in the news

This happened last night in the neighborhood where we lived for rocup:

Man Found Shot to Death at Culver and Parsells.

I walked by that corner several times to and from our residence, the Parsells Ave. Community Church.  

This is a reminder for me to pray for the Beechwood neighborhood.  Pray for Rochester.

the corner grocer

Most mornings I eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

Last night as I we preparing for bed I realized that I didn't have any milk.  But, I figured this would not be a problem, because there is a little grocer/convenience store at the corner of the street that I just moved onto.

So when I went there this morning I discovered several things.

There was only one kind of milk available:  whole.  They're calling it "Vitamin D" these days.  I guess whole sounds bad.  I drink skim.

But, since I needed milk for my cereal this morning and I would like to support my neighborhood economy I decided to buy a 1/2 gallon of Vitamin D Milk.

I paid $2.99.  If that seems outrageously expensive for a half gallon of milk, then our feelings are mutual.

It wasn't until I got home and looked at the label that I saw that the brand of the milk is "Great Value."  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's Wal-Mart.  So, I'm wondering if the (stereotypically Arab) store owner just goes to Wal-Mart occasionally to buy groceries for his store, and then just marks them up?

The people who live in the area don't have access to transportation and the little corner groceries therefore have a captive audience, of sorts.  Groceries are most expensive where people are the poorest.

giving

lessons from rocup :: part 4

One of the ideas that played an important role in our whole group's growth during rocup was that the difference between child-like giving and adult giving.  It basically describes the difference between giving a man a fish and teaching him how to fish.

Both forms of generosity are good.  It is good to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.  It's even commanded.  But it's a more mature kind of generosity to not only feed the hungry man but prepare and equip him so that he will be able to feed himself moving forward.  This kind of process-generosity is hard, because it requires more investment of time and relationship.  We want to be people who give in both ways -- as a child in simplicity, and as an adult in maturity.

white flight

lessons from rocup :: part 3

I found it facinating that we were told the same thing from two very different sources.  

Kyle is a Christian who moved into Beechwood with his family many years ago.  He works at East High and is the president of the community association.  He's working for social change in the name of Christ.

John is the head of the Criminal Justice Department at my university, and has been doing reaserch on violence in this city for over a dozen years.

Both these men contributed the messy web of interconnected problems that exist in the city to one common source:  white middle-class flight.

We have concentrated our ethnic minorities in one place.  We have concentrated our low economic class in one place.

The result?  Increasing demands on a declining tax base.  The education system begins to fail.  Concentration of poverty breeds desperation, violence, drugs, and other criminal activity.

If the cause was economic and racial segregation, what's the solution?

We heard the exact same ideas from the Christian and secular perspectives.

It should be noted that this is a very white-male biased perspective.  I wish we had had input from a more diverse set of people.

theology

lessons from rocup :: part 2

Now, I know that I've changed pretty significantly since I came to RIT.  But I didn't realize that some pretty fundamental aspects of my theology have changed until the final day of rocup.  We had a speaker some talk to us about justice, simplicity, and community, and he tied it all together with the cross.  This is a guy who has arrived at a place similar in many ways to the life I want to be living soon.  He lives in the city and cares for the poor around him through relationships.

But the more the guy talked, the more I found myself disagreeing with him.  And our disagreements seemed to be theological.  It was matters of interpreting Scripture, matters of Eschatology.  And until this point, I did not realize how significantly I had been impacted by adopting whole-heartedly a vision statement which includes the phrase "world-changers developed."

I find myself believing that God is "redeeming" or restoring the whole person (his emotions, intellect, flesh, and spirit) rather that just saving souls; and that God is in a similar way

reconciling the whole of creation, including its systems and structures (in a Romans 8 sort of sense).

If this is true, and we are also commanded to be imitators of God (Eph 5:1), to have the same mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), to walk in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25), then should we not also be seeking to be agents of reconciliation in the world for the whole person and for the world's systems and structures?

I think a lot of this hinges on what I have come to believe about the Kingdom of God.  Who is it, where is it, what is it?  It's in our hearts, it is the Church, it is our hope for the future.  It is somehow "already, and not yet."

