Blessings?

People with financial means often have the opportunity to travel, and see some amazing locations in this big world. For people that walk the street every day, traveling is more often restricted to a limited geographical area. The concept of vacation is an unreachable dream. When you are in deep financial need, walking the streets is not about leisurely exercise. Walking the streets and “traveling” is about daily survival.

I grew up in the church, and over the years I heard countless prayers from the pulpit and around various dinner tables in our community. Many of those prayers included words of thanksgiving, and oftentimes there was mention of health, shelter, and the bounty of the table.

As I have met more people in this world and studied different cultures, I have become increasingly restless with the concept of blessings. In the Bible, God does talk about taking care of his people, and about meeting their needs. However, as far as I can tell, God does not love us with a checklist. While this country provides us with a lot of opportunities, it is hard to make an argument that we are the most righteous, and therefore worthy of the greatest material blessings.

There are too many people of great faith in this world that live in material poverty for me to believe that God has rewarded me with material gain because I am more loved than my neighbor. I could be wrong, but I feel like I have worked reasonably hard in my life. That said, plenty of people work harder than I do and have not achieved the same financial rewards.

Maybe we have lulled ourselves into a false sense of what blessings are all about. Does God want us to enjoy the beauty and grandeur of his creation? I believe so. Should material growth and comfort be our long-term goal in this life? That is a hard Biblical argument to make.

I have talked before about the Parable of the Talents, and that always comes to mind when I think about the concept of blessings. Perhaps material wealth is not a blessing, but is instead a challenge from God. The oft-used phrase suggests that money cannot buy happiness, but it sure comes in handy sometimes. When you are hungry and homeless, you’ll take a little bit of that temporary happiness.

My challenge to you today is to examine your motives, and your long-term priorities. If you have financial means, congratulations on your earthly success. At the same time, I will remind you of a popular play called, “You Can’t Take It With You.”

Do you see financial gain and material comfort as a blessing? Do you believe that God has given you what you have because you are more worthy than others? I’m not going to tell you to liquidate your assets and give them all away (unless God calls you to). I will suggest that you take a long look at your goals, and ask God whether he has something for you to do with your opportunities.

Lord, thank you for your blessings, in whatever form they come.

Vision

If you have ever been up the California coast you know that there are some amazing views, with myriad places to stop and look out over the grandeur of the Pacific Ocean. Beyond San Luis Obispo, there is an intriguing destination that is known to many people around the world. That destination is Hearst Castle.

Hearst Castle was once a private residence of William Randolph Hearst, a man who was born into money but also had a very successful earthly career in the publishing industry and in politics. Hearst did not refer to this remote estate as a castle, but that is how it is known today. After taking a tour bus up a winding road, you can’t help but feel like you have encountered a home that is part mansion, part church and part art museum.

I won’t go into the details of Hearst’s life, but it is perhaps most diplomatic to suggest that there are many different ways to look at his legacy. Today, the Castle is perhaps the most profound reminder of his existence, particularly now that it is a National Historic Landmark.

As I was touring the Castle, I couldn’t help but think about Kingdom Causes Bellflower. That may seem like a strange connection, and it isn’t because I want us to build a massive castle on a distant hill. I thought about KCB because for all of his shortcomings, Mr. Hearst was a man of vision.

One of the more remarkable attributes of the Castle is that Hearst began the project in 1919, when he was 56 years old. Certainly there are people who start certain types of endeavors in the later years of their life, particularly if they have accumulated the financial means to do so. However, most people do not pursue a vision of this scale and then work on it for the next 28 years. Hearst had camped on this hill as a boy, and in his later years he decided that is was time to realize a vision that had been brewing within him throughout his entire life.

I don’t tell you this story because I specifically admire what he created. Hearst Castle is an impressive structure, and it is fascinating to hear the stories of who visited and how the estate was put together. What I do find admirable is the unrelenting vision, and that is what made me think of KCB.

Someday I may read a biography about Mr. Hearst, mostly because I want to know whether he always had this long-term plan, and if he had a thought on what it might eventually be. If you visit Hearst Castle today, you will see wings of the main house that are unfinished. The tour guides will suggest to you that because of Mr. Hearst’s need to tinker, the project may never have been completed even if he had lived for many more years.

