Grace Came First - by Doug Hartman
"If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water" (John 4:10). Have you ever thought of Jesus' reactions to people as abnormal? As good evangelical Christians, maybe we have trained ourselves not to think in such a way. We tend not to question people in the Bible, especially the likes of Jesus or (horrors!) the apostle Paul, for he was God's messenger and Christ was God himself. But I cannot help but think that Jesus' unsolicited proposal here is strange, if not the whole incident in Samaria.
Put the issue of how Jesus responded to this woman aside for a moment and think about how you might have responded. The reputation of this woman, the infamous Woman at the Well, is rarely disputed. With five failed marriages and an on-going affair with yet another man, she had a checkered past the say the least, baggage that had left her ostracized from her community. In a modern example, you might think of such a social outcast as a gay man with AIDS or a heroine addict-someone not typically welcomed with open arms. How does the church respond? I pose this question because I believe such a situation to be where the rubber hits the road, the ultimate testing grounds of the church's character and verve. To crib Jesus' words: "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...for if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" (Mt. 5:44, 46). Anybody can show love and grace when the action is reciprocated, but how do you respond when it is not mutual? Such is a true test of how God's character is transforming yours. How do we stake up in that standard?
Before I think we can legitimately and honestly examine that question, I think we should stop talking about loving our neighbors and evangelizing the world for a moment and listen to what the world has to say about of us. The majority of the Christian world-especially the so-called "religious right"-seems to offer little more than judgment and open hostility towards the "sinners" of this world. I still vividly recall watching a news program years ago in which a pastor appeared as apart of his national campaign, screaming, "God hates fags!"One of the churches in my neighborhood has gone on campaigns before down my street. A large group of Christians gathered together and marched to the known drug houses in the area, yelling and screaming for the drug dealers to vacate the area. They were forcefully "advancing the kingdom" I guess. How many angry picket lines are stocked with Christian people? And how much hate mail is sent out each day in the name of our God? I've heard some explain Christians as people who get together on Sunday morning and talk to each other about God, implying that they find little relevancy of those Christians to the rest of world. Sometimes I wonder if the welcome sign posted on the main road in front of the church is extent of our evangelistic drive. Is it any wonder that, instead of knocking down our doors or climbing through our roofs the way people did with Christ, the "sinners" of the world seem to avoid his followers like the plague? Jesus knew the garbage that Samaritan woman was carrying with her as she approached him, but he put her sin aside for a moment, meeting her in a way she had probably never experienced. Jesus-at least as it is recorded here-does not tell the woman to leave her life of sin or encourage repentance. As in the encounter with the woman caught in adultery (where he does encourage repentance), grace came first. He offers the gift of God's grace completely out of nowhere. And it worked...
Sound weird? Maybe its supposed to. If, as author Philip Yancey says, the world thirsts for grace , then maybe what those AIDS patients, the homeless, the drug addicts, the child molesters, and all the other people who are supposedly detrimental to our society need to hear is a voice of grace. Instead of demanding justice and punishment, maybe we should offer forgiveness. Instead of leaving them to "get what they deserve," maybe we should go out there and present them with what they do not. And instead of shunning away and ostracizing the sinners of the world, maybe we should go running to such people with open arms, just like our Father does.

Getting Our Hands Dirty - by Doug Hartman
There is a vacant lot just across the alley from where I live. It has been neglected for the past couple years, and it had grown into a waste: the grass was about a foot tall and there was trash everywhere (people had been using it as a dumpsite). We recently decided though that, if we could clean it up, it might be quite usable for games and other activities. So, my mother and I attacked the job last Thursday with my lowly mulching lawnmower and a couple of trash bags. My lawnmower did not instantly stall out in the tall, thick grass and weed cocktail, so we pressed on. By 6:00pm, we had just over half of the field mowed and three 30 gallon trash bags full of trash that we collected. We found everything: beer bottles, shoes, old toys, metal pipes, dirty diapers, washing machine hoses, broken glass, and even animal bones. In the process of cleaning up that field, I too had become filthy. I was now covered in grass and weed entrails, I had spilled various liquids (I chose to think of it as beer, but...) on my legs and arms, and I was generally quite dirty, sweaty and smelly. But did I have a choice? In the process of moving the garbage from that field and into a dumpster, some of the dirt and grime would inevitably end up on me. If we wanted to get that field cleaned up, we would have to get our hands dirty.
I'm reminded of that principle fairly regularly in the ministry here. Many of the kids and adults I see and work with on a daily basis have a lot of trash and junk in their lives. Many of them have been neglected for years on end. Some have been physically and sexually abused. Although I do not think it was ever their intention, trash from the lives of the parents and others in the community often gets dumped on the kids. It is no wonder that they often appear a little rough around the edges. I believe God has called us to serve here as he works through us to cleanse and build up the people in this community. And if we're going to help clean up the junk in other peoples' lives, how can we expect not to get a little dirty in the process? We must be both willing and prepared to experience that garbage. Though these things are really minor, I have been yelled at and called names, a few things have been stolen from me, the kids get into fights regularly (and sometimes those quarrels are blamed on me), many of them use bad language, the kids can be grumpy and disagreeable, they can be foul, few show appreciation for the meals and the special outings, and sometimes they complain about the food that is served. I do say this neither to arouse sympathy nor praise. I am simply trying to show that in the effort to clean out the garbage that some of the kids carry around, some of it will find its way to you. Just as in cleaning up the field, in serving this community, you will get your hands dirty.
Peter Berger, a secular sociologist, observed that the Christian church in the United States "is a harmless ingredient in social reality, [because] the church seems to have departed from the teachings of Jesus." That is a stunning critique of Christians. I think one of the primary reasons we are no more than a harmless ingredient is that we are only willing to give of ourselves to the extent that we are not inconvenienced or forced beyond what is comfortable. Upon discovering the beaten and bruised man laying along the side of the road (Luke 10:30-35), we may toss a $20 at him or complain about the welfare system and HMO's, but we are largely unwilling to clean and dress his wounds and provide the necessary care. Sure, we will "give" and we will "sacrifice" but only if it doesn't cost much personal loss or hardship. In short, we are unwilling to get our hands dirty.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul describes the ministry of the apostles. "It seems to me that God has put us apostles on display," he says, "...to this very hour, we are hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, [and] we are homeless...up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world" (1 Cor. 4:9-13 NIV). The ministry of the apostles produced tremendous results, but in the process of cleansing they had become like the world's garbage. In his second letter, Paul summarizes Jesus' ministry like this, "for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21 NRSV). Allow me to paraphrase: God made the One who was perfectly clean to become dirt itself, so that in him we might be perfectly clean before God. Christ was sent to a sinful people for the very purpose of cleaning up the dirt and filth in their lives. In the process, he became that dirt and filth. Paul testified that, though neither he nor the other apostles were the Son of God, their ministry was remarkably similar to that of Christ. In helping to clean up the dirt in others' lives, they too had gotten dirty. And so it is with the urban communities all over this country. If we are going be more than a harmless ingredient in American society, we must be willing to get our hands dirty.
Oh, by the way... There is a Islamic Somalian family that lives in the house next to the abandoned field we cleaned up last Thursday. Between the cultural, religious, and language barriers, my interaction with the family over the past several months has been fruitless. I have invited the kids repeatedly to the clubs and other events, but the whole family has always bluntly distanced themselves from me. After returning from the hike at Hocking Hills, many of the kids that had gone wanted to play Frisbee, so we went over to the field and started playing. One of the Somalian kids, a young boy, started watching intently, and I invited him to join us several times. Although he chased down stray tosses with exuberance, he still refused to join us. Finally, after checking with his mother, he jumped over the fence and started chasing the Frisbee all over the place. Then his younger sister joined us. And then his older brother. God moved powerfully. He opened a huge, seemingly impassable door and forged a significant connection between this family and myself in a way that was completely unexpected and unintended. He moved, because a couple of people were willing to sacrifice their afternoon and get their hands dirty.

Hope for the Inner City - by Doug Hartman
Remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12 NRSV). We recently began meeting with teenagers on Thursday evenings, and in that time we hold open discussions about life, school, sex, violence, college, drugs, alcohol, or whatever. We intend for it to be driven by the teenagers and focused on them and their thoughts. And I can testify that one of the most sobering experiences one can have is to have a discussion with kids and young adults about the realities of the inner city. It is a dangerous thing to ask one of these kids or teenagers about their lives, as you will be astonished at what they know, what they have seen, and what they must experience on a daily basis. Want to know about the drug activity on a street corner? Ask a 4th grader.
Their reactions to the environment vary of course, but it seems as if one common theme is a sense of hopelessness about the situation in general. Some may resolve to move above or beyond with a rigid determination to not allow those negative influences to negatively influence their family. Others may get hooked into the generational degradation at such a young age that all the alcohol, drug and tobacco prevention programs are of no consequence. (Just exactly how and when do you start prevention when a child's first experience of being intoxicated is at the age of four?) But regardless of whether they seem to be headed "out and away" or "in and amongst," there is no prospect of a change in the neighborhood itself. An older teen deemed it hopeless, a sentiment that seemed to be the general consensus of the group.
Among urban ministry or development groups, there are two distinct approaches to this thought of changing the urban environment. Echoing our national sense of justice and moral virtue, we may issue a righteous call for the drug dealer, the pimp, the prostitute, the crack head, the 15 year old with the gun, and everyone else that makes our lives miserable to be thrown in prison. I present you with a news flash for those who've missed this fact: prisons do not solve crime. Unless there are faith based rehabilitation programs incorporated into the process, prisons often serve more to breed and intensify criminal activity. Prison is a weak, largely ineffective solution. What other course of action is there? Change the heart of the drug dealer and the prostitute. Is this a practical, realistic solution? The teenagers mostly scoffed at the prospect. "You can do whatever you want," one of the older guys said, "but you're not going to change them." Even among Christian urban ministry groups and churches, few will venture down this path. Churches in this area have held marches against known crack houses, and groups appear constantly on Main St. screaming and yelling about the evils of this community and of this people. I have even heard my specific community condemned on Christian radio. There is much talk of punishment, fire, and the imminent destruction of us sinners who live in the vicinity of Stoddart and Fairwood. Instead of being a beacon of light-a ray of hope-that draws a lost world to itself, Christians are viewed as a harsh, menacing light that only drives people away. Little is said of redemption, healing, freedom or deliverance from addictions and generational sins, grace or forgiveness (see Isa. 61:1-2 and Lk. 4:18-19). The contempt we show for those who are held captive in sinful, destructive lifestyles is returned to us. To people who often feel an overwhelming sense of hopelessness, we do not give hope, perhaps because we have very little to give.
This disdainful posture towards the "bad people" of our world contrasts sharply with Jesus' life and messages of hope to those who are far away from God. It was the "bad people" of his world that found the grace and forgiveness, the restoration and love, and the deliverance and healing which God eagerly desired to provide. It is in Jesus that sinners found God to be a light of hope that drew the lost ones back home where they belonged. Philip Yancey retells a story about a homeless mother of a two year old in Chicago who worked as a prostitute. Her health was failing, and she was unable to buy food for her daughter. She cried as she confessed to the much more lucrative practice of renting out her two year old to men interested in kinky sex in order to support her drug addictions. Yancey's friend could hardly bear the story, but after gathering himself together he asked if she had ever thought about going to a church for help. A look of pure astonishment crossed her face. "Church!" she cried. "Why would I ever go there? They'd just make me feel even worse that I already do!" Is it any wonder that our churches are struggling to keep the doors open, our pews filled and our budgets met? We are driving away those that desperately need God.
If Jesus cannot redeem and change the worst humanity has to offer, then he is no God, there is no salvation for anyone and our faith is useless. But if he is the true God who takes away the sins of the world (1 John 2:2), then we must hold firmly to the truth that the all-effectual power of God working through his people is able to transform anyone, even-if not especially-the drug dealers, crack heads and prostitutes. He is the God of Stoddart Street and Fairwood Avenue. And he is the God of the drug dealers, prostitutes and crack heads that live in this community. Urban Connections exists here because of God's desire to extend his kingdom rule in the neighborhood. So, is it hopeless? No. The question of why these teens-as well as parents, kids, and homeless men living on the street-feel hopeless then is one the church must answer.