What's out your "window?"

Several weeks ago I received an email from my sweet friend and "Winston-Salem momma," Flossie Castle.  She had forwarded an article to me that her super cool son, Dwight, sent her.  It was a post that Dwight's pastor, Joel Brooks, wrote for The Gospel Coalition.  While there were several minor points and distinctions with which I disagreed, the overarching argument was strong.  Ironically I was most struck by the opening paragraph:

"My office is located in one of the poorer areas in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. Even as I am writing this, outside my window I can see two prostitutes standing across the street outside a hotel and a homeless man pushing a grocery cart full of cans. Confronted with scenes like this on a daily basis has made me think a lot about Jesus’ call to serve the least of these. What should this look like in my life? Over the years, I have far more failures than successes when it comes reaching out to these people."

As soon as I read Joel's introduction, I was hit by internal tension.  To give you context, I work for Calvary Baptist Church which is - how can I say this diplomatically - a large, mostly middle to upper class, well resourced church that sits on three different campuses across Forsyth and Davie County.  The 19 acre "central" campus houses such amenities as a gym (2 actually), a racquetball court (2 of those too), a dining room (and wouldn't you know, two of those also!), a soccer field, a scout hut, among others.  I don't say this for any other reason than to give you context for how I responded to Joel's post.  I absolutely adore Calvary, as imperfect as we are.  I am deeply grateful for how God has used the church to shape my life and am truly honored to work for and with such a special church family. 

With the above mentioned context, let me tell you that my office is located on central campus.  When I look out of my window I see what some would consider a picture of heaven.  In referencing God's presence being with the exiled Israel, the prophet Zechariah writes in his 8th chapter: "This is what the LORD Almighty says, 'Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand because of his age.  The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.'"  These verses come to mind when I look out my window and see the senior aerobics class speed walking around our "campus" - sweat band on head and walking stick in hand.  They are serious!  At the same time I see children from our day school or church families playing on one of our two playgrounds (I wonder if there's something to having two of everything?).  Together these images conjure up the prophetic vision of God's presence with Israel in Jerusalem that Zechariah references.

As I compared my office window view to Joel's view, I couldn't help but think of the "window" out of which  Christians (church staff or not) view life.  While the physical location of one's office is of lesser important, what is of utmost importance is the degree to which we, as Christians, allow ourselves to view our community and world.  It hurts my heart to hear Christians make statements to the effect of, "I just can't go and see poverty and pain, suffering and oppression.  It's just too hard for me.  Or it makes me feel too bad.  Or I'd be too scared to go to that part of town or the world."  I would argue that is it our responsibility to gaze upon poverty and pain, suffering and oppression whether it's in East Winston-Salem and the slums of Calcutta.  Awareness is the first step to action and if we are choosing to be ignorant of the realities that exist in our city and around the world, then we can do nothing in offering a redemptive hope.  It was Christ, after all, who "being in very nature God did not consider equality with God (by implication: the beauty and perfection of heaven) something to which to cling, but opened his hand loosely in order to make himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross." (Philippians 2: 6 - 8)  It is that kind of attitude and example that we should try to emulate.  Christ intentionally crossed the widest tracks from the glories of heaven to the sin-tainted bleakness of this world in order that he might sacrificially give of himself to offer redemption to creation.  Why is it that we are so hesitant to cross the narrow tracks between our neighborhood and one of poverty?  This takes me back to frequent hesitations that I hear. "I just can't go and see poverty and pain, suffering and oppression.  It's just too hard for me.  Or it makes me feel too bad.  Or I'd be too scared to go to that part of town or the world."  What is driving one's distance from pain and suffering?  Is it an unwillingness to be troubled?  Will seeing the disparity that exists between you and your neighbor bring a tide of guilt?  Is it fear for physical safety?  Do we ever stop to think about neighbors who have no choice about where they live?  The reality is that because of sin, disparity exists.  In Generous Justice, Tim Keller says, "There is an inequitable distribution of both goods and opportunities in this world.  Therefore, if you have been assigned goods of this world by God and you don't share them with other, it isn't just stinginess, it is injustice."

