On days like today, I love my job. I mean, I usually love my job. But this is the kind of day when I know that I LIVE for the stuff I’m doing now.

Continuum Church had another outreach event this morning, oh so cleverly named “Pickup Sticks.” A month ago, our outreach team member Kelly said that she had an idea for an event. One of her friends in the Weinland Park neighborhood had just moved into a house that had a vacant lot next door. With permission from the landlord, he wanted to start using the lot to benefit the neighborhood: events or a community garden or something. But before any of that was even a possibility, he needed to get it cleaned out. He knew Kelly was a member of Continuum, and would her church be interested in helping his family clean out that lot? Ummm … YEAH. We would.

After a couple weeks of conversations, we finally decided that May 9 was the day. But we decided that right before I left town for Washington DC. Thankfully, I now have a fantastic team of people from Continuum who are passionate about making the Kingdom of God visible to our community, and so the event planning moved forward without me. Wendell took the lead: scoping out the lot, figuring out what needed to be done, finding the right people with the right tools … making sure everything was ready when we all arrived this morning. Working with this talented team is one thing that brings me great joy and fulfillment.

So off we went this morning to knee high grass, a lot of dead tree limbs, broken bottles, and some platic toy heads. (Early in the day, Alisha says “Oh look! I found a Batman toy!” But her sister and I both heard, “Oh look! I found a FAT man toy!” Which raises many questions …)

Wendell had figured that with around 10 people, we could get the lot done in a couple hours, thinking that 10 a.m. to noon was reasonable. We had 14 from Continuum, as well as Mom and Three Kids from the family that came up with the idea. Everyone jumped right in and got to work, and we had the place totally cleaned out by 11:30! Around 11:15, the next door neighbor Brian comes to the fence line, using the biggest machete I’ve seen outside of the Crocodile Dundee movies to hack down every mulberry tree in his path, and offering everyone Mountain Dew.

Now there are several things that really get me jazzed about what we did today:

1. We were sought out. This family had an idea for something good that they wanted to do, and they thought to ask Continuum Church to help them. Not only am I thrilled that they know who we are in the first place (!) but I’m even happier that they know that we’ll be interested. That’s the reputation I know that Jesus wants us to have.
2. Other people get excited. I believe that when we’re doing the kind of good in the world that God wants each of us to do, we’re in our sweet spot. We had a lady slow down as she drove by, just to give us the thumbs up and a huge smile, thanking us for what we were doing on her street. And Brian the next door neighbor was inspired to finish the work he’d already started in his own yard. Good stuff, true stuff, resonates with each one of us, and we want to be part of it.
3. This was about more than clean-up. With our actions, we said that we will NOT give up on the abandoned places in our communities. We believe that there is nothing beyond the reach of redemption. It doesn’t matter what it’s been used for in the past, or how long it’s been ignored, we can still find the good that God wants to do there. We’ll pick up the trash, dig out the weeds, mow down the tall grass, and get ready to nurture some new life.
4. It’s symbolic of what we believe. Re-read #2 above and know that we don’t just believe that about places, we believe it about people. We believe that God has deep, unconditional, never-ending love for each person on the planet. And we will live and die to make sure that is abundantly clear. No one is beyond the reach of grace. We believe that following Jesus offers us a way out of the systems we’ve created that ultimately bind us and others. We believe in reconciliation, wholeness, peace – a whole new way of doing life. Already given to us, just waiting to be recognized and accepted.

And THAT’S why I love being the outreach director at Continuum Church.