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At the Foot of the Cross

When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30

His ministry began and ended with wine. This is something that I never considered. The gospel of John has only record of His first miracle. Water transformed into wine. It was the best wine the steward had tasted. On the Cross, the people gave Him sour wine in return. The transaction was complete. “It is finished.” Now, we wait for Him. We wait and see what God is going to do. We have taken the best from Him and in return we gave Him the Cross. What can we expect from God? Do we deserve anything good from Him?

Perhaps we might think that we are different from the people who jeered and mocked Him at the Cross. We like to think that we are better than them. I believe that the people who heard the final words of Jesus wished that they had been better. They wished that they had remained the crowd that shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David” and not become the crowd that demanded, “Crucify Him.” Alas, they were the same and one crowd. We are just like them. We have the potential to welcome God joyously into our hearts and at the same we can murder Him with our words and actions. We are no different from those people. They are us and we are them. We are saints and devils at the same time. We can do despicable things believing that we are doing something good. Then we take refuge in our intentions. We claim that we had good intentions. The people who crucified Jesus had good intentions. The religious leaders believed that it was necessary to kill Jesus for the sake of the nation. Everyone had good intentions. It was not enough. At the foot of the Cross, all this becomes clear. One thing is for certain we cannot remain as we are. Something needs to change. How many times are we going to crucify the One that can truly transform our contradictory souls?

There were those who wept for Him at the Cross. They were the strong ones and yet, they were helpless. They knew what was right, but they could not do anything about it. They could not speak. Their voices would have been silenced by the anger and hatred. They could only weep. They thought that they were lamenting all the things He suffered; His humiliation, His tortures, the cruel mocking and the treacherous treatment from the people whom He loved. He who hung on the Cross corrected them.

Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. Luke 23:28

At the foot of the Cross, all our frailty is revealed. All our illusions are shattered. All theories of us being essentially good lose their foundation. We are not evil and we are not good. We are just lost. We destroy the things that can save us and uphold things that contaminate and poison our souls. We cannot keep our focus on the good because we just don’t know how to recognize it. Those who are able to see goodness are often helpless. The truth is we are all helpless. No one wants to be evil, but we end up in the middle of something evil and we cannot resist it. The Only One who could resist was crucified. He had a choice but he accepted the Cross. It was necessary. He wanted us to realize who we are. We are not evil beings. In some ways, we are much worse. We are people who believe in goodness but seem to do the contrary. At the foot of the Cross, this becomes clear at the moment when He said, “It is Finished.”

These are strange words but they moved the heart of a seasoned soldier. In His death, the centurion saw Jesus’ victory. He proclaimed,

“Truly this Man was the Son of God.” Mark 15:39

It was a title given in ancient times to emperors and great conquerors. A centurion who knew that victory means the defeat and humiliation of one’s enemies proclaimed Jesus as a victor at the Cross. He was at the foot of the Cross with the rest of them. He witnessed everything from the start to the end but his eyes were opened to see something powerful. He saw Hope. He saw the establishment of a new Kingdom. He saw a new kind of King. Jesus began His reign on the Cross. It seems absurd to make such a claim. For those who believe in the false image of humanity such a claim is deserving of disdain and mockery. The Cross is meaningless for them. However, whenever I look at the Cross, I see Hope. The words, “It is finished” are not a judgement on our frailty. They are a promise that this agonizing conflict in our souls is not eternal. It can end and be overcome but we need to go to the foot of the Cross. We need to go there and face our true selves first before we can see the Hope that hangs on the Cross.

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Hope for Autonomy

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.-John 14:2

We met Ana Paula in the streets. She was unusually happy. It is very rare to see her smile which is unfortunate because it really brings out her beauty. I have written about Igor in the past two posts but I hardly said anything about Ana Paula. Well, this is partly due to the fact that she is an enigma to us. She is the mother of Igor’s child, Isabel. They have been together for four years and their child is about two years old. Like Igor, she had lived in the streets all her life, but her parents are still alive. However, she hardly speaks about them. Even those who have suffered abuse by their biological parents mention them once in a while, but not Ana Paula. Besides this, Ana Paula has always been reserved and hardly spoke to any of our team. She was not exactly unfriendly but she tends to withdraw from the world. We heard from a team of mental health workers that she suffers from occasional hallucinations. Sometimes in her rare friendly mood, she would tell us incredible tales of her life but we knew that they were mostly fabricated. However, we were never sure if she knew that they were. She has a difficulty dealing with reality and Igor was her link to the real world. Unfortunately it is a very fragile connection. Therefore, when we saw Ana Paul all happy and beaming with delight, we really not sure what to expect. We didn’t have to wait long to find out; she blurted out uncontrollably that she has a new home.

