Eastside

Tonight I went to Grandview Calvary Baptist Church (GCBC) on 1st Ave, almost Commercial, to help out with Out of the Cold. It's the 2nd time I've gone. The first time I went was about 3 months ago.

I was really blessed by the evening. Fifteen of us, from various churches, prepared a meal for approximately 100 homeless people from the eastside of the city. GCBC does it year-round, every Thursday night. The last Thursday of each month our church sends a team to help out.

The evening progresses as follows:
1pm - Head cook goes grocery shopping.
4-6:30pm - Assistant cooks & setup crew arrive: meal is cooked, tables are set.
6:30-7pm - People start lining up outside the church.
7-8pm - Dinner is served.
8-10pm - Clean-up crew arrives: wash dishes, clean up.

Four things struck me as I observed (while working of course...) the environment around me:

1 - "Why do we call the poor 'downtrodden'?" Because they look it! They look, act, and smell like someone's been stepping on them. I'm not talking about someone stepping on their toe and then saying "Ooops, sorry," but more like someone continuously stepping on their head while saying "How does that feel, loser?"

2 - "If Jesus visited Vancouver today, where would he visit first?" I can't help but think that he'd avoid Stanly Park, Granville Island, Yaletown, or Pacific Centre. In these places people are much too settled, too comfortable, too cool. Jesus would make these people feel way too uncomfortable. Instead, he'd go to the east end. There, the locals would welcome him with open arms. They'd treat him as one of their own. Why? Because he'd treat them as one of his own.

3 - "Where does the gospel fit in here?" The gospel fits here like a glove. It has to. Otherwise it's not the gospel. Otherwise it's not the good news. Jesus said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." (Luke 4:18-19).

4 - "Where is God calling me to minister?" Part of me wants to say 'Help the poor, help the poor', but I'm not sure it's genuine. It probably has more to do with self-righteousness than with genuine care. It's hard to care for someone who stinks, has dirty fingernails and leather-like skin, is missing most teeth, and walks funny.

Lord, forgive my shallow, self-centred self-righteousness.

You've welcomed me as your own.

Enable me to welcome others as your own also.