Where we've been

Hillcrest continues to be at work throughout community. The first picture is a group that helped clean the dining room at Children's Home Society last Wednesday night. The second picture is a group of Hillcresters who served pizza to the children and staff of Children's Home. Children's Home Society was our mission partner for January.

Also, check out here for a story KELO did on the Genesis Project that features Pastor Richie. Upcoming opportunities in February include preparing a meal for Cleveland's teachers as part of their parent- teacher conferences, serving supper at the Banquet, and packing backpacks for the Food Bank's backpack program.

The Psychology of a Pack Rat

This past Wednesday I had Wesley and Riley join a group as we cleaned out a room for an elderly woman as part of our Wednesday Night Service. When we arrived at the home, the group had been at it for a half hour or so and while their progress was commendable, it was obvious that our work with this woman's basement was going to take longer than one night (we're going back this Wednesday). Simply put, she had accumulated a lot of stuff. She had her own business for several years and so still had a lot of that stuff. She had several rooms, nooks, and crannies that were just full of stuff. One of the boys' jobs was to separate key rings from one another and she had what looked to be over a 100 key rings- wow!

Throughout the evening and over the course of the rest of the week, I found myself wondering how a person can accumulate that much stuff, what goes on in a person's mind and psyche to be able to accumulate that much, and that variety, of stuff. This past Saturday morning I came face to face with my answer. Trarina and I decided to do a little early spring cleaning and set our target on tackling Wesley and Riley's room. Riley, simply put, has the psychology of a pack rat. When we began to reorganize his room and deposit some of his things into a white garbage bag, Riley's anxiety rose to alarming levels. He soon saw us discovering his various hiding places for his various treasures and was having a difficult time understanding that he couldn't keep all of his treasures. When it was all said and done, we threw out a garbage bag full of trinkets and toys. We threw out McDonald's toys (do we really three lemurs that say "I like to move it move it" every time we walk by the room?), Burger King toys (again, same argument, just replace with Neopets), and many other pieces of fine plastic assembled somewhere in China. Towards the end of the morning, the boys were each allowed to pardon a few of the treasures that they wanted to save from the garbage bag, and they seemed happy with that (as well as with new instructions on where they can keep said treasures).

Jesus said that we either store up treasures on earth or treasures in heaven. Events like this past week are a good reminder for me as to where I need to be leaving my treasures, and how I can help others do the same.

Advocating for a sweatshop?

The other day I was with some people and we were discussing ethics and how the majority opinion isn't always the best barometer for whether an ethical position is 'right' or not. We can all think of certain situations, whether it was American slavery or the German Holocaust, where certain majorities were clearly in the wrong. During the discussion, someone mentioned 'child labor' as an instance where at one time a majority had thought that idea to be ok that now clearly was in the wrong. The discussion then spread into whether or not it was right for American or other multi-national companies to use child labor (or cheaper labor) in other parts of the world. Most of the folks in our discussion believed whole heartedly that such a practice was wrong, that if companies have to abide by child labor laws, minimum wages, and other restrictions here in the US that they ought to abide by those same principles even if another country's laws don't compel them to. Myself and another person tried to argue the opposite point, that perhaps child labor, or cheaper labor, while not good in the long run, may be ok or even good in the short run if a country's economy is going to develop. After the discussion, I came across this op ed piece from the NY Times that essentially argues that point (I actually found the article from Brian McLaren's blog).

The question for churches and Christ-followers who advocate for justice type issues is to realize that some of the answers to economic injustice aren't as easy or simplistic as exporting American-based labor laws and minimum wage laws. While there is some universality to values and codes of conduct regardless of where you live or where you do business, I think we forget that economies evolve. Christ-followers may need to advocate or even defend what the majority might consider unethical business practices and realize that while unfair to our eyes, a sweatshop is one rung up the ladder and one step away from a life of utter poverty. I don't think our advocacy ends there, but we might be challenged with the idea that it might begin there.

A Hopeful Future

During my ordiantion council a couple of years ago, I was asked what I believed to be true about the end times or the end of the world. After three yars at seminary and countless Bible studies, I provided the insightful and brilliant answer: I don't know. This caught some of my examiners off guard, but in Christendom, there are several theories as to how the world will end and I am not sure as to which one is 'more correct' than the other. It seems as though people have been expecting the world to end since the ministry of Jesus. When you couple this 'when is the world going to end' frenzy with a mindset (that some followers of Jesus can have) that life on earth is miserable and you can see why some in Christendom can take on an 'escapist' mentality.

