Thereupon the Spirit sent him away into the wilderness, and there he remained for forty days tempted by Satan. He was among the wild beasts; and the angels waited upon him. Mark 1: 12-13

Yesterday a small group of us traveled to Amazing Grace Lutheran church in East Baltimore. We passed the tremendous complex that is Johns Hopkins Hospital and continued east. Soon, boarded-up houses were everywhere. Trash on the street corners and alleys. People hanging in foreboding groups. But as we drove up to Amazing Grace, there was a sense of hope. Stewart+ spoke about giving up hope one Lent in his college days. When it comes to our inner cities, it is easy to feel like giving up hope. Bryan and I saw the movie Boys of Baraka recently. It is about a now-defunct school in Kenya that taught middle school age boys from the streets of Baltimore--to give them a chance at getting out of poverty and hopelessness. There were many moments of hope in the movie, but at the end, I left with an overwhelming sense of frustration and sadness. The school had closed and some of the boys that had at one time had such hope for their future began to be taken back by the life of the streets. On Sunday, I came to Amazing Grace with this on my heart---how can God's love and justice break in? It seemed bigger than any good Christian work--it seemed hopeless.

Yet, at Amazing Grace, my hope was renewed. Over a Lenten lunch of soup and salad in the basement, members from Amazing Grace spoke of how they had hope. The parish mission is to work to keep housing for all economic levels in the east end of Baltimore near Amazing Grace. Rather than let high end developers carry the day, Amazing Grace members have worked together to speak to power in the hopes that elderly members and low-income families can remain in their community. In the meantime, a parish nurse insures that these members receive health checks and care. After our lunch, we walked up and out to the back of Amazing Grace and there was a labyrinth and community garden. In those discarded city lots, God's hope was overflowing! Murals and painted telephone poles gave notice that hope blooms at Amazing Grace year in and year out. As we walked the labyrinth, a man ran by, looking to be in some trouble. Yet, the gathered faithful allowed me to know that love will win the day---maybe just not on my immediate time frame, but like the seeds in the community garden, in God's time, hope blooms free. The angels of Amazing Grace have allowed me to go on in the wilderness. And that is enough.

Text: Mark 1

Pondering: Where have you lost hope? How do you find it once again? What angel has ministered to you in a time of hopelessness?

In Christ's Love,