As we love our neighbors in Bellflower, it is important for us to remember that the work may never be finished, and that is okay. The other important lesson is something that we can take from Mr. Hearst, even if our focus is much different than a grand earthly mansion. We must be people of inspired vision, and it doesn’t matter how old you are or what you have accomplished in your life to this point.

Psalm 23:6 says, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” If we are wiling to surrender our plans to the Lord, he will accomplish great things in this city.

Perhaps we are building a house of sorts in Bellflower. The view from Hearst Castle is beautiful, but there is a view coming that is far better than we could ever ask or imagine.

Shalom

Translating words from other languages can be a tricky business. The challenge is that language is not just about matching words, it is about interpreting expressions of culture. Like many other words, the word shalom can have multiple meanings depending on the context. Traditionally the word can be a way to say both hello and goodbye, but it can also to refer to a desire for peace.

If we want to get into broad-based theoretical discussions about meaning, we can ask a lot of complicated questions. Is shalom a place? A destination? A state of being? Will we know when we arrive at shalom? Or is it like the Holy Spirit? Is shalom an elusive wind, restless and always moving? Are we called to pursue shalom, though we may never reach a point of personal satisfaction or world peace? Perhaps shalom is about making peace with our own holy discontentedness, an ever-present quest to lay our burdens at the feet of Christ and seek his kingdom each and every day.

Let’s get practical for a moment. Life can be busy and stressful. It can be hard to escape the realities of the moment and dream of nebulous, seemingly impossible goals of societal harmony. World peace seems to somehow work out at the end a feel-good movie, but it doesn’t always translate to the daily grind of angry people and broken families. In addition, scripture tells us that our sinful nature is always going to be a huge barrier to reconciliation and true progress on any level.

Seeking shalom, it would seem, has a major set of challenges.

And yet, thanks to the grace of God, there is always hope. Incredible, inspiring hope. John 16:33 says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” That verse provides amazing reassurance, and a reason to keep working towards the restoration of God’s kingdom here on earth. We experience a lot of failure here at Kingdom Causes Bellflower for the simple reason that life happens. Despite the difficulties and the daily heartaches, we keeping working towards a goal of community transformation. It takes diligence, patience, and the willingness to sometimes work tirelessly with one person at a time.

As you go about your day, don’t be afraid to dream big. There are a lot of needs out there, and that can be discouraging. There are also countless opportunities to pursue relationships and thriving neighborhoods. Ask God where you can be used, and how your gifts can be utilized to show love to your neighbors.

Shalom.

Labels

We live in an interesting world of societally-created designations. Put in simpler terms, we create some interesting words and labels. For example, take Kingdom Causes Bellflower. KCB is a “faith-based” organization, which is a designation that we embrace. We are unapologetically about loving our neighbors as ourselves because this is what Christ asks of His followers.

If you go to our website, you can read through our mission and vision statements, as well as our Statement of Faith. Included in our mission is the vision statement, “Our VISION is to see Bellflower transformed as God’s people live out the Great Commission locally.” That is what drives our work, and why we continue to pursue our mission.

What has become clear over the years is that society is not always comfortable with faith-based organizations. The concern is usually centered on two areas. One, there is a fear that faith-based organizations will only help their own, and that there may be a literal or metaphorical ideology detector at the front door. Two, there is a concern that the work being doing is restricted to proselytizing, which is a big word for witnessing, evangelizing or sharing a specific religious message. In practice, the fear would be that KCB walks up and down the streets hurling Bibles at our homeless neighbors, rather than helping them with more tangible needs.

We have found that some foundations will not even consider funding us because we are faith-based, even when we present clear evidence that we have a proven track record in the areas of homeless prevention, affordable housing, job creation and neighborhood development. The frustrating irony is that faith-based organizations can be the victim of discrimination by other entities that are fearful of discrimination. As I said, we live in an interesting world.

Lest this become a long lament about government designations or narrow foundation criteria, let us focus on some realities. In recent decades, the church has not done a good enough job showing love. We have talked about love, but we have also talked about a lot of other things that have turned society off to the Gospel message. To be fair, being a Christ-follower has never been about fitting in with society, nor will it ever be. In addition, the church has also done some amazing work around the world, loving people in myriad ways.