The government program came through with its promises (the previous post sheds more light on this). They found a temporary place for those who were squatting in the abandoned square. The homeless squatters were sent to two different locations; one was close to the center and the other was about forty minutes away. Igor and Ana Paula deliberately requested the one furthest away from the center. This is a significant development for them spiritually.

Igor and Ana Paula really want a change in their lives. They are tired and weary of street life and they do not want to depend on criminal activity to sustain their livelihood. They believe that the further they are away from the center, the better the chances of them leaving this lifestyle behind them. This outward attitude reveals something that is happening within them. They have reached the point where the Prodigal Son in the famous parable of Jesus was when he realized that feeding the pigs was not the road to abundant living.* However, unlike the young man in the parable, they are not sure of the road back to the Father’s house. It is an internal and spiritual road which each person has to discover by themselves. We cannot take them there. It wouldn’t become real for them if we do, but we support and encourage them in this walk home. Nevertheless, it is journey that they have to discover for themselves. This is their trajectory to autonomy and self-discovery.

Coincidentally, the name of the temporary shelter where they are living is called “Project Autonomy for Life”. Ana Paula wanted us to see it right away and so, we went with her. On the way, she couldn’t stop telling us about this place. I won’t go into details here to bore anyone reading this post but certain keywords she used to describe the place struck me. They were “organized”, “clean”, “discipline”, ”privacy”, “rules” and “curfew”. All the things are completely absent in the streets and she was genuinely excited about all these things. It sounded like they were something she always wanted.

The shelter is not exactly a shelter. People have permanent rooms allocated to them. You cannot come and go as you please. In fact, no one can visit the place without authorization. There is a time period for the residents to stay there. The place itself is a former hotel that was bought and reformed by the government. There are about a hundred people housed here. They are given six months to find a job and rent a place of their own. There are social workers to assist each person in their job search and help them plan towards personal autonomy. Ana Paula wanted us to see her room but outsiders were not allowed to go up. We explained to the person-in-charge who we were and he made an exception. Igor was resting in his room and he was happy to see us. Like proud new owners of a house, they gave us a short tour of their room. It took us less than a few seconds. It looks like any small hotel room, but for them, it was a step towards something better and wonderful. Igor and Ana Paul had everything organized. There was nothing out of place. It would be hard to believe that these two people had spent most of their lives in the streets.

I asked Igor what he thought about this new place. He said that it was nice but he wants his own place soon. He is happy with this first step but he wants stability for more than just six months. He does not want to live by receiving handouts. This is understandable. However, Igor does not understand that when we start with nothing, we need some help. For those of us who have families and a good support system, our help comes from our families. More than anything, Igor needs someone to help him navigate the road to autonomy. Igor and Ana Paula have nothing and they do not know where to start. Then Igor corrected me though. He said that he has a daughter now and he always wanted a family and now he has motivation to move forward. I reminded him that God also has sent us here to be his support and walk with him in this journey. Together we are going to discover the transformative power of the gospel. The gospel is not just going to transform his life but our lives are slowly changing as well. Igor has enriched our lives and we hope and believe we have enriched his as well. This is the power of the gospel. It has taken complete strangers from different contexts and brought them together to see and experience His love in action in the lives of two orphans.

