Fear of Hebrew Roots

It has been interesting as of late to meet with some friends here and there to talk about life with Christ and the community of believers. I am amazed at how fearful Christians are of the world. I believe the only thing we should be fearful of is the Lord himself.
I listened to a great sermon the other day from Tim Mackie at Blackhawk Church about the beginning of Jonah. In this sermon he discusses the notion that those who are striving the hardest to be righteous are often the farthest from it.
Tim does a great job explaining how Jonah should be viewed and I think it is very important to understand the old testament into the new testament. Some people when they hear of Hebrew Roots they think of a cult and of following covenant laws, dietary laws, etc... When evangelicals reference Hebrew Roots they are wanting reinforce viewing the bible as a whole from Genesis to Revelation, not just Matthew to Revelation.

NT Wright says this about Jerusalem and the Ministry of Jesus, “It was in this world that Jesus grew up, and to this world that he addressed his preaching. If we are to understand the thrust of Jesus’ ministry, we must project ourselves as far as possible into the worldview and mindset of a first-century Jew”.8

For some people they may elect to follow dietary laws or other Jewish traditions in order to gain true knowledge, but even a statement like that is not needed if we knew what Hebrew culture was like. Many of those laws and traditions were worship to God and were done joyfully.


8 In recent studies of Jesus, see S.C. Neill and N.T. Wright, The Interpretation of the New Testament, 1861- 1986 (2nd ed., Oxford, OUP 1988) 379-403; on this whole section see my forthcoming Jesus and the Victory of God (London, SPCK, 1994).

The Egocentric Church = Idolatrous Church?

For those of you who know me or have heard me talk about my neighborhood I think you know that I am very passionate and loving of people and places that have crossed my path. I tear up and emotions easily well up as I feel that I am so inadequate at sharing my experiences. I think sometimes this passion can be perceived as idolatry of my neighborhood, especially if it seems to come up all the time in conversation. So is this actually idolatry?

I think almost anything and everything can be an idol to us at times, Robert Lupton, reminds me that idolatry in America it is actually called MATERIALISM. Sometimes it goes beyond material things, sometimes we hold our safety, our comforts, our lives as idols. There are many things that we think are too risky, crazy, or stupid to give up sometimes. In Luke 9:59 - 60 Jesus tells a man that wants to bury his father to let the dead bury the dead. By this statement I am not diminishing the a human life to the worth of a piece of paper, I am merely alluding to the fact that we “hold” onto them like “materials”. As I get older and more mature, I am cherishing the moments I get to spend with my dad more and more so I realize that a statement like this is gut wrenching. Christ calls us to some big gut checks sometimes. Phillipians 4:13 States that we can do all things through Christ, so if you feel that you cannot do without some of your materialism or idols then there is something wrong.

I believe that we learn to let the dead bury the dead in little bites over time. In high school for me it was getting over the desire to be “popular“ so ended up being the awkward kid in class that wore polyester golf pants and butterfly collared shirts to high school from 2000 -2002. In college I abandoned the pressures of my parents to be the typical Chinese male that studied math or science and became a Sculpture major. Eventually giving up bits and pieces of what was me brings me to where I am today. I am in Central City, New Orleans and love it. When we begin to face challenges and overcome our fears we build confidence and character that allows us to more fully enjoy how God has created us and His creation. I wish I could say that I fully understood Romans 5 early on but as life goes on, my understanding grows much deeper.

As we go through life tackling one idol or idea after another there may come a point where you know sense a very distinct call to your life that God has prepared you for. This Calling becomes your breath, it’s you being the hands and feet of Christ. At this moment we are emotional wrecks when we get to talk about our passion, and everything begins to revolve around what God has called us to. We often begin to be evangelical about Christ and the calling. Sometimes our passion is mistaken for Idolatry of ministry because we shout it from every rooftop. It is sad to say but it is probably frequent that ministry does become an idol at times. I know at one point a year or two ago, I was recruiting for some help for an event on Halloween and a friend responded to me in a very profound way. She said ”how about you do your event in your neighborhood and I’ll be apart of things in my neighborhood.“ It was at this point that I realized that I was being egocentric of my experiences. I feel very fortunate to have had a friend that phrased things the way that she did. Though it hurt a little because I felt that it was a rejection, it was also a rude awakening to me. I realized that I may have been close to placing ministry before God, or God’s call on their lives. Moments after my initial feelings of sadness, I felt great relief because it really didn’t matter that she was not partaking in my event because she was being the hands and feet of Christ to her neighborhood. When we develop ministries or churches its very easy for us to get wrapped up into ourselves and become very egocentric about the church and the ministry. Sometimes we don’t realize that we are placing the church or ministry as an Idol.

There is egocentric shrapnel when ministry becomes an idol. This usually this occurs when there is over confidence and a loss of humility. Often an egocentric leadership will easily get angry when people depart to chase after God and leave the ”prized“ environment created. I know I have often felt the saying ”It’s your loss,“ go through my mind at times when people aren’t interested in what God is doing through me. My response should me more like, ”May God bless you in your pursuits and let me know if I can help in any way.“ If you didn’t know, we have supposedly been disciplined by a church that we attended in October 2010. The supposed basis of our discipline, revolved around us not being committed to their church, ”holding our neighborhood as an idol to the church“. Situations like this occur everywhere, in church, work, and even at home. My parents wanted me to study engineering or mathematics, and we had a pretty rough fight when I chose to pursue art. The difference, between instances of family issues and work/church issues is that I believe that there is more true love in a good family that is more caring and restorative. When churches and businesses fight, whomever has more money or power usually ”wins“ and cuts the relationship/love off immediately. The american culture has developed a cut-throat business mentality, and sadly it has also permeated into the church and families. The solution is to continually try to love as He first loved us. Christ allowed people to make mistakes, He led taking risks, He led challenging injustice, He led with innovation, He led humbly.

For those of you who want to know what is shaking down here in the Wong Household:
Since we were married a little over a year ago, and thrown into a whirlwind with church issues last fall. We have been laying low, grieving, processing, and recovering. Rachel and I were very emotionally and spiritually hurt through it all, and change like that within our first year of marriage made things emotionally and spiritually draining. Through our tough time their has been great joy in sorting through our thoughts of church and our neighborhood. We are very thankful for our awesome employers and jobs here in New Orleans, they have been a great stabilizer for us. Rae and I are becoming more like one everyday. We used to have two very individualistic ideas about loving Christ, and loving others, and now those ideas are starting to merge into our ideas, thoughts, and passions. We believe that there is a growing movement that should be of an ordinary tale of people truly bringing Christ’s love and compassion locally to family, friends, widow, orphan, and even prisoners.

Our current dream: to start up a solid business to employ, educate, and train our neighbors so that they can be leaders in our community..... Step one: save money, and find partners, woohoo!

A long time over due.

To my great family, friends, and acquaintances I am thankful, very thankful for you.

3 years and 4 months ago I committed to chasing a dream. That dream was a deep heartfelt desire led by the Spirit and planted by God to reveal God’s Glory and His Kingdom to neighborhood of Central City, New Orleans. The time that I have spent here have been filled with many pains, sorrows, and joys. Part of me wishes that I could say that my plans for this place have not changed or morphed at all but they have. I am completely ok with that as well.

I knew that in moving here there would be a vast adjustment in transitioning from being a nomadic student of all things, to becoming a more defined man. I needed to switch from thinking month to month, to years, and then decades. I had to learn how to guide, instruct, and inspire others to be responsible, honest, and genuine. I needed to create those exact changes in my life because I realized the culture around me needed guidance in those areas as well. I find myself constantly learning, applying, and teaching. I forget that there were many times where I realized that I had to sacrifice many simple comforts, and find new loves.

A lot of change has been happening. March 20th, 2010 I married Rachel Gillen who is now Rachel Wong. We merged lives into the house that I purchased 2 years ago in Central City. It was a great and beautiful event. Marriage in the past 5 months has awakened me to understanding how long of a process helping Central City become a thriving neighborhood through Gospel transformation will be. My wife has helped me understand this to even greater depths as she has been teaching 1st grade in a similar neighborhood. When we see or hear statistics or rankings of how schools are performing here I don’t think that we understand the severity of the conditions in the “hood.” Test scores just show us that there is a deep issue to be solved, and not all of it is within the realm of education, education is one tool of many that is needed. Education does not solve home-life problems, and neither does Child Services. My friend that is getting his Doctorate in Special Education once told me that he was tutoring high school kids over the summer and he never knew what to expect day to day when he would arrive at his student’s homes. One story that disturbed me the most was of when he was tutoring the student in one room while his older brother was having sex with a girl in the next room. Keep in mind this is New Orleans, the land of shotgun houses, where there are no doors from one room to the next. Childhood home life of many in the poor and impoverished neighborhoods are like this. This breeds a lot of distrust, anxiety, ill education, and disposition to always being in survival mode. This is the context that we are learning and living in to inform decisions and methods of what would create the most impact in this neighborhood.

