Staring the Poor and Jesus in the Face @ VCU

One of my favorite parts about going to VCU is living downtown in an urban environment. I absolutely love the city, Richmond especially, but any city for that matter. Yeah, stars are beautiful. No stars is the major downfall of city living, but the greater person per square mile number and ease of transportation totally makes up for it in my opinion. As i venture and prepare for hopefully a lifetime of ministry, i know/hope that my heart's desire is to do inner city urban ministry.

So as i'm walking from my dorm to my first class this semester, i'm crossing the street and see a familiar site in downtown VCU, a beggar. Once i saw him i said to myself: "oh boy, welcome back on-campus Jamal. You don't have any cash to spare this guy, so just avoid eye contact at all cost and keep walking.". I peaked ahead real quick to read his sign, which said "Hitting hard times, God is good, anything helps". When i actually crossed his path, i did exactly what i said i'd do and passed him with ease.

I'm doing this new thing, where every morning (and all throughout the day) i pray for God to help me love him more. And as i walked by the beggar, it hit me. Wait a second, i'm praying to love God more, right? God thoroughly loves the poor, so in turn that means i should love the poor as well, is how i acted towards that beggar how you treat people you love? Obviously not.

I hear so many people talking about how their either scared of the homeless downtown, or they don't wanna have anything to do with them. I once had a mom (from church mind you) tell me how she didn't want her child going to VCU because she was scared of the poor people and homeless that can walk through campus and endanger her kid (yes, that's a fear, but really?!?!). When i think of that perspective on the poor (or periods when i have it myself), it reminds me of these verses Jesus spoke from the Bible:

"Then these righteous ones will reply, "Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? when did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will say "I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!"

-Matthew 25:34-36

So me ignoring that man down on his luck at the corner of Cary and Belvidere (according to Jesus) is like ignoring Jesus Christ himself...wow, i'm a jerk. So to me, that verse means that when we see the poor, or the homeless, if we love Jesus, then we should be compelled to bring some love into their lives. I understand if it's 11 at night, you're a freshmen girl walking home from a friends dorm alone, and you see a homeless man sleeping maybe you don't necessarily want to engage him fully, i get that. But in appropriate situations, we can show love in many varying ways. If you have money to give, then give it, it's not really yours anyway, it's God's (sooo hard for me to remember, btw). If you'd rather not give money, then how about buying them some food from the nearby 7-eleven, or using your dining dollars to get them some Chick-fil-a. If you're feeling so bold get a group of friends to sit down with the man and listen to their story. If you're in a rush, then at the least give them a smile, a wave, and a word of encouragement. Anything to acknowledge them and show love.

This is something that's becoming more and more a desire for me, the more and more i ask God to help me love him more. It's hard to live out, but God will definitely help us do so. Jesus is always with the less thans, the have nots, the outcasts. And if we wanna be where Jesus is, then we should be there too. Right?

~Jamal

Rethinking the Golden Rule

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
-Matthew 7:12

Aka the Golden Rule. I've always known this principle to be in the Bible, but i've most often refered to it as a societal principle. So ever since first hearing this as a young child in Sunday school class, i've resorted to it in times of uncertainty. I would say to myself:"when in doubt, think of the thing i would want somebody to do to me in this situation, and do it to them. it can't fail right?" Depending upon who you are, you've either nodded you're head at the computer in agreement or you've laughed out loud at my niavety. I would lump this principle from Jesus as a piece of traditional wisdom (similar to the principles given to us in the book of Proverbs). In a near perfect world, the Golden Rule would work 100% percent of the time; but in our fallen and sinful world, sometimes the Golden Rule doesn't easily apply.

Implimenting the Golden Rule in daily life comes with many assumptions of the person applying it and the person it's being used to deal with, mostly character traits. For example, what if you are a very blunt person, therefore desiring that those around you are brutally honest all the time. What if that person decided to apply the Golden Rule to another brotha or sistah in the faith who doesn't share that same character trait? Well, trust me, i've seen it happen before (aka, i've done it before, haha). And the scene of a well intentioned friend speaking strong words of truth in love to a more fragile homie can end up being a waterworks show filled with crushed feelings. Mix and match the different character traits, and even contexts of each conversation, and you'll probably find many situations where the Golden Rule falls short in it's real world application.

This phenomena mimics the psychological theory of enacted vs percieved support. Enacted support is the giver's perspective of helping out a friend, while percieved support is the reciever's perspective of that help. Psychologists have determined that percieved support is EVERYTHING! It doesn't matter how nice, or good, or honest, or helpful your words are gestures are, if the recipient percieves them as hurtful or dangerous, then you've officially wronged them. Another example maybe; you are cleaning up your dorm room, and while you're at it decide to clean up your roommates side as an act of kindness. But your roommate comes back and is extremely pissed that you moved their stuff around and they can't find anything they need. As you absorb their hysteria, you're wondering to yourself: "how could this be? if i were them, i would of loved the kind gesture from a friend." Enacted support vs. percieved support my brothas and sistahs

Wow, i've come to the end of my thoughts on this topic, and i really don't have much of a solution. Maybe it's the fact that it's 1:11am, or the fact that i feel as though i've written long enough. As people who love Jesus Christ and are praying for Him to begin to change our hearts to love the things He loves and desire the things He desires, how do we effectively avoid the pitfalls of poor human perception and nature to apply the Golden Rule properly in our daily lives? Anybody got any words of practical wisdom for me?

~Jamal