protesting the illinois budget cuts in logan square

Those of us in Illinois- probably like many of you in other states- have been hearing a lot about state budget woes these days.  Without going into the details, the amount of the state’s shortfall is causing the legislature to propose massive spending cuts to many government agencies and social service agencies that receive subsidies.

Depending on your perspective these cuts either make good fiscal sense or are a shortsighted travesty.  As it happens, I’m married to a former case manager for a social services agency and many friends are employed as public school teachers or in other social services state-subsidized jobs.  In addition, we live in a neighborhood with many residents who rely on services that would be cut by this budget.  Subsidized daycare, for example, is not a luxury for the working poor but a necessity in order to earn the money it takes to care for a family in our state.  You can guess how my perspective affects how I view these cuts.

Earlier today Maggie, Eliot, and I joined some New Community friends to participate in a march sponsored by the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. Billed as “La Marcha de las Carreolas” (The March of the Strollers), we were encouraged to push strollers (a necessity for us since Eliot wasn’t keen on walking) and wheel chairs to symbolize those most vulnerable to the proposed budget cuts.  Here’s a very brief video of the march.

Maggie’s not sure how she ended up holding the largest banner and standing on the speaker’s platform, but Eliot and I got a kick out of it.  You can see more of this march (and catch a glimpse of some New Com folks if you don’t blink) at CBS 2.

I have enough experience with the church to know that many times it seems best to avoid talking about issues like the proposed budget.  I get it: avoiding anything that smells remotely political is a good way to keep the peace.  Other times we choose silence knowing that other Jesus-loving people have come to far different conclusions than we have about the same issue.

But at what point do we need to risk offense and open our mouths?  As complicated as something like a state budget is, the results of the proposed cuts are rather simple: vulnerable people will suffer.  And while there are likely many ways this crisis can be addressed, saying nothing while an unjust budget is pushed through doesn’t seem like the best choice.

May I make a small suggestion?  Before lending explicit or implicit support to these cuts, talk with someone who would be affected: a social worker, nursing home staff, someone who relies on day care.  I don’t pretend to understand the best way forward, but understanding the passion of those negatively influenced by the state legislature may be the best place to begin.

One last thought.  This may be a time when those of us who tend to be silent instead choose our words carefully to honor and defend the vulnerable among us.

chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods

On Monday a friend emailed me an article with the subject, “Bronzeville Dubbed 2nd Most Dangerous Neighborhood.”  A few minutes later a similarly ominous article was waiting in my Google News headlines.  Given the increasing amount of time I’ve spent in Bronzeville working on the New Community church plant, both of these articles were hard to believe.  However, a quick internet search revealed more of the same.  In fact, according to the study that produced the statistics, “Chicago is home to 4 of the top 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the country.”

Given that all 4 our city’s most dangerous neighborhoods are on the South Side, there are at least two ways many folks will interpret these headlines.  For many- particularly those who don’t live on the South Side- this study will only reinforce the perception of these neighborhoods.  Of course, this isn’t just a matter of geography; because much of the South Side is predominantly African American, these types of studies reinforce racial stereotypes and fears among those unfamiliar with this area of the city.

Maggie and I are considering moving to Bronzeville or one of the surrounding neighborhoods and are beginning to encounter these types of stereotypes and fears.  The primary question I’ve been asked by white folks, often in a lowered voice, is, “Will you be safe?”  Because this question has been asked by those with only a rudimentary knowledge of the South Side, it has become clear that the question of safety is tied up with less noble concerns.

This study reminds that ongoing prejudices and gross generalizations are not limited to individuals.  While most news outlets were happy to simply report the dramatic statistics of the study (”1 in 4 chances of becoming a victim of a crime!”), only a few actually looked into the its origins.  After visiting the Bronzeville neighborhood in question, CBS 2 found that, “There’s not a lot standing at the center of the area deemed the second most dangerous neighborhood in the U.S. The area is only four blocks long by four blocks wide. CBS 2 counted four small apartment buildings in that region, and less than a dozen homes that were occupied.”  Some additional research revealed even more.

