how should the conversation go?

Life is crazy these days. When I'm not at the trailer, I'm buried for hours and hours in books, attempting to summit the mountain of homework that I have in front of me. It's tough to find time to write, but we have not disappeared!

The biggest thought ever since I returned from Seattle, where I had great conversations with a fellow lover of social justice, is this: How do we talk about ministry to the poor? As in, what vocabulary do we use? What angle do we take? What are we communicating about who we are, who they are...and how the I and They should really be one big We? How do we talk about this thing while always conveying a common dignity?

Talking about "ministry" to the poor is problematic in itself. Often, our definition of ministry clings to some sense of the us-and-them, elevating what I have to offer above what they have. Sadly, it is generally more comfortable for us middle-classers that way. Still, it is true that ministry in its best sense is what we hope for. We hope to be a living example of Christ and to effect change. How do we talk about that?

Perhaps the vocabulary should be more practical and relational. Kim and I recently talked about how we are beginning to cringe when we hear others elevate our current situation to some super-holy act. This life has its challenges, yes. But it is simply life. We love our neighbors. We live with them. They "minister" to us in many ways of their own. Just a few nights ago, I overheard Kim telling a friend that it is just so natural now that we're where we are. We feel as if we are living not in some strange way, but in the way that God had hoped we all would live. In community. In solidarity with those he loves. "Ministry" to the poor becomes sharing life with a people God created and loves.

I am in the middle of a term paper, and my thoughts are scattered. Still, these things linger in my mind. The issue is a complex one in the end. It begins with this: What is this life I live, and how do I talk about it? How do we talk about it? May we learn to do it well.