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Tragic Tales of Three Mothers

We saw Alan, 12 years, carrying a small plastic bag with a yellowish substance in it. It was something we haven’t seen for a long time. It was cobbler’s glue. The children used to sniff it a long time ago and now it is back in the streets. Someone was selling it to the children and Alan was the distributor. Most likely, he does not get paid much for his work, maybe protection and a few dollars. It was enough for Alan. He makes him feel like a tough guy and a gangster. We were wondering who was the adult behind this operation and then we saw a tall woman in her late thirties dressed very conservatively in the way that many of the traditional Pentecostal church women do here in Brazil. It made her look awkward in the midst of the children and teens. She was involved in a heated argument and a small crowd of homeless people gathered around her. The commotion did not last long and once it calmed down we noticed that this woman looked a lot like Bruno. Bruno is one of the boys we have been visiting in the Juvenile Reform Center. He has made some positive progress with us and recently he was released to his family. We tried to get in touch with him but his mother who always answered the phone said that he was at his relatives whose contact number she did not have. Right now she was in front of us in flesh and blood. His mother was the one selling the glue to the children. Our main concern was Bruno at this moment so we asked her about him. His mother recognized me from twenty years ago. She had spent all her childhood homeless in the streets. I remembered her from twenty years ago. She was nineteen then.

We found her behavior to be strange when we spoke to her about her son. She did not appear to be the least interested in her son. She appeared like a empty shell of a person. She told us that her son was with her mother but she did not know the physical address of her mother’s house. We told her that we wanted to visit her son. He asked for our help to get enrolled in an art classes. Nothing appeared to interest her. She was not rude but she just appeared empty of any human emotions. Our encounter with her helped us understand Bruno better. He always appeared subdued and quiet. This woman was his mother and she grown up in the streets. She was not a bad person. She just passed onto to him what she had received. Unfortunately she did not receive much.

On the same night, Eric, 9 years old, was playing with some of the children in the streets when his mother showed up and asked him to go home. His mother looked thin and haggard. We are not sure but we suspect that she is homeless or living as a squatter in one of the abandoned buildings. She could even be a drug addict. However, she did not want her son to be near the children that were sniffing glue and using other drugs. Unfortunately I saw Eric sniff paint thinner before his mother came. He refused to leave with her and started getting aggressive with her. The poor mother appeared helpless in trying to get her son out of the environment. All the other teens and children felt sorry for her. They tried to help the mother by trying to convince Eric to go with her. For many of them, they never had their mothers concerned for them like her. Unfortunately Eric threw himself onto the filthy floor and refused to move and his mother just sat there next to him without knowing what to do. It was quite a difficult scene to witness.

João Vitor is only 11 but he acts and talks like he is 18. He is relatively new to the streets and he got involved in the drug trafficking as soon as he arrived. Unfortunately, João Vitor is a hardened criminal even at such a young age. His mother wanted to see him and she got in touch with us. She was a single mother. She has four children and João Vitor is the youngest. Her husband died at a young age and she was married to another man who adopted the children as his own. However, the marriage did not last and now she is back on her own. She has to wake up very early in the morning to work and travel a couple of hours to work. The children are left on their own all day. The only housing she could afford to rent with her salary was in the outskirts of the city and her neighborhood is a hotspot for drug trafficking. Only her youngest chose this path and she does not know what to do with him. Her life has gone from bad to worse and João does not seem to care. We met this woman at the subway station to take her to her son. On the way she shared her burdens with us. We just listened. There was so little one could do to help this mother. When João saw her mother, he ran up to her and gave her a hug and kiss. He acted like his age. However, she was not too enthusiastic about seeing her son. She looked tired and disappointed at what her son had become.

These three mothers we have met this week. We know them superficially but enough to know that they are working with the resources that they have. João Vitor is the one who has the best mother of the three. Yet, he is the worst situation of the three boys. Reality does not come ready with the answers. There is no easy formula. None of them are hopeless cases. We don’t have the answers for these mothers and not all of them are looking for answers. We have a strong conviction that the power of the gospel can bring Light in the lives of these mothers and sons. Our conviction can only mean something when we are willing to encounter the tragic realities of these mothers and sons and still say, “Yes! The Gospel can transform these tragic realities.” This is our hope.

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Death and a Conversation about the Resurrection and Life

Sadly, another young girl died in the streets this week. Her name is Raianne. She was nineteen. This is the third person to die in this streets this year. Mary and I never met this young girl but the team had been ministering to her since she was a young child. On Sunday, she and another girl had a fight over a trivial incident. One girl pushed the another in anger and Raianne fell and hit her head on a rock. We know the girl who was involved as well which makes it even more tragic. Raianne left behind two young toddlers.

