This is going to say "Keith" because I am totally untechnical and don't know how to make it say "Kim"...but this is Kim. I have been thinking and praying about our upcoming discussion about what we will do as our next mission. I dreamed last night that I was flying (literally - like Peter Pan) over a train at night and there were families jumping onto the train, trying to cross the border between Mexico and the U.S. They were afraid and desperate. I thought maybe we could reach out to families here that might be in that situation.
I read an article tonight about Bacliff - about the poverty there, the gangs, the drug problems...maybe we could do something there.
I thought about the way our group has reached out to the homeless...maybe we could do more in that area.
I am reading a book by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision, and he wrote about Disneyworld and how clean and comfortable and insulated it is from the real world. He wrote about the Magic Kingdom (where so many if us live in comfort and prosperity), the Tragic Kingdom, where hunger and oppression and extreme poverty are the norm, and God's Kingdom - what God intends....
Whatever we do, I hope we can bring hope and healing and help into the one of the Tragic Kingdoms near us.
Another thing you could do is just roll with the flow. Say one week somebody says, "I got this thing going. Sure would be nice to have some people along." Then you do that. Then the next tag up, somebody says, "Hey, we are going to have a crawfish boil." And then that's the deal. Then somebody says, "Dude, it'd sure be nice to see this thing." Then that's the thing. Each time, it's a matter of luck if anybody shows up at all. Whoever planned it will be happy, maybe a bit miffed (but get over it), if nobody shows. Arm twisting is minimal. Persuasion can be used. Being rested is paramount. Laughing is spontaneous. Joking may be brutal. Rest. Rest. Rest.
ReplyDeleteI love that idea and i think there's something to it. it's been awfully hard to have community spring out of mission. We've been at church under the bridge for how long being missional, and we haven't replicated what we have on thursdays there. maybe we need to start from scratch and just practice being missional to each other. and then there's this part of me that just feels like the whole word "missional" is so agenda based that it throws everything off.
ReplyDeletei think it should be called "friendship making" or "hangin' out with the homies" or "hangin' out with friends."
when we go to church under the bridge, i have a hard time seeing homeless people. i see people who could really liven up our community and bring some fresh blood. i see people who can cook, who can play music, who can build fires, who can make things with wood, who can work on cars, and who can sit at Starbucks and share stories. they aren't needy. we're the needy ones. we need them to teach us how to grow and live and survive and trust god when the food's not coming in, or the money, or the job, or the transportation.
i could go on all night. my emotions are kind of all over right now since my friend called. i really feel bad for him because we have a long history, a similar history. i just want him to get to experience a glimpse of the ride i've been on for the last two years. i'm done blogging now. bye
I agree with both of you... and we are all already on mission in so many ways..we can join each other more naturally...
ReplyDelete--Kim