The 2010 Census Effect on Me

The last time I wrote I seriously thought that this blog and my time in The Bronx might be ending soon. My time here is not quite over though ... although March and almost all of April are! These months were spent getting to know the Bronx neighbors that I worked with and some communities within the borough. My job sent me all over the place doing numerous various assignments. Yesterday was however my last day as a Partnership Assistant with the 2010 Census; I will be transitioning into a new job as an enumerator on Tuesday. Aside from the connections made through the census, connections with my roommates have grown a little. I noticed it after I returned from a 15-day vacation/retreat with family and friends in the South from mid to late March. I am glad for the small changes and slightly increased interaction with them; I believe it to be the result of many people’s prayers for my relationship with my roommates.

Truth from Velvet Elvis

Rob Bell wrote a book called Velvet Elvis. I read the following in it today which expresses what I dream of for myself and the community I love and live in, The Bronx.

We reclaim the church as a blessing machine not only because that is what Jesus intended from the beginning but also because serving people is the only way their perceptions of church are ever going to change. This is why it is so toxic for the gospel when Christians picket and boycott and complain about how bad the world is. This behavior doesn't help. It makes it worse.

It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display. To do this, the church must stop thinking about everybody primarily in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or nonbeliever. Besides the fact that these terms are offensive to those who are the "un" and "non", they work against Jesus' teachings about how we are to treat each other. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor, and our neighbor can be anybody. We are all created in the image of God, and we are all sacred, valuable creations of God. Everybody matters. To treat people differently based on who believes what is to fail to respect the image of God in everyone. ... We have to rediscover love, period. Love that loves because it is what Jesus teaches us to do. We have to surrender our agendas.