Needless to say when we met the children in the streets they were upset and pensive. Whenever something like this happens, the question about their own mortality becomes alive. Raianne had survived many dangerous situations in the streets but it only took a misplaced rock to end her life.

Nobody wanted to talk when we arrived, but they did not ignore us as well. It seemed like they wanted us to be there but they did not know what to say to us. We stayed and waited. Then Eduardo, one of the older teens, opened up. He asked us what happens to our soul when we die. He wanted to know whether we lose our identity or does it remain intact. This started a long and serious conversation about God, life, and the resurrection. Our conversation lasted for almost an hour and it was truly a conversation and not an one-sided lecture. Personally, we were amazed at the profundity of the questions Eduardo asked.

One of the things he wanted to know was whether our memories remain with us for eternity. He especially wanted to know that if we would remember negative events and continue to bear grudges against the people that hurt us for eternity. His concern about this made sense. Eduardo’s life has not been easy. He has been in the streets since he was a young child and it was unfair circumstances that brought him here. He wants to shake all the negatives memories of his life and live a new life. He doesn’t want to continue a life of crime, but he is big and intimidating looking young man who is 19 years old. Not many people want to give someone like him a chance. He does not rob but we suspect that he deals in drugs. However, despite his tough exterior, there is a tenderness in this young man. He wanted to know if, in the afterlife, he would be free from all the baggage of this difficult life.

Speaking about the afterlife is not easy. No one can speak authoritatively about this subject. We told him that we can only speculate but we can know something about Resurrection because there is One person who resurrected from the dead. The Resurrection helped us to address the question about memory. The Resurrected Body of Jesus bore the marks of the hatred and anger, but its resurrected state changed the affects of its scars. We told him that the act of Resurrection is truly a divine act and it can only be understood by faith. Jesus believed that He was to be resurrected by God and this influenced the way He lived his life in the body. He did not succumb to hatred and anger even though he was assailed by these. Instead He chose to find His strength in the Love of God. This Love transformed the scars of hatred into symbols of victory. However, only through faith we can understand the meaning of this.

We told Eduardo that whatever he does in this life with his body will bear the mark for eternity like in the Resurrected Body of Jesus. He can decide in this life what he wants to be remembered for eternity. His past memories do not have to determine everything he becomes now. God is able to take what we have and transform it into a miracle.

Eduardo asked us how our bodies would restored if they suffer decomposition. We told him honestly that no one knows how this is going to work but it is not impossible to imagine God using these materials to create something new and wonderful. This, of course, served as a wonderful analogy of the bad childhood and rejection that Eduardo had and how God is able and willing to use all these materials to create something great. We told Eduardo that the Bible has examples of people whose histories were radically transformed; people who suffered great injustice like Joseph. God used the rejection and injustice and made it into something wonderful. Even St. Paul who persecuted Christians and the Resurrected Christ changed his history forever.

There were several moments of our conversation which moved Eduardo to tears. Perhaps in a strange way, Raianne’s death opened the door for us to speak about Life to Eduardo. I believe that something happened this day. We changed the nature of our relationship with these young people. They know now that we are willing to converse with them on serious and complex questions about Life without pretending to know all the answers. We don’t need to know all the answers and we don’t want to give easy answers. We can only share with them what we have and we have Hope in the Living Christ that transforms our lives in the here and now.

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Redeeming our Individuality: An Easter Meditation

Mary said, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him,“Rabboni!” -John 20:13-16

There are a variety of ways of looking at the Resurrection. In a way, it is something that occurs daily in nature. Something dies giving life to something else. Life is always resurrected from death. The idea of resurrection is not foreign to us in some senses. However, it is strange and foreign that Jesus came back as Jesus. Not Jesus in a ghostly sense, but Jesus bearing the marks of His pain and suffering on His body. He remains the individual that died on the Cross but now, He is Alive.