CBS 2 did a little homework of our own on the company that came up with the list of the most dangerous neighborhoods. It seems to be a real estate company that sells information about crime in neighborhoods around the country… For example, when we tried get the breakdown of the crime stats in Bronzeville we were directed to a Web site that asked for $29.99 for a one-month subscription.

Why is it that so few news outlets were willing to do this type of research?  Could it be that, like the individuals who’ve wondered about our decision to move to the South Side, existing biases are only confirmed by these types of dramatic headlines?  If the study had reported that one of Chicago’s mostly white, affluent suburbs had made the list of most dangerous neighborhoods, it seems likely the claim would have been examined much more carefully.  Instead, because many simply assume the South Side is dangerous, the dubious research was taken at face value and only furthered destructive and racist stereotypes.

I mentioned that there are at least two ways folks will interpret this study.  While some simply accept the headlines as reality, others will be saddened that once again their neighborhoods have been so quickly written off.   A friend who worked for a local network news affiliate once told me how difficult it was to watch the producers make quick decisions about what news to air, decisions that uncritically furthered negative assumptions about her native South Side.  The realities of prejudice and racism manifest themselves in both hushed questions by concerned friends and attention-grabbing headlines by supposed experts.

There are a handful of questions this episode has raised for me, but the simplest is this: How does a follower of Jesus respond?  Assuming we cannot be content with the status quo, what means of protest and engagement are appropriate for those convinced of the reconciling nature of the Gospel?

happy saturday: farmers markets

A month ago I mentioned a few reasons we enjoy shopping at our local farmers markets.  This morning Eliot and I went searching for cherries at the Green City Market.

church planting in bronzeville

It looks like church planting will be a major theme for me this year.  We are continuing to move forward with plans to plant New Community Bronzeville sometime- God willing- in early 2010.  Because some of us who are involved with this new church are not currently residents of Bronzeville, I asked some neighborhood experts to talk about the things they appreciate about their neighborhoods history, culture, and residents.  (Not sure why the video is so small; sorry about that.)

more about “Bronzeville Video •  Bronzeville Chur…“, posted with vodpod

We had another great event a few weeks ago to let folks know about this new church.  Karlos and Michelle (seen in the video) hosted the first event and this one was held at Bronzeville Coffee and Tea Inc.  Not only is this a great coffee shop in Bronzeville (good coffee, comfortable space with original artwork, and free wifi), they were wonderful hosts for the more than 50 folks who showed up for this event.  Those of you on the South Side need to check this place out.

If you are local and interested in this new church, please let me know.  Talking about New Community Bronzeville is one of my current favorite things to do.

the next evangelicalism

I’d wager that a lot of folks within the Evangelical world have picked up a copy of The Next Evangelicalism by Soong-Chan Rah.  We are a people, after all, who are interested in the latest trends and methods .  Authors who claim to know what’s around the cultural corner are attractive within a movement that often feels one step behind The Next Big Thing.

Readers hoping for this type of how-to insight from Professor Rah would do well to take seriously the book’s subtitle: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity. Even more telling is how the author qualifies “Western captivity” with “Western, white captivity.”  It turns out that welcoming the next Evangelicalism often means rejecting and repenting of certain aspects of the current Evangelicalism and Professor Rah isn’t shy in pointing out the specifics of white culture that need to go.  Of the many who first pick up the book, how many will actually finish?

The Next Evangelicalism is divided into three parts.  Part I describes the Western white captivity of the church (individualistic, materialistic, and racist), Part II examines how widespread Soong-Chan Rah believes Western white influence to be, and Part III explores the way forward.  Rah’s critique of the American church can be scathing, and some will be turned off by his view of the Evangelical movement.  (A quick scan of the blogosphere turns up reviewers who seem disappointed that Professor Rah didn’t write about more of the positive contributions of evangelicals.)  Whatever one’s emotional response to the book’s content, there are at least two very good reasons this book deserves a wide audience.