I began to make my way through Philippians earlier this week and was struck by Paul’s tension with whether to go be with Christ, which he admits would be better, or to stay with the Philippians, which he admits is necessary. His single goal is to advance the gospel and even though he is in chains, he’s full of joy for the people he’s served. While he’s close to dying or knows that his life is coming to an end, his desire is to stay on earth in order to see the kingdom advanced.

I like this perspective. When we hear of everything negative going on in our world, the temptation is to long for a left behind type of sequence where God raptures out the faithful and we escape the earth’s last days. Paul certainly believes that life with Christ is something he’s looking forward to, but he also knows that his work here is not done and that vision keeps his drive alive. When I think of everything going on, I'm encouraged by some Hillcresters taking bold steps to advance the kingdom. I think of how one Hillcresters gave 13 under-resourced Cleveland kids haircuts this week. In all, the school has received 59 permission slips came back saying that thier kids needed haircuts! Just one woman volunteering her talent and meeting an amazing need. I also think of one Hillcrester took his mentoring of a Cleveland student to a new level, getting approved to be a Big Brother and now mentoring his student inside of and outside of school. The student is almost like another member of the family, which was so neat to hear about. Until the world comes to an end, we need to be about these things.

More school?

There are certain arenas that people seem to have an opinion on whether or not they are actually qualified to have an opinion. Things like the economy, government, sports, and even church fall into that category. For instance, you don't need to be an economist to have an opinion on the economy (while it certainly would help). You don't even need to have a job to be able to comment on how you feel about the current state of the economy (though that might help even more!). Public education falls into the category of getting to have an opinion even though you may not be qualified to have such an opinion. It is with that trepidation that I post these final thoughts on Outliers, the book I finished last week.

In short, Gladwell argues that for some students, they don't get enough access to school. Not access during the school day but access during the months of June, July, and August. He cites a study done by the City of Baltimore that gave its students a standardized test like most school districts. The district administered the test to its students twice a year: at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the school year. The district also divided its students into three groups: low income groups, middle income groups, and high income groups. When one studies the results of how the three groups did over the course of a school year, there was marked progress in each of the income groups. In fact, the low income students gained or progressed more than the high income students. This is essence testifies, that in Baltimore at least, public education works.

But a dramatic change happens when one compares the 4th grade’s September scores against the 3rd grade end of the year scores. Here, high income students score marked improvement while the low income student makes little marked progress. The hypothesis then isn’t that poor students aren’t as smart or as interested in learning, but that there isn’t enough access to learning for poorer students. During summer vacation, middle and high income families continue to surround their children with learning opportunities: reading books, summer book clubs, trips to the library, trips to art classes, etc. Poorer families either fail to take advantage of those opportunities or simply cannot because of financial limitations. Gladwell writes that “virtually all of the advantage that wealthy students have over poor students is the result of differences in the way privileged learn while they are not in school.” He continues: “an enormous amount of time is spent talking about reducing class size, rewriting curricula, buying every student a shiny new laptop, and increasing school funding, all of which assumes that something is fundamentally wrong with the jobs schools are doing. But what happens between September and June (is that) schools work. The only problem with the school, for the kids who aren’t achieving it, is that there isn’t enough of it."

Two thoughts: first, I love to read. I attribute that primarily to a mom and dad who also love to read. I grew up seeing them read, being encouraged to read, and even rewarded for reading during the educational lull of the summer months. It is no surprise that a love for reading has continued on to my adult life. The data from this one study (and I realize it is only one study) seem to confirm the idea that if parents or a home life value education, then that will carry over even when a child isn't at school.

Second, what role can (or ought) the church to play knowing these results? It may be far-fetched to envision a church petitioning for a longer school year, but at Hillcrest, we've had elementary teachers offer a 'free' week long 'kindercamp' in the summer for incoming first graders as a means of keeping some of those skills fresh before going back to school. We encourage our people to mentor a child or volunteer as a reading buddy so that under-resourced students are paired with an adult other than a parent or teacher who invests something in their education. While over the course of 13 years or so of formal education these are admittngly 'bit' roles, the church looks for ways to fill gaps and improve a child's quality of life. How else can we do that?