A compelling question

The streets are almost always glowing as the sunlight relects off the shards of broken glass.  A rainbow of colors draw you in and each broken beer bottle reminds me of a world that looks to almost anything before Jesus.  It is Monday morning in Canton and another weekend of partying on O’Donell square has passed.  The square is a lot slower, a lot quieter, and lot more subdued as people are moving ahead into the beginning of a week.  Many are still reflecting on the weekend, wishing it were a never ending roller coaster.  Others are regretting another weekend on the roller coaster which inevitably ends with nausea and that question… “why do I love the roller coaster?”  Still others can think of nothing except getting through the next five days to jump onto the roller coaster once more.  It seems that many in Baltimore have reserved themselves to the fact that we do what we must during the week and then we live life on the weekend, and even that isn’t always fulfilling.

As I look at the church located directly on the square I find myself confronted with 2 disturbing questions.  First, how does life look different for a Christian who pushes through the week to make it to a Sunday church event on the weekend? Second, and perhaps more disturbing, why would someone want to give up the one thing they enjoy (weekend roller coaster) for a Sunday morning church service?

Today I begin a week long stroll around O’Donnell Square just three blocks from our home.  Each day I plan to walk around the square 7 times.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not planning to blow any trumpets and it is not my hope that all the bars will fall down.  Rather I am praying that God will open doors and opportunities to enter in to people’s lives and share the Gospel.  During my time I will be praying through these two questions.  Honestly I don’t have the answers right now and would love to hear your thoughts. Regardless, I look forward to hearing what God might say through this time.

Easter- Bunny or Jesus

It was just another beauiful day in Baltimore with the sun shining and a light breeze blowing in from the west.  Most of our friends in other places had been in church that day but the friends we had coming to our cookout were not among the crowd dressing up to celebrate the ressurection of Christ.  Instead of dressing nice, going to church, and having a ham, we met in the local park, had burgers and hotdogs, and had an easter egg hunt.  Over the course of the morning we shared some of what Easter means to us and gave out a history of Easter explaining the bunny but more importaly Jesus.

It turns out that a lot of people don’t know why the church celebrates Easter.  Many know it has something to do with Jesus but I think the resurrection has often gotten lost to those who don’t know much about Christianity.  The great thing about the resurrection is that it gives us hope!  The death of Christ without the resurrection is pointless, but with Christ defeating death we are given hope!  And so, I love Easter.  It reminds me that there is a God who has given me the hope of eternal life.  A God who will restore my body and my soul.  A God who not only died for me, but who lives for me even today!

Mixed space

As we prepare to close on a new home at the end of the month I have been praying about how we can best use this place to love like Jesus. In Gen 18:1-21 we see Abraham loving three strangers with an amazing enthusiasm that carries over into the NT as shown in Heb 13:2. The Old Testament custom of hospitality was so ingrained that strangers waited at the city gate, well, or market place until they were invited in. Bread and water was given and the guest feet washed and their head anointed with oil. Now I don’t know if we will be anointing anyone with oil but I want our home to be hospitable.

In searching for a home we found ourselves trying to be intentional about finding a place that could be used for multiple purposes. We have designated the basement as our main gathering space. Once rehabbed this will be a large space capable of holding a community of 30+ people where we will eat together, worship together, and encourage one another. We also hope to use this space as an indoor playground for those cold Baltimore winters.

The property also has a building (an old Jewelry store) detached from the home itself. This building we would like to reclaim and turn into a “man room” place for guys to gather together, watch games, have deep conversation, learn to be better men, and grow in relationship together.

Our hope is that our home would always be a place where people can come, feel comfortable, and feel loved. It’s not about creating a large space to keep up with the Joneses, it’s about creating space where we can love the Joneses.