First, the indictment leveled at the American church by Professor Rah is profoundly theological and must be taken very seriously.

When one culture is elevated above another, we are stating that one culture and the individuals in that culture are made more in the image of God that others… [We] fail to fulfill our human capacity to create culture reflecting the image of God by elevating one culture over another.  Do we not have a responsibility to our cultural mandate of putting forth the uniqueness of every culture and contributing to the global expression of Christianity? (134)

In other words, when the Evangelical movement is defined by the dominant characteristics of just the majority white culture, than it has ceased to be a movement that reflects the image of God.  If this is true, than we must swallow hard and look carefully at any aspect of our church structures, methods, or leaderships that has succumbed to individualism, materialism, or racism.

Secondly, while many are lamenting the decline of American Christianity, Soong-Chan Rah sees a different development.  Along with scholars like Lamin Sanneh and Philip Jenkins, Rah sees a global church that is growing- including within the USA.  Because the growth is not generally white, mainstream Evangelicalism has either completely overlooked it or seen these vibrant immigrant and minority churches as exceptions rather than the rule.  Reflecting America’s ongoing demographic shifts, these churches can no longer be ignored or patronized.  The Next Evangelicalism strongly suggests that the future American church will be formatively influenced- as it should be- but these overlooked congregations.  How quickly will the current Evangelical movement acknowledge this changing landscape and make the deep-seated changes necessary to more accurately reflect God’s image and coming Kingdom?

In the book’s final section the author suggests what some of these changes ought to be.  I’ll not summarize them here; Professor Rah’s proposals are best heard after grappling with the difficult implications of the first six chapters.  Whether or not the reader agrees with all of Rah’s analysis and suggestions, hopefully the time of ignoring his basic premises has past.  While we may welcome the growth and vibrancy of the changing American church, we must be willing to look closely at the shortcomings within Evangelicalism these changes have exposed.  The Next Evangelicalism is a very helpful starting point, providing a view of both the struggle and hope that is just around the corner.

out of ur: gran torino

Here is this month’s Out of Ur column.

Clint Eastwood taught me something the other day. The veteran actor and director’s latest film sheds light on the tendency by many of us to seek the cultural values of homogeneity, stability, and comfort rather than finding God in the midst of our confusing, painful, and volatile circumstances. In Gran Torino the 79-year-old actor and director plays a newly widowed retiree. A veteran of the Korean War, Walt Kowalski has spent his life in the same Michigan town, raising a family and working for the Ford plant. Surveying the neighborhood from his front porch, it’s clear that much in Kowalski’s life has changed. His neighbors are recent Hmong immigrants, people whose language and customs incur Kowalski’s derision. Crime has become commonplace and rival gangs cruise the streets staring menacingly at Walt who, while drinking beers from his front porch, is all too happy to glare right back. The neighborhood is not what it used to be and the old man’s sons repeatedly try to convince their father to leave it behind and join them in the suburbs.

Gran Torino is set in Highland Park, just outside of Detroit, but the dynamics of evolving neighborhoods can be found around the country. As new immigrants move in, previous residents find comfort outside the city limits. Those of the majority culture are made nervous by the arrival of ethnic minorities and eventually move to neighborhoods and suburbs that reflect their culture and skin color. Walt Kowalski is the anomaly; his obstinate decision to remain in the old neighborhood utterly confuses his comfortably suburban family. The world has changed too quickly for Kowalski leaving him bitter, racist, and cynical.

Eastwood’s character is no role model, but his story represents the demographic and cultural shifts that characterize America’s cities. One of the most significant such changes in my city of Chicago took place in the early 20th century. The period of time when African Americans moved to northern cities, hoping to leave Jim Crow behind, became known as the Great Migration. This development precipitated another vast people movement: white folks who left their urban neighborhoods and newly arrived neighbors for the suburbs. Like Walt Kowalski, many urban churches found themselves in unfamiliar territory as everything around them drastically changed.