Interestingly enough, the chapter prior to Zechariah's vision of God's presence with Israel is a condemnation to God's people who - while enjoying God's rest and prosperity - failed to show mercy and pursue justice.  "This is what the LORD Almighty says, 'Administer true justice, show mercy and compassion to one another.  Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.  In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'"  This rings with a similar judgement found in Isaiah 58 where the religious acts of God's people were discarded by God because of their ignorance and lack of action towards the most vulnerable of society.  This ignorance and lack of action showed that the Israelites did not grasp God's compassion and mercy to them in rescuing them from slavery in Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land.  To quote Keller again, "If a person has grasped the meaning of God's grace in his heart, he will do justice (serving the needs and guarding the rights of those around us).  Grace should make you just."  This was Joel's point in the original article I referenced.  In talking about Sodom and Gomorrah, Joel says:

"Almost everyone is familiar with this story of God raining down judgment on these cities because of their wickedness. And most people assume that the sin for which Sodom was judged was sexual immorality. This is certainly how I heard this passage taught when I was younger. But the prophet Ezekiel tells us otherwise. Ezekiel 16:49 says, “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” Sodom was judged for pride, living a life of ease, and neglecting the poor and needy—not simply for sexual sin. I don’t know about you, but suddenly this story just became a little uncomfortable for me. Instead of casting judgment on the people of Sodom, I began to identify with them."

And so the question remains, "What's out your window?"  What are you allowing yourself to gaze upon and how does that affect the way you live your life?  How do you spend your time and use your resources?  It's great to gaze upon the beauty of heaven, but the reality is that the fulfillment of God's Kingdom comes when Christ returns.  Until then we wrestle with the effects of sin and the resulting disparities and injustice.  We have two options. We can pretend like we are in heaven now and isolate ourselves from pain and suffering.  OR we can follow the example of Christ, look intently at disparities and injustice, and seek to have a redemptive presence in areas where we can have influence.  One day all things will be made new.  We are not there yet.

What's out your window?

All In A Days Work

Fellow bloggers may be able to attest to this phenomenon, but now that I'm blogging I tend to funnel a lot of life through "would this make a good blog post?"  In doing that I have seen several themes emerge.  So far, with a whopping 8 posts under my belt, I've noticed a lot of my blogging inspiration comes from work.  I frequently desire to start my blog with "I LOVE MY JOB."  This just leads me to a point of gratitude to a gracious Father who would allow me to work in an area in which I'm so passionate, namely community ministry.

Yesterday was one of those days at work where I couldn't help but think, "Really, seriously, I get paid to do this stuff??  It just all seems too good to be true!"

I work for Calvary Baptist Church as the "Director of Community Ministry."  We have a community ministry initiative called "Love Winston-Salem," which is our strategy for community engagement in our city.  Through Love Winston-Salem, we focus on two communities - Southside and Kimberly Park.  In both of those neighborhoods we work heavily with the elementary schools as they are hubs for our children and seek to provide a critical foundation for their success - namely education.  Forest Park Elementary School is our partner in the Southside community.  Each month we go to Forest Park and provide parties for students who have excelled in various areas of school life (attendance, character, grades, etc.).  Yesterday happened to be one of our days to provide a monthly party, so the usual crew went over with ice cream, sprinkles, chocolate and caramel syrup in hand ready to encourage the students who had been selected for the party. 

Apparently yesterday was an abnormal day at Forest Park.  A lot of students and staff were sick.  Consequently we had a slow trickling of students into the party.  The first two students were the most precious boy scouts imaginable - Alex and Andres.  They came in proudly wearing their blue uniforms, and when I asked them about scouting, they proceeded to give me a 20 minutes spiel about the wonders of scouting at Forest Park.  They made me want to join!  As Alex, Andres, and I looked around and noticed that they were the only two out of an expected 60 students, I decided to head to the office to see what was going on.  As I passed the gym, I heard loud music exuding from the doors.  I looked in and saw about 50 kids at what appeared to be a dance party.  Curiosity got the best of me, and I stepped in to see what all this activity was about.  I was told that this was the "Gold Paw" Party for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders who had earned "C.A.T.S" for the majority of the year.  In layman's language, it was for kids who had sustained good behavior. 

