Archive for April, 2010

Will your heart break?

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Today I panhandled on State Street for the first time with my new friends.  I met them last night, she is 4 months pregnant and they are married and on the streets.  I met them to hear their story and find out why they are on the streets and try to help them toward next steps.  He gave me his sign and said, “You try it.”  The sign said, “I’ll bet you one dollar you can read this.”  Well, I was on the other side of the sign now, and noticed how the eyes of passers by darted to the left and the right so they didn’t “owe me one dollar.”  Even though I panhandle on facebook, the feeling is not quite the same.  We laughed about it and I shared that I am a bad homeless beggar.  I didn’t make a dime.

We became friends pretty quickly over Hamburger Habit :)

But I asked them if I could tell you their story so I could help them and others like them, and they said “sure.”

They have been married for a few years now, and have made mistakes.  Meth is the big one.  He has done time, and she has two other kids in foster care because of some of these mistakes.  He is done with parole, they are clean now.  They want their kids back.  They are struggling to find housing as a married, pregnant family because shelter in Santa Barbara in their situation is tough.

Their lives are sometimes threatened on the streets – which means the life of a young unborn child is also being threatened.

They have been looking for work as well.  He has work Tuesdays and Thursdays, but she can’t find work as a young pregnant woman.  He has tatoos and that makes him not hirable to some…

When she talked about her kids, what has happened to her family, wanting her kids back – she cries right there on the street.  I believe in multiple chances.  I suffer to leave them today and come to work – and in my mind I see her reunited with her kids and this is all a distant memory.

We are currently working with not one, not two, but three pregnant women on the streets.  And I can tell you this, these women did not have the middle class family protection that I grew up with.  We are talking throwaways, abused, neglected, or foster cases.

When the system breaks down, when no one else cares, there is a son of man who does care… and time has come for a movement.  Time has come for answers empowered from on high, by a people formed expressly for that purpose.  Tens – Hundreds – Thousands.

And I am compelled to share these stories, love these friends, until I see it happen – or if I don’t see it happen – it will be those of you who are younger.  We are late one revolution – every forty years there is supposed to be one – the 60’s/70’s are over – the Jesus people should cause the next big wave.  Perhaps it can start right here in Santa Barbara.

“When love comes to town, I’m going to jump that train, when loves comes to town, I’m going to catch that plane…” U2

This summer the movement gets bigger – and into fall I hope we have volunteer street teams meeting these friends, connecting them to the right places, and creating SHALOM SANTA BARBARA.

I hope to see them again Sunday!

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Post Modern Jeopardy

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Post-Modern Jeopardy at Elsie’s Tavern and Views on Hell

So, I was Elsie’s Tavern with my friend Rich this week.  And the topics of discussion?  “Burning Man – Shrooms – Acid – Oprah – Sponge Bob”  I felt like I was on some strange post-modern version of Jeopardy.   I wasn’t going to win this game show but I was on the stage.

This is the third initiative of the Uffizi Mission, in partnership with my friend Rich, who wants to pastor these friends in the bars and pubs throughout our city.  It will be a wild and worthwhile ride.

And Elsie’s Tavern is a really mild experience when it comes to the night life culture on State Street.

Soon after this experience, I had another experience with a Christ-follower that was sure most of the population of earth would end up in hell.  Our argument was over whether there would be more people in heaven or in hell.   I held to a view of the optimist, that there would be more in heaven – while he held to the argument that the scriptures taught most were on the road to destruction.

If Jesus appeared on Jeopardy, maybe we could actually learn the answer from the only one who can open the book of life.  So, we are stuck with not having the right or authority to hear the answer.

What bugs me the most is the is the casualness of our declaration of the eternal destination of who we might consider “outsiders,” while for the most part we aren’t in step with the compassionate step and pace of our founder.

You see, Jesus is at Elsie’s.  But few of us are.  And why is that if we are so sure we are right, and God is love?   Why are we not there?  And believe me, my heart goes out to these new friends I met, who are looking for meaning and “shalom” in some strange places.

Why are we not there?

Poor teaching?  Such as “don’t drink” as law… I am all about teaching “don’t drink too much” as wisdom, but don’t drink as “law” is not found in the Book.  Jewish culture is a wine loving culture – but it is countered with wisdom.  Wisdom has much to teach regarding alcohol.  But, if even having a beer is a sin, then we can’t be at Elsie’s, and if we can’t be at Elsie’s, then where will the salt come from?

Fear?  This one I understand.  I am 45 years old and sitting at Elsie’s Tavern with 20 somethings for the most part, and I don’t speak the same language.  But I am willing to be there.  Just as I am not a friend without a home, and I am not a single mom, I am willing to be there.  And I am asking to be somewhere like this as well – way out of your comfort zone but compelled by love.

Jeopardy… the game is jeopardy.  And who is in jeopardy?

Lives every day are in jeopardy – on the streets, in SB low income zones, in bars and taverns.  This is my experience.  And this is the voice God gave me to share the state of the city.

We are in jeopardy – we are in jeopardy of being distant from our founder, our beloved son of man.  That jeopardy should concern us the most as his followers.  If we want to hold to a biblical view, we have to live a biblical standard as well.

That standard to me is love – to love God and to love our Neighbor – and both of these are indeed inseparable.

