The Lord's Rain: Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight!

Once again, a prompt from the Lord pans out! Did I ever doubt it?

Last week, I told you about the front-page story in Metro last week about The Lord's Rain's financial concerns. That was followed with a piece done by Breakfast Television on CityTV, which aired on Thursday.

I didn't see the TV story (and they don't post their stories online), but as for the newspaper item, I do believe the Lord had His hand on Kate Webb's shoulder as she wrote it, because it's brilliant and uses that 200-words-or-fewer format effectively to convey both the financial and the social need.

(Heck, I can't even say "good morning!" in fewer than 200 words!)

And now, the update. In the two days since those stories ran, we received enough donations to keep The Lord's Rain open for several more months! It proves that when more people know about The Lord's Rain and what it means to the people it serves, they will invest willingly. All it takes is a little publicity -- and now, we have an even stronger "hook" for that publicity: testimony from the people who use it. As I said in my last email, it's no longer just a "neat idea", but something that's actually showing positive results.

Give God the glory, working through the media and touching those who see the stories! It's certainly not the first time He has told me to "do what you do for a living: write a news release". The media have stepped up time and again to get the message out, and people have responded. In 2007 and 2008, as we were building the place, they caught the vision and came forward to make it happen; and now it's happening again.

We still have the issue of long-term continuous funding, and to that end, I'm working on a presentation to take to churches and organizations, describing then opportunity to be part of something operating in a mission field in their own back yard. It is a mission field, and a highly important one, at that.

The Lord's Rain celebrated its 5th anniversary on Tuesday (April 30), and support like this means there'll be a 6th anniversary ... and so forth.

The "Worst" kind of violence?

A message board outside a church near my place currently (at least, as of Sunday) displays the aphorism, "Poverty is the worst kind of violence".

I've spent the past couple of days muttering, "what the heck does that mean?". It's a little like eating spicy food that still needs salt: something is missing there.

To begin with, the word "violence" generally has some negative connotations, and when I hear a term used like that, it's often in the context that someone else is guilty of it.

But whom are we accusing?

Lest we cudgel our brains into porridge over this, let's remind ourselves that even Jesus, the Son of God, acknowledges that there will always be poverty. That's why one of His commandments to His followers is to take care of the poor. Not eradicate poverty (which is one of those well-meaning, world-based "goals" that seems laudable, but because it's impossible to achieve, can bring a sense of futility and despair when that goal is never reached), but lift the poor out of the mire to make room for and set an example for the others who, inevitably, will slip. Just as God sends storms and illness and other trials to strengthen our faith and increase our reliance on Him; just as He created good and evil, darkness and light, I believe poverty is one of His creations so that those who are not impoverished can carry out that commandment and so that we can all learn how interdependant we are on one another and on God.

So if we make a statement like, "poverty is the worst kind of violence," are we not leveling an accusation at God?

"The poor," Jesus says, "ye shall have always." He never says they'll be the same poor. An area like the Downtown East Side should be a flow-through point, where people come for a time, and then get on with life. Missions like ours exist to get people turned around and back on track. Sadly, the DTES has become less of a thoroughfare and more of a dead end, with bodies and lives piling up.

Rather than look at poverty as being violence, I believe it's an opportunity from God: an opportunity to help and be helped and to see His glory, no matter what. I remember a fellow who came in often to Rainbow Mission (which closed at the end of 2006) and whom I still see from time to time -- Abraham Jones is his name -- and he once gave a testimony: "I thank God that I don't have a roof over my head tonight. I thank God that I don't know where my next meal is coming from. I thank God that I don't have a job." The inference was that he knew he could rely on God through anything and he was grateful for the opportunity; it's easy to glorify Him when things look good, but to do so when things look bad requires a whole lot of faith.

So is poverty "violence"? No. Keeping people in poverty, whether by ignoring them (like the rich dude in Jesus' parable, who ignores the pleas of the beggar Lazarus) or creating institutions that deny them hope and the truth of the Gospel, is closer -- definitely, an offence to God.

The story goes that a newspaper surveyed its readers about 100 years ago with the question, "what is the greatest threat to mankind?" The great author, GK Chesterton, submitted a simple, two-word response: "I am."

Let me turn that on its ear. What is the greatest asset of mankind?

You are.

We are.
 

The Lord's Rain, The Mission and The Family

If you're old enough to remember the 1979 World Series, you'll remember that Willie "Pops" Stargell dubbed his Pittsburgh Pirates "The Family". They wore ghastly yellow uniforms and pillbox-style caps, which someone apparently thought were evocative of old-time baseball (some turn-of-the-century teams did wear them, but let's be honest: there's a reason why they're styled the way they are today), and Wilver (as broadcaster Vin Scully would call him -- note the autograph on the old Topps baseball card) would hand out gold "Stargell Stars" for his teammates to put on their caps when they did something great.

