God's Restoration Work

Every Saturday (for the last 6 years or so) our church has hosted a short, simple worship service and served a free breakfast to the community. This service, which initially began as an act of mercy and compassion to one homeless man, has literally been the engine of our church. It kept the church alive when it was close to closing its doors (in 2007), it helped ignite the relaunch (in 2008-2009), and it continues to be our "first point of contact" with many of our brothers and sisters who are now active in our church. (I love that care and concern for the under-resourced has been and continues to be a part of the DNA of our church.)

In the last year I have built relationships with men in their 40s, 50s, & 60s who live on the street. Each of them have a unique story. Each of them have infinite worth in the eyes of God even though society might think otherwise. My ongoing relationship with these men reminded me of a short chapter in Bob Lupton's book "Theirs Is The Kingdom" entitled 'The Image of God.' You can read it below:

Behold an infant. A normal man-child in most respects. A kind-natured child. A child with promise and potential. Watch him as he enters a rancid, smoke-filled world that resounds with the shouts and crashes of parents in conflict. Listen to him as he begins to compete for affection and food, and find both forms of nourishment in short supply. His cries and soon his words become demanding. He pushes and grasps for strong boundaries that will assure him he is safe and loved, but finds only weak indulgence. No clear limits. No consistent discipline. Just impulsive beatings and permissive disinterest from parents preoccupied with their own survival. He begins to question his own worth. School confirms his suspicions. He drops out. He roams the streets at will, disguising his own fear as nonchalance.

Behold, a young man. A kind-natured, strong, undisciplined young man. Watch him as he falls in love, marries, and starts a family of his own. See his dreams begin to crumble as he loses one job, then another. He is evicted from a string of dingy apartments. His neighbors and "friends" spread rumors of child abuse and deprivation. The county takes four of his children. His wife loses respect for him. He is falsely accused of beastiality, arrested, and throw in jail. Watch now as inmates and officials violate him. Watch as the last glimpse of dignity is choked out.

Behold a man. A broken man, scarcely forty. Parents dead. Rejected by his family. He walks the streets alone, head bent, shoulders stooped, hair matted, teeth rotting, drool running down his unshaven chin. A kind-natured man now babbling foolishly a salad of loosely connected thoughts and phrases.

"Worthless, but good hearted," people say. Except when the volcano of hurt inside him erupts in rage. Then his eyes become wild. He claws and bats at his wife and remaining children. In time the wildness and heavy breathing subside, and he returns to his subhuman existence. He is prideless, worth less to his wife and children than the social worker that issues their food stamps.

Watch now as a miracle unfolds. A metamorphosis! The wind of the Spirit of God blows through and about Lester's life. A man made in the image of God and reduced to nearly animal form is slowly being restored. God begins to convince Lester that he has worth, that he is loved.

The message comes from many sources. A family who invites Lester and his family for a picnic. A business man who continues to hire, fire, and rehire Lester on a job, insisting on a standard of responsible work yet holding on to Lester with firm love. People who notice and praise Lester when he is bathed, shaved, or wearing clean clothes. A person who accepts a gift from Lester without chiding him for "taking food out of his children's mouths." A minister who prays with Lester. A counselor who intervenes to cool flaring family tempers and help Lester expose his festering hurt and anger to the sunlight of God's acceptance. The people of God, the Church, become actors in the unfolding drama of re-creation while the wind of the Spirit breaths in new life.

What potential is confined within the unattractive shell we know as Lester? Who knows save the Creator himself? But of this we are certain: when Lester prays or weeps with joy, when he caresses his baby boy, we see the image of God.

I see God slowly at work in some "Lester's" here. I pray that we as a church continue to rally around men like him with extended family, unconditional love, prayer support, true friendship, encouragement, job & employment networks, advocacy, Biblical truth & encouragement, family assistance, etc (Gospel in word & deed). I just know that God loves "Lester's."