Face to Face

So, how does one cope with the overwhelming needs, and the worries of "bringing it home" with you...I think that sometimes we need to be overwhelmed. Sometimes we need to "bring it home" with us. I have read about activists who live in boxes or tents to call attention to the problem of poverty and to get a feel for what it is like to be homeless. I applaud these efforts. But no matter how long we choose to "sleep in a box" or how many times we walk the streets on cold days looking for someone to minister to, the one thing we can never feel is their true despairation. However long we choose to put ourselves in the "homeless condition," we know in the back of our minds that we can escape back to our own comfortabe lives at the time of our choosing. We do not, because we can not know this kind of despairation. We can only catch a glimse when we allow ourselves to to get close to someone in this circumstance. This is exactly the point at which government and private organizations fail these people. An organization can not, by definition, get to know someone on a personal level. As Matt said, these kinds of organizations are wonderful and necessary, and we support their efforts woleheartedly. But this personal kind of ministry kind of needs to be spontaneous and unscripted. It is messy, and scary. We are vulnerable because we are allowing God to use us completely at His will. We are without org charts, mission statements, and all of the other familiar organizational structures we are used to relying on. Sometimes, we admit to ourseves that we have no idea what we're doing. We are not the ones running this show!
The bottom line is, we are not "changing " the people we meet. They are what they are...God's crowning achievement, His most beloved. Though they find themselves in dire circumstances, they are priceless in the eyes of God who created them. No, we take it home with us because we are the ones being changed. If we are not overwhelmed; if we can get through a night without worring about one of our new friends, then I fear God has much more work to do in our hearts.
I think Jesus affirmed this kind of personal ministry in the story told in Matt 26:6-13. The problem of poverty is always going to be there, and giving to the needy through charities is clearly something we are called to do. But we can't forget the importance of the personal relationship...it is why He came.