If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it hundreds of times. In fact, I’ve probably said it hundreds of times: “The church isn’t the building; the church is the people.” It’s a theological truism every pastor…

Yesterday in worship, I referred to previous sermon on the subject of abortion and offered to make it available for those who are interested. Below is the manuscript of that sermon as it was preached two years ago:

As I write these words, I am sitting on the ninth floor of St. Joseph’s hospital on the north side of Chicago. If you have to be in a hospital, this isn’t a bad option. For one thing, the view is incredible. St. Joseph’s sits on the shore of Lake Michigan, so every morning I have been treated to a display of beauty as the sun rises over the watery horizon. Even more importantly, the care here has been phenomenal. The nurses who have rotated through our room during each 12-hour shift have been both competent and compassionate. You can have Spiderman and Captain America. These caregivers are my heroes….

After visiting a Christian school yesterday and playing with the children, today we concluded our mission experience by visiting a slum in the village of Mutuati. Sodzo has worked with several children from this slum over the last few years. They have also established a couple of their family strengthening groups in the area.

Today we returned to the Watoto Wa Ahadi Rescue center (which is Swahili for Children of the Promise). We spent the morning doing more painting as well as some plaster work. The plastering technique involved scooping the wet mud with a trowel and slinging it against the wall. We ended up with more plaster in our hair than on the wall. I don’t know if it was a commentary on my lack of mastery of the trade, but at one point the Kenyan woman who was co-leading our work crew took my trowel away from me and started using it herself! My job at that point was simply to go behind her and scoop up the left over mud from the floor. It’s nice to know we all have a part to play.

Today we visited Lin Joka, a small village where Sodzo International hosts one of its family strengthening programs. Family representatives are invited to join in groups of 25-30 people who meet weekly for education and financial support. Each family contributes a small amount each week - about 20 shillings, the rough equivalent of 20 cents. The group accumulates this money over time and collectively decides how to use it by making micro loans to group members who have a need. For example, if this week I have school fees to pay for my children, the group loans me the amount I need and then agrees to a time period for me to pay it back. In this way, the group serves as a local bank by keeping the resources within the local community and enabling individual families to meet needs without becoming dependent on people who do not have their best interest at heart.

After spending our weekend traveling, we began our first full day of work today. We spent the day at the Watoto Wa Ahadi rescue center. This is the residential facility Sodzo International runs for boys who have been rescued off the streets. They spend anywhere from a few months to a couple of years at this facility while work is being done to reintegrate them with their families. Some of these boys arrive struggling with substance abuse, others are victims of abuse, and others have simply been abandoned to the streets by a family that doesn’t want them or cannot support them. Here they receive housing, food, and most importantly, Christian nurture.

We arrived in Kenya last night to begin a week-long mission experience. Five of us from Bonsack Baptist met up with five others from South Main Baptist in Houston, Texas. We will spend the week working with a ministry called Sodzo International, which works with boys and young men who are living on the streets. They provide housing, education, and job training to these young men, while also working with families in neighboring villages to address some of the systemic issues that led to these young men leaving home in the first place. We will spend some time with the young men and some with the families. Exactly what will be doing with them remains to be seen, but that is part of any international experience. You simply have to remain flexible and be willing to adapt to what the circumstance require at the moment.

I have a friend who is kind enough to grant us access to some waterfront property, so with the church office closed, I spent Labor Day at the lake. It is a beautiful piece of land, just far enough removed from other homes that you have a strong sense of being “out there” in nature. At night there are no competing streetlamps or front porch lights, so the stars shine far more brilliantly than what I usually see at home. During the day the only traffic comes in the form of the occasional boater, so you are much more likely to see the local wildlife make an appearance.   

In yesterday’s sermon we talked about economic simplicity.  Using Jesus’ parable of the so-called rich fool in Luke 12:13-34, we discussed how easily we are controlled by the “stuff” in our lives.  The things we own soon own us, so if we want to reduce anxiety and worry and create more space for God and others we need to find ways to live with less.  We need to constantly ask ourselves, “How much do we really need?” Truth be told, we probably don’t need nearly as much as we think!