"Walk" - A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out - Part 2

Once again, this is the motto of the organization that I work for, PATH (People Assisting the Homeless). I highly doubt that the creators of this motto were reading Acts 3 when they decided to use it for our organization, but this story about Peter and John is strinkingly similar to our motto, "A hand up, not a hand out".

The two apostles were going up to the temple, and this beggar/cripple asks them for some alms. Everybody knew that alms, or giving sustenance or money to the poor, was a commonly embraced practice. Peter and John break the rules a bit here. They tell the guy that they can't give him any money, but instead they declare, "Walk!" The guy gets up off the ground, and all of a sudden he doesn't have to beg anymore. He doesn't have to wait for alms. Instead, he will now be able to create his own sources of income, and potentially even contribute to others who were in his same situation.

In other words, Peter and John decided not to give the guy a hand out on that day, but instead to give the guy a hand up. When we think about the poor, let's think of ways that we can help them to walk, rather than passing by and giving them a hand out, one which we will have to keep giving them tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day...

And one more thought... everybody was pretty amazed by the transformation of the crippled guy. And so Peter and John used the opportunity to tell them about Jesus, a King who wanted to come and reign in each of their hearts. I think people are more impressed by the power and strength of our God when they see a person who is broken restored, when the poor are empowered. May we be a people who declare, "Walk!" to the poor, and may we always share about Jesus as the one whose authority is great enough to bring this powerful transformation in people's lives.

Kingship and Resurrection

So I keep talking about how Jesus is King, but where did he get the right to be called King? Where did this come from? Here's an answer that I found in Scripture today: "These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come" (Eph. 1:19b-21).

This verse is talking about the resurrection, the point at which Jesus was lifted up from death to heaven , and placed over every other power and authority in the universe. So when we talk about Jesus as King over individual hearts, and King over political systems, King over the poor and King over our churches and communities, we've gotta realize that He got this right to be called King because of this historical event: resurrection. In other words, the idea that Jesus is King is not just an idea, not just a theological concept that can be placed onto the shelf of other intangible concepts like, "God is good," or "God is powerful." But instead Jesus got His Kingship through an event that happened 2,000 years ago. And He deserves this rightful place in our hearts, in our churches, in our communities, in our nations.

"A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out" - Part 1

This is the motto of the organization I work for: PATH (People Assisting the Homeless). You can check out our website at www.epath.org. The motto comes out of a belief that homeless people don't just need three hots and a cot (a place to sleep and a meal to eat). Instead, they need to be given a "hand up". In other words, as an organization, we strive to do more than just provide people with emergency services. Instead, we look for ways to give people the tools they need to be self-sufficient. We have what's called the PATHMall, a place where the homeless can access a number of different services, including employment, mental health, substance abuse, and housing placement services, as well as haircuts and showers. The people who walk into the PATHMall have a variety of issues that contribute to their homelessness, and so we try to help them deal with their barriers so that they can get off the streets and into permanent housing, i.e. a hand up, not a hand out.

Although the organization isn't specifically a Christian organization, I'm convinced that this motto reflects kingdom values. In the next few posts, I will be looking at various Scripture passages where we see the kingdom of God coming in a hand up, and not a hand out.

Why I created this blog

I have been thinking the thoughts that are in this blog for a very long time. I just have not had a place to express them. I have been going to church, I went to seminary, and I now work in the non-profit world, and I have found that we struggle to wrap our minds around what it really means for Jesus to be King. We do not know how to flesh out His kingdom in our everyday lives. Many of us have relegated His kingdom to spiritual things and to church. And so we show up on Sundays and go to small groups, and try to live lives that reflect His Kingship during the rest of the week. When we think about people in this world experiencing the hope of God's kingdom, we offer them this new spiritual reality, one in which they invite Jesus to be Lord of their lives. And we invite these people to join our churches, and to participate in our spiritual kingdom activities. There are also those who have noticed a disconnect. They notice that these inner spiritual changes do not always translate into social responsibility or racial harmony. They notice that Jesus' kingdom must touch all areas of our lives. It must touch our jobs, it must impact our social structures, it must impact injustices that are happening towards kids and victimized women. Jesus cannot be King only of our churches and our individual lives. He must also be King of our systems as well. And these people can be found working with the poor, with the orphan, with children at risk, and with issues such as human trafficking, homelessness, and racial injustice. I have found that the people who pursue justice are not always the same as the ones who invite others into a new spiritual kingdom. People I went to school with talk about how they used to be so passionate about "evangelism", but how they have abandoned this passion for something seemingly greater: social responsibility and justice. It grieves to me to think that Jesus would be King of our social systems, but not necessarily King of our individual lives. However, it is also tragic to see so many churches pursue only spiritual activities, without taking care of the widow, the oprhan, and the poor. And it is my passion to see people who would strive to bring this whole earth under the rule of Jesus. And so that is why I am writing this blog, so that we can figure out a way to practically flesh this out. I must admit that I am no expert, and that I do not have a degree in the Kingdom of God... but I work full-time with the poor, and I have spent a lot of time in the church (my dad is a pastor, I went to seminary). So... read on, and hopefully Jesus will show up even as King of this blog.