Eastside Vancouver is one of the worst drug areas of North American. Per capita it is the second highest AIDS location in the world. Poverty, drug abuse, prostitution – the things this neighborhood is well known for.
It is also known as a very friendly neighborhood. Walking into it, through it and conversing with the neighborhood this certainly proved true. They were easy to converse with, willing to tell their stories and share information about where to eat (for free), where to find medical help, housing information and any other questions you might want to know they readily answered. They are a community. When walking close to an area where the drug users stand on the street to get their fixes, one woman warned us not to go there, as she held her needle and next fix in her hand.
This is a community where they are willing to help each other, and much of that help is highly destructive behaviour. It doesn’t build them up, move them forward and encourage them to be the best they were designed to be. That vision has long since been buried deep within and unearthing it is a thought they probably don’t even consider now. The girls stand on the street corners and their beauty has disappeared. They sway and dance to entice – it is all practiced and performed but there is no heart in it. Men are no longer men of purpose – their heart has disappeared.
This is a community of addicts of all sorts, prostitutes and enablers. They have their own kind of support system but they lead each other down a dangerous and destructive road. Almost everyone has sold himself or herself out. They have whored themselves for the next fix, to somehow fill the huge black hole in their soul. Feelings have been killed, numbed and by rote they know the moves but their heart isn’t home. They cannot see the beauty of who they were designed to be, and they no longer consider that there is any beauty within them. That is why it is so easy to sell themselves; they no longer see that they are anything of value. Intimacy has been sold out and they live in the empty shells of humans without it. The outsiders see the tragedy of it all but those within find it almost impossible to walk through the fire of pain necessary for healing and reclaiming life.
What is breaking me inside is that I saw a picture of the Church! I have heard of it but now I really saw it. People come in and sit down, listen to the sermon, go through the motions and the heart and the head are not connected. There is friendliness and community but sometimes it lacks heart. Performances are perfected to entice people to come along, but the heart is not in it. We have been busy with all the “right” things, all the outward appearances but we have whored ourselves. Materialism and capitalism have romanced our heart into false intimacy. All God has asked for is that we love Him with all our heart, all our souls, all our mind, all our understanding. We have offered God our body that goes through the motions but we have hidden our heart away and sold it out for the distractions that keep us from intimacy. Entertainment, social life, community standing without the heart filled with passion for Christ. Are we moving each other forward and encouraging them to be the best they were designed to be? Has the exquisite beauty of this Bride disappeared? The outsiders watch and see the hypocrisy of it all, seeing the falseness. And many of those within are not even aware that their heart has been lost. What keeps people, saints, from stepping out of numbness and into LIFE?
Oh neither is unredeemable! The individual human being and the corporate Body were designed for intimacy with the Almighty. Christ continues to seek, to court us, and call each one into intimacy. Eastside Vancouver put a telephoto lens on this subject for me. It’s all about relationship where the heart is fully engaged. So much has been written about this subject but I guess I am writing because for the first time I really saw the parallel.
My feet walked the streets of Vancouver for 3 days. I am still processing what I saw, what I felt, and what will I do with all that. God is writing it into my heart and I am trying to read that handwriting.
4 comments:
As for the claim of materialism, I’m pleased you’ve accepted that capitalism is responsible for the great material wealth that even the poorest now enjoy.
Addressing your larger point, the despair you saw is the natural result of living your life with the notion of “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” That way of thinking doesn’t lend itself to benevolence toward your neighbor. Rather, it looks at people as claim on your life, something to be avoided.
That's my thought.
Stephanie, this has been a bit of an eye opener! I think this issue is something that is happening all over the world and we are all guilty of ignoring it.
Can't wait to hear more...
weird comment justin?? so totally missed 'the point'.
great point steph - big weekend, incredible impact. wow. thank you for going, for facilitating that for your youth. i'm sure their lives have been changed, and their eyes opened.
you said 'We have offered God our body that goes through the motions but we have hidden our heart away and sold it out for the distractions that keep us from intimacy' - this is true in my life. it is subconscious, a way of 'protecting' myself, both from god and those around me who don't have my best interests at heart. and it's so very sad.
i find my real contact with god comes 'outside' the church walls. maybe i'm facilitating it for others? i hope, but for me it rarely happens in church. oh this is taking my mind places i don't want to go... but need to. thank you.
"Feelings have been killed, numbed and by rote they know the moves but their heart isn’t home." oh steph - thanks for sharing a bit of that handwriting with us, my guess is that it did not come without some pain. How I long for anywhere to be a place where the hearts are home and alive. Anj
Post a Comment