Out of dust, we became an individual and we lose our individuality when we return to dust. This is the tragic state of humanity. We are aware of our individuality and we are also aware that it is fragile. We strive hard to be individuals. We want to be unique. We want to be special even if it is for one person. We want our individuality to be affirmed, but we also know that even if the whole world recognizes our individuality, it is pointless; we will eventually return to dust. This desperation and futility of life was expressed aptly in the Book of Ecclesiastes:

For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20)

Our struggle to assert our individuality makes us aware of the injustice and immorality of this world. We define anything that tries to destroy our individuality as evil. Well, the question of evil is closely related to our individuality. Buddha taught that our individuality was the problem. It was believed that we perceive evil  because we persist on our false idea of our individuality and the solution was to break free from our notions of self-identity. Still, this did not solve the problem. Our sense of individuality is still strong and despite the sufferings, we think that there is more joy in being an individual than giving it up altogether.

Jesus affirmed our sense of individuality. His disciples were fishermen and tax collectors, people who usually classed as a group and not as individuals. We don’t expect any prominence from these classes. He called individuals from these groups and made their names known throughout the world. Jesus affirmed the individuality of his female disciples in a time where their individuality was suppressed. Jesus, in one occasion, called an ailing woman to identity herself when she wanted to lost among the crowd. Jesus made people feel that their identity was relevant. They were important as individuals. His life was the hope that they could finally be someone and His tragic death robbed them of this hope. Only the resurrection could give them back this hope in a new and wonderful way.

Jesus bore the marks of His torture and pain. His torture and pain were once tools used to threaten his individual existence, but now they set Him apart from the rest. The resurrection changed the meaning of his suffering and death. It showed us that nothing can steal our individuality in this world. Our Individuality is not an invention of cultural conditioning or rational thinking, but it originates in the mind of the One who has the power to resurrect us. It always brings a new understanding of our lives here. Jesus bore the marks of hatred and death on His body, but His love overcame them and changed their meaning for eternity.

We know through Jesus that all will be resurrected (I am aware of the various debates on this subject). However, this has to change how we live our lives now. What we do with our body will be reflected in our resurrected body. Our bodies can be instruments of Love or Hatred and the marks of our choices are worn eternally on our resurrected body. Jesus reveals to us the most excellent way to shape our bodies and soul for eternity. He shows the most excellent way to cultivate our individuality.

Have a Blessed Easter. Christ is Risen!

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Cooking with Yuri: Suelen’s Story

But when I looked for good, evil came to me; And when I waited for light, then came darkness.-Job 30:26

Many things have happened since we last cooked with Yuri. However, I cannot give a proper update without telling the story of Yuri’s courageous sister, Suelen. In my previous post about Yuri, I mentioned that Yuri’s father abandoned the family when the children were very young. Then something tragic happened to one of the boys in the family which changed their lives forever. It was something that hit the national news but I don’t think that it is appropriate for me to go into the details here. It was the final straw for their mother and she lost all grasp of reality. She started using crack and eventually ended up living in the streets in Cracolândia. The children were left to themselves with no adult presence. The three boys accepted their so-called fate and became homeless in the streets where they engaged in crime and drug abuse. Sueli was left alone with her youngest sister who was barely nine years old. Suelen herself was only about fifteen. She refused to allow circumstance to determine her life. She refused to consider homelessness as an option. She wanted to take care of her little sister. In this vulnerable state, she got involved with young man who initially appeared to be a godsend but then out to be a nightmare.  He was physically abusive and got involved with drug trafficking. She had a son with him. When she turned 18, she decided to leave him. She packed her bags and left her boyfriend with her child and youngest sister but they had no place to go.

This was about the time the team met Suelen. Yuri was incarcerated and he wanted to get in touch with his sister whom he considered as his only chance for a better life. The team took all the information we had regarding Suelen and searched for her. It took a while but we finally found her taking shelter in single room which was actually rented by another friend. This friend was a physically handicapped man who lived on his disability check which was hardly anything.  However, with the little he had, he opened up his home which was a tiny room for Suelen and her family. This man did this without any hidden intentions. It was out of pure generosity. The team managed to find ways to get Suelen the help she needed and she eventually rented a small apartment in the outskirts of São Paulo. Suelen never asked for a single cent. She worked for everything. Our mission managed to raise some funds to pay for the youngest sister’s school uniform and other educational expenses. Suelen eventually met a younger man whom she married and now they can support the household with two incomes. They earn enough to survive and provide a safe environment for the children but it is still quite financially fragile. Suelen unexpectedly became pregnant and this happened at the same time as Yuri got out of the Juvenile Detention Center. Sueli and her husband opened their tiny apartment up for him.