Jesus told his disciples to pray that our Father's kingdom would come, and that his will would be done on earth as it is done in heaven.  And I have come to believe that it is the role of the Church to strive for the world to look like how it will be when Christ is completely King, as much as possible.  We are praying for God's will to be done on earth, and working to arrange the systems and structures and hearts of the world so that his will is done in them, as it is in heaven.  We want earth to look like God's Kingdom, because in some way it is: all things were created by him and for him (Col. 1:16).

A lot of this also hinges on what I believe about how things end.  I'm certain that this world will be destroyed in fire, and that there will be a new heave and new earth (that latter is probably where we will spend eternity), and that there will be a big, cubic New Jerusalem.  But what's up with the millenial reign?

Is the Church responsible for making the world better, to "usher in the Kingdom" (as in Christ now coming until his Bride has prepared the way)?  I don't think so.  

Will the world get worse and worse until Christ's return and the establishment of his righteousness in the world?  I think so.  

Does that mean it's not wise or a waste of time and effort to attempt to make the world a better place?  I don't think so.  

Should we focus on changing the structures of the world and neglect the souls within them?  Never.  

Should we focus solely on the the souls of the individuals within our influence?  I don't think so.  I think there is value to changing systems and structures in such a way that can lead to the salvation of many.

This is probably not very coherent.

So, I am making it a goal of the next month to talk to some more people much wiser than I about these issues, particularly the "Kingdom of God" concepts.

lessons from rocup :: part 1

I want to report on how the Rochester Urban Plunge (henceforth written as 'rocup') went, but in a weeks time I've learned too much to be contained in a single post.  Writing all this out is part of my processing process, so I apologize if the material is rather raw.  The thoughts haven't been refined well yet.

Each morning of the trip we had a Bible study.  We split into two small groups for this.  I led one, Mark led the other.  These studies had a significant impact for me in particular.

One morning we studied Deut. 14:22 - 15:11.  The end of chapter 14 discusses tithing; the beginning of 15 discusses cancelling debts every 7 years, as well as generosity to the poor.  The commands about tithing shocked me.  Each year, the Israelites were to set aside a tenth of their produce and take it all to Jerusalem and throw a big party with it.  But every third year, instead of a party in Jerusalem, they had to set aside the tenth and store it in their towns for the Levites, the widows, and others in need.  Hopefully, I'm about to start making some money.  I can't imagine what kind of party I might be able to throw if I set aside 10% for a whole year and had one big, week-long celebration with it.  Median starting salary for a mechanical engineer graduating from RIT with a Masters degree is $52,000 (source).  $5200 is a big party.  Jerusalem must have been rockin' (especially considering that everything that was used for one week of partying fed a whole bunch of people for three years).  God loves it when we celebrate him.  But, he does say, "don't neglect the Levites," which I take to mean "invite them to the party too."  

I can't imagine that it would be an easy thing to do to set aside that much for one celebration.  It seems so wasteful.  Wouldn't it be better to give it away?  Someone brought up this story, too.  Jesus's disciples were taken aback by the incredible waste of the woman's lavish gift.  But Jesus approved.  I don't really understand this yet.  At least I'm still uncomfortable with it.

It's interesting, though, to combine the ideas of celebration being honoring to God -- even lavish, "wasteful" celebration -- with another passage we studied.  Luke 14:1-24.  Jesus teaches that when we throw parties (it's something he assumes we will do... just as the "when you pray," "when you fast," etc. of the sermon on the mount) we aren't to invite people that can pay us back, but the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.  After all, that's the way it will be in the Kingdom of God.  Those who are esteemed least in our worldly society are given the place of highest honor.

So, what if next year I took 10% of everything I earned and threw a big party for the poor?

And here's one of the biggest lessons for me from rocup:  To even think about doing something like that, I'd have to know a lot of poor people.

crossing cultures

During the last two missions projects I've been on I've visited a local barber shop and had a cut and a shave.  This is a trend I want to continue.  You can learn a lot about a culture in a barber shop.