Sacrilege Safari

"Sacrilege safari
Into jungles of tradition.
Will we make it back to life
Or die of malnutrition?
Sceptics sneer with icy eyes
In the bushes they lay hidden
We want to reach the heathen tribes
But our methods are forbidden."
-"Jungle Music" by Servant (classic song, check it out on iTunes)

This is how we at Anawim sometimes feel when a church kicks us out because of the people we work with. Some churches assume that all their problems stem from allowing the homeless in one day a week. Some churches think that we are being "taken advantage of" and that the homeless are lazy or worse and so unworthy to be in their church. Some think that the homeless are just interested in food or showers and aren't interested in worship.

None of this is true.

If anyone provides an opportunity for the homeless to worship God, they will see that many of the homeless are sincere believers. While most of these are weak believers, they are no less of a percentage of weak believers among the middle class.

I firmly believe, however, that if we challenge the homeless to be strong believers, that they will rise up to that challenge. Yes, it will take time, faithfulness and patience, but God will do the work in their hearts, if we would but provide the opportunity.

God is not weak-- neither in his compassion, nor in his Spirit. If he can do a work amongst the wealthy, then He will even more so do the work among the poor, whom He says are His people.

Never fail to pray for the homeless. Never fail those who seek to serve them.

Pray for Pic

 

To the left is Howie, who died of liver failure earlier this year. Pic, to the right, was his best friend and "roaddog". Pic almost died himself of the same ailment just after Howie. But Pic survives, even though he tells me, "I don't have long to go." Please pray that he gets out of his rut and truly seeks the help of Jesus, whom he loves.

Dead Iraqi Child

 

Last Tuesday, I put this picture up above the Anawim motto: "The poor seeking the Lord for deliverance". I got some pretty upset people there. My point was just that Jesus is found among the most marginalized in the world, but it was taken as a flaming-liberal anti-war statement. Well.... okay. I can take that.

So I stood up before the 40 plus people and said, "I understand that some of you were offended by this picture. I just want to let you know that if you were offended by this, that you should probably leave now because you haven't seen anything yet."

Then I launched into my sermon about how the church has been compromised by the world.

We'll see if anyone shows up next week.

Good Reminder

 

Sol Robbins-- She Died

 

Sol Robbins-- Barrak-Style Shelter

 

Sol Robbins

Sol Robbins is an artist in New York City, who has captured the soul of urbania. If you look at his website:
http://www.criticaleye.org/theevictionofcarolallison.htm
you might see images that might disturb you, but they are the heart of the city. Follow the series through to the end and read the descriptions, if you can.