Oh, I am so excited!
Good news to announce!! I am just glowing with joy!! This weekend my dear friend Charlene gave birth to a brand new baby boy, Reece. I feel as excited as I have every time I have become an aunt again!! New babies, new hope, new excitement, new energy ... and new exhaustion for the parents :) It's so totally worth it. Congratulations, Charlene and Jeremiah!
Today was Easter. In the ministry we say "whew" at about this time on Easter evening. Not to take away from the joy of birth or resurrection. But I have 2 (or 3) things to get written down.
First, I just read part of a sermon by Ron Benefiel, president of NTS. One comment riveted me. The discussion was about doing inner city ministry. The interview preceding the sermon asked a question about what he had learned about this type of ministry. He said that he learned through his ministry in LA that the church is about compassion, but is also about social justice - combating the systems that trap the people in the city (and elsewhere, I suppose). Our church is really very compassionate. We love to give out food baskets, etc to the needy. We have one family in our church that is about social justice. When they speak, everyone just sorta rolls their eyes (even if it is just in their spirit). This has frustrated me for some time. Why do people do that? Maybe then there would be no more poor and they would no longer get that warm fuzzy feeling for handing out food baskets? I don't mean to make light of the complex issues that enslave the lower classes. Maybe it is because people do not understand those issues? I don't mean to claim that I do. Maybe it is because people don't think the issues can actually be solved. I don't know a whole lot about how they can.
Seems like we have to ask these questions somewhere. Seems like we have to start with change in ourselves. Seems like compassion is the start to where social justice changes lead.
I'll save the other struggles for later.
Today was Easter. In the ministry we say "whew" at about this time on Easter evening. Not to take away from the joy of birth or resurrection. But I have 2 (or 3) things to get written down.
First, I just read part of a sermon by Ron Benefiel, president of NTS. One comment riveted me. The discussion was about doing inner city ministry. The interview preceding the sermon asked a question about what he had learned about this type of ministry. He said that he learned through his ministry in LA that the church is about compassion, but is also about social justice - combating the systems that trap the people in the city (and elsewhere, I suppose). Our church is really very compassionate. We love to give out food baskets, etc to the needy. We have one family in our church that is about social justice. When they speak, everyone just sorta rolls their eyes (even if it is just in their spirit). This has frustrated me for some time. Why do people do that? Maybe then there would be no more poor and they would no longer get that warm fuzzy feeling for handing out food baskets? I don't mean to make light of the complex issues that enslave the lower classes. Maybe it is because people do not understand those issues? I don't mean to claim that I do. Maybe it is because people don't think the issues can actually be solved. I don't know a whole lot about how they can.
Seems like we have to ask these questions somewhere. Seems like we have to start with change in ourselves. Seems like compassion is the start to where social justice changes lead.
I'll save the other struggles for later.
posted by Leah @ 9:35 PM
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