessed are you when people give you the cold shoulder because you belong to Christ.
Blessed are you when people lie about you because they can’t handle the truth of your life which reflects the compassion and mercy of God.
Blessed are you when people ruin your reputation because you eat with addicts, prostitutes, and people whose lives are ruined by sin.

Laugh, shout, dance, and jump for joy when these happen because your reward in God’s Kingdom of Reconciliation will be better than you can imagine. These things have happened to those who lived out God’s truth before you. You are not alone. And the time is coming when all of the bad will be turned to good for the glory of God.

Lord have mercy. In preparation for church there are so many things to be done: Women’s Group study to be written, a big pot of Cuban Black Bean Soup and brownies to be made, worship stations to be created and set up. People need my attention regarding community connections: getting a team in the right place at the right time to move Sandy’s possessions into a storage unit until she can find a place to live, finding out if Corinna needs more help with her van, trying to find a ride for Kari and her children to come to church. It is sometimes difficult to cultivate a quiet and receptive heart when the needs of the church and neighborhood loom large. Lord have mercy. Help me not to miss you in the busyness of service.

Glory to God. Peace, and yet stirring, in my heart with the spoken word as it sinks down into the deep places inside me. The excitement of Gideon’s story, the intimacy of the psalm, the testimony of mercy and grace in the epistle, and the miraculous event leading up to Simon’s calling. Lord quicken my heart and mind to understand with all of me what these mean.

Lord have mercy. An older gentleman kneels to write a prayer request for a skin condition and for some victims in Florida. A young adolescent girl carefully writes a request for her aunt who is having a difficult pregnancy.

Glory to God. Children write about and draw pictures to show how you have been merciful to them. Adults pen simple drawings and sketches for ways they have been blessed by you.

Lord have mercy. Corinna did not come and still has no transportation. How can we help? Kari weeps because of her custody hearing this week. Her daughter has been taken from her, and she cannot see how drugs have impaired her ability to mother her children from four different fathers. Patti is struggling to sleep at night a month after her husband died.

Glory to God. Patti, Rebecca, and I pray together as sisters who love and care for each other even though we live in different worlds. We share a meal, laugh together, and talk about the homily of the evening. A bit of the Kingdom here and now.

Lord have mercy. Glory to God. May your kingdom come in fulness here on earth as it is in heaven.