It's been an eventful few weeks at Solid Rock Youth, the youth ministry I lead at our church. Last spring our leaders met and planned out a teaching series with three themes. We planned to look at the greatest commandments backwards, starting with our own value / identify in Jesus, moving to our perception of others, and finishing with how we express our love to God. In the fall we covered themes 1 and 2, and in January we were to cover theme 3. God altered the plan.
During the aftermath of the recent devastation in Haiti I followed [on facebook and twitter] the leaders of a number of aid organizations as the responded. I was moved as I watched and read the real life stories from Haiti and felt compelled to challenge our students to wrestle with how they can respond to poverty / suffering in the world. I fell that youth ministries have the responsibility to help students wrestle with these issues all the time - how does God fit into the picture that I see in the world? How do Christians bring the good news of Jesus to people who are suffering? What is good news to those who suffer?
So, with the prompting of God we showed at Solid Rock Youth an edited version of Mark Driscoll's sermon / report from his trip to Haiti with Churches Helping Churches. It was one of the most moving nights we've had in a long time. God was definitely challenging the students to think differently about the world. That night I taught from Nehemiah 1 about Nehemiah's response to the destruction in Jerusalem - he fasted, prayed, mourned for months asking God how to respond.
Last Wednesday we sought to expand or perhaps narrow the conversation about how we as the Church should respond to suffering. After brainstorming with our youth leaders I invited two people to share from their experiences in poverty locally. The first to share was one of our students who spent the first 5 years of their life in public housing. She explained that that was like. The second person works with young families here in the valley, often in their homes. That person was able to share from their observations of the house poor in the valley - those who have a place to live but cannot afford things like heat, electricity, food, medicine, etc. Our students were overwhelmed by the sense that the suffering / poverty that they see / read about elsewhere are problems here too.
The biggest affirmation from God that we are on the right track happened through the arrival of a visitor last Wednesday. Every once in a while, an elderly homeless man named Joseph travels through the valley and visits our church. On Wednesday night, as I stood to speak about Nehemiah 2 and how God gave vision to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, Joseph arrived. The next day as I spent time with him, I asked how he came to be there at that moment - his response was that he just felt like he should come. To bizarre for me to believe that it was a coincidence, I believe God brought him to confirm what is taking place in my heart.
That night, as I taught from Nehemiah, I explained that were I in his place that my first response might be to bring food, shelter, protection, and to bring soldiers to rebuild the wall. Instead, after months of prayer, seeking a vision from God for how to respond, with God's leading, Nehemiah led a campaign where everyone in decimated Jerusalem contributed to the reconstruction. Without the wall around their city they were a disgraced people, without identity or dignity - they were ridiculed by the people around them. As the people gained confidence from God's vision to restore them, and as they sought him again - they gained a sense of identity as his people, and dignity in the sight of those around them. I feel that God is leading us to seek Him, and to ask what this restoration of identity and dignity could look like in the valley for those who are the hidden poor.
This Wednesday coming, we will follow Nehemiah's leadership as he began to pray to God - he confessed his own sin and then the sin of his nation. After that he ask God what to do next. We intend to ask the same thing.
O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. [Nehemiah 1:5-6]