Everything seem to be going well for Suelen and her family then all of a sudden her long-lost mother showed up at her doorstep looking very pregnant. Suelen was expecting to deliver her child in two months time and her mother was due at the same time. Her mother was still a crack addict and has no intentions of giving up the habit. However, she wants Suelen to take care of her child. She made it clear that she was going to leave her child with Suelen and return to the streets. Sueli and her husband do not know what to do at this moment. However, Suelen knows that she cannot feed another mouth in her household. Yuri needs to return to school and complete his probation before he can get a job. Sueli’s mother is not mentally stable and does not think rationally.

I cited the verse from Job because I have been meeting a lot of Jobs recently. Suelen is a Job. She did not ask or deserve these troubles and sufferings. They just happened. There is no magic wand to wave and change this situation. Suelen and her husband want to get ahead in life but they have to consider what that means. Many of us limit the idea of getting ahead to finances. However, this is not going to happen for them. They are earning too low to even imagine a moment in their lives where they will be financially secure. If Suelen and her husband want to become financially stable they would have to kick Yuri out of the house and refuse to take care of the mother’s new child (her sibling). Only then, they might be able to get somewhere financially but they would lose their souls.

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?-Matthew 16:26

Tough decisions await Suelen and her family and she called and talked to us about this. She does not expect us to have the answer. We are grateful for this because we have no answer. However, she wants to know where God is in the midst of it. She is not angry with God. Suelen has gone through enough in this life to know that God is present in the midst of all this. Sueli is a living testimony of God’s gracious presence in her life. She survived the odds to get where she is right now. She has actually ahead of us spiritually. She has experienced God’s goodness in ways which we cannot imagine. Through her troubles, she did not say “no” to Life even when everything around was teeming with negativity. Suelen is a Job and we called to be her friends in this difficult time. However, we don’t want to repeat the mistake of Job’s friends. She asks us to walk with her to discover the courage to say “Yes” to Life. We are going to wait with her to discover God as the foundation of our strength.

We are going to cook with Yuri this week again.

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When Better is not Good Enough

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. -John 3:1-3

Nicodemus was a seeker of the Truth. He saw a spirituality in Jesus that was new and unique. He wanted to better himself. He wanted to know more about Jesus’ doctrines so that he could be a better person. However, Jesus basically told him that better was just not good enough.

Jesus did not wait for Nicodemus to ask his question. He knew immediately the nature of the visit. Jesus did not preach a message of detachment from the world. This was the teaching of the Buddha. He too agreed with Jesus that better was not good enough. However, Jesus gave a very different answer to the spiritual problem. He told Nicodemus that one needs to be born of the spirit.  It was contrary to detachment from the world. Being born of the spirit was coming back to this life with all its problems and injustices with new understanding of reality. Christianity does not promise a change in the political and social structures of the world. There was very little said of social reforms in the gospels. However, it does talk about the person being transformed to see reality in a new Light. We cannot follow or even understand the teachings of Jesus without this new understanding. Those who limit themselves to doctrinal understanding of the faith are settling for a better spirituality or religion. Jesus tells us that this is not enough; better is just not good enough.

This is true in all aspects. In our work, the homeless would not leave the streets for better conditions. Better for them is not worth leaving the streets. They desire something new. In fact, people in all phases of life are always talking about change. They are always talking about the new or reinventing themselves. It seems like we know instinctively that we need something new. The old has shown itself to be lacking. However, we cannot create the new within ourselves. Churches or any religion cannot give or even usher the new. This is something beyond us. We cannot domesticate the forces that bring about the new.

Jesus said: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”(John 3:8)

The new that transforms our hearts and minds can only be done through the Spirit. No one has monopoly of the Spirit. The best we can do is to prepare ourselves for the Spirit. If we invest our time and energy in the old things or values that keep us imprison in the things of this reality, then we won’t be aware of the presence of the Spirit. Those who are seeking the new are aware of the futility of the old. These will understand the words of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes when he professed, “Vanity of vanities; All is vanity.”  Seeing the futility of the old is really the prerequisite that helps us prepare for the new.

We cannot produce the new within ourselves or others. All we can do is prepare ourselves to meet the One who can transform us from within. The preparation is knowing that we are part of the new. Many in the streets have seen the futility of the old but they do not know that they can be part of the new. However, the new has a place of them. This is the good news. The New is open to all but only few seek it.

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Better than Silver and Gold

Then Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.-Acts 3:6-8

Today a young girl named Ana Paula asked us what we have to offer to help her leave the streets.  We were little taken aback when we heard this, not because of the question. It is just that Ana Paula rarely engages in any conversation with us. We were surprised that she asked us this decisive question.

Ana Paula is a young adult who had spent most of her childhood in the streets. She does not have any family except for her boyfriend. Igor, her boyfriend, is also an orphan and had spent his childhood in the streets. He has been in and out of the juvenile detention center for several years. Recently, he seemed to have stopped all criminal activities. He even tried to find a job as a cleaner. Perhaps together they have been seriously thinking about finding a way out of the street life. Henceforth, Ana Paula wanted to know what we have to offer.

There are so many social agencies working in the streets. Each group has something different to offer, perhaps a special program to help those living in the streets. It is only natural for Ana Paula to think that we are just like them. She thought that we must have something different to offer as well. Unlike us, most of the non-governmental organizations have silver and gold backing up their programs. We don’t have a social program nor the silver or gold to start one. Nevertheless, we still have something to offer. We do not go to the streets empty handed. The story from the biblical text above is rich in meaning and I believe that gives us a strong foundation for any Christian missionary work, local or otherwise.

Peter has seen this beggar many times. At this particular moment when Peter passed him, the beggar was expecting something from Peter. Perhaps he was asking the same question with his look as Ana Paula asked, “What have you to offer to help me?” Peter gave him the answer. The answer marks the difference between Christian missionary work and social work. We need silver and gold to be successful in social work but Christian missionary work can only be successful if we understand Peter’s answer.

Many things can be said about this healing incident. I have to limit myself here. Today we have a very superficial understanding of healing. Our understanding of healing is  limited to physical healing. We have doctors today to do this. However, doctors cannot heal the soul. The gospel heals the soul. Critics of our work tell us that social workers are more qualified to do our work. They are right if we are trying to do social work. However, we are here to offer the one thing that social workers cannot offer. We are here to offer what we have received. We are recipients of God’s healing. God’s healing has a name and His Name is Jesus. We present the Healer that brings wholeness to our lives has a Name. This Name is only powerful to those who have experienced His healing power in their own lives. If you think that this healing is purely spiritual and has nothing to do with practical life, then you have not experienced the healing power of Jesus. The man healed by the words of Peter was transformed completely. He could no longer return to his old way of living. Healing that the gospel proclaims changes our practical life. It cannot be the gospel if it does not do this.

We gave Ana Paula an answer. His Name is Jesus. We did not preach to her. We did not bring her to a church. Neither did we try to convince her to read the Bible. We told her why we were in the streets. We don’t have silver and gold. Silver and gold did not bring us to where we are today. We have one thing to offer and it is better than anything the world has to offer to her.

Ana Paula did understand what we were offering. She knew that she could not take advantage of all the social programs available for her if she was not healed first. Many of the social agencies have good things to offer but Ana Paula does not believe that she is worthy or capable of achieving any success in this life. She needs to be healed. She needs what we have to offer. We can only offer what we have received. Silver and gold cannot match what we have received from God.

 

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Success at the Foot of the Cross

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. I Corinthians 1:18

We doubt ourselves on a weekly basis. We wonder if we are making any difference in the lives of the people. We wonder if we are just wasting our time.

Day in and day out, it is always the same. Sometimes people are open and accepting and sometimes they are closed and drugged out. Sometimes they are friendly and sometimes they are hostile. However, their conflicting actions and attitudes do not make us question why. We are actually used to it. Sometimes we find ourselves being invaded by this sense of hopelessness. It appears as if we are not doing anything significant in the streets. We are actually trying to preach the message of hope to the homeless but it seems like the sense of hopelessness and abandonment is contagious.

