“Love Portland.”  It’s that catchy little phrase you hear around Imago…mysteriously showing up on t-shirts, bumper-stickers, and events.  Some people think it means cleaning up schools, while others just think it’s a nice idea they’ve seen floating around.

When the words “Love Portland” gets stamped on an event, does that signify one more sweet volunteer opportunity, a chance to be as involved in the community as the rest of your neighbors?  Why would we show up around the city, randomly doing good deeds?

Saturday mornings throughout this summer and the rest of the year, we approach this idea of loving Portland by collectively showing up to join Christ, as He loves Portland. More than just serving schools, we have many different projects to connect ourselves to this city that God loves.

On June 4^th, we’ll be loving on those who are often Invisible when we pass them on the street…Invisible because we don’t notice them, or because they are shut away, behind closed doors.  You’ll have a choice between projects with homeless youth, preparing a meal for people who are hungry, working with the elderly, or working with your hands.  All tangible ways of experiencing Christ’s love in, for, and through us.

The goal, the reason that we participate in each of these events is to draw each of us deeper into the story of Christ.  The story of a risen King who is reconciling all things to himself. This is the King that is breaking into the broken pieces of our lives, and bringing a Kingdom of restoration, of justice, mercy, and love.

When we love this city that God loves, we proclaim to our city that God love Portland.  And just as He loves Portland, He loves you, too.  We give our lives away just Christ gave his life away.  As we serve within these areas within Portland we are entering places of need, that our world would say we should ignore, and we take our eyes off ourselves and see Christ breaking in.

For some of you, you know this to the deepest core of your heart.  You’ve experienced what it’s like to give and give and give and yet miraculously feel like you were the one who was blessed by the experience as God works on our hearts in the process.  Maybe you haven’t really experienced that, and this invitation is for you to join us as we participate in something Jesus has been about for hundreds of years—loving the world.  As we draw into Christ’s story of redemption—we see not only how he’s transforming our city, but also our hearts as well.

God loves the world.  God loves Portland.  When we serve, we are proclaiming that truth.

Hosting a booth at an event is an interesting experience. You set up before everyone gets there, and tear down after they leave. You ship large banners, make handouts, bring some candy and do your best to make a metal 10’ by 10’ box look inviting.

I had the privilege of hosting an Advent Conspiracy booth in the social justice area of the Catalyst West event in Southern California this past week. The timing of March is actually ideal – giving pastors time to fully understand the idea and plan how they will lead their people through it in December.

The interesting thing about the Advent Conspiracy booth is that, unlike most other social justice efforts, Advent Conspiracy isn’t an organization – it’s an idea.  An idea for churches to live prophetically during Advent by telling the story of the incarnation of Christ with how we shop, how we give and who we love. That’s it.   It’s a really simple, yet profound, idea.

As I sat behind my table, I had conversation after conversation that, for the most part, went one of three ways:

First: “Advent Conspiracy, you guys are that group with that video someone showed me. This type of thing is great. Keep up the good work.“

Second: “What in the world is the Advent Conspiracy?” Followed by a concise, yet poignant, explanation by yours truly. Followed by: “Wow. That’s really awesome.” They then either walk away after taking one of my seasonally inappropriate candy canes, or they subtly ask for a copy of the Advent Conspiracy book (both of which we give away to pastors at the event.)

The last response goes something like this:

I just wanted to stop by and say we love the Advent Conspiracy.  Our church started doing AC two years ago and it has been such a blessing to both our church, and also to the group that we now bless because of the money we saved from buying gifts. We can’t imagine celebrating Christmas any other way. It’s awesome, keep doing what you’re doing.

That last response was not only one of the most encouraging conversations, but it was also the most frequent conversations. Story after story told of a big church, a small church, a family – all across the board-and how their experience with Advent Conspiracy was meaningful to them. I’d say close to half of my conversations were with churches who were doing Advent Conspiracy and wanted to connect, share notes, and just tell us how it’s blessed them.  Before this week, I didn’t know any of these churches. These churches never registered on the Advent Conspiracy website. They just heard the idea – and ran with it.

I don’t believe we’ll ever know how many churches, families or individuals are participating in Advent Conspiracy. We’ll never know how many villages now how clean water or even how many dollars have been spent to bless the least of these. Some might say there is a way to know and we just need the technology to collect it, but after having the privilege of working with this little grassroots idea called Advent Conspiracy – I’m ok with not knowing the number.

Actually, I think I’d just prefer we keep telling the story to one another one at a time.

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?

I think the cheers from the balcony pews help drive the point home.  If you missed us last month, January 23rd hosted our second Baptism service at the new Ankeney location.  As we partake in the Baptism of new believers, even in hearing the word Baptism in fact, it’s easy to think back to our own experiences with the Baptismal.  For some, it was a behind the scenes bath tub, for others perhaps a riverbed on the outskirts of the suburbs.  But even with those quick flashes of memory, it can be easy to forget what that moment was like.