The point here is that we can still do a better job convincing people that when we talk about love, we mean it. Obviously, the word love is very broad, and secular society has used that word to justify all sorts of random behaviors and lifestyles. That doesn’t change the fact that we can always help our neighbor. At KCB, we do our best to get people off the street and prevent them from ending up there in the first place. We work to repair broken families, and keep fractured units from splitting. In addition, we work to create jobs, so that our neighbors can sustain themselves, make good choices, and be contributors to society.

Our faith-based status is something that we will not compromise on, and in some cases, it will cost us. Some people will understand that our faith is not just what we do, but why we do it. Regardless of who we encounter, we will do our best to help them. Society will suggest that you don’t need a specific faith to help your fellow human being, and they would be right. However, it certainly adds to the meaning when you consider that you are loving your brother or sister in Christ.

Social Justice

I heard a sermon the other day from the book of Amos. You must give pastors credit when they tackle the minor prophets, because generally the authors do not tend to be the most upbeat individuals. That said, we can certainly understand lament since we see reason for it every day.

One of the topics that was addressed in the sermon was the oft-debated topic of “social justice.” There are a lot of challenges with this concept, simply because it lacks a universal definition in society. Language can have a lyrical beauty when it is creatively assembled, but it can also be a frustrating part of the human existence, simply because meaning can quickly push people down different interpretational paths. Without starting a political firestorm, I know that words like “liberal,” “conservative,” and “evolution” can also carry enough metaphorical baggage with them to fill a cargo ship.

Just to provide a context, I looked up the Wikipedia definition. This controversial but terribly helpful website defines the phrase as, “justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.” When we read this type of general definition, we understand why people can engage in fierce debate about meaning, interpretation and application. Very quickly we find ourselves in a situation where “rich” and “poor” are categorized as fundamentally oppositional forces. Those that have quietly worked hard to earn a measure of money can feel like they are suddenly being persecuted for being successful. In addition, the conversation can wander into side arguments about poor lifestyle choices, government policy, racism, prejudice and economic philosophy.

To keep us on track, let me suggest a simple interpretation to this much-debated concept. In multiple places, the Bible tells me to love my neighbor, and be aware of people around me. Social justice should not be about forcing one group to fix the problems of another. Rather, it should fuel a daily desire to help our fellow brother and sister overcome the obstacles that are in front of them, whether they are from personal choices or external circumstances. This may be a simplistic interpretation of social justice, but sometimes it is best to focus on the basics. People have needs, and many individuals have the means to help them. Those means were given to us by God.

Now, the justice part is obviously complicated. When justice is “served,” it does not automatically mean that everyone gets what they want. Much like other nebulous concepts like “love,” how we help people can vary greatly. Sometimes God calls us to sacrificially give of our time, talents and treasures. Other times he calls us to empower the individual by letting them make their own choices to move forward.

There is one other piece to consider, which is the social aspect of this little phrase. After the sermon, a friend of mine asked if justice needs a qualifier. After all, isn’t “true” justice able to stand alone? Can’t we say the same about “true” love or “the whole” truth? This is a good point, but after thinking about it, I think there is value to the extra word in this context.

In this case, the word social personalizes the value of justice. Think about the phenomenon of social networking. Again, “networking,” does not necessarily need the social aspect, but the modern interpretation of this idea is that a social network is another way of saying MY network. In the same way, I wonder if social justice could be interpreted in a positive way to reflect our personal responsibility to act.

When we talk about the concept of justice, there can be a psychological distance between us and broader society. We have the same problem when we say phrases that start with “someone should…” or “someone needs to…”. Without the qualifier, we leave the responsibility to someone else.

You can’t fix every problem in this world, but that isn’t what God calls us to do. Start with that person you encounter on the street, at the mall, at our office, across the driveway, or in the pew next to you. We can keep debating the broad meaning of social justice, but let’s do our best to focus our energy on loving our neighbors in tangible ways. There are needs to be met, and the dictionary can wait.