kettles

I read a blog by one of my friends talking about his experiences on the kettle. (For the uniniated 'kettles' refers to the big red tripods the Salvation Army puts in front of stores and other places during the Holiday season to solicit funds)

Anywho, my friend stands on the manhattan side of the Staten Island Ferry in the afternoons and I stand on the Staten Island side most mornings.

Kettles is 111 year old tradition that generates a significant portion. Of the Salvation Army's funds. Mut kettle dollars are very hard dollars to make. Thus I can often be seen at the gates of the Staten Island ferry as early as 6AM. Because the keetle season is so grueling it is usually dreaded by all active members of the Salvation Army. Our leader for the East Coast however, challanged us to find ways to make this required fundraising into a ministry.

So when I am not amuzing myself by watching people trying to squeeze them selves through doors that have already closed to a size smaller than them I have tried to look for way to turn my kettle into a ministry.

It amazes me just how many Staten Islanders pass through the gates of the ferry. Standing the ferry has allowed me to interact with those fringe members and fallen friends that we haven't seen in a while.

When they see me the usually start fishing in their pockets or purse maybe thinking that if the deposit a suitable donation I might forget that they have been to church in weeks or months.

For t hese people I have developed a new 'slogan' "I don't want your money I want your soul."

Confrontation evangelism??? It works in the context of relationship.

For all those christians who have been sold on the wonders of "postmedernism" I am finding more and more that what is trully successfull in ministry is timeless.

Genuine love will save souls. It will do it because love is not just interested in the soul love is interested in the well being or flurishing of the whole person. If a person knows you are comitted to them on that level it will change them.

So far I have seen 3 people come back to church because of my early mornings at the kettle. This may sound like a small number to those who care about numbers but for me it is significant because they are three people that I care deeply about and have been praying for for some time.

Superman

Faster than a speeding bullet more powerful than a locomotive able to leap tall buildings in a single bound yayaya come on get real. when i was a kid i loved Superman. He was my first "Supee hero" (as my son calls them)While superman was my first i followed him with many others. Spider man, the X-men Darkhawk, Daredevil, Fantastic four, the Hulk. The older i got the less attractive superman became and the more exciting Wolverine became.

Wolverine now there is a hero, The man was born with a gift, a gift many would see as a curse then his abilities were augemtided through cruel expermintation and his mind shattered. but no matter how hard he rys when faced with a true moral decision he finds the strength to do the right thing.

I like my super heros good and flawed. Superman is just too perfect. he isn't like us we can't relate. There is a scene in the movie where superman and lois discus her Article "Why the World doesn't need superman" and she tells superman "The world doesn't need a saviour and neither do I" he responds by taking her into high up into the sky and asking her what she hears her answer "nothing" he then explains that he hears everything and and people are begging for a saviour.

I wouldn't want a superman saviour, someone who looks human but has been spared the trappings of humanity. The world does need a saviour and its savior while having overcome great adversity and lived the perfect life was deeply human and understands first hand the human condition.

Personal Responsibility

(Warning this one is coming from my phone so my spelling and such might be worse than normal and I am not sure where I am going and won't know till I get there)



Sunday after a wonderful worship service, I came home and picked up the Sunday paper to be greeted by a picture of a young man who had spent most of his summer in our teen drop in center. He was was a little old for the center(19) but our outreach director felt comfortable with him. So I pulled him aside and spoke to him about why he wanted to come. His answer was that he just wanted to stay out of trouble.

Fair enough we let him keep coming. Hespent 2 months or so coming almost dail. He even won an "NBA Street" tourney.

After the two months he stopped coming around. About two weeks later there was a murder behind our corps (church) and now almost two months after the picture of the suspect is on the front page of the paper.

This broke my heart. As soon as I saw it I began to question the effectiveness of my ministry to this kid.

"Did I do enough? Were we paying enough attention." I ask these questions whenever I fail to reach someone.

And whenever I ask them outloud someone is always quick to comfort me. The problem is those words of comfort usually just make me mad.

When I have failed to make a difference in someone's life I don't want to hear mis-quoted scriptures about sowing seeds and I don't need someone to tell me that we don't save anyone only God saves people. These are bogus lines that we tell ourselves to justify our complacency so we can sleep better at night.

Well I don't want to sleep tonight!!! I want to know that this kid's ok I want him to know that regardless of what happened that night, there is still forgivenes and redemption for him spiritually.

