serving the city

this ukrainian independence day (august 24th) we continued the tradition we began last year of a church picnic / beach clean-up day.  our desire in doing this is to "seek the good of the city" (Jer. 29:7) and to show people the love of God in a very tangible way.  we believe that such community service is a vital part of reaching the city for Christ.  we have also been going out this summer and doing street witnessing every week, but the fact is that those whose hearts are not yet open to the gospel, though it is the greatest "good" we could do them to share Jesus with them, do not yet perceive it as such.  in taking on projects to practically do good on a level people who are not yet saved can recognize, we are able to show them the love and care of God in a way they can understand it.  since in ukraine there is really no concept of "littering" or "pack it in, pack it out", the parks and beaches all look about like this:

after a little of this...

(and by little i mean over 1,000 gallons (4,000 liters) of trash collected...)
the beach looked like this:

we had quite a number of people stop us and say, "this is great!  i wish everyone cared about our city like this.  why are you doing this?"  we were able to answer them simply "because Jesus loves this city and we love Him."  a few of the responses were ones of shock: "really!?  you guys are from a CHURCH!?  that's the kind of church i'd visit."  our desire is to take on other community improvement projects as God leads us and resources allow.  one thing we've had on our hearts for a long time is to repair some of the dilapidated playgrounds around the city and in so doing serve the mothers and young children that play there.  please pray with us that these seeds of simple service would grow in people's hearts to the glory of God.

eco-indulgences

on my very long flight back from america, i couldn't help but notice an ad for the next stage in development of earth worship.  now delta has teamed up with the nature conservancy to add a "purchase carbon offset" option when you buy your airline ticket.  what this works out to being is essentially an "indulgence": you know you are about to commit transgression by jet fuel in purchasing an airline ticket, however, in order to placate your guilty conscience and appease the wrath of mother earth against you for such a heinous crime, you can now purchase ahead of time a "carbon offset", or as i like to call it, an "eco-indulgence". (copyright! :)  of course, just as the indulgences of the popes were really just excuses to line their pockets and licenses for people to sin, i can't see how buying a "carbon offset" is much more than an excuse to continue polluting "guilt free" and i can't help but wonder who's pockets are getting "greener" off the green guilt-trip.  i'm all for being a good and responsible steward of the creation God has entrusted to us (for a fascinating, Biblical basis and approach for being "green", listen to this.)  but the avatar-esque, can't-breathe-without-feeling-guilty-for-your-carbon-output mindset has led to a very interesting brand of religion.... and like any religion has led to its own brand of self-righteousness.  and in this case, i guess righteousness is for sale.