I know I said I would update sooner but I didn't. I do want to pick up where I left off though. I went with Dr. Perkins to grab some dinner and then we sat down to eat and to talk. He asked me a few more questions about Bonhoeffer, Perkins, and my dreams for the future and then he began talking about the community and how he loves to reach out to the children. He stopped for a brief second and just watched the kids run around the playground and others on the basketball court. He talked about how they were the future and all they needed was a little bit of love and leadership.
A man then walked up to Dr. Perkins and started talking to him about a ministry that he was a part of. I'm going to skip over this part of the story and combine it with another man that came up later in the evening. Fast forward to when the man left and we finished dinner. Dr. Perkins got up and I followed him like a little puppy dog to another table. Seated at that table were two women that looked to be in maybe their early 20's. One had two children and the other had three. Dr. Perkins assured them that they were welcome any time and that he hoped that they come back. He then shared his chips with one of the women's three year old son and commented on how beautiful the child was. About that time a man walked up to him and introduced himself. This is the second encounter that I will leave for another post.
When the man finally left so had the two women with their children. Dr. Perkins turned to me and said those two women are on the edge, they are near prostitutes if not fully in prostitution. They had five children between the two of them with five different fathers. He then told me that he loved them. He said he loves being surrounded by people like that. He said that for most of his adult life he had been surrounded by religious people and through all of those experiences he came to find that he isn't too fond of the religious people. No, it's not the religious that he wants to be surrounded by but the broken. He wants to spend the remaining year, months, or days of his life in a place a redemption.
He compared his longing for that of Henri Nouwen who decided to move to a L'Arche community in Canada where he worked with the developmentally disabled. Dr. Perkins doesn't mean that he wants to move away to a place like a L'Arche community but he wants to reach out and surround himself with broken people so that he can live, learn, and grow with them. So that he can be a redemptive love. He said that those two women represented many in the community who have sought out sex to fill a void. They then have children in hopes to show children a love they never have. They think that they an account for the lack of love they received by sharing it with their children. It is at that point that they realize because they have never truly felt love, they are incapable of sharing it. This then continues a vicious cycle of people incapable of loving and being loved.
Dr. Perkins then feels called to share love. To share the love of God. It all starts much like it did that night at the picnic table. He'll walk up to them, ask their names, ask if they are enjoying themselves, and then asks them to return. Dr. Perkins asked nothing from them but their company. All he wants to do is to love them. He has no agenda. He doesn't want sex, he doesn't want to abuse them, he doesn't want to demean them, he doesn't want to tear them down. He just wants to love them, and love them dearly.
Isn't this what we're all called to do? Didn't Jesus say that the greatest commandments are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Didn't Jesus love indiscriminately? Didn't Jesus feel called to the broken and marginalized? Didn't he say radical things like blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the hungry, the thirsty, and those who mourn? Who did Jesus surround himself with? I'll give you a hint. It wasn't the religious type.
Peace,
Brandon
P.S. I could probably write 20-30 posts just in the two days I spent with Dr. Perkins. I'm not sure how many I am going to end up writing but I promise I will keep them coming. I know that these posts can't even begin to portray how much I learned and grew from having met Dr. Perkins but I hope they can be a taste. It may seem like I'm putting Dr. Perkins up on some high pedestal and maybe I am but it is only because he first humbled himself and allowed God to work through him and God still continues to bless Dr. Perkins and his ministries.
Showing posts with label John Perkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Perkins. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Listen and Learn
Thursday morning I left Atlanta and headed to Jackson MS. In Jackson MS is the Spencer Perkins Center which houses the ministries of John Perkins. For those who do not know who John Perkins is you should look up information on him and definitely pick up a book or two or seven from him. I got there later in the afternoon and checked into my room and got a quick tour and explanation of the center. I then ran into Dr. Perkins and he came up to me and said "Hey guy, who are you?" Dr. Perkins explains that he doesn't have much time left so he likes to get to the point. I quickly explained to him who I was, where I was coming from, and why I was there. He said that they were having a large gathering later and that he would sit down and talk with me then.I headed back to my room and took a nap and did some reading before the gathering.
