For break this year, I decided to join my church in their spring break "trip". I was so excited because I love this city and wanted to get more involved in the place that I now call home.
But the week was so much more than serving and learning about Minneapolis and St. Paul. It was about studying God’s word to gain a better understanding of God’s heart to bless the world and our role in all of this. And for me, the week was characterized by conviction coupled with peace and joy. So necessary and so good.
The week was a beautiful combination of service and study. I am confident that if we would have done one without the other, the week would not have come close to being as great as it was. For the sake of words, I will briefly recap the week and then tell you what I took away from it:
Friday – prepared and served a homeless meal at First Covenant
Saturday – worked with Urban Homeworks, toured North Minneapolis, ate dinner with some “Urban Neighbors”
Sunday – City Vision Tour with John Mayer [I went on tour with John Mayer and ate a camel burger!], attended a Spanish-speaking church service
Monday – group study [Genesis -> Revelation; Creation, Fall, Restoration], visited International Village and met with some Bhutanese refugees
Tuesday – group study [defining what poverty really is], hung out with some kids and served at Hope Academy, visited the Source Annex
Wednesday – group study [ways to alleviate poverty], learned about and served at First Care Pregnancy Center, helped out at the Fruit of the Vine food shelf
Thursday – reflection and recap
One of the topics we discussed at length was the definition of “shalom”, which is the “Hebrew word for peace and wholeness meaning fullness of life through God-given harmony with God, the world, others, and oneself.” Shalom describes the way things were meant to be, the world that God implemented at Creation. It is being in right relationship with God, which causes all other relationships to fall into place. Shalom is life before the fall.
But, we live post-fall and suffer from broken and damaged relationships with God, the world, others, and ourselves.
What are the consequences of this? Poverty. When we initially think of poverty, we think of material things, lack of basic necessities, and merely the external circumstances. But if we give poverty a biblical definition, we begin to see that poverty is deeper than surface level – it is the absence of shalom. Poverty can be everywhere – it is everywhere. Looking at poverty from a biblical mindset, we are forced to evaluate all areas of our lives. And when we realize that we are all poverty-stricken, the differences between all of us start to fade away. We can finally see that at the core of it all, we are all suffering from the same thing – a broken relationship with our Maker, with others, the world, creation, and oneself.
Who can alleviate poverty and restore shalom? God can. And one day He will. Revelation talks about the new heaven and the new earth – “’Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every team from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.’ (21:3-4)” Friends, I look forward to that day, where God will completely restore all things and the old will be no more!
Christ’s death and resurrection are part of that restoring power, as is the development of the church, the body of Christ. We have been shown the deep, unconditional, unrelenting, and sacrificial love of God through the death of Jesus Christ for our redemption. What implications does this have for us as followers of Christ? What is our role in restoring shalom? We need to fight to build for God’s kingdom, allow ourselves to be used by God to be a blessing to others, and live as ambassadors for Christ with the message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20). “If you spend yourself in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday (Isaiah 58:10).” Working to restore shalom – restore relationships – requires investment, spending ourselves for the sake of others, in service to God. And in this intentional investment, we will come to realize everyone has something to offer and we can all unite to build for the kingdom.
What would it take for us to actually live differently? How would this city look if we lived with more intention, working to build for the kingdom and restore shalom? We all have different talents and different ways to reach the world. And we have been called to declare the message of reconciliation as ambassadors of Christ. So, how can we spend ourselves on behalf of others, be a blessing to this city, and glorify God?
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