11.10.2010 | By: Morgan

Good-for-Nothing Ghetto Punks

I must admit that I have a very residual, very right-winged way of looking at things. I think America is way too cushioned and needs a swift kick in the rear. I have mixed views of people in poverty. I know people on both sides: the ones who need help, and the ones who abuse help. And I generally feel uneasy around black people. Especially black men.

I'm thankful for Robert's view of them.After viewing their actions around a fire he gets to the heart of things. Here's an excerpt from his book:

"Noticeably absent from the conversation this evening and every evening is talk of marriage and kids, of family plans and dreams for the future. Perhaps macho men don't talk of such things anywhere. Bu here, love is another word for weakness. It is something to be denied. Romantic words are merely tools for manipulating a lady's mind. Intimacy is a temporary high. Being cool, 'fronting,' 'getting over' are the techniques for staying in control. These are being reinforced tonight, and every night on the street.
"You want to show, 'But this isn't real! It denies who you really are. Don't you have the same emotions, the same desires for deep and permanent relationships, the same hopes and dreams for a family as the rest of us?' But you remain silent, because you realize you have not yet seen life through their eyes. You don't know how it feels to be chronically jobless with no legal capacity to support a wife or family. You don't understand how strong young men get trapped in a permanent pool of unneeded labor at the bottom of our economic system. And you wonder: how does it feel to be both disdained by society and impotent to achieve without your culture even the most basic position of respect - the head of the household?
"These men feel deeply. Their eyes tell you that. Their quick humor and creative use of language reveal the keenness of their minds. And now you being to understand why they are here tonight: to belong.
"On the corner no one asks them why they don't get a job. No one needs convincing about the dreadful reality of surplus labor. No women remind them of their inability to support their children or their inadequacies as husbands. Tonight women remain objects, so they can be controlled, dominate. There is no talk of commitment and security, of home and trust. There are no reminders of dreams that never will be.
"Instead, they share adventures and intrique, street success stories. Loud music, boisterous laughter, and other anesthetics dull their pain. It doesn't matter that they are outside the rules of societal approval. The unspoken agony of worthlessness is eased in the sharing of bottles and joints. Tonight there is relief from a future without hope."

Morgan }|{ "look at Jesus only."

Foxes Have Holes

"The Christ, the despised one, the one from whom we hid our faces, spoke softly, deeply in my spirit. It was the voice of one who Himself claimed to have no place to lay his head. I began to weep. I remembered my clenched fist and my compassionless expulsion of this stranger from my life. I cried in sorrow for a broken man whom I had sent off into the cold - unshowered, unfed. And I sorrowed for the one whose heart is not yet sufficiently broken, whose heart hardens too quickly against the call of the Lord among the least of these. 'I am sorry, Lord, for turning you out into the cold. Thank you for using my car.'" - Robert D. Lupton

This is my favorite story so far. After walking out to his car, Robert is startled when he opens to door and finds a man sleeping in it. His fist up in defense, he forces the man out. However, on the way to his meeting, as the anger is melting away, he soaks in the reality of the situation.

I can't stress how much this means to me. In our worst moments we see who we really are. I mean, that would be craZy scary, I'm sure! But that wouldn't be Christ's reaction, I'm sure of that too. I need a continually moving of the Holy Spirit in me if I want to have Christ's reactions at a moments notice. It separates those who "act out" the Fruits of the Spirit and those who "LIVE" them. Am I a liver (eww! That grossed me out for a second) or a doer? Do I act out a script like I'm in a Christian play because I'm a smart girl who knows the right words to say, the best verses to pull up, and the prominent time to lend my hand to help someone. Or am I walking "In His Steps" because I can't help it anymore. Because when I wake up it's His voice in my ear. While I'm falling asleep it's His face that I dream of. I'm not going through my day talking to myself, but in my mind there is a constant dialog with the the One who made the universe. I choose to cling to Him in my struggles, in the moments when I can't, I don't want to, I won't give in because I'd rather do it my way. It'll be ok just this once. Or will every time I obey make it easier. Easier to walk in His ways. To talk with His words. Effortless to think the way He thinks.

