For love of the poor...
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I had the privilege yesterday of spending time with the founders of Urban Encounter Ministries and I walked away changed.
Jesus calling again. Metanoia.
It wasn’t a profound emotional moment like one might experience on a retreat or in sacrament…
But an encounter with Christians who speak belief and then live it with fervor. I thought often of Ephesians 5 and the simple powerful model of Church. I thought of the purity childhood and of the aching of adult conversion.
I grew up in the city until I was in middle school; outside the full comforts of suburbia but still happy. I didn’t know what I didn’t have. I never felt deprived of anything material (except an intact family). I knew there were rich and poor people… yet I never felt poor.
My eyes weren’t trained that way and I was loved and cared for. I didn’t know what burdens the adults carried.
Years later, we had moved out of the city into more comfortable suburbia, but I was in abject spiritual poverty and depression… until someone broke though with the light of Christ.
As I sat in the company of Christ’s servants yesterday, I was reminded of early youth; living a measure of shabbiness, but with childlike vision only for what is delightful and permanent. The memory was a respite.
As Christians, we are compelled to step into the physical and spiritual poverty of others with the delight and Presence of Jesus Christ. Not to fix everything but to encounter precious souls and share His love…
I am here.
I want to know your name.
I can only offer you this small comfort.
But I come with Jesus and He can give you everything.
In a culture where the idol of social justice leads many away from Truth, this ministry starts with Christ as its source and summit and invites Him in…
To the street.
To those who haven’t heard their own name spoken to them in months…
Where He changes everything.
Lord, grant me the eyes of childhood that never fades. So that I may not shrink from bringing Your light into the world, wherever I am called to love.
Please contact me if you want to support a street missionary (my daughter) with any size gift. ❤️