KEN LOYD’S BLOG

It’s 5AM on my day off when I’m awakened from a dead sleep that was planned to extend till eight. “Caw! Caw! Caw!” The same monotonous revelry that I hear so many summer mornings.

“Those damn ducks,” I think bitterly, shutting my ears against the onslaught with a pillow. Those raucous hellraisers with their little orange webbed feet clinging to the branches just outside my window. Their tiny ducklings all lined up in single file. Downey. Hah! I’d like to grab them by their cute, flat little bills and ring their collective necks.

OK. Ok. So the “caw” didn’t conjure up visions of a herd (flock? Gaggle? Fluffle? Band?) of quackers. I knew that I was being besieged by a gang (proper term) of crows. Why? Because ducks quack. Crows caw. Scientific fact. Had the crows decided to attire themselves in adorable little duck costumes, as soon as they opened their faux duckbills, their ruse would have been discovered. Even by me, and I’m not known as the town genius.

Ducks, by any other name, quack. They have tails they wag from time to time. Orange, webby feet. Waddle. Toss a duckling in the water and it swims around happily.

Toss a crowling in the water and what follows is a frantic scene followed by sinking like a rock. I’m not an expert in crow parent-child relationships but I assume that its parents will sit in a tree by the shore and Caw! Caw! Caw! in dismay. Not being much for swimming, that’s about the best they can do.

Ducks are ducks. Crows are crows. The difference is observable. Any ninny can tell the difference.

“Thanks, Ken for the amazing zoology lesson. But what does it all mean? I mean, what’s the point?”

Actually, I am, at this stage of my career, becoming fascinated with ornithology, that’s all. No wait, now I remember…allegory…metaphor…truth shrouded in mists of the eternal. Yeah, that’s it.

Recently I’ve noticed on Facebook, in blogs, and elsewhere a rash of comments, “statuses”, and articles expressing shock and outrage (not, it should be pointed out: shock and awe. That’s been done.) at the antics of certain segments of the “evangelical” arm of the church. We need to condemn their behavior, words, etc. We need to rise up and clean house. We need to…

Hey, check this out: Personal holiness as Job One (to the point of hiding one’s own brokenness from others)? Obsessed with safety and security against a dangerous and unpredictable world? Waiting excitedly for heaven? Wealth and its trappings proof of God’s blessing for a life well lived? Fear and/or hatred of anyone who believes differently, looks different, doesn’t fall in line with our (therefore God’s) ways? Ignore those who have less of whatever we have more of? Willingly, even joyfully, send our sons and daughters off to fight in quagmire wars against the infidel, for God and country? Take in, consolidate and protect what comes our way? Demand that our kids be like us? Make all issues us-and-them pitched battles? Build financial empire churches for God’s Glory? ETC.  Caw. Caw. Caw…caw, caw.

Willing to sacrifice personal safety and security so that others can participate in America’s vast wealth? Realize that about half the world’s Christians go to sleep hungry every night through no fault of their own? Embrace others, though different, as “us”? Abhor violence by nations as a shame and smudge on God’s name? Kindness and love, in tangible expression, as Job One? Take in, consolidate and give away? Unconcerned with heaven because we’re busy loving people now? Quack

[Editor’s note: Queue the tympanis, Bring up the horn section; the triumphal conclusion is at hand.]

Here’s a concept: when you hear, “Caw.” “Caw.” “Caw.” to the right; let it go. You know exactly what you’re hearing no matter how they self-label. We’ve got work to do.

It is potentially fruitful to spend time and energy on crows who claim crowness. Their self-label and reality match. Crows who claim duckness, however, are mostly a waste of time.

Almost nobody in Portland has gear for seventeen degrees because it never gets that cold here…except yesterday…and this week…maybe next.

So I was out with a couple of huge, IKEA bags jammed full of stuff. Socks, tarps, two sleeping bags, hoodies, hats, gloves and, best of all, hand warmers. At one point I ran across three guys huddled together in a small alcove, trying to escape the wind.

“You guys cold?” The cosmic absurdity of that query hit me just as the words left my mouth. Too late to retrieve them, though.  Then, “Want some handwarmers?”

Guy #1 took the four pair I handed him and, as I fumbled for more, gave one each to his buddies. Now he had two and the others had one each. #1 fiddled with the extra handwarmer, twirling it in his fingers uncomfortably. An imbalance. What to do? I gave four each to his friends and without a word they each handed one back  to their generous friend. Balance achieved!

I think there is a tincture of Jesus in most, maybe all, people. It shows itself in the form of love, sharing, taking in then giving away, even to our own hurt. Would these guys name the name of Jesus as their Lord and Savior, World Without End, Amen? I don’t know, I didn’t ask, but I observed His life coursing through their veins in that moment.

It happens often in downtown Portland, Oregon among the “least” of these.

I’ve noticed over the years that some churches take in (money, talent, goods, etc.), consolidate, and protect. Others take in, consolidate, and give away. Which one do you attend?

I’ve noticed over the years that some people take in (money, talent, goods, etc.), consolidate, and protect. Others take in, consolidate, and give away. Which one are you?

Which one looks most like Jesus?

So there’s this church in Ventura, Central Presbyterian, that has come up with a novel idea for divvying up their finances

Their income is divided into three segments: onsite, offsite and farsite. Onsite pays the expenses for the staff, programs and campus of the church. Offsite offers grants to anyone in the local Ventura community who has a good idea that needs implementing. Farsite spends money overseas.

Offsite has raised about a million dollars so far. Not a bad chunk of change.

George Barna estimates that about 90% of churches spend no money at all outside their walls.

Hooray for these amazing folks!

We at HOMEpdx (Jeff in Santa Barbara, Dustin in Seattle, Kathy/Karl in Denver, others, also) are often sidelined and discounted using the phrase, “They do that.” “That” is homeless/poor ministry for those people. Certainly that doesn’t apply to us, does it?

Here’s what we do: we attempt to provide the most elemental, universal needs of the human heart. The need to be recognized and valued, cherished and loved in a community atmosphere of Jesus’ safe presence. We don’t get around to much else because just doing that kind of that takes most of our energy.

If you and/or your church are embroiled in the less basic stuff that takes up much of most churches’ time, energy and money I ask, “Oh, you do that?”