As I recall, there were a lot of gold stars on the Pirates' caps; they were a great team.

A group really has to grow into a "family" -- common experiences, common goals, love-led tolerance of one another's faults, are all important conditions, and it's not something imposed from on-high. When a union made noises about organizing a TV station I worked at some years ago, management called an "emergency general meeting" to remind us that we were really a "family". The pep talk was greeted with mild skepticism by some and serious skepticism by the rest. On the other hand, the place where I work now has simply developed into a family. People truly care about one another, both professionally and personally: when my dad had a heart attack 3 weeks ago, pretty much everyone right up to the CEO would look in at my office and see how dad was doing and if I was OK. It's not something you can impose through some consultant's report or a mission statement from a corner office: it either happens, or it doesn't.

It happens at Gospel Mission and The Lord's Rain. People who come in are not "clients" or "the homeless" -- they're "the guys" (even if they're female): they're friends ... they're family.

When Richard Johnson's "ol' lady" died suddenly this summer, he knew he was welcome just to hang out and the others would just sit with him -- even if they didn't actually say anything. Others know that The Lord's Rain is a friendly light in the morning where they can go; little by little, we get to know them and they start to open up. It takes time, patience, love ... and absolutely no expectations.

On Saturday, Amelia stepped up and asked the guys to pray for me -- relating to dad's heart attack -- saying "you guys rely on Drew -- and he relies on you, too". Which was very true. And then, wondrously, Richard Cunningham (who told me earlier this year that his dad used to play in the Negro Leagues and that he remembers his mom making biscuits for Hank Aaron) spoke up and asked for prayer for himself, too, as his mother has Alzheimer's and is in the last stages of her life -- and he's having a tough time of it. (Richard testifies often about his faith and feeling of being welcomed back to the Lord when he slips -- he's battling a crack addiction -- and talks a lot about his mother. "My mama said, 'I didn't raise no fool', and I want to make sure she's right.")

The fact that Richard felt comfortable enough to speak up at that time is another indication of the "family" we've become. It also reminded me I'm not alone.

It's become hard to separate The Lord's Rain from Gospel Mission -- the soft evangelism downstairs from the overt preaching upstairs: one way or another, people are hearing the word, seeing the light and being reminded that they are God's workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully made.

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Photo album: Another chapter in Extreme Makeover: Mission Edition. A paint job in the back of The Lord's Rain -- next to the shower stalls.

With bare drywall and splotches of filler, it wasn't exactly the nicest thing to look at. Functional, yes -- the wall holds up the ceiling very well and we've NEVER been able to look through it into Wing's Cafe next door -- but a little style would be nice.

Late last week, John -- husband of Teresa Mancia, who leads the services on Monday nights and runs The Lord's Rain during middays on Mondays and Fridays -- took brush in hand and went to work. Looks much nicer, dontcha think?

We've been praying for people to come forward to get The Lord's Rain open in the early mornings six days a week. One of our goals has been to give people a place to go once the shelters show them the door, and so far, we're only doing that twice a week. We still need to be open in the early AM on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

One of our guys, Randall, has stepped forward, saying he'd be willing to make sure the doors are open -- but now we need teams to run the place: so again, please pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send the workers we need to run The Lord's Rain on those days from 6:30 or 7am until about 9.

Actually, as you can see by the picture, Randall didn't exactly step forward so much as he hobbled. He wrenched his knee over a year ago, and has been getting around with his knee in a brace -- or sometimes not. Last week, he was helping in the kitchen (he's a cook by trade), despite doctor's orders to STAY OFF THE LEG.

Come the end of the service, he was getting ready to mop the floor, when Barry (standing) told him to sit down, put his leg up, and he'd mop the floor. So Randall did. Barry mopped. Randall got up to leave. And slipped on the wet floor. Now, doctors are talking about surgery. This means Randall will definitely need help with The Lord's Rain!

Earlier this month, I sent out a plea for financial support. I don't normally do that, but every year or so, it seems, I just need to send that gentle reminder to people. So far, there's been a good response and we're grateful for that. This Mission has been built on the many-members-one-body approach, where people bring what they can into the storehouse -- large or small -- and it all fits together. Remember: we are set up to take credit card donations now through www.gospelmission.net and you can support me in the Ride For Refuge coming up on Oct. 16.

What would Jesus doodle?

