To be completely honest I've had some troubles posting some of my thoughts here because I've been in a place where I feel as if my thoughts haven't progressed very much. But since having talked to one of my dearest friends on the phone for a moment she gave me just the right encouragement to post some of these thoughts and continuing my process by writing some of these ideas out.
At the Perkins center in Jackson, Mississippi our first few moments on the center grounds we were met with sincere hospitality and warm love. But after a cup of hot soup and a few friendly "hellos", we stepped into the office of John Perkin's daughter Elizabeth who now "runs" the place.
And after a long conversation filled with attempts to justify why Marcus and I were so dirty and yet wanting to help, the statement was made that if we were black and looked like this the story would be very different. If we'd been black and dirty we probably wouldn't have had the same reception and this was hard for Elizabeth and hard for us as well.
She told us that part of the reason they want volunteers and staff to look clean at the Perkins center, was because they work alot with kids in their after school program and want to establish a sense of dignity and self respect in the children, and sometimes this has to come in the sense of physical appearance.
This is when I realized a good way to wrap up a lot of my struggling.
We always say that G-d can meet us wherever we are, and then in turn we say that the gospel is ment to be available to all people where ever they are. Therefore this should be our position as well.
Yet my disposition comes from the fact that I believe that I am supposed to be the change I want to see. And so I am supposed to live as kingdom-like as possible, And there are times when these to ideas conflict.
For instance how do I teach little black children-or I should say set the example- to learn how to love and learn from people no matter what they look like. But despite the fact that all people are created in the image of G-d and therefore should be loved by us, there is a need in these kids to see the example of having a dignity the defeats the years of thinking that says a black person is less that a white person.
How do you make these two words collide?
How do you do both?
And yet this same principle applies all over the board.
How do I see the immediate need and work to provide for it, yet see the larger need down the road and not work against it by working for the immediate need?
I mean you're not necessarily serving two masters at once. or are you?
Because Jesus worked for people's salvation and yet he fed them too.
Lord, teach me to follow in these footsteps.
These are some of my thoughts for now.
More to come, and thanks for taking the time to read this.
