Collective Wisdom, Shared Struggles

Ecclesia Ministry leaders from all over the US and a very special bishop from Rio de Janeiro gathered at beautiful, peaceful Lake Logan in North Carolina for retreat, sharing, learning, and prayer.  I want to share some of the wisdom and the struggles from that gathering.

We who are engaged in ministry with people living on the streets share many of the same struggles.  It is hard, painful work at times and nothing can adequately prepare us for the heartbreak and (sometimes) danger that we encounter.  We struggle to remain faithful to God's command that we show mercy without judgment.  We struggle to balance the needs of others with our own needs and the needs of our loved ones.  We struggle to identify and maintain resources for our ministries.  And we struggle to meet the needs of our volunteers who minister along with us.

But the struggles are minor when compared to the joy of serving God among the forgotten, oppressed, discarded children of God.  Those of us who have been doing street ministry for a while took some time to consider the word "mercy".   The word actually means "non-abandonment".  God promised never to abandon us and we, in turn, are called never to abandon God or God's people.  When we show mercy, we say to the other person, through words and actions, that God will never abandon him/her and neither will we.  Our sole objective in street ministry is to communicate God's mercy.  Isn't that, in fact, our sole objective as Christians?  All of our works of compassion in meeting the material needs of others, all of our efforts to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, all of our prayer and worship, are directed at being instruments of God's mercy in the world.

Mercy is, of course, closely tied to forgiveness.  We were introduced to a book called Jesus, A Historical Approximation by Jose Pagola.  In the book he writes "Jesus sits at the table with sinners, not as a severe judge but as a reassuring friend.  Grace comes before judgment in God's reign....The surprise is that Jesus accepts sinners without first requiring repentance as it is traditionally understood....He accepts them as they are, sinners, trusting totally in God's mercy which is seeking them out.  So Jesus was accused of being a friend of people who are still sinners.   That was intolerable.....He offers forgiveness without first requiring change (italics added)."  This quote made me think of the group of people who have been picketing St. John's Street Church.  Their signs read, "Repent" and "Jesus Saves".   They expect repentance and change before offering God's love and forgiveness and ridicule us for loving first.  Loving first is what sets Ecclesia ministries apart from what we traditionally think of as street preaching.  And it is also one of our challenges as we approach potential funders.  Funders, be they foundations, other churches, or individuals, ask what impact we make on people's lives, how many people we have gotten into permanent housing, or how many have overcome their addictions as a result of our ministries.

Those are the wrong questions.   The questions we are asking ourselves as we go into the streets are: Have we loved well?  Have we accepted the friends we meet as our sisters and brothers in Christ, without placing conditions on that friendship?  Have we offered God's forgiveness without first requiring change?  When those with resources can hear these as the essential questions, our ministries will flourish and they will understand that lives are changed.  The reign of God will come.

In closing I want to share a prayer that the Eccelsia community in Wooster, MA uses in their worship.  The prayer is attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero: 


It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
 We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
 We are prophets of a future not our own.