I couldn't help but laugh as I looked around.  It was your typical awkward middle school moment brought to reality a little early for my elementary friends.  The boys were on the outside of the room with their arms crossed grinning at the girls who were huddled in the middle of the room dancing.  Most of the girls didn't really know how to dance so they were either swaying from side to side or twirling around in circles.  Except for one little girl; she knew what she was doing.  I thought, "Keep in PG!"  My humored trance was broken by the assistant principal asking me for my new last name (I just got married).  When I told him "Gaskins," he took it upon himself to jump on stage, grab the mic, and lead the kids in a chant beckoning me to the dance floor.  I mean, the kids were really excited; how could I let them down?  So I busted a "white girl" move on the dance/gym floor, and kids joined me.  It was a great moment in life! 

Suddenly I was brought back to reality with the remembrance that I was headed to the office to ask the secretary about kids coming to the character trait party, so I decided to put an abrupt end to my dance moves.  It was probably for the best because the girls had decided that the next dance move was going to be holding hands and running around the gym.  I wasn't interested.  So I removed myself and headed to the office to speak to the secretary.  She said she would make an announcement, and I headed back to the cafeteria to rejoin our group. 

The kids started trickling in and the all-star volunteer team had in covered.  We were in the groove - two people armed with the ice cream scoops, one with the sprinkles, one with the syrups (chocolate in one hand, caramel in the other), others were passing out napkins and still others talking with the students. 

All of a sudden I hear what I believe to be the "Cupid Shuffle."  Anyone who goes to a reception with a good DJ is going to dance to the "Cupid Shuffle."  It's a party dance.  And, hey, it's simple, so even the most uncoordinated of dancers [white people] can bust a move with their friends.  Again, impulses kicked in, and I was drawn back to the gym.  I was shocked to see that the kids had no clue how to dance the "Cupid Shuffle," so I thought it my responsibility to teach them.  I jumped into the middle of the dance floor and started into "To the right, to right, to the right to the right to the right.  To the left, to the left, to the left to the left to the left. Now kick with it, kick with it, kick with it, kick with it.  And walk it on out."  The song repeats itself probably 1,000 times, so by the end of the song you're destined to get it.  It was so fun to see kids who had no clue how to dance slowly join in and fill with joy as they became part of this dance group.  Some were better than others, but most everyone could get the general hang of it. 

As I was going through the 57th round of the Cupid Shuffle I looked over and saw a little girl I recognized from one of the sports camps we did at Christmas time.  We had invited her to be a part of one of our tutoring programs, MLKU.  I had even talked to her mom last week who seemed excited about her coming.  As I connected with DaeShanice, I asked her about coming to MLKU.  She said she wanted to come, but her mom didn't know where it was located.  I assured her that I would call her mom back and clarify the location.  DaeShanice had become a Christian at the Sports Camp, and we were excited to disciple her through MLKU.  This was a great connection! 

The song came to an end and it was time for the whole party to conclude.  I headed back to the cafeteria and was escorted by several dozen of my newest best friends, including Alex and Andres who had headed to the gym after they finished their ice cream.  I felt very full!  It was a great afternoon.  It was all in a days work.  :)

And thus is the Christian life.  God is calling people from every nation, tribe, and tongue - from every community in Winston-Salem - to join His great celebration.  He is beckoning through His Spirit that all would come.  He has ordained His Church to be His instrument in reaching neighbor and nation with the gospel.

"Hallelujah!  For our Lord God Almighty reigns.  Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.  Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.  Then the angel of LORD said to me, "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding CELEBRATION of the Lamb!"  Rev. 19: 6 - 9

Creative Corridors Coalition: Aesthetics in our Community

I love my "job!"  I have the honor of being paid to represent Calvary Baptist Church in our community (Forsyth and Davie County).  I have the honor of learning about the strengths of our community and understanding the deficits or "opportunities of involvement" as I should say.  I have the honor of meeting many people from various backgrounds; this is refreshing to an extrovert.  I have the honor of making our church aware of the realities of our city and how we can be involved in the flourishing of our city.  I love it.  I absolutely love it.