These are the top 3 three aspects that I believe would create the most impact in the neighborhood right now.

A limited number of longterm investors and families in the neighborhood, buying and moving in scattered throughout the neighborhood to learn and walk alongside of us.

Development of a Refuge NOLA intern house - a Safe Space- This is to be a community space, that would be a place for kids to do homework and hang out with supervision and guidance. This would also be an informational hub with access to the internet. Interns, and learners will primarily run this place.

Development of Sustainable Business- This is to provide an extended educational experience and training grounds to help people define who they are, who God is, and what is needed to excel. We want to create a safe place to make mistakes in a business environment so that one can eventually work up the ladder and into the regular corporate work world. We are unsure of what this business can actually be, and we need someones help to pull this together. I completely feel that I am terribly too young to understand all that it will take in this arena, however I know it it probably the most important aspect to helping this community long term.

Confession of a wayward heart

The stillness of the air is pierced.
Wailing of a heart chasing lovers less promising.
Echos of the past, cling dear only to distract.
Where is the purpose of the heart?
How easy it is to forget the basics of how we start off.

Return me to where I should be.
In simplicity, in love, in mercy, in grace, in discipline, in Christ.

Help me to be a child once again to learning about your people that you passionately love and care for.

Mercy Justice

        As life goes on I grow in love. I grow in love with a God that seeks to allow me to live a life full of joy and understanding. Christ allows me to celebrate in the good times and the bad. There is not a beat down or wippin’ but acts of mercy and grace from God. He passionately desires to interact and love us in the midst of the terrible things that we do. This should move us to repentance, but we often have hardened hearts formed by culture to be selfish and taught continually receive rather than give. This selfish notion feeds our fallen state of being pushing us toward more resentment and broken relationships; building hopelessness and depression in our minds. We fill voids in our lives with thoughts and things that will not last.
        
        We have established a current culture that often fills void with immediacy, and consumerism. It seems as though the culture is starting to realize the consequences of our “get it now” and “have it your way” state. We have not built up disciplined minds to say no and seriously evaluate the consequences to our tiniest actions. Do I bask in the shower too long? Must I eat food when my stomach doesn’t tell me its hungry? Am I willing to do something for someone that doesn’t directly benefit me? Am I willing to do things that may hurt for for the possibility of growth?
        
        All of our shortcomings separate us from right relationship with God, and right relationships with people. In light of each and everyone of us having problematic relationships we are all on a level playing field regardless or race, class, and gender. This is what demands, and sets the standard justice. Today I was reading some of Exodus, and the account of the Israelite’s fleeing egypt to a hand full of chapters past the 10 commandments. In thinking of how the text flows, there is such a great sense of community. Much of the text after the 10 commandments is all about how one should interact or behave in certain circumstances. All of these DOs and some DO NOTs reflect a greater sense of caring for one another and the community as a whole rather than self. What makes this greater is that the sense of community does not stop within the confines of Israelites, or just within Christendom. We are to love all and care for all even when it is not easy. We are to develop and seek the things we desire for our kids for the poor and the oppressed. We cannot want something for ourselves, and not desire it for the community.

Or can we? Is that just? is it equal?

Simply Human

Each day I live I learn more about myself, my flaws both good and bad. It’s the end of a semester and it is finals time, and a transition into the summer. I am taken back by my conversations with friends of things that are happening shortly after school is over. There is a lot happening in a short while in my life and in the lives of many of my friends and colleagues.

I am oddly aware of a tension, and anxiety that is rising within me to finish school well. However, this thought is hard for me to accomplish at the moment just because there are many other things that I would like to be doing or planning. It is almost as if I have to put everything on hold so that I can get my brain to concentrate on the things I need to focus on with school.

It’s really hard when I just want to be able to take a couple of days and hang out with the kids in the neighborhood, or hang out with a neighbor and let them use my computer to fill out an employment application online. I will get to do this soon, my finals have deadlines hopefully I won’t fail anything.

