Interestingly, the day after Occidental Square I heard Jesus tell me and Missio Lux to rest. I believe this is part of the cycle of abiding and bearing fruit, but also for us to take the time to continue to reflect on and process what took place on Sunday.
I am realizing with greater clarity each day that a momumental shift took place on Sunday.
I am going to explore the shifts for several days as I continue to process them.
We did not go to "serve the homeless."
We went to fulfill Jesus' call to banquet with them in Luke 14.
We invited them to the table and made them special guests. We honored them by calling them by name, sharing a wonderful meal, by listening to their stories, by serving them communion and praying for them.
I've heard several stories of the homeless saying, "There's communion, but it's not for us." They truly believed that it was brought for the "other people." When we bring our presence, we are bringing Jesus' presence and there is nothing better than that.
The shift from "serving" to "presence" is very important. It takes us from coming to help someone needy to mutually befriending one another. It keeps us from the Savior mentality and teaches us to depend on and call forth "the Savior."
We are all one at the cross. But it is easy to forget that when we live in fancy houses and have high powered jobs. It's easy to forget our equality when we are so economically and socially far apart.
But, I am always impressed with the level of faith that I find in the poor and disenfranchised. They believe that God will take care of them because they have seen it happen over and over.
Ultimately, when I think about what Jesus calls us to most of all, it is faith.
Jesus says that "the last shall be first and the first shall be last." We have much to learn from our new friends on how to walk out our life of faith.
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