August 5, 2009

What ODE is...


“He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners.” We are his hands and feet to the forgotten.
Welcome. Welcome to something that’s currently an idea. But it’s a big one. The idea in general has been a part of the world and Christianity for around two thousand years, and longer. But the idea itself, taking the specific form of Ode to the Poor the Lame and the Blind is just arising. Just formulating. Still shaping. And we invite you to be a part of it. Define it. Feel it. Verbalize it. It’s got to be bigger than you. And bigger than me. Its poverty and its all around us.
But what are you and I going to do about it? You tell me. Write it down. Take a picture of it. You’ll see.

There are millions of brothers and sisters all over the world. Hurting. Needing care. Needing the overflow of the love that He’s given us. And it’s our job to give it. Yes- I’m guilty of it too. Of sitting at the kitchen table wondering what I can do. I just did that this afternoon. But here we are. I realize now as millions of others have in the past- that the poor, the lame, and the blind of this world are crying out from the ground. Their blood is in our hands. The poor, the lame, and the blind. They may be across the world from you, in your backyard, or even in the room next to the one you’re in right now. What are we going to do about it? How will we respond to this magnificent command from Matthew 26 that’s been given to us for thousands of years, yet is daily being redefined and lived out? Well. In the broad scheme of things- for the rest of our lives- we can be living sacrifices. Humbly washing the feet of our brothers and sisters in humanity.
At the same time, you can help us write a book. An ode of sorts.  But it’s more than a book. It’s an upheaval of all that tells us that the poor will stay poor, that the blind deserve their blindness, or that the lame will never again be able to walk.

Lord. We pray that you give us the strength to be weak. Help me and help us to give ourselves up for your cause. Help me to come to you, so that I may go to them with a truly pure heart and be your hands and feet. At all costs. Lord help us to give freedom to the captives, hope to the prisoners, good news to the poor. A light in the darkness of this world. Ode to the forgotten.

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