An Idea

I've got an idea. It starts as just that...a little spark or niggling thought, but it's there. An idea.

How valuable is an idea without implementation?

How helpful is a new way of doing things without actually doing?

Not much. So, I'm committing to be more purposeful about sharing the story of not just what other people are doing to promote justice and see people loved and served across the world, but what we're doing...what I'm doing...this year 2010 to see God Loved and People Loved.

Our pastor the other day said that he hoped we would get to the end of this year and look back and say that 2010 was the absolute best year of our lives. I think that's a great goal for me and for you. Whaddya think? Wanna join me?

Modern Day Slavery: What do you know?

I've blogged before about International Justice Mission and the work that they're doing around the world to fight injustice in the form of forced labor, human trafficking, violent land seizures and really, anywhere violence is used as the means to coerce someone into action.

But how much do we really know about slavery. Check this out:

Modern-Day Slavery: What do you know about it? from International Justice Mission on Vimeo.

I admit that I don't always know enough which translates to not always doing enough. Raising awareness is just the first step, but it's an important one. Without an awareness of a problem, or more importantly, a story of hope that has come out of that problem, these problems will remain just that...problems.

Get Moved.

I'm sort of a social media junkie. Sometimes, I get so wrapped up in discovering new online things, that I forget to check up on some of the more basic stuff I have. My computer has been acting up for the past month and conseuqently, all of my passwords and settings have been wiped repeatedly. This includes my iGoogle log-in. I've been falling back on just the classic Google. Well, today, I decided to go back to my handy-dandy, gadget-laden iGoogle and with it my wonderful YouTube gadget.

This was its offerring of the day. Get moved by it as much as I did:

This Saturday is 1010 Community Day!

We'll be at Bouton Street Park in South Norwalk all day. Our schedule is:

10:10am - 1pm: City Park Beautification at Bouton St. Park in partnership with Robidoux Landscaping and the City of Norwalk
1pm - 2:30pm: Community Lunch at Bouton Street Park
2:30pm - 5:30pm: Neghborhood Kids Celebration at Bouton St. Park
3pm-4pm: Street Side Salon
4pm: Mayor Moccia at Bouton Street Park to proclaim October 10, 2009 "1010 Community Day in Norwalk"
All Day: Handyperson Home Projects in Bouton St neighborhood
All Day: Coat and Winter Clothes Drive to Benefit Norwalk Emergency Shelter

Come down for some or all of it. It's going to be a day of neighboring. I can't wait.

Get on Your Boots. Yeah, you.

The past three weeks have marked a really special time at Northeast Community Church. We have been working through a new message series called, "Get On Your Boots." It's been our chance to talk biblically about what it means to be the church specifically to the poor and oppressed. Now, that's just a little bit of Christian-ese to say that we have been having a conversation about getting on our boots and doing_some_work. I wish there was a way to "shout" on here without ALL CAPS. ALL CAPS always seems so angry to me, but I don't want to shout this angrily, I want to shout it excitedly. To have, for the past four weeks, been taking time each week to talk about our scriptural mandate and examples of how to connect, care and love all members of our society gets me excited. When I get excited I shout. My voice also rises to wholly unpleasant shrill ranges, but that's a whole other story.

We still have one more week this upcoming Sunday, where we will be talking about the Actualization of it all -- the idea of "a full life in the emptiest of places." If you're around, check it out. We're at West Rocks Middle School and meet at 10:30am on Sundays. Don't worry, I promise not to shout too much. ;)

When you say it, you'd better mean it.

Warning: Reading this blog may be harmful to your sensitive spirits and to your tear ducts.

God, use me to do whatever it is that you'd have me do.

Yep, when you say it, you'd better mean it. That came through loud and clear today.

A little backstory. A coworker & I go weekly to a local park and do art & music & just build relationships with the neighborhood kids there. We've connected with probably hundreds of people since we started doing it -- some in big ways, others in very casual ways. When we started, we had no idea what to expect. We went to the park that very first day and prayed this prayer (and continue to pray it every single day):

God, use me to do whatever it is that you'd have me do.

This park is in various states of disrepair. There are swings that are broken, slides that have sections burned out, grafitti over all surfaces, broken bottles, remnants of drug use and trash that never seems to find its way into the trash can. No biggie. We bring our gloves and our trash bags and every time set out to clean up the park just like we did before. Lots of people stop and ask why we're cleaning. Some thank us for cleaning. Others just nod and smile.

This morning when we got there -- well, let's just say that Labor Day weekend must have been one wild time in this park. There was more garbage than normal. And one especially hearbreaking sight: a dead cat right at the entrance to the park. Now, this isn't CSI: Feline Edition, but this cat had been there for a few days at least. People had to have walked over it or around it to get in and out of the park. Kids must have seen it. We saw it and immediately knew "whatever it is that you'd have me do" was right here, right now.

Some friends in the neighborhood walked by and told us there was a cat that needed to be cleaned up. They mentioned it had been there for a while. They even joked that there was no way we would pick it up. We did. A local botega loaned us some trash bags; a local business donated some gloves and 10 minutes later, God had wrecked me again and brought me back to the place where I had needed to be all along -- knowing that I am His servant and ultimately called to do whatever it is that He needs done.

R.I.P.. Grey & White Kitty, R.I.P. :(

It's all about relationships.

It's all about relationships. I feel like this is what I've been hearing over and over again for the past few months. I can't deny that the phrase feels trite to me; I also can't deny that because it does, I don't fully "get" it. Because it is. On the most basic level, it comes down to relationships. But I'm trying. Day by day, I'm trying.

If you don't love someone, you don't hate him/her (or, at least, not necessarily). But you don't have an emotional investment, a vested interest, an out-and-out desperation to love. Is that apathy? Is that nonchalance? Is that spiritual laziness? Is that an inability to fully understand the position we all hold in Christ? Is that human nature?

Somedays, I know the answer is yes. I know it's yes to all of them at one time or another. I know that ultimately I have to admit, I haven't helped bring justice to this world with my resources, time and energy, not because I hate, but because I don't care enough. Because I don't love enough. There was a time where I would have tried to soften the blow of that for myself -- would have tried to put a twist to it to make myself come out looking better than I am. The smoke and mirrors treatment if you will, but those times are behind me for now. Seeing it in print and making it a public proclamation makes it that much more real and holds me that much more accountable.

It has to be now. It has to be love. It has to be relationships.