This Is Our City

This is something that God has been bringing front and center in my life, shattering my complacency and apathy. Portland is my city, and I own the good and the bad. I am increasingly aware that I am implicated in all the problems I see around me, but I am only beginning to see how Jesus embodies the way forward. These issues can be complex, but I appreciate an article like this one that reminds us that the incarnational love of Christ is really quite simple. It will cost us everything, because it cost him everything; but it is as simple as "follow me."

In this information age it is becoming near impossible to conceive of living ones life in obedient devotion to Christ and serving his interests in others while remaining anonymous. We feel compelled to not just tell the "left hand" about the good deeds of our "right hand" but to tell any media outlet (magazines, YouTube, facebook, tweets) that will carry our story. Clearly we want men to see our good deeds but the issue at stake is always the question God's intended purpose and our own private motives - do we truly desire nothing more than for men to "glorify our Father in heaven" and if so does the "glorifying" have to go viral with ten million "views" for us to know that it has happened? For the church, "good press" appears to be at best a two-eged sword. Thanks Paul for another great article.

Thank you, Dr. Metzger, for this article. I am encouraged and strengthened by the growing relationships in the muti-ethnic body of Christ. We need each other, and the more I listen and learn, I am convinced that without that mutuality, as is seen in the Triune God, there is no real relationship. Too often we see relationship as being "transactional" or "end result" oriented verses "engagement" with each other and our stories. Relationships take time, intentionality and consistency. I was convicted by Dr. Perkins' challenge about loving our city as well as what it means to move beyond charity to owning the pond together. I don't have many answers, but I do know that as I allow myself to listen and be changed by the stories of "others" in the context of relationship, out of me flows a love far greater than myself and a desire to participate together with the multi-ethnic body of Christ and how God wants to use us together to display His glory and beauty in Portland.

God forgive me for not loving Portland with the sacrificial love of Christ and bring restoration and renewal as the kingdom of God spreads like yeast through dough...

I recently heard a speaker read Isaiah 11:4, "He will treat the poor fairly and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth" and comment that, as Christians today, by loving others as Jesus loves them, we can be like the trailer for a movie soon to come.