Angry!

Hey all.

I am writing to let you know that some flexibility will be required at lunch this coming Sunday. The city in all its selfish and earthly "wisdom" has decided to re-form the park on the corner of 14th & Douglas. They are removing all of the trees on that corner along with all the walls so that they can create a gently sloping grassy area on which people who work downtown can feel free to dine "al fresco" (quoted from article in OWH) on their lunch hour. I'm sure there won't be benches or picnic tables (that would provide a place for homeless people to sit) so they will have to pay extra on their cleaning bills to get the grass stains out of their business suits! Do I sound angry?? I am so disgusted!

The city cited a public health issue with the amount of Starlings and the poop they create. Hmmm.....some brushes and buckets would be a lot cheaper than $11 million to remove the trees and walls and much friendlier to the environment. Maybe some of our guys would even be willing to help? And what do the walls have to do with the birds anyways???

See, the real issue is that the trees provide shelter for many of our city's homeless people. Get rid of the trees that shelter from the hot sun and the walls they sit on and they will go away! They removed the benches a year ago and the people started sitting on the walls. Next step, take out the walls. Will it stop homelessness? Nope, but it will move the "undesireables" out of the public view so that people don't have to be confronted with poverty and they can enjoy their lunches in peace.

The city is paying (along with local businesses) for a new day shelter. It sounds like the city is doing an amazing thing but have they ever spent the day in a day shelter?? Out of sight out of mind is what they're truly counting on.

It makes me ill but you know what? God is still in charge and He is still God. The people who are doing this will be held to account one day and God will provide a place for us to continue meeting and for the people to go. And, with our current financial situation in this country I wonder the possibility that we could all be needing shelter some day.... Just a thought....

So, we'll have to move our place to serve this week. I'm sure we will stay on the west end of that block either in the space directly in front of the library or on the south corner of the block. We'll try to be there a bit early so you won't have to guess where to go.

Thank you all for all you do!

Robin

A little something I picked up along the way...

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
It is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish, in our lifetime, only a tiny fraction
Of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
That the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water the seeds already planted
Knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord’s Grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results but that is the difference
Between the Master Builder and the worker.

We are workers not master builders; ministers not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.