In John 8, it’s recorded that the scribes and Pharisees hauled a woman in front of Jesus, telling Him that she’d been caught in the act of adultery and that, according to the law Moses gave, she should be stoned to death. The Scripture tells us that rather than answer them straightway, Jesus stooped down and started writing or drawing something in the dirt. Eventually, He stands up and says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”. And one by one, they’re all convicted and slink away.

Then He tells the girl, “go and sin no more”.

But aside from two of the more famous lines in the Bible, this account contains one of the great puzzlements in Scripture, and often I’ve heard people musing on it. “I wonder,” they say, “what Jesus was writing in the dirt? Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to look over Jesus’ shoulder and see what He was drawing?”

I’d thought of that, myself: one of those angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin posers that occupy our time every once in a while and then we move on to other things.

Then, just over a week ago, I got gobsmacked with the answer: it doesn’t matter.

John himself writes that Jesus did so many things in His time on earth, that there isn’t enough ink and paper in the world to write them all down. So evidently, when John wrote his Gospel, it was more or less a highlight reel of Jesus’ ministry. What he put in was enough for us to believe, so “that believing [we] might have life through His name” (John 20:31), and what he left out was not important enough.

So what Jesus wrote or drew wasn’t important. What was important was the fact that He was stooped down, drawing in the dirt.

Jesus lowered Himself below the level of the adulteress and got His hands dirty.

The “good” people stood off – a stone’s throw away, literally – and couldn’t even bring themselves to threaten her up-close-and-personal. Jesus dirtied His hands. What’s more, He made Himself vulnerable. In the story of Gideon in the Book of Judges, we read that God instructed Gideon to send home those soldiers who went down on their knees to drink and made themselves vulnerable to attack.

That’s more or less the essence of ministry on the Downtown East Side. We need to lower ourselves so that we’re not higher than the people we serve*, and not worry about whether we’re vulnerable. We need to be prepared to get our hands dirty. And there’s one more thing we can learn from this passage.

Was Jesus being rude or cavalier in not responding immediately to the Pharisees? No: He was doing something the other three Gospels tell us He told us to do; wait for the Holy Spirit.

See, there were other things Jesus could have done -- things the world might have expected any man with an ounce of compassion to do, given the same situation.

• He could have stood valiantly between her and the accusers and shielded her from the stoning. He could even have dared them to take Him out first. Somebody might have done that, too; heaven knows there were enough people ready to stone him, too. But even if He had done that and everyone had left without throwing anything, that wouldn’t have accomplished God’s purpose.
• He could have called them on the fact that the man involved had not been arrested and pointed out that Moses’ law was gender-blind. But that would only have convicted them to find the guy and then they’d be right back where they’d started – namely, discussing whether they both should be stoned -- and wouldn’t have accomplished God’s purpose.
• He could have shown the world’s version of compassion – sympathy – and lectured the accusers on the hard life the woman probably had and how they had to cut her a break. But considering that God is no respecter of persons, that wouldn’t have accomplished God’s purpose.
• He could also have gotten “legalistic” on them and reminded them that Roman law prohibited them from killing anybody – something the chief priests told Pilate when they wanted him to crucify Jesus – and that could have defused the situation right there. But that wouldn’t have accomplished God’s purpose, either.

Instead, He waited for the words the Holy Spirit would give Him – just as He told us to do when called on to defend our faith. Then, He spoke the word of God over the situation and His purpose was accomplished, namely:

• The accusers were convicted to examine their own hearts
• The woman got a new chance on life – with the proviso to “sin no more”

It’s interesting that John’s is the one Gospel that does not record that instruction to us, but he shows Jesus actually setting the example. And that’s an important example for any ministry – especially places like the Downtown East Side.

See, when we’re faced with issues like drugs and crime, poverty and prostitution, homelessness and the other ills of urban poor areas, the human, worldly response is to Do Something. And when that doesn’t work, then we want to Do Something Else. And that leads to such dangerous concepts as safe injection sites, and other concepts that are billed as helping people but rather enable them to continue along their slow death, rather than bringing real healing.

Don’t just DO something – stand there!

We need to remember that when the world is yelling all around us, challenging anyone to come up with a solution; we need to go quiet, drop down to the level of the people we’re helping and spend some time on our knees doodling in the dirt, waiting for the word of God to come to us.

It will always be right, and right on time.

Always.



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*In The Passion of the Christ, the scene shows the woman being flung onto the ground at Jesus’ feet and staying there. That’s a more dramatic interpretation, certainly, but according to John, she remained standing in the midst of the crowd with Jesus beside her, even after He’d bent down and after all her accusers had slunk away.