I want to know that I am doing everything I can to make sure something similiar doesn't happen to any of my other kids.

In the Salvation Army we sing a song that has the line "the world for God the world for God I'll do my part I'll give my heart." And yet how many of us really do or part how many of us trully give themselves fully tosave the world.

I haven't. I am lazyi spend to much time watching TV or checking fantasy football or any number of fruitless activitieswhen I could be doing my part.

When I lose someoneto sin or addiction orthe streets I feel bad I feel really bad and I should. Because I love people.You can't love someone and remain detached. By loving we become involved intimately and suddenly everything we do or don:t do carrys so much more significance.

I am tired of being coddled when we lose one. We should be angry and upset.We weep over those that have fallen. Then get up and fight harder for their lives. Not because of some comission but because of our love for them.

What Motivates You?

When I was 19, and in college. I took a job in my Corps' (church) Homeless shelter. I as counselor usually working the over night.

Most people who showed up during my shift had missed their curfew and as a result, lost their bed. It was my job to tell them that they were 'out' for 4 nights before they could return.

When this happened the outed "guest" usually came at me with insults, curses and threats. At first i was a real Jerk!!! I was young and a bit intimidated by hard homeless men often threatening to kill me for taking their bed away. So i put on a tough act.

After about six months, a homeless man was found dead in our city. He had froze to death, and i knew him. I had not taken his bad away the night before, but i had taken someone elses.

That morning in church i thought about what must go through the head of one of our guests when he finds out he is not going to be allowed in the building. It broke my heart. I realized that the same fear that caused me to put on a tough guy act was behind many of the harsh words I recieved. The men having no place to escape the elemants often at 1AM or earlier were scared. out of that fear they responded. Psychologists refer to it as the fight or flight responce.

I continued to work in the shelter. I still had a job to do and the rules were still the rules and i still had to enforce them but I i was able to change my motivation from fear to love.

It seems to me that the difficulty with the two is that fear is almost an automatic responce while love is always an uncoerced choice. Love can grow cold while fear just hardens over time.

How do we keep our love for the world red hot???

Achievement Holiness??? (A Tribute To Curtis Martin)

When I was in my second year at a little Christian college just outside of Boston, I turned in a paper to a Professor who i thought was my favorite. It was supposed to be 10 pages and mine was (well after some font and spacing games it became 10 pages)I put some of my best 'win the world for God' Salvationist Rhetoric which had absolutely nothing to do with the actual assignment. I turned it in honestly thinking it "was in the bag" well my professor got through about 3 pages and wrote across the page in huge red letters "Stop Wasting Your Calling and My Time". He then stopped reading the paper and never even bothered to give it a grade he later let me turn in another paper for the minimum passing grade.

"Stop Wasting Your Calling and My Time." Those words changed my life. Up until that paper I had been trying to skate by on the minimum amount work and commitment possible sometimes I got by other times I failed. But I learned that we cannot be lazy and holy at the same time. Being Holy is not about not sinning. It is about Loving God with our whole being in each and every moment. If I am not giving my all in whatever I do than what I am doing is incomplete.

What does this have to do with Curtis Martin???


I usually get uncomfortable when people point to some sports, music or other pop culture Icon who mentions Christ publicly and then puts them on a pedestal as some kind of a "Christian" Pop Culture superstar role model, because more often than not these people have lifestyles that are inconsistent with their one time pronouncement of Christ. (I am having visions of Jessica Simpson on the cover of "The Young Salvationist")

However, at the heart of Holiness lies the command to Love God with our entire beings. (Heart, soul, mind, Strength) And to whom much is given much is required. When a Christian is gifted in a certain area, I believe he or she has an obligation to be the very best that he or she can be in that area.
I was disappointed yesterday to hear that Curtis Martin will not play this season and will likely retire do to his bone on bone injury.

I look up to Curtis Martin not because he is some famous guy who mentioned Jesus a few times. But, because he has lived in the spotlight for the last 15+ years and he has exemplified consistency both on and off field. On the field he will go down in history as one of the hardest working Running Backs in the came. He played through pain and hardship and truly was one of the best in the game. Off the field He continues to life faithful to the God he proclaims. He is an example of a good father in a world where many kids don't know their father and many more wish they didn't. Sure he's human and I am sure there is dirt on him somewhere but he has consistently shown that he is faithfully running the race.

Curtis You are an inspiration!