Our friend and fellow team member told us that if the success of this ministry was based on numbers, then this ministry would be utter failure. In a way, we would be in good company because the ministry of Jesus would have been considered a failure as well. He did not really have the numbers to show any success despite being the Son of God. We can pick a prophet randomly from the Old Testament and he or she would be a considered a failure, too. Either the biblical standard for success is too low or maybe it is too high to be measured by numbers. Gauging a success of any Christian ministry by numbers is succumbing to the standards of the world. It is not the way of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ moment of success was on the Cross. It was the moment that he gave up His spirit when all his opponents were silenced permanently. It was at this moment that a centurion professed, “Truly this was the Son of God.” This was the moment of success. It is a mystery that can only be understood when one is struck by the power of Love.

The power of the Cross was not hidden from anyone. It was there present in a powerful way but only a few chose to see it. Those who saw it cannot keep it to themselves anymore. A new Light came into their hearts. It opened their minds to understand the new meaning of power and success.

Every week we question what we are doing. I don’t think this is wrong. I think it would be strange if we do not question ourselves. It would be strange if we were happy with the way things are. I don’t think that things are going to get better in my lifetime. However, our success is not based on whether we can eradicate the problems of society. It is about sharing this Light that we discover at the foot of the Cross. It is about seeing that even death and humiliation cannot hinder the power of Love to shine through into our hearts. The Cross is the power that gives us hope. We need to go to the foot of the Cross with all sense of failure and hopelessness and believe that the One who hangs on the Cross is able to transform them into opportunities of Life. If we can transmit this Hope in the Cross, if we can just direct someone to see this hope, then we are truly successful.

 

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Abundant Life or Comfortable Life?

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.- John 10:10

In my last post I mentioned a family we recently visited. This is the family of Maicon whom the team met in the streets. Maicon was incarcerated briefly in the juvenile detention center which gave him time to reconsider his life choices. Upon his release, Maicon returned to his house in the slums, a tiny shack for family of six with no running water or electricity. There was no bathroom.  Our team members visited Maicon and sensed that he was not going to last long at home. Within a few weeks, Maicon ran away from home and started getting involved with the local drug dealers. To make matters worse, some of the neighbors of Maicon’s family were trying to drive out his family so that they could occupy their space. His father’s life was threatened and he decided to move to another place. The father is hardworking man but he was disabled due to illness. He sold soft drinks in the streets to make ends meet but he did not make enough to rent a place. He sought the local social agencies for assistance. Unfortunately, this family did not meet the qualifications for the social programs for the present moment. The situation was becoming desperate when the drug lords in the neighborhood offered the father a place to squat in an old abandoned house. The father is an honest man and agreed to accept the offer out of desperation but only on the condition that he was not going to be involved in any shape or form with the drug operations. Most drug dealers have a “Robin Hood” complex here and they gave him their word that they would not expect anything in return. In reality, they don’t have to expect anything in return because three of their older children are already involved in the drug culture.

We visited this family in their new home just before Christmas. It was abandoned house that was dark and musty but it had two bedrooms and a bathroom. There was electricity but no running water. However, they could get water easily next door. Unfortunately, the house next to them is where the drug dealers do their business. The remaining children in this family are from ages 7 to 10. The 10 year old is girl. This house is terrible but it was a step up for them. They had privacy. They had a bathroom.

Mary with the Family

Mary with the Family

Abundant life is something greater than possessions. This family in a certain sense might be better off than some wealthy people. They know that they do not have abundant life yet. Many of us are blinded by false securities and hope but we think that we have it all. Most of the crack addicts think that they found everything they want in crack cocaine. Crack cocaine is their escape from reality. For others, materialism and other more accepted drugs are a way of escape.

I realized that our understanding of salvation is incomplete. Salvation cannot mean one thing for me and another things for someone else. This family has something to teach us about the meaning of salvation. They are able to face the harsh reality of life without giving up hope. They have hope. They see their hope materialized in things that we take for granted. We have something to teach them as well. We are both on the quest to discover the meaning of abundant life. I believe that God has brought us together so that we discover its meaning together.

 

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