Oldies but Goodies

I recently stumbled upon my old journal that kept from the summer of 2007. I spent it working with an urban ministry in East Garfield Park on the west side of Chicago. To say the least, my experience there continues to impact every facet of my life. My worldview has been drastically altered by my experiences there..

A big theme of my writings revolved around the decisions I make. Looking back on my journal a year removed, I realize that I am still struggling to answer the same questions I was asking myself a year ago.

I was taken aback by how segregated the city of Chicago was. You could literally cross certain streets and it would change from being predominantly african-american to predominantly latino or predominantly white. And the select neighborhoods that had more of a diverse mix didn't mean that it was a peaceful harmonious situation. It meant that gentrification had begun and it was only a matter of time before the poor were displaced. So you could imagine the angst this creates..

So the obvious question I then asked myself was 'why do I choose to live where I do?' It's a question I've never given much thought to, or explored in depth. However I can see how subconsciously I rule out certain areas and places.

I was challenged to look at scripture through a different lens and what resulted was life-changing. Mostly simple stuff, but profound nonetheless..

Something that became fascinating to me was studying Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus, in agony and distress, prays that we will be brought to complete unity and that we will be 'one'.

"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:22-23

The Gospel reconciles us to each other and that doesn't just include crossing denominational or theological lines. It requires us to cross racial, socioeconomic, and gender lines as well (see John 4). At no point would I have argued against that, but it had never become a reality to me.

I don't think I'm alone when I say this, but most of us have been riddled for years (20+ years for me) of having our culture and the media instilling assumptions, stereotypes, and fear about those racially different then us. Maybe that's why I feel such a strong calling to be involved in ministry that values racial reconciliation and views it as being necessary to bring about God's kingdom.

So one year later, lease running out, new job looming, I'm faced with more of the same questions. There are some quotes at the end of my journal that still resonate to me today. I don't know where these quotes were generated from, I'm assuming I read it one of the many books I read in that summer, or it came from a sermon or talk I heard I heard that summer, or maybe I'm just real intellectual..

"If we are not a part of the ethnic solution then we are inherently a part of the ethnic divide."

Which is then followed by this phrase in bold: