Inveterate Lovers

Not a new idea for me, but speaking about community has been resurging in my life over the last few days. I had a couple friends talk to me about their struggles, and they all boiled down to their attempts and failures at doing life by themselves. There are inherent weaknesses in our being that are only enflamed when we face them alone, and it has been my privelege to play a part in leading these people out of the place of solitude, and into a place of togetherness (thank you Joel Mason).

We are inveterate lovers, created by Love (the noun) in order to be bearers of the image of Love, and to love each other (the verb). When we try to do this by ourselves it falls flat. Love must go out, which could explain why we exist in the first place.

I moved back to Toronto a few months back when God showed me an image in my imagination of a central intersection of this city, crowded with people wearing dark sunglasses and speaking into cell-phones. I immediately took this to mean that the people were not interacting, trying not to be seen by each other, and not talking to each other, choosing instead to talk to someone farther away.

Recently God brought this picture back to me, only this time the people took off their sunglasses, and put down their cell-phones. Suddenly I became aware of a deeper truth in this, that the people wore their sunglasses to sheild themselves from letting God's light in, and spoke into cell-phones to avoid letting God's Spirit speak to them. Obviously a bit more metaphorical than I had first believed.

But again, in this second picture, months later than the first, the people were removing their glasses and cell-phones. I believe that the city is ripe, and that the people of Toronto are about to come into contact with the Love of their lives en masse. I don't know how it's going to happen, but it will be like the signal to the phones, the thing that was distracting them, hiding them, will become weaker. No longer will the technology and communications, and media, and lies, and crap be able to hold us in a stupor. And the sun will rise again in this city, and instead of the typical reaction of putting on sunglasses and sheilding ourselves, the people will marvel at this sunrise, and long to see it for what it truly is, and will remove the blinders that have covered there eyes.

I'll let you know how this plays out over the next few months (heck, years. I don't know).

God, I am so thankful that you created us, that you love us. Thank you that I bear your image. I will carry that image out into my city.

Peace.

Help the poor, even those who are unworthy...

“He who has God and everything else, has no more than he who has God alone.”


I was reading a letter from Martin Luther to John of Saxony (I always feel a little bit guilty reading other people's mail). What I found was very interesting. Luther said that John should help the poor, even those who are unworthy. I don't know what point John had raised, that this is seemingly written to answer, but the response is interesting.

Perhaps it is only interesting because this same point has been raised recently in discussions with my friends Linda and Bethany. They both love the poor people in Toronto, and in conversation we discussed the issue of giving money directly to the poor people that we meet. One person mentioned that some of the time they seek the immediate comfort of drugs or alcohol, and to give them money could mean that you are just giving them the means to buy some dope.

I am alright with this. Kindness does not go unrewarded, advocating for the poor is always a good investment, and in my opinion, giving a bottle of booze to a homeless person is a mode of kindness. Proverbs 31:6-9 seems to agree with this, saying:

Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more. Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute, speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

My friend Dan puts it this way(ish) saying that our first responsibility as followers of Christ is to give a man a fish. Next we must teach him how to fish, and finally, we must defend his right to fish.

I'm not sure what type of action this will mean for me, but I am glad that these thoughts keep returning to me. It would be antithetical to my faith to forget the needy, so I thank you God for your reminders.

Meetings....

Meetings...

I love meetings.

Meetings are good.