He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
~ Luke 4:16-21, NIV.
On Wednesday our pastoral staff went to a meeting at Bethlehem Baptist Church that featured Bob Lupton as the main presenter. He shared his views on how to bring life, vitality and economic stability to the poorest regions of our city. It was good, but it leaves me with a whole slew of questions.
First off, what is the primary concern of the church? Isn't it the 'soul work' of saving, discipling and training people to live lives worthy of God? I firmly believe this. This can NEVER be replaced with a well-meaning, yet ultimately temporal solution of having people become financially stable.
However, the Bible is CLEAR that we are to be among the poor (James 2:2-6), we are to give to the poor (Exodus 23:11), and we are not to show favoritsm, either positively (Exodus 23:3) or negatively (Exodus 23:6).
Also, we are to stand up for the poor, as so many people are actively trying to take advantage of them:
A poor man’s field may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away. [Proverbs 13:23]
The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. [Psalm 37:14]
God has a huge heart for the poor. Now, my big question (BQ) is this:
How do we (as a body at HCC) and I (as an individual, and as senior pastor at Hope) become involved in the plight of the poor? Being a church on the edge of downtown Minneapolis, being right next to the county hospital, and within a stones throw of subsidized housing has brought new challenges and opportunities to us as a church. What do we do? How can we be involved with the justice and mercy the Lord asks of us, while at the same time investing heavily on the spiritual aspect of our ministry to more and more people as Hope is growing?
Quite honestly, I'm not sure right now. I would love prayer for me and our overseers and for our staff as we wrestle with this. One of the things I hope to dive into during my sabbatical (May-July 2005) will be this issue. I would also love any feedback here or in person from many of you at Hope (or out there in the internetville!). May God lead us to bring his hope to the city of Minneapolis!
7 comments:
Good post, Steve. Did Lupton talk specifically about this passage? I don't remember him doing so, but I woke up that night with it on my mind and blogged about it; you blogged about it; Mark preached on it. What is God saying to us here?
Speaking from my liberal ;-) perspective, I don't wish to separate peoples' spiritual needs from their real-life needs of health, finances & housing. I think it is significant that Jesus uses this passage from Isaish as sort of his mission statement and that he almost always tended to people's physical needs before addressing their spiritual ones. I think that sometimes people have to get to a certain place before they are ready to hear the Gospel and it is often spoken most clearly through our love and compassion. I think Francis of Assissi says it well: "Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary use words."
I think those are great questions for the people of Hope to ask about their mission in Minneapolis. It reminded me of Lesslie Newbigin's take on that issue in his book, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. After talking about the debate between those who emphasize proclamation and words versus those who prefer action and deeds, he talks about the "indissoluble nexus between deeds and words."
He claims that we cannot set the two against each other. The preaching is meaningless without the deeds, which it serves to explain. Likewise the deeds are lifeless without the words which communicate the nearness of the kingdom of God. To these he also adds "new being" or, the community of the church.
He claims that, "the central reality is neither word nor act, but the total life of a community enabled by the Spirit to live in Christ, sharing his passion and the power of his resurrection." And I couldn't agree with him more. Fortunately Hope seems to be concerned with all three of these realities, word, deed, and new being.
Todd,
I really like that it is actually three things:
word
deed
new being
I think we have often clouded the issue when we try to make it a continuum of 2 opposing ideas (word and deed). The element of transformation through Jesus (new being) makes that dicotomy impossible.
Also, I really enjoyed what my friend Pat Kanke said at a retreat I was just at with him and a few other pastors. He said, "maybe I'm just naive, but isn't love both. I mean, is there really a problem here?"
Admittedly even by him, this does oversimplify the issue, but you know what? Maybe we need to oversimplify the issue! Love God. Love our neighbor. If you love him (or her) you will not give them a scorpion when they ask for a fish. If you love them, you will tell them about Jesus and help them develop a life-changing relationship with the Almighty!
Hi Trike -- just found out you here from a link on Pat's site. Nice to "hear" from you again! :) I also had the privilege of catching Bob Lupton at BBC in Oct. The light bulb for me wasn't as much the relationship between word and deed or explicitly preaching the gospel vs. meeting people's needs but what it means to "meet people's needs." I think the church can inadvertently fall into the trap of condescending, or as mentioned before in these comments, exert great effort in temporary relief. Bob's concept of re-neighboring the inner city communities, making sure, if we do that, that we don't allow our economic progress to contribute to the oppression of the poor is challenging and difficult. It is a struggle that Graham and I are working throught but loving to see God in it. Love to see you and Carole soon!
Hi stevetreichler, taking a little time today to see what Increase Cash Flow will send me to that is interesting. Hope for the City looks interesting and is a great read. Will also try Increase Cash Flow in my e-travels. Have a super day!
Hi stevetreichler, it’s late in the evening, quiet and peaceful. This is good computer time for me. I thought I would check on Be Your Own Boss and see what came up. Hope for the City is something that is interesting to many people. I will also spend a little time checking on Be Your Own Boss. Getting late, have a good evening.
Hi stevetreichler, taking a little time today to see what Help People will send me to that is interesting. Hope for the City looks interesting and is a great read. Will also try Help People in my e-travels. Have a super day!
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