It’s hard to not feel like a failure when my grades aren’t the best thing in the world. I guess I’m just not an academic research type of student. I’ll be a black sheep.

Response to 3 killings in the neighborhood

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/two_men_shot_this_afternoon_ne.html

Do we really care? I love, actually I get pretty disgusted by the "Yes We Care" because we only really care to the point at which it begins to infringe on our personal lives.

Pastor Keen - "6 months of peace" That is the most ridiculous statement to reflect Central City. I know that in February during Mardi-Gras season a corner store owners brother was shot and killed.

http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl021509cbshooting.1cb411eb.html

The people that lead many of these Rallies/Marches are ineffective and are wasting time and money. They are trying to put band-aids on problems that need surgery and suchers. These "leaders" also are very disconnected from the true community, and problems within the neighborhood.

The city is plastered with Ghandi's statement of "Be the change you wish to seek." But we barely take any steps toward that. If we seek to "be change" we cannot live in places in which we are not seen. The community needs to learn how to take care of one another, and how to love one another. That is hardly represented at night time where it is needed the most. We do not place lights under a basket! If we truly want to see illumination to Central City, you have to be a light within it, not in a nice suburb or outside the city. So non-profits, and other leaders please come to learn your neighborhood in a different way.

I am a proud resident and homeowner in between the 2 blocks where everything throws down. I have lovely neighbors that watch out for me and my house. We enjoy sharing meals, and discussing our frustrations. I love to learn their needs, and love to think creatively on how to fill in the gaps to them receiving the hand-up that they need and not just a hand-out. I don't like the crime, drugs, and blatant disrespect. If a place like this can foster it gives me hope to help 3rd and 4th world countries with similar problems but no resources.

We need to quit being so selfish over our selves and give up some comfort so that others can live.



This was another response to another user

They do not know how to take advantage of opportunity. There are many people and non-profits that try to help out and offer assistance out here all the time.

The problem is trust, and relationships. And the fact that they have to be "grown" or often responsible like adults by the time they are 12-14. Would you trust anyone when you grown up in a very broken home in which your momma, would take your last $5.

These kids and adults have grown up and lived in odd unorthodox environments where there is inconsistency all over the place. This compounds their trust issues. If one has trust issues, and larger life problems they have no clue how to take advantage of opportunity, and they often don't have some one to coach them.

This type of person also does not often carry the confidence, and self esteem because they have been told that they are "bad" for much of their lives.

The problem of excessive drinking and smoking is also a larger problem here. As long as Alcohol is abused in the city at the scale that it is the problems in the hood will probably continue to stay. The Alcohol culture socially promotes, and creates social peer pressure and encouragement. Many of these families are broken because they cannot kick an addiction, in order to pay their bills and take care of their family.

Many of the drug dealers in the hood are also almost forced to sell. Think about it. If you are a business owner would you hire someone that was a convicted felon? Someone that needs mentorship and is inconsistent? NO! What do you do if you cannot land jobs and have no community support from within?
Mexicans, Vietnamese, are a lot tighter knit to each other and have a totally different sense of community and corporate responsibility. Hood life is different, and a culture that many have no clue about.

For anyone that is native this is the Big Easy... So the culture here is all about doing as little for the most gain. There is not an idealism of purely enjoying work, toil, and knowledge in and of its self. For Mexicans,Vietnamese, Arabs, their culture and mentality is in a very different mindset.

Hood culture-
It is sad that there is a misconception of what it is to be a Man in the hood. For most, it is being "Hard." Tough, nothing effects you, a girl doesnt mean anything, if someone disrespects you set them straight, if someone seems smarter or is competition you take them out because they are a threat to how you are viewed as being on "Top." I work with at risk youth in Job Training for Environmental Science. I push their brains really hard often. I get cussed at and get threats, only because i challenge them and push them to work hard. The saddest part of the whole thing is that many dont have the confidence, and are too afraid to make mistakes. It is hard for them to be different, make mistakes, and just try. The non-profit and kind hearted people often dont allow them room to make mistakes either.

We as caring people want to give, but that is the wrong approach. We have to learn how to receive. We must begin to learn how to restore dignity by allowing and creating empowerment and opportunities for them to give. This is not an easy thing, and is no band aid. It is also not something that can be started from the outside, it must start from inside the community. So if you want to help solve the problem don't just give, figure out how you can receive