This afternoon I was refreshed by a meeting I attended.  It may seem like an unconventional meeting for someone on church staff.  Maybe not.  The meeting I attended was the first of several community meetings for the Creative Corridors Coalition.  The Creative Corridors Coalition (CCC) is a nonprofit organization created to provide a voice and a process for residents of Winston Salem and Forsyth County to influence the design and implementation of roadway infrastructure projects in and around the downtown area.  It is the collaboration of a number of various and influential organizations who want to use the inevitable renovations of various corridors (Businuess 40, MLK Drive, etc.) as a means to create artistic expressions that represent the spirit of Winston-Salem.  The desire is to incorporate the artistic flavor that permeates our city into architectural designs.  After all, we are "The City of the Arts." 

Pretty spiritual meeting, huh?!

As a believer, I consider aesthetics to be of great importance.  In the created world we inhabit, we have the opportunity to reflect our nature as image bearers of the The Creator.  We can create.  Listen to my friend and co-worker, Matt Capps, as he communicates the Christian's relationship to beauty through an excerpt of an article entitled "Theosthetics: Thoughts From The Intersection of Aesthetics and Worship."  Matt writes, "Being created in the image of God specifically gives us as human beings the capacity to acknowledge and appreciate beauty. I doubt that we will hear an account of a golden retriever climbing to the highest point in the land in order to take in the beauty of God’s vast creation. Humans are the only beings to whom God gave this capacity. But along with this capacity comes a great responsibility. Just as believers have defended the Christian notions of truth and goodness, we should also labor to show the one true God as the source of all that is beautiful. This universal concept of Beauty must be grounded in that which is absolutely beautiful, God himself. In moving beyond mere apprehension, we must acknowledge that being created in God’s image also entails another important mandate involving creative ability." 

In the Spirit of the Lord spoken through the prophet, Jeremiah, my desire is to seek the "shalom" of Winston-Salem; to seek it's prosperity (Jeremiah 29).  I want my city to thrive including in the arts.  I want Winston-Salem to overflow with aesthetic beauty as an expression of God's presence and common grace to all Winston-Salem neighbors.  Consequently, I want to place myself in any area where I might have influence towards this end.  I want to express it not only in my home, on my property, within my church, and community, but also in the larger city.  I reckon the Creative Corridors Coalition is a great place to pursue the beauty of our larger city. 

I couldn't help but think as I sat in the initial meeting today, "I hope there are a lot of Christians in this room.  I hope that Christians are at the forefront of this effort - if not by nature of the organization, then in the mass of our numbers from the motivation of hearts desiring to reflect the beauty of God in our city.

If you're a Winston-Salem neighbor, you can join the coalition too!  click here.

Overwhelmed!

If we are honest with ourselves and others, there are seasons where each of us feels overwhelmed.  For some they are longer and more intense than others, but we all get overwhelmed.  Right now I am overwhelmed.

Blogging can sometimes seem slightly narcissistic to me, but my prayer is not to wave the flag of "Alexandra Gaskins," but share thoughts and scripture that hopefully will challenge and encourage the spirit of others.  Still it seems a little foreign to air emotions on the world wide web.  With that said, here I go.  HA!

Valentine's Day will forever be bitter sweet.  Valentine's Day 2009 was the day my beloved father went to be with the LORD.  I'll spare you the details, but the speed and manner in which he died made it a shocking and painful experience.  Not to mention the physical loss of his presence.  Oh what a sweet day that reunion will be!  In God's grace, the year of his death was the last year of my singleness.  God brought Ron into my life that same year (and by "brought Ron into my life," I mean we started dating; we had been friends for some time prior).  I consider this a great blessing!  Still, with Valentine's Day approaching, the emotional battle wages.  OVERWHELMING!

I've been praying about going back to school.  I'm very excited about the possibility of pursuing some kind of Master's Degree that concentrates on community and economic development.  Calvary Baptist Church, my church family as well as my employer, is laying out a "20:20 vision" that is guiding our next decade.  Mercy Ministry is one of the values that we hope to hold high.  This is extremely exciting to me, especially as much of my role on staff revolves around mercy ministry.  This stated direction, coupled with the book I just read and several community players I've met recently, has contributed to my desire to be better equipped in the area of mercy ministry, hence the desire for my Masters.  As I mentioned, I'm PUMPED about this opportunity, still the process of finding the right school/program, figuring out funding, scheduling, the thought of balancing school with marriage, work, rest, etc.  OVERWHELMING!

