casting a vision
so this morning my mom called me. she doesn't usually call on sunday mornings, so i woke up to listen to the message. she informed me that my friend jeff, who's an outreach pastor at a church in west dallas is playing an interesting role in katrina relief. his church is sponsoring 25 refugees as they get put up into public housing (projects) in dallas. so it got me to thinking of what things would be of utmost importance for these refugees to have. which got me to thinking about my conversation with bill, my homeless friend on wednesday night, which i should have blogged about but never made time...
essentially all of these refugees are now homeless. and my homeless friends have such a keen insight that i, never having been homeless before cannot share in the same way. so i started thinking, wondering how our wednesday night dinners with homeless neighbors and friends could be a catalyst for not only raising relief support by involving the san francisco wednesday night homeless crowd but also as an opportunity to embolden them with purpose and a renewed sense of dignity and pride. the homeless have so much to offer and share, if we're willing to listen. they know that newspaper makes good insulation underneath clothing to cut some of the bite of a harsh wind.
i read in psalm 34 last week that "The LORD is close to the broken hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
that sense of diminishing of pride and dignity could totally be seen as being crushed in spirit. so, here i didn't know what this could look like, getting the homeless involved, other than having them help buy clean socks and underwear- the very things that they usually appreciate the most. so i talked to darren after the service ended and shared my partial vision. he mentioned the thought of going with and sending some of our most on target homeless with him down there to do mass feedings/to help with clean-up efforts... a crazy, beautiful picture. then ken, our minister of outreach asked if i would consider praying about going for 2 weeks in october... i would be willing to consider going for 1 week, but 2 weeks would be tricky. i have been certified through the SBC disaster relief organization in mass feeding, but the thought of going in the midst of our hot tea season might be difficult, in terms of convincing my bosses. but here's the other crazy thing is that earlier this year, i got certified in disaster relief so i could go to indonesia and do some tsunami relief work. i had already asked my boss for a week of unpaid leave, which she had consented to at the time... perhaps it was for a time like this?
essentially all of these refugees are now homeless. and my homeless friends have such a keen insight that i, never having been homeless before cannot share in the same way. so i started thinking, wondering how our wednesday night dinners with homeless neighbors and friends could be a catalyst for not only raising relief support by involving the san francisco wednesday night homeless crowd but also as an opportunity to embolden them with purpose and a renewed sense of dignity and pride. the homeless have so much to offer and share, if we're willing to listen. they know that newspaper makes good insulation underneath clothing to cut some of the bite of a harsh wind.
i read in psalm 34 last week that "The LORD is close to the broken hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
that sense of diminishing of pride and dignity could totally be seen as being crushed in spirit. so, here i didn't know what this could look like, getting the homeless involved, other than having them help buy clean socks and underwear- the very things that they usually appreciate the most. so i talked to darren after the service ended and shared my partial vision. he mentioned the thought of going with and sending some of our most on target homeless with him down there to do mass feedings/to help with clean-up efforts... a crazy, beautiful picture. then ken, our minister of outreach asked if i would consider praying about going for 2 weeks in october... i would be willing to consider going for 1 week, but 2 weeks would be tricky. i have been certified through the SBC disaster relief organization in mass feeding, but the thought of going in the midst of our hot tea season might be difficult, in terms of convincing my bosses. but here's the other crazy thing is that earlier this year, i got certified in disaster relief so i could go to indonesia and do some tsunami relief work. i had already asked my boss for a week of unpaid leave, which she had consented to at the time... perhaps it was for a time like this?
posted by annelies at 1:31 PM
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