Right Into Your Living Room
(originally posted on July 31, 2006)
A couple of years out of college, I lived with seven guys in a rowhouse not far from where I now live. One summer, one of my friends asked me if there was room in the house for her boyfriend to rent out, as he had gotten an internship in the city and she wanted him to be nearby and with people she could trust. I discussed it with my housemates, and we decided to offer him our living room, calculating that the few extra bucks we all would be saving on our rent with the addition of one more renter more than compensated for not being able to use a living room we weren't really using to begin with. So my friend's boyfriend -- let's call him "Charles" -- had a place to stay and our house had another boarder.
On his first day in Philadelphia, our new housemate, being new to the block, quickly met "Handy Andy," the neighborhood "hustler," and, wanting to be a good Christian, struck up a conversation. Later that same day, at around one in the morning, Handy Andy came to our house looking for Charles. He rang the doorbell and also opened our mail slot and shouted into the house through the hole. Now our living room, Charles' room for the summer, happened to be the room closest to our front door. Charles edged nervously toward the front door, saw Andy peeking in, and said something to the effect of, "Now's not a good time to talk." Handy Andy persisted for a good ten to fifteen minutes, and then left, cursing up a storm and vowing to do harmful things to Charles. Charles was mortified. What a first impression of Philadelphia!
I share this story not to praise or dis Charles, but to point out how the Bible's commands to befriend the poor among us in meaningful and intimate ways are differently experienced if you live in a big city than if you live in the suburbs. If you live in the 'burbs and want to get your church or youth group or small group involved in mercy ministries to the poor, it is a distinct event. You drive downtown to the homeless shelter or soup kitchen, rub shoulders with the poor, and then swap stories with your fellow volunteers on your drive home.
As Charles found out one day into his summer in Philadelphia, when you live in a big city, these experiences literally spill right into your living room. Bible stories of Jesus eating meals with a town's sinners or of hosting parties where you invite the dregs of society are harder to swallow, because there is the possibility of actually taking them seriously.
Quite frankly, I don't know what to do with these passages. I know you can go too far in this direction, as I've heard of at least a couple of instances of pastors who have tried to take seriously their call to live and serve in an economically disadvantaged urban neighborhood, only to experience severe marital distress as their spouses resent having their homes intruded upon by the poor and homeless. But you can't then discount them altogether, as if we have license to put into action only those parts of the Bible that fit nicely into our middle class sensibilities.
For suburban churches and Christians who wrestle with these passages and then decide to do something about them, kudos. And for us urban churches and Christians who know that the consequences of taking these passages seriously might spill right into our living rooms? Pray for us.
(originally posted on July 31, 2006)
A couple of years out of college, I lived with seven guys in a rowhouse not far from where I now live. One summer, one of my friends asked me if there was room in the house for her boyfriend to rent out, as he had gotten an internship in the city and she wanted him to be nearby and with people she could trust. I discussed it with my housemates, and we decided to offer him our living room, calculating that the few extra bucks we all would be saving on our rent with the addition of one more renter more than compensated for not being able to use a living room we weren't really using to begin with. So my friend's boyfriend -- let's call him "Charles" -- had a place to stay and our house had another boarder.
On his first day in Philadelphia, our new housemate, being new to the block, quickly met "Handy Andy," the neighborhood "hustler," and, wanting to be a good Christian, struck up a conversation. Later that same day, at around one in the morning, Handy Andy came to our house looking for Charles. He rang the doorbell and also opened our mail slot and shouted into the house through the hole. Now our living room, Charles' room for the summer, happened to be the room closest to our front door. Charles edged nervously toward the front door, saw Andy peeking in, and said something to the effect of, "Now's not a good time to talk." Handy Andy persisted for a good ten to fifteen minutes, and then left, cursing up a storm and vowing to do harmful things to Charles. Charles was mortified. What a first impression of Philadelphia!
I share this story not to praise or dis Charles, but to point out how the Bible's commands to befriend the poor among us in meaningful and intimate ways are differently experienced if you live in a big city than if you live in the suburbs. If you live in the 'burbs and want to get your church or youth group or small group involved in mercy ministries to the poor, it is a distinct event. You drive downtown to the homeless shelter or soup kitchen, rub shoulders with the poor, and then swap stories with your fellow volunteers on your drive home.
As Charles found out one day into his summer in Philadelphia, when you live in a big city, these experiences literally spill right into your living room. Bible stories of Jesus eating meals with a town's sinners or of hosting parties where you invite the dregs of society are harder to swallow, because there is the possibility of actually taking them seriously.
Quite frankly, I don't know what to do with these passages. I know you can go too far in this direction, as I've heard of at least a couple of instances of pastors who have tried to take seriously their call to live and serve in an economically disadvantaged urban neighborhood, only to experience severe marital distress as their spouses resent having their homes intruded upon by the poor and homeless. But you can't then discount them altogether, as if we have license to put into action only those parts of the Bible that fit nicely into our middle class sensibilities.
For suburban churches and Christians who wrestle with these passages and then decide to do something about them, kudos. And for us urban churches and Christians who know that the consequences of taking these passages seriously might spill right into our living rooms? Pray for us.
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