While our Alumni Council was meeting last week in Chicago, the big local news was Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s speech on the epidemic of violence. “The danger we face today,” he said, “is that the gangs in the city of Chicago are willing to be that role model, they’re willing to be that mentor, they’re willing to be that family. To reverse the rising tide of violence, we need to provide hope instead of desperation and caring adults instead of gang addiction” (Chicago Tribune, September 23; 8).
He proposed 970 more police and $36 million for more mentoring programs. What the mayor didn’t say, though I trust he knows, is the opportunity, the duty for congregations to make a difference in their communities. That’s the centuries’ old mandate to God’s people. “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God. You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:9-10, 18).
Unlike many church meetings, our Alumni Council was energizing. We met at St. James Lutheran Church and School, and Pastor Bob Donovan showed how St. James is making a difference in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. Community involvement is not easy, but did you hear yesterday’s Gospel, about the rich man who didn’t care for poor Lazarus at his gate? (Luke 16:19-31). “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
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