I would not run the risk of saying that we take our faith for granted, but I find it inspiring or refreshing to look at Baptism – at a new birth in Christ – through fresh eyes.  To become captivated once again by the childlike faith and the newness of putting your trust in God for the first time.  To feel the relief of the cross and the fear in the back of your mind that questions, “what have I gotten myself into?”

Jimmy is a new believer and good friend to anyone with five minutes to spare. I wanted to sit down with Jimmy and walk through what a Baptism was like.

Standing backstage, behind the curved wall, you have no idea what’s out front.  And there’s this feeling, this vibe, like waiting in the green room backstage on Johnny Carson.  I could see Pastor Ken, and another guy on above him, directing us through.  I was waiting in my green room, waiting for my seat on the couch with Johnny, waiting to feel like a star.

As I waited I paced, coaching myself through the moment, thinking, ‘wow, this is happening’.  Two steps away I sensed the weightlessness of the water.  One step away, and I started thinking about Neil Armstrong you know?  ’One small step for man.’  I take my next step and there’s Ben, and for this fraction of a second I get lost, but then I here someone cheer out my name and I just snap back into the moment.

You know how people will say to a woman when she’s pregnant, you know like, ‘You’re glowing!’?  That was me.  After I came up from the water I just felt like a pregnant woman, just glowing.  And you know, I look at the pictures man, of me in that moment, me after I was baptized, and too be honest, I look like this no teeth old woman with the whitest long hair.  But there’s not a better looking picture of me, nothing depicts what I’m doing with my life now better than that moment.

I talked to Jimmy a little more about life after Baptism, but he was able to boil it down to one simple phrase.  He said, “Baptism gave me the freedom to talk about Christ.  I am not a split personality anymore”  I like that.  There’s that initial reaction like we tend to have with any good movie we see, to go out and tell everybody about it.  To share with them the beautiful scenes, and perhaps walk them through some of the more terrifying ones, but you can do that now.  You have seen the hope that lies at the end.

I think Baptism is a beautiful thing.  It will always resonate with us in a unique way.  For Jimmy, unfortunately, Baptisms may always make him feel like a pregnant woman.  No matter what that memory looks like, it should always come as a reminder to bring us back to Christ.  A reminder that says, “We once were dirty, but in Christ we have been made clean.”

One of my convictions is that God has not called Imago Dei to be the church in Southeast Asia, he’s called the church in Southeast Asia to be the church in Southeast Asia. He’s called us to be the church in Portland, but when we work overseas it is significant that we partner with God’s people, like Abraham, in that place. National leaders know the language, culture and context where God has placed them and have Christ-centered vision for the presence of the gospel in their communities.

When we bypass national leaders and the local church we can waste a lot of time, energy and resources. For example: it would be weird if someone from Zimbabwe were to come to Portland and say: “we are going to start a new church here in Portland.” I would probably ask: “will you be moving here? learning the language? knowing our local culture? will you be coming underneath / alongside those of us who have been here for awhile to learn from us?” It would be really strange if they were to answer: “No. We will simply come twice a year on 2-week trips where we will hire translators, do outreach events, then go back home.”

We would think they were ridiculous. “How meaningful can your actions be when you don’t actually know the place?  If something good does happen while you’re here where is the ongoing presence for discipleship and local sustainability?” Yet I have often encountered where we in America are attempting to be the presence of Jesus overseas from a distance while bypassing national leaders and the local church and a priority on their localized contextual vision.

I’m grateful for Pastor Abraham and the many other national leaders God has blessed us with as partners over the years. They are our priority if we are to have effective involvement in kingdom proclamation / presence overseas, for they are the ones God has called and placed there to bear witness to His kingdom reign.

In the upcoming year, we will be partnering with Abraham’s church and ministry on initiatives in the areas of education, preventative health, clean water, sanitation and more. More on this in months to come. We likewise have a December 2010 trip (arts) and a March / April 2011 trip (medical) planned to go serve alongside Abe & our brothers and sisters overseas and see what God is doing firsthand there. Let me know if you’re interested in more info! (josh@imagodeicommunity.com)

God has used this relocation to both settle and unsettle us as we consider what it means live a misional journey. We hope to be a House of Providence for our community, we hope our lives will receive this woman’s call from over a hundred years ago and our lives might echo this priority, where hospitality rules for all sorts of poor.  Where God in His grace, grants the economically poor, the spiritually destitute, the relationally meager, a place to experience blessing in the richness of Christ.

We don’t exactly know how this all plays out in reality, but can envision three ways that we might be the people of God engaging this mission as we live out a hospitable life.  We hope that as a larger community, as we meet in this House of Providence or engage in serving our city that we have this hospitable call echoing in who we are and what we do.  We hope that we might find a relational presence in the public houses around Vancouver, where we are able to find a voice to speak into our community.  And that through a generous heart our individual lives and our personal homes be places that tell a hospitable Gospel story.

This isn’t really a new idea.  Christ was the champion of the hospitable life, and the apostle Paul calls Christ’s Disciples to the same.  It isn’t really new in Vancouver either; Imago’s home communities have met in Vancouver for 8 or so years.  Hospitality has always been at the center of what goes on in and through the people of Imago that live in Vancouver.  As we lead into the future, we are grateful for the foundation Christ has laid in our hearts and the care fostered by those who have gone before us patiently and faithfully unveiling the Gospel through their hospitality.