It has been many years since the Great Migration and subsequent white flight, but the ghosts of this era can be seen in shuttered cathedrals and abandoned chapels throughout the city. At one time these buildings were lively gathering places for the neighborhood faithful but their decline became inevitable when these churches no longer related to their neighbors. Some congregations decided that survival meant moving the entire operation to the suburbs where their people now resided. Capitalizing on the powerful desire for homogeneity, many of these churches thrived in suburbia with no shortage of land, modern facilities, and plenty of parking for their mobile congregations.

And what of those congregations who stayed, those who expected mission and ministry to continue despite unpredictable and difficult conditions? Last fall I attended a friend’s ordination service at a Baptist church on Chicago’s South Side. As the only white person at the service, I wondered about the church’s history. Afterwards, during the requisite basement potluck, an older woman proudly told me, “We were the first black family to attend this church.” She went on to describe how the demographic changes in the church mirrored what happened in the neighborhood: from all white, to integrated, to its current predominately-black status.

Over dinner this woman talked at length about her church, but nothing seemed as significant as the white pastor who first welcomed her family into the congregation. As the neighborhood changed many of the established members challenged the pastor to move the church to the suburbs. After all, many had already moved and now had to drive into the city for Sunday services. “But he wouldn’t do it,” this woman fondly recalled. She went on to describe how, upon his retirement, the pastor turned over the pulpit to a black minister from the neighborhood.

Admittedly, this church isn’t much to look at. Its building and programs pale when compared to its suburban kin. The pastor’s decision could not have been easy as he watched other churches move to greener pastures, their members and budgets increasing as a result. And yet, because of his refusal to move, today a faithful and vibrant community of Christians exists in that neighborhood.

A powerful and redemptive life change awaits Walt Kowalski at the end of Grand Torino. His bitterness and racism are subverted by the kindness and affection of the neighbors he once distrusted. While his suburban family enjoys their life of relative comfort and stability, Kowalski’s existence is transformed in part because those very things have been taken from him. His redemption is found in the distress and pain that comes from staying put. Surely this is the untold story of many faithful congregations around the country who, despite unpredictable and difficult changes, have ignored the siren calls of stability and measurable growth.

A congregation’s decision to remain loyal to its neighborhood despite social upheaval is not limited to urban churches of a bygone era. Sociologists continue to point out the increasingly large movements of people from city to suburb and vice versa. As the cost of living skyrockets in many cities, suburban churches are faced with neighborhoods made up of new ethnic and class diversity. Additionally, the landscape of suburbia has changed—land is no longer plentiful or cheap—and the greener pastures are now to be found even further from the city.

The temptation to leave the old neighborhood is powerful when we mistake Kingdom values with the cultural standards of homogeneity, comfort, and stability. But surely the Body of Christ is to be known for its more satisfying fruit. Our decision to stay—to seek the will of God despite the confusion and anxiety that comes with significant change—is witness to our radically alternative life in Christ. As we reject consumer comfort and choose to love our neighbors—new and old, well known and unfamiliar—we demonstrate the scope of the Gospel for all people. And like Walt Kowalski, our decision to stubbornly and faithfully remain could result in the redeeming work of God, in our neighborhoods and our lives.

your summer fiction recommendations

As is often the case, sometimes the best of this blog gets buried in the comments.  Last week I asked for your suggestions for a good summer novel.  I’ve done my best to grab all the suggestions that fit the fiction criteria and list them here.  I will bring at least one of these with me to our family reunion in California in July.  But which one?

Aubrey-Maturin series of novels, Patrick Obrian.
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Dark Tower series of novels, Stephen King.
Discworld novels, Terry Pratchett.
The Far Pavilions, M M Kaye.
Foundation, Isaac Asimov.
Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset.
And Ladies of the Club, Helen Hoov Santmyer.
Little Bee, Chris Cleave.
Neuromancer, William Gibson.
Peace Like a River, Leif Enger.
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens.
Till We Have Faces, C S Lewis.

