It's a Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson Christmas

When I was in high school, I took AP American History where, in an all-night study session for the big test, I memorized the names of all the presidents to the tune of Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

Many times since then, I've impressed people with this stupid human trick and thoroughly amazed and enlightened them, no doubt.  And if this isn't a reason to invite me to your holiday party- I can do Festivus, Christmas, Kwanzaa or Hanakkuh/Chanukkah/Hawnickuh- I don't know what is.  Granted, I've had to add another Bush and an Obama, but it's relatively easy if you just smash everyone past Carter into one breath.  (Please don't shoot me for that comment, presidential historians.) And come on, it IS pretty cool when you think about it.

That is, until "Christmas music on the radio" season comes along.  And oh, friends, it's already come along.  In fact, it came along about a day or two after Halloween.

And when it does, all of a sudden, when the beautiful Christmas song Hark the Herald Angels Sing begins to play, I can't help but think about Millard Fillmore and Rutherford B Hayes.  And let's be honest.  They don't exactly inspire a lot of holiday cheer.

This face doesn't exactly say, 'Merry Christmas'...

Santa's younger cousin, perhaps?

Washington, Adams, Jef-fer-son, glory to the new born king!

Thankfully I didn't memorize all the members of the Supreme Court to Frosty the Snowman.

So that's what they mean when they say "quilted"

I just don't even know what to say, except, every time I enter the bathroom at our church here in Hyde Park, this is what I see.  And so I'm finally sharing it with you.  (Yes, this is now the second time I've taken a picture in a bathroom.)

Marvel at its beauty, friends.

And without further ado, I bring you "Quilted Midwestern"

(Not to be picky or anything, but for some reason it annoys me that it's out of order.  I'm just saying.  Unless the person between square one and two used a lot of...well...you know...)

My Thoughts on the Matter

I might as well resign myself to the fact that 90% of my posts these days have to do with what I spend the majority of my day doing.  Lucky you.  Because you were getting tired of hearing about wine corks and rainbows, weren't you?   You can really only take so many rainbows.

Having only officially worked in "urban development" for a little over a year, people still think it's appropriate to ask me what I think "the answer" is.  I usually say, "Choose B or C, they're the most common answer."

Hardy har har.  Not really.  Seriously.

Americans- especially Christians- want to know what the answer is to urban poverty.  They want to know what to do, what to fix and how to move forward.  "If we just had better schools, we could fix the problem of urban underdevelopment."  "If we just had more men present in their children's lives, we wouldn't be sending so many kids to jail."  "If there were well designed, low-priced housing units, we wouldn't have the gang problem that we have."  "If only there wasn't so much disparity in our justice system, whether that be sentencing terms, the way we handle different drug charges or the relationship between police and individuals in inner city America."  "If only there was affordable healthcare."  "If only people would just get jobs."

Yes.  The answer is yes.

And yet so much more.  The truth of poverty is that it's not a simple fix, and we do a great disservice to the reality of humanity when we think it is.  It would be so much easier if the answer fit into three simple steps, or lined up with one political party platform or another, or didn't require us to think seriously about our own attitudes and sins, both individual and corporate.  We would rather change the educational system than actually extend ourselves on behalf of the poor.  We would rather tell men to man up and be with their families than live out our lives beside those who are struggling.  We would rather believe that we have all the answers than listen to those who have so much to give, so many assets, in their own development.

Don't get me wrong.  Our country desperately needs power players to lobby on behalf of more equity in funding for schools, lower student to teacher ratios and improvement in classroom standards.  We need investment bankers who will consider how to provide housing with equity, without over-gentrifying- and pushing out- communities.  We need programs like Put Illinois to Work that help place individuals in jobs, learn skills and hopefully become more employable.  We need churches that will support Mom and Me programs or healthy mentoring relationships for young urban men.  We need to support those who are doing all these things with our prayers, our finances and our time.  And we need to take the time  to acquire wisdom, to better understand what's really going on in urban America.

But most importantly, we need to do all of these things- and more- with dignity, not to solve a problem, but to truly love our neighbors as ourselves.

That's why I love Breakthrough- that in everything we do, we are trying so desperately to do it with dignity and respect, recognizing an individual's gifts and talents, and extending ourselves- and our network- on their behalf.  We fail sometimes.  But as we fail, we learn, and as we learn we grow into better servants.  Hopefully better servants that will be a part of the kingdom of God coming on earth as it is in heaven.
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If you're still reading, 1) I'm impressed and 2) you might be interested in learning more about the many faces- and facets- of urban poverty.  I've blogged before about reading suggestions, but want to add a couple more books to your reading list.

One- which I'm probably partial to- is Breakthrough's Executive Director's book The Invisible.  If you want to read the story of a woman following God's call on her life- and what you can do, too- read this book.  Another, suggested to me by another coworker, is Code of the Street, written by Elijah Anderson, a professor of Sociology at Yale (or at least he was when he wrote the book).  A third, Restoring At-Risk Communities by John Perkins (read ANYTHING by Mr. Perkins!) has more "practical ideas" and serves as the "official handbook of the Christian Community Development Association."  If you're a Tim Keller liker, check out Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road.