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Last January Bales held a Super Bowl party at Lake for the homeless in Pasadena. It was a day of feasting and football with 250 homeless people coming to a place of love, care, and celebration. The party did not cure their homelessness that day, but for those January hours it was a respite. This Super Bowl party has since turned into a weekly supper followed by a bourgeoning Bible study.
If Bales's dreams come true, one day soon Lake will have transitional housing apartments over their parking garage, but for now, he is "doing good" by making people's lives better for the day.
Martem Tenens (later to be named Saint Martin) was born in what is now Hungary and was drafted into Constantine's army at age 15. As a tribune at the age of 18, on a bitterly cold day in Gaul, Martem came across a beggar, naked and shivering. Martem, a follower of Christ, slashed his heavy military cloak in two with his sword and gave half of it to the beggar. That night, sleeping under his half cloak, Jesus appeared to him in a dream wearing the other half and commended Martem for his mercy. "When you did it to the least of these brothers of mine you did it to me."
If we really believed that our actions toward the "least of these" were actions toward or against Jesus, would these little acts of mercy have greater meaning for us?
Every time a church gives someone water in the name of Jesus, it is a good thing, which makes visible the kingdom of God.
Ministries of empowerment
Among those Jesus encountered were the blind, the lame, the deaf, the lepers and the demon possessed. Apart from the physical infirmities, these people faced at least two other problems.
First, they were most often unable to work and so lived in dependence on others to care for them. They were unempowered.
Second, they were excluded from the social and spiritual life of the community. They were disenfranchised. They were outcasts looking in.
Jesus comes across one such individual in John 5:1-15, a man who had been lame for 38 years. Jesus asks him, "Do you want to get well?" This question was neither cruel nor rhetorical. It was a real question because Jesus knew that if the man were to be healed, everything would have to change—he'd have to go from dependency to sufficiency. He couldn't sit and beg the next day; he'd have to get up, get out, and earn his livelihood. Every time Jesus healed someone of a debilitating illness, he was empowering him or her not just for a day but for a lifetime.
It is well known that proficiency in reading is essential to be in the mainstream of our educational and employment system. As director of urban ministries at Hope Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Eli Morris seeks to involve every member in meaningful ministry both inside and outside the church.
Three years ago 25 volunteers from Hope paired up with 25 inner-city first through fifth graders from South Memphis. Children were tested before the program began. In the first 12 weeks of reading with these children for just an hour a week, reading scores were raised by 1.2 grades!
Today Hope has over 100 of its adults helping children to read. Every time you teach a child to read you empower that young person for a lifetime.
In 1987 Luis Cortes, working with other clergy in North Philadelphia, began Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) "to improve the quality of life in our community through the development of Hispanic owned and operated educational, economic, and spiritual institutions."
The economic disparities in Philadelphia are challenging. The average net wealth of a Latino family is a mere $4,000 compared to an Anglo family's wealth of $44,000. With 60 percent of wealth held in home equity, helping people own their own homes was a natural place for Nueva Esperanza to start. This innovative ministry has now built or refurbished more than 100 homes to sell to Latinos at cost and provided mortgage counseling to over 2,500 people. They have served more than 650 people in their Welfare to Work initiative. People in North Philadelphia are better off because of Luis and Nueva Esperanza.
