The First Shall Be Last

A couple of days ago, a well known ministry leader in our community payed a short visit to Advance. We began discussing the Hope IV housing program. My wife, daughter, and I live in University Place, which is one of these "rebuilds." It sits where Lamar Terrace used to be. He told me that after a couple years, these properties revert from private management to MHA management. Despite my degree in Economic Community Development, my residence at University Place, and working in the "inner-city," I didn't know this. I felt embarrassed and frustrated with myself because I couldn't "perform" or say the right thing in front of someone I considered to be important and influential.

The next day, as I started Financial Freedom, I asked a class member to pray. He also wanted to share a piece of scripture. I reluctantly conceded; you must understand, I had a lot of material to cover and not much time. He proceeded to read, not a verse, but an entire Psalm. My frustration grew. For him reading was a laborious process.

I began to notice that he was gradually inching toward me. Then this 50 year old man did the unthinkable. He began to point to the words he didn't know and asked me to whisper them so he could continue reading. A 50 year-old man, humbly reading the Word of the LORD by allowing a 23 year-old kid to help him.

Serving with people who are on the margins of society by our traditional standards forces us-forces me-to face aspects of my own brokenness and poverty that I would rather ignore. For me, those areas are my arrogance, my pride, and self-reliance. This 50-year old man, by his humility, shined light into the darkness of my life. We must not forget that the people that our world considers to be outsiders, lowly, irrelevant, poor are at the center of the LORD's coming Kingdom. We ignore them, not only at their expense, but at our own. I am reminded that the Parable of the Rich Young Ruler, in Luke 18, is not a plea from Jesus to serve the poor. It is an invitation for the rich young man to receive healing.

brandon@advancememphis.org