Are there any additional summer novels you’d add to the list?

Finally, I’m not sure what this list of books says about this blog’s readers, but it must be good!  Thanks for your recommendations.

what is it that you do?

I’ve mentioned before the unpredictable nature of being a pastor.  Answering the “What do you do?” question is never easy.  Here’s what is on tap today:

• Staff breakfast at Meli Cafe.  Because each of us works different hours- some from the office, some not- our monthly breakfast is a great chance to catch up on the non-time sensitive aspects of life and ministry.  Angela is the designated breakfast guru and always finds great places for us to try.
• Between meetings today I have a few projects to work on, none of which will be finished today.
  • I’m preaching on Sunday from Acts 12:1-25.  During the summer our church has just one service (at 10:00 if you want to visit), so the sermon will be preached just once.
  • Our membership class is on Saturday and there is some prep that needs to happen.
  • There are a handful of things that should happen this week for the Bronzeville church plant, including following-up with the 54 folks from our recent social at Bronzeville Coffee and Tea Inc.
  • Our church is hosting a conference with Skye Jethani (author of The Divine Commodity) on July 17, 18, and 19.  I’m working with some folks this week to finish up the promotional materials so we can invite people from other Chicago churches to join us.
• This afternoon I have a lunch meeting with a pastor of a multi-ethnic church in Chicago.  No real agenda, just a chance to get to know him and hear about his experience.
• Tonight is the last meeting of the leadership development small group I’ve been leading for the past 9 months.  We’re going to spend some time praying for each other.

That’s my day.  I hope you also have an interesting day to look forward to.

10 years ago, today…

Thanks to those who celebrated our marriage with us on that Saturday in Montreat, NC on June 5, 1999.

Thanks to those who have encouraged and supported Maggie and me in our marriage over the past 10 years.

And thanks to my bride and best friend.  My gratitude to you is best expressed in person.

glacier or volcanic spring-fed water?

Thanks to those who suggested books for this summer’s fiction reading.  This morning I learned about a book that hasn’t been suggested, though I suppose it doesn’t fit the fiction criteria. Fine Waters: A Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Most Distinctive Bottled Water is a guide to the world’s most interesting, and exclusive, bottled waters.  The book, according to the publisher, “introduces readers to the epicurean delights of water, sharing the ins and outs of the characteristics that provide various waters with their unique flavors.”

Blogger Jason Kottke pointed out Fine Waters along with a post at BLDG BLOG about the growing interest in fine waters.  Some examples of these waters include,

Danish Iskilde’s “flinty, crisp style” apparently derives from the Jutland aquifer’s complicated geology, consisting of interlaced deposits of quartz sand, clay, gravel, and soil. The most expensive (and possibly the most exciting) water on the menu is 420 Volcanic from New Zealand. Sourced from the Tai Tapu spring, which bubbles up through more then 650 feet of rock at the bottom of an extinct volcano, it is apparently “extremely spritzy on the palate with a tangy mineral finish.”

From what I understand, about 20% of the world’s population does not have access to clean water for drinking or bathing.  That’s about 1 billion people who- I have to imagine- would find the idea of a guide to distinctive bottled water utterly incomprehensible.  How do the rest of us, the other 80% of the world’s population, respond to increasingly expensive bottled waters?  Does it matter that some of us can afford to develop a palette that distinguishes glacier water from volcanic spring water while 1 billion people would be happy with the water from our kitchen sinks?

On the other hand, the differences between those without clean water and the fine waters folks is probably only one example of the way we can become numb to the massive disparities in our world.  Is the nice restaurant dinner I am about to enjoy any different from a bottle of MaHaLo Deep Sea water?

Can a line be drawn between appropriate enjoyment and extravagant injustice?