I've noticed in life, at least for me, that typically there are "underlying issues" brewing that are unearthed by "presenting issues."  Marriage provides great grounds of proof for this hypothesis.  Your spouse can say or do something relatively harmless, but because of an underlying issue, you burst into tears or become angry or become a hermit or whatever your visceral reaction may be.  Can I get an AMEN??

For me the two reasons stated above are the underlying issues that caused me to feel consciously overwhelmed today.  The presenting issue: I hosted a party today that I had been eagerly anticipating for over a month. It was a "Change Purse" party intended to raise awareness and funds for victims of human trafficking.  The party was officially for Change Purse, but was also intended to get the word out about SOS.  I sent out an evite and had a great response.  About 15 people where supposed to come.  When only 3 people (not including Angela Moran of Change Purse and 4 of the fabulous SOS girls) showed up I had to fight back discouragement.  Bottom line, people didn't come to my party, and I was pouting internally.  I'd like to believe that normally I wouldn't have been so shaken by the small crowd, but as I mentioned earlier, the presenting problem hit nerves with some of my deeper underlying issues.  OVERWHELMED!

But I have to tell you that more than any of the reasons for feeling overwhelmed that I mentioned previously, I was most overwhelmed by God's goodness and encouraged by His Body at the closing of my party.  Let me explain...

Angela Moran and her best friend, Heather Reardon, are both stay at home moms who love purses.  As they became aware of the massive injustice that is human trafficking, they wanted to do something.  They started Change Purse.  In essence they collect used purses and have parties where they sell the purses while sharing about the issue and how people can be involved.  The money they collect through the purse parties are then funneled to Hope House, which is on the frontlines of compassionately caring for domestic human trafficking victims in Jesus name.  WOW!

Morgan (14), McCall (12), Brianna (14), and Meliegha (13) enthusiastically represent SOS.  In essence, these four girls along with several other friends, founded an organization that raises awareness - especially among teens - about the horrors of human trafficking, especially focusing on the international dynamics of this crisis.  It is amazing to hear these girls spit out statistics of the endemic and share what groups are at work in bringing relief.  What's even more amazing is that they see themselves as active players in bringing about justice in this area.  How does a handful of teenagers make a difference in this massive issue?  Similar to Angela, they host events that raise awareness and funds; the funds are given directly to organizations that are on the frontlines.  Faith-based organizations like Project Rescue are among their partners.  I overheard the girls talking with Angela before the party started that their goal is to use each of their remaining three years in high school to raise $30,000 per year, so that by the time they graduate high school they can cover the complete cost of building a Project Rescue home.  Their desire to not only raise the funds, but perhaps even be a part of building the facility.  As in, hammer the nails.  WOW!

I was completely overwhelmed by the presence of these Christian sisters today.  Jesus was so visible in them.  The Holy Spirit spoke directly through them.  I was struck in several ways:
1. It makes sense to use your interests - purses included - to be about God's work.  What are your interests, and how are you using then for God's work?
2. God has purposely placed you in "spheres of influence" that can we used to raise awareness and pool resources for God's work.  Who is in your spheres of influence, and how are you engaging those spheres?
3. Your season of life is insignificant in encouraging or discouraging your involvement in God's work.  Stay at home mom or school age student or whatever season you are in, be encouraged there is a purpose for you.  Do you know what it is, and are you pursuing it?
4. When God's people take seriously their call to be about their Father's business, the world can be a different place.  I was overwhelmed by the thought of every Christian functioning as these ladies function.  The possibility for permeating our city, our country, our world with hope is limitless.  The world would be a different place.  I couldn't help but think of how many Christians are wasting their lives being self-centered and myopic.  Oh that we would see our lives as vehicles for God promotion not self-promotion!

What a glorious day it will be when all things are made new.  Right now we see evidence of brokenness all around us.  My heart was tightly gripped by the horrors of human trafficking.  This world is not as it should be; far from it!  But until all is renewed, let us be about our Father's business! 

This is a sweet OVERWHELMING!