I don't want to ACT like Jesus. I want to live like Him.

Morgan }|{ "Look at Jesus only."

O Bother.

These words remind me of one of my favorite characters: Winnie the Pooh! I wish this blog could be as cute. But rather, I think it's quite ugly.

"Why should it be so difficult to decide which is wiser; to open the church [or my home] for the homeless to rest or to install an electronic alarm system to preserve its beauty?"

&

"I thank God for Mrs. Smith and the conflict she brings me. In her more clearly than in Sunday School lessons or sermons, I encounter the Christ of scripture saying, "Inasmuch as you have don it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me." - Robert D. Lupton

I ALLOW myself to be easily irritable. I GIVE IN to road rage. Girls in class with stupid questions or answers bother me to the point where I think to myself "wow, seriously?" or exaggerate the wideness of my eyes. I hate when people breath on me. I find girls with a lot of confidence and a sense of humor obnoxious if I don't find them funny or cute. I find a person in every class to compete against because composition fuels my "A" mentality. It takes a lot for me to be respectful of other view points and not argue in a rude way. And I don't like to wait or be put out. - And all this, just today.

But when I read the words of Christ, or others who lay their lives down I want so badly to be that person. I want to open my home to strangers. I want to be even-tempered and soft spoken. I want to count all my bad points as gain. But a few minutes of being outside my home and I slip right back into my old behaviors.

I think the difference is in keeping the right mindset throughout the day. Not by might, will power, or strength, but by being in constant communion with God. I think that would change it all. Instead of giving into impulses, I would lean more heavily into the Cross until not only would I behavior differently, but I would think differently. I would think like one who has been changed by Grace. And I think it's a heart issue. My heart is not in the right place. O Jesus replace my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh! Beating with Your rhythm, pumping Your love through my veins! Help me to stay in constant communion with You that I never leave Your garden and we walk hand in hand all my days.

Morgan }|{ "Look at Jesus only."

A Lofty View

"'It takes everyone of us to make His body complete, for we each have a different work to do. So we belong to each other, and each needs all the others' (Romans 12:4-5)
"I need the poor? For what? The question exposes my blindness. I see them as weak ones to be rescured, not as bearers of the treasures of the Kingdom. The dominance of my giving overshadows and stifles the rich endowments the Creator has invested in those I consider destitute. I overlook what our Lord saw clearly when He proclaimed the poor to be especially blessed, because theirs is the Kingdom of God (Luke 6:20). I selectively ignore the truth that monied, empowered, and learned ones enter His kingdom with enormous difficulty. 
"The community into which Christ invites us is one of interdependence. We are called to mutual sharing and the discovery of gifts Christ has concealed in the unlikeliest among us. And to those who consider themselves leaders, our Lord offers humility - the salvation of the proud that comes from learning to receive form the least, who are the greatest in the Kingdom." - Robert D. Lupton

In being a social worker I think it's so important to not have a lofty view of myself. I feel like my clients will see right through that and I'll have lost them before we even start. In terms of Christianity, I feel like we become so puffed up on ourselves because of all our lists of accomplishments. I think of it as a "savior-complex." We feel that others need us. That we should always give our 2 cents, even when it's not asked for, because we know the solution and everyone else is blind to it. I am so guilty of this and it's ended badly each time.

Interdependence.

As social workers, our goal is to empower. And while it's important for us to maintain a position of professional authority and not forget our role, I want my clients to feel needed; Needed in the sense that they matter to me and it would be a great disservice if they weren't in my office anymore.

One of my favorite things about working with kids is the things they say. They come up with the CRAzIEST things and I love every minute of it. To some it may seem stupid and they even tell them to shut up, but I encourage it. I can't think right now what I can gain from the poor, but I'm going to pray about it and keep in the back of my mind. That'll be for another blog I guess :)

Morgan }|{ "Look at Jesus only."