5:30 rolled around and I went outside to see probably over a hundred kids running around and playing. I talked with some of the volunteers until at 6:00 they gathered the kids together to sing some songs and listen to a guest speaker. The speaker talked about staying true to yourself and being confident. After he was finish speaking Dr. Perkins stood up and thanked him for speaking and said that he had faith in the kids in front of him. He has faith that this generation has the ability to be a post-racist society. He said that the majority of his life he has faced oppression merely because of the color of his skin. There were many people and unfortunately are still people who stupidly hate people simply because they don't have a desire to get to know them. Some people go through they lives choosing hatred over love and in the process trap themselves in the hatred. He talked about getting beaten to the verge of death in a Brandon MS jail simply because the color of his skin and that he was fighting for freedom and rights for his fellow people.
He continued on to say that even though he has been through many trials, he has faith in the future. He has faith in humankind that we can turn around and better our lives and the lives of those around us. We can choose to love and not to hate. We can love indiscriminately in the face of those who hate indiscriminately. We need to continue to know where we're coming from and know where we're headed.
He then prayed a blessing over the children and over the meal and the kids ran off to get food. I walked up to Dr. Perkins to once again introduce myself. I told him a little more about the trip and about both the Epworth Project and the New Monastic House that I hope to start when I return to Columbia, SC in the summer of 2013. He asked me a question about Bonhoeffer and before I could finish my answer he started talking about the community there in MS. I started to finish my answer and he again started talking about his experiences. I started to get frustrated and then realized how ridiculous that was. It didn't matter what I had to say or what I had to share, one of the most influential men in Christian Community Development was sharing with me what he had learned over the last 80 years. Nothing I was going to say to him was going to be of much importance but everything he shared was loaded with wisdom. From that point on for the next 24hrs I was going to listen to whatever he had to say and only speak when necessary. That is something that I do not always practice but the next 24hrs would be a great lesson in humility.
Peace,
Brandon
5:30 rolled around and I went outside to see probably over a hundred kids running around and playing. I talked with some of the volunteers until at 6:00 they gathered the kids together to sing some songs and listen to a guest speaker. The speaker talked about staying true to yourself and being confident. After he was finish speaking Dr. Perkins stood up and thanked him for speaking and said that he had faith in the kids in front of him. He has faith that this generation has the ability to be a post-racist society. He said that the majority of his life he has faced oppression merely because of the color of his skin. There were many people and unfortunately are still people who stupidly hate people simply because they don't have a desire to get to know them. Some people go through they lives choosing hatred over love and in the process trap themselves in the hatred. He talked about getting beaten to the verge of death in a Brandon MS jail simply because the color of his skin and that he was fighting for freedom and rights for his fellow people.
He continued on to say that even though he has been through many trials, he has faith in the future. He has faith in humankind that we can turn around and better our lives and the lives of those around us. We can choose to love and not to hate. We can love indiscriminately in the face of those who hate indiscriminately. We need to continue to know where we're coming from and know where we're headed.
He then prayed a blessing over the children and over the meal and the kids ran off to get food. I walked up to Dr. Perkins to once again introduce myself. I told him a little more about the trip and about both the Epworth Project and the New Monastic House that I hope to start when I return to Columbia, SC in the summer of 2013. He asked me a question about Bonhoeffer and before I could finish my answer he started talking about the community there in MS. I started to finish my answer and he again started talking about his experiences. I started to get frustrated and then realized how ridiculous that was. It didn't matter what I had to say or what I had to share, one of the most influential men in Christian Community Development was sharing with me what he had learned over the last 80 years. Nothing I was going to say to him was going to be of much importance but everything he shared was loaded with wisdom. From that point on for the next 24hrs I was going to listen to whatever he had to say and only speak when necessary. That is something that I do not always practice but the next 24hrs would be a great lesson in humility.
Peace,
Brandon
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