I count it joy to work in an environment where it’s “normal” to be on free/reduced lunch, have dad in jail and mom in rehab, live in a van, get a shut-off notice, sleep in a dumpster, eat once a day, and have lived in over 20 foster homes. That kind of daily bombardment reveals the reality of our existence and need for a Savior like nothing else. Horrible and wonderful all at the same time, especially when you realize you don’t have much to offer on your own.

Most days I don’t feel like I’m changing the world. Most days I feel like I’m being changed by this broken world. As it turns out, He didn’t need me to do anything for Him, but wanted to work with me and transform my miserable heart. It’s exhausting and frustrating as I fight, wiggle and squirm out of my old self into a new being through getting my hands dirty with action…
And maybe that’s the point. It keeps me in a place of perpetual dependence on the Lord… To lift my head, comfort my broken heart, recognize my weakness and inadequacy, loosen my grip on this world, strip me of any illusion of control and to long for something better.

But I do have those moments, glimpses of hope and transformation… And they are beautiful. When I get invited into lives, homes, burdens, fears, and see breakthrough that words can barely contain. I get to see those who have so little, give much; those who have been hardened by life, softened by grace; and those who have no reason to go on, go on. I usually leave work bursting with “you’re not going to believe this” stories, and I long to share those moments with others who will glorify God with me and not attribute it all to luck, nature or the cosmos.

The truth is, his love finds us in the most surprising places if we’re willing to risk spending our lives on behalf of the gospel wherever we happen to be. Living lives poured out as drink offerings, becoming the people that we were created to be, forever. I invite you to respond to the call that’s maybe already been stirring in you. To give yourself to kingdom work; meaningful relational work in the midst of your community. The harvest is plenty but the workers are few.

Here are some questions I frequently ask myself…

Who has God created you to be to other people?
Where do you see darkness as you walk, jog or drive by?
What evidence is there in this world that you are ushering in a different one?
How can you start participating in the kingdom work going on all around you?

Thanks for reading & I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

~ Amber

Amber McGill is the SUN Community School Site Manager at Marshall High School. She has her masters in social work & is a licensed clinical social worker. Amber has attended Imago for 2 years and has embedded herself in the community here and around the city.

When I have enough money in the bank that I could withstand a bad economy – I will have peace.
When the recognition and position finally comes my way at work – I will have peace.
When I look in the mirror and love the way I look – I will have peace.
When nobody tells me what to do with my spare time – I will have peace.
When the tests come back healthy – I will have peace.
When the security system is the best money can buy – I will have peace.
When nobody critiques anything I do – I will have peace.
When everyone wants to be me – I will have peace.

Conversely, the peace of God only exists in relationship. It’s a restoration of relationship between all that is and God the Father, God the Son & the Holy Spirit. Within this unity of the Godhead, there is harmony & connection with the world and all that it has created – it is shalom. It doesn’t promise me safety, but instead warms me not to seek safety in the things of this world.  By no means does it make life easy or simple – but it means you’re not alone.  It transcends circumstances to the place where the unknown becomes commonplace because the peace of God isn’t scared by the unknown. With this peace, I realize that I am not at the center of the universe.

When the economy fails – There is shalom.
When my father dies before his time – I am not alone because God’s family has adopted me.
When the job I knew I could never lose, suddenly is no longer mine – I know I can trust in the provision of my Father.
When the roads get slick and the car is out of control – I call out the name of my Father, not in vain, but in hope.
When the front door is kicked in at 2 o’clock in the morning – I search for his protecting arms.
When my the love of my life tells me they no longer love me – He knows my fears, my cray & my heart.
When the doctor can’t find out what is wrong – I am aware of his all encompassing knowledge & plan.
When I hurt those that I love the most – I am with him, he moves me towards his image.
Within God’s peace, the question stops being when and starts becoming who – it becomes about Jesus. That being said, the peace in which we pursue becomes increasingly important.

If I pursue the world’s peace, I would never sign up to adopt a refugee family as they arrive in my neighborhood. These strangers in a foreign land actually threaten my peace – they risk me questioning the amount of non-essential things I buy when I see them living on next-to nothing. The language barrier alone would make me feel uncomfortable and anxious. They are the epitome of a task with no end & no certainty of personal accomplishment. But the list goes on:

The elderly widow that would love someone to talk with.
Families with critically ill children.
The “Jon’s” who risk imprisonment for a moment of perverted intimacy.
At risk students in need of a mentoring relationship.
The sexually exploited women trafficked on the street
Homeless street youth with nowhere else to turn.
The hungry.
The imprisoned.
The disabled.
The addicted.

Our Prayer:
Jesus, forgive us for pursuing a peace that doesn’t love as you love. Forgive our isolation & lack of concern for our neighbors. Break our hearts from the idol of a self-centered heart. Forgive us for thinking too highly of ourselves and give us love to share with our brothers & sisters in need.