Posted in Elsies Tavern, Uffizi Mission, jesus, postmodernism | 2 Comments »

Generation Now

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

I was invited to share last week at a “Homeless Awarness Week” out in Isla Vista.  It was a great time – a panel of us got to share about reasons for homeless and some solutions.  But what I witnessed the most on that night was a night of madness with UCSB students, most of whom could not walk the straight line if they had to… I sat at a local burrito joint with a few friends, considering with them, “How would you give this generation something more to live for than this?”  I began to think of new initiatvies for Isla Vista.

I don’t blame the students for the party.  In fact, they have the kingdom half right – it is a party.  It is good times.  They have half the equation right and we can begin from there.

But, it is the older generation (me included as older!) that I hold at fault for the most.  We have not crafted an exciting vision to live for.  Especially us religious people, who talk too much of heaven to be and not heaven now.  It is why I am so attracted to the idea of shalom – that Jesus was about bringing holistic peace and health now, that affects the future as well.

But, we must become Generation Now, and while trusting in the Kingdom to be, watch ourselves lest we become dreamy and sleepy and not at all practical.  If we don’t grab this younger generation, who will have the answers and passions to solve homelessness and west side/east side conflicts.  And yes, I did say “solve them.”  I am now entering Optimists’ Anonymous I guess.

Don’t tell me this one thing unless you want me to get angry (“you wouldn’t like me when I am angry” – the Hulk) – don’t say, “But Jesus said ‘the poor you will always have with you.’”  I know the reality, but the context is really from Deut 15… and in that chapter we are told to bring equity so that we would not have any poor in the land.  No kidding!

So, Generation Now is supremely optimistic, passionate, party/kingdom oriented, and excuseless.  Shalom does not allow for excuses.

Walter Brueggemann says this in Living Toward a Vision -

“We are expected to go where we are not”

“We are expected to become who we are not”

I believe something wonderful is being birthed in the midst of Santa Barbara – it is a generation of younger people with both a healthy intellectual grasp of the gospel, but also a willingness to be this generation “to go where we are not, and to become who we are not.”  They should receive our support.

This summer we will have 16 Westmont summer interns working on the West Side and the streets.  Next year there will be a team of younger Christian Associate interns doing the same, and working to become Generation Now.  I believe in them and who they are becoming, and the years of shalom they will be bringing wherever they end up.

I believe in the next year I will also be connected with more UCSB students, as we enter the bar scene in the city.  From what I hear, Thursdays on State are pretty crazy.  But, they have one half of the equation right, the Kingdom is a party, and we can start from there.

In the end, if we do believe the scriptures, we will be without excuse before God.  In my mind, I know that for the most part we will all be joyfully sharing that first new meal in the kingdom, but we will in some way be held accountable for what we have and what we did with it (the talents)… so, I invite everyone to go where they have not been, and become what we are not, together.

Posted in The Village, Uffizi Mission, Westmont, jesus, shalom | No Comments »

Shalomissional

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Well, let me introduce a new term, “shalomissional.”  This may well sum up what the Uffizi Mission is about for the coming years.

Shalom – collaborating with others to see the holistic well-being of the whole city.  As we have received peace (shalom) we will be agents of peace (shalom)

Mission – the only good mission is one for the well-being of the “other,” whether it be individuals, communities, cities, states, or nations.  The ones who battle such mission are usually thirsty for their own power or status, and stand against the equity and wholeness which the Kingdom of God bring.

“Shalomission”

This summer we enter a new phase, as I seek housing for 13 summer interns from Westmont who want to stay here to be a part of the movement (contact me if you can help with this).  This fall we enter a new phase as for the first time we have friends who want to intern with me with Christian Associates International, and put time at the shalom plow with me.

And our new initiatives?

Ministry within the bars and pubs of Santa Barbara.

Street teams for State Street caring for the chronic homeless and street youth.

Community Health Empowerment at the Carrillo Apartments.

Multiplying a new meal sharing team from Pershing Park to another park?  (will see about this one, but the time may be at hand)

I can remember someone asked me years ago, before I exited one world to enter another, as I wanted to reach postmoderns, “How big is this?”  I told him that it was the wrong question, that Jesus is all about the one, leaving the 99 if it means helping and finding the one.  Now that the movement is gaining momentum and energy and harvesters, it is still only about the one.

Today we succeeded with a street youth that I have been involved with for about half a year.  He knew that his drinking was killing him, but was in the battle between addiction, freedom, and getting better.  Today, with the primary work of Noah’s Anchorage and friends, he is headed to detox as I write this, and then to teen challenge for a year (we keep praying!).  He has within his grasp a new start.  That is how big this is.

Shalom Mission.  Jesus is the Prince of Peace – this shalom that the world cannot understand or give, He does so freely.  Our work is to partner with the heart of God in our city.  As we awaken to the call, peace awaits us.  Our wellness comes only by offering God, ourselves, our resources to others.

I am reading the book, Living Toward a Vision – Biblical Reflections on Shalom, by Walter Brueggemann, so that I might gain the heart and vision that God has for all fellow men and women.

I know this year that I will be stretched again, as I enter a new phase of equipping leaders for this movement.  I tell my friends in this together that now we are “stewarding a movement.”   This is not just social justice, or church planting, or starting multiple initiatives – this is carrying Christ’s vision of complete peace and wellness and bringing it as gift, and also finding it in places never suspected.

We believe the time is at hand, we must re-orient ourselves to the good news, and trust.

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