The Things Urban Bridge Values: Mercy Everyday
Monday, September 12th, 2011When we were forming what is now Urban Bridge Church, before it had a name, before we became a legal entity, before we had an income, before we were a church, Mercy is one value that kept percolating to the top. It was easy to agree on Mercy as a value, but it was much more difficult to quantify. We agreed that mercy required sacrifice and commitment if it was to have tangible value.
Mercy
As a community of mercy, we endeavour to enable people to overcome challenges by actively participating in their lives. This requires that we be known in the community in which we exist. Our actions will be intentional and reflected in the allocation of our time and not less than 20% of our resources.
Taking 20% of our total income and giving it away is a sacrifice. We spend 25-30 % less than the average church on administration and internal ministry.
But more important, more defining has been the commitment to actively participate in the lives of those in need. These are a few ways we live our value as a community.
We have both a local and international presence. The most obvious today is our participation with HIV Edmonton. Urban Bridge sponsors the walk, we volunteer and we will walk as a community next week. A number of us volunteer at different times in the year for HIV Edmonton.
We partner with Catholic Social Services by volunteering to cook and eat with the residents of Kairos House, an aids hospice in the city.
Internationally we work with a local church in Kigali Rwanda in support of those with HIV Aids and orphans. Our partnering church in Kigali Christian Life Assembly takes the sick off the street, putting them in a transition home sponsored by us. We help provide safety, shelter, food, medication, funds for school and the love of Christ. When they are well enough they are encouraged to find a house and look for work. We support them for six month after they find their house and get settled in their job. I have met some of these widows and what I see is truly transformative.
We have recently given money for to the Slave Lake fire victims and the East Africa drought.
We are exploring ways to shift some of our emphasis from compassion to Justice, to be involved with those fighting human trafficking.
These are just a few of the things that we do. Why do we do this?
It makes our church relevant.
We gain acceptance.
It makes us feel good.
It gives us a sense of purpose.
In our case we gain some notoriety with our involvement in the world of HIV & Aids.
The Bible has over 100 references to Mercy: acts of Justice and compassion; The John the Apostle of Love in a sermon he preached said we should do it for the love of God.
But if anyone has enough money to live well, and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help—how can God’s love be in that person? 1 John 1:17 NLT
Amos an Old Testament prophet told the ancient nation of Israel what happens to those who are not merciful.
“This is what the LORD says: For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.’” Amos 2:6-7 NIV
Each of these reasons has merit but are they good enough reasons for you or for Urban Bridge Church?
Is our effort making enough of a difference? We are a small church; our contribution is less than a drop in the bucket of the world’s problems. Maybe we should spend 10% rather than 20%. We could spend some of that time and money for the spiritual formation of this community. Hire a part time person to run smaller groups or Urban Kids. That would be money well spent.
Why mercy?
James an early church father says:
Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us. James 1:27 NLT
He was reminding those first followers of Christ that justice and compassion, mercy was central to their faith. James understood, he assumed, that a pure and lasting religion encompassed the whole person: body and soul. He taught that justice and compassion was a natural extension of a pure and lasting belief in Christ.
Not long after, the church would be challenged by a Greek philosophy that challenged this assumption and affects us to this day.
Gnosticism was and is a dualism, creating separation between the material and spiritual world. This became a big deal in the church by the second century.
Belief in Christ’s physical resurrection was challenged; many believed that Christ was not a physical being but that his presence was an illusion.
In the extreme this thinking valued the spiritual and debased the physical believing that our bodies, creation, all things physical were part of our fallen nature a corrupted creation to be endured temporarily so why waste effort on them.
This is one reason Christ’s humanity and physical resurrection is essential to our faith. It affirms our faith for today: our whole being: body, mind and spirit have value. Consequently it is Christianity that drives acts of mercy through out the world and it gives us hope for a future better creation.
Unfortunately this dualism has managed to survive in the church. We are influenced more often than we realize.
The Evangelical church often speaks of saving souls. We do not save souls we save the whole person; body, soul and mind.
Consequently followers of Christ subscribe to a faith that neglects the transformation of body and mind. This often manifests in lifestyles and behaviour (Sins) that are in conflict with the Spirit of Christ.
We over spiritualize to the neglect of body and mind. Caring for others, serving the poor and feeding the hungry are often the solution to our spiritual lethargy and problems.
Julie Clawson tells it this way: What gets valued is not the actions of faith — caring for others, studying the word, serving the poor, tending to creation, feeding the hungry — but finding spiritual contentment deep down in one’s soul…letting-go of any obligation to help build a better World. And therein lies the problem. When faith is all about a dualistic escapism, it sadly allows no room for mercy. Julie Clawson embodied theology - http://blog.sojo.net/2011/08/22/embodied-theology/
I have struggled my whole adult life with spiritual elitism, arrogance, and intolerance for those not like me. I can be impatient, critical, unbending.
My involvement in acts of mercy is transforming me. Yes I have greater self-awareness and yes I have had to improve my coping skills. But it is more than that. I am being transformed spiritually.
Oh I am still all those things, but less so. And in the future by God’s grace even less so yet.
NT Wright says: The resurrection should give us faith in a God intent on setting right the wrongs, motivating us to take action so that “let thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” begins to form in the lives we touch. Pg 214 Surprised by Hope
When we understand that conversion to Christian extends beyond me, and my salvation. We see a redemptive role in all creation. In the wholeness of our relationship with Christ we challenge those things that diminish humanity: Justice and compassion.
Wright says: Justice, beauty and evangelism come together and become part of the same larger whole, which is the message of hope and new life that comes with the message of Jesus’ resurrection. Pg 230 Surprised by Hope
Christ’s commission to us in Matt 28:18 reminds us that we his disciples are to be change agents on both heaven and earth, the physical and the spiritual:
“I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 8: 18-20 NLT
Why Mercy? It is fundamental to the whole expression of our faith as followers of Christ: body, soul and mind.
What can you do to make Mercy to be an everyday expression of your faith?
How can this community help?
Esther Blumer is leaving soon to serve on a Mercy Ship in Africa, an amazing ministry that provides medical care. To learn more see
