Personal Preference for the Poor

This morning I will be meeting with a family living in a vehicle.  I don’t know them yet, but will seeing them at 11am.  I got connected through a friend.  This is now the story of my life.

This week we moved in two friends from Casa Esperanza to the Village Apartments.  Friends were moving them in – providing furniture and care.  I know that I will soon know them well as I work at the Village through the week.  One of them was on our vulnerability index from Common Ground Santa Barbara.  Many have helped them get from the streets to housing.

I went up to Westmont this week with Ken Williams and he was able to show the film Shelter to some students in Adams 216.  It was a handful of students.  The film is both hopeful and depressing – but Ken tells the story well.  2 out of 4 street friends in the film have no passed.

We had a meeting with Reality church this week to discuss the potential of partnering with them to help more people get in the city and work within the poorer subcultures.  The meeting went well – we are all hopeful.  In many ways they share the same heart as the Uffizi Mission Project.

I also met with about 8 grad students from Fuller Theological Seminary.  I hosted them at the Village for a discussion of how our work is becoming more communal… They had many questions for me of course, but I had one for them.  How do we assist seminaries in equipping more people to deal with the reality of the poor vs. the norm of middle class culture?  They were similarly interested – but no answers.

I am working with Free Methodist Church – they may want to do a Giving Tree to assist West Side kids with getting to camp this summer.

I am up at Westmont every week trying to work my way in to discover how their systems work.  Westmont is the Christ following community on the hill – already greatly impacting the city but there is more to do.  But you know what to – I just love my time with Westmont friends too.

I am rereading Shalom by Brueggemann – because I am almost obsessed with it.

Two of my strengths on Strength Finders are – futuristic and strategic.  I see that the demographics of the USA are changing, the middle class is disappearing, and our idea of who Christ is must come down a notch to His personal preference to the poor, because that is becoming “us.”   And shouldn’t it be?  What level of connection does our reality need to have to our founder?

The reformation of our church to be able to work within the true existing holistic reality of our city is a necessity.  It is why I now admit my personal preference for the poor.