Our Hangout

"We are the Balm!"

Yesterday morning, Richview had the privilege of having Colin McCartney, Executive Director of Urban Promise Toronto, address the church family, just a few days after the shooting of Patrick, who was 19, and a street leader for Urban Promise. As a "street leader", Patrick, although still young, was an example and role model in his community. As Colin shared, in tears, "Patrick was a son to the mothers in the community, a brother and helper to the single moms, a father figure and role model to the many children in the community." At 19, Patrick was also the sole guardian for two of his nephews.

Yesterday, we got, you could say, Colin "Raw", his heart, passion and grief without the pleasantries that usually go with being a guest speaker. In tears he reminded us (the Church), "We are the balm!" We, the Church, are to be the healing agent in this world! We need to change the "us and them" mentality, when we think of our black communities. He accused us, he did, and was probably right, of probably thinking Patrick was just another bad black kid, caught up in all the wrong things that go on in "those" communities. And then he shared, as only one who's living it out can; we, the Church, are the hope for these communities, our communities, God's loved communities, God's loved children. He shared with us how Patrick was a good kid, who came up through the system and beat the system. He stayed in his community and became a life line to it, a sign of hope. In the end, it cost him his life. But his testimony remains as a ray of hope, an example of a better way, an example of Jesus' priorities becoming our priorities, an example of surrender.

We were reminded, Christ is the only real hope, real answer, not goverment or more police (they are helpful, but they're not the real answer to meet the real needs). We as Christians have a calling on our lives, ambassadors of the love and the changing power of Jesus Christ. These communities, our communities, are filled with open wounds in need of healing and restoration, and WE ARE THE BALM! But in order for balm to provide healing and restoration, it must be rubbed into the wound. As long as these communities remain "those communities" and the people remain "those people" we won't see the power of God doing what it does best, bring healing, restoration, and light that overcomes the darkness.

It's a powerful thing when the heart of God is clearly displayed before you and you are left with only one option - when you know the heart of God and you realize there are discrepancies between your heart and his heart, how will you respond?

We closed with an individual prayer time, asking God to show us, what would he have us, individually and as a church, do? It was great to see God clearly at work in people's lives. I know this will lead to more of our people getting involved in our communities, that's an awesome thing.

Really special, maybe, even, most special to me, was to see several of our teenagers be the first to go and see Colin to ask, "what could we do as a youth group?" Go back a few weeks (Youth Archives) and you'll understand why this is so cool to me. On a lighter note, after the service, several of them, the youth, said they wanted to get some T-shirts made with a quote on it, you guessed it, "We are the balm!".

Thank you Colin for the timely message. Our prayer is that God will continue to heal the grief. And may more "Patricks" rise up, even as a seed dies as bears much fruit.

Posted by ed