To start I want to give a little intro about Open Door and what it does. Open Door Fellowship began as a church meant to minister to the urban population of Denver, such as the homeless that unmistakably populate the streets. It's designed as a welcoming environment to show the urban population their value in God's eyes. Open Door Ministries was the natural outflow of a church whose main goal is to reach these people with the love of Christ and form long-term relationships.
You can learn more about Open Door Ministries HERE. They're doing some really cool stuff downtown!
What drew me to this place was the proximity to my own home. Living in north-east Aurora, I've driven down Colfax countless times and spent a large portion of my time hanging out in Denver. Denver is a place close to my heart. Having spent so much time here, I have come into contact with quite a few homeless people, always desiring to show them love but not knowing exactly how to do that without giving them handouts. I know the spots to avoid and I know that the city can be a dangerous place. But I am tired of being afraid of Denver and the people in the city. I am going into this internship eager to get used to Denver and ecstatic to get to know the stories of some of the people I would normally avoid eye contact with and rush by.
What drew me to this place was the proximity to my own home. Living in north-east Aurora, I've driven down Colfax countless times and spent a large portion of my time hanging out in Denver. Denver is a place close to my heart. Having spent so much time here, I have come into contact with quite a few homeless people, always desiring to show them love but not knowing exactly how to do that without giving them handouts. I know the spots to avoid and I know that the city can be a dangerous place. But I am tired of being afraid of Denver and the people in the city. I am going into this internship eager to get used to Denver and ecstatic to get to know the stories of some of the people I would normally avoid eye contact with and rush by.
During my time at ODM I will be working primarily with the youth program and the early learning center. Though I haven't done too much with either ministry yet, I am sure I will be writing about these two ministries very soon.
Until I get started with my normal responsibilities here, however, I have been in training with the other interns. There are 9 of us working in various ministries. We come from all across the country and from all different walks of life; so it's been really neat getting to know each of these people and how they ended up doing this internship. These training days have focused on the history of Open Door Fellowship/Ministries and the expectations they have for us this summer. These last few days have been jam packed with a lot of different awesome things that have made me think about the character of God and my place in his ministry. But, I'm only going to focus on one of these things so I'd love to tell you more about all the others if you ask me!
On the first day, we went on a prayer walk all around Open Door. We stopped by a lot of different spots around the area, our guide sharing some specific stories at each stop. There were far too many for me to share on this post; in fact, I can't even remember the specifics of all of them. But one specific part immediately caught my attention and hasn't left me alone since. It was near the beginning of the prayer walk; we were standing in an alley behind the post office by some dumpsters. This area was littered with... well... litter. The walls of the dumpster and the post office were covered in graffiti. We stopped to talk about gang activity in homeless youth. The man leading our walk asked why these people tag wherever they go.
On the first day, we went on a prayer walk all around Open Door. We stopped by a lot of different spots around the area, our guide sharing some specific stories at each stop. There were far too many for me to share on this post; in fact, I can't even remember the specifics of all of them. But one specific part immediately caught my attention and hasn't left me alone since. It was near the beginning of the prayer walk; we were standing in an alley behind the post office by some dumpsters. This area was littered with... well... litter. The walls of the dumpster and the post office were covered in graffiti. We stopped to talk about gang activity in homeless youth. The man leading our walk asked why these people tag wherever they go.
I had never considered before exactly why they do it. I just knew that tagging was vandalism and it was annoying when names and symbols were scrawled on the fences and garage doors of my neighborhood.
"They tag to be noticed," he said.
These individuals are longing for someone to know they exist, to know they are there. And so they write their names wherever they go so it's impossible to ignore their presence in the world. The very act of graffiti removal is acknowledgment of their presence.
This alone was enough to make me think. But our guide took it one step further.
"God is a tagger."
What? These taggers are gang members. How can this man compare God to these taggers?
As I chewed on it the rest of the day I began to realize what he could have meant.
God demands to be noticed. He writes his name wherever he has been and his presence is unmistakable. You can try to power wash him off the walls of your heart or paint over his signs on the doors of your soul but he is still there and his name will always come back to you.
Don't get it confused- God does not need your pity. He is not desperately hoping to be noticed like some of these taggers are. But his presence is unmistakable and permanent. And he will be noticed.
Another important aspect of this concept of God as a tagger brings me to Matthew 25:31-45. This passage is the one usually brought up when someone is talking about providing for the poor. Just a quick summary of this passage:You got your sheep and you got your goats. God is separating them during the final judgement. After he lets all the sheep into Heaven, God's turns to the goats and says, "Hey I was in need and you didn't help me." And the goats are like, "What we never saw you in need." And God says, "Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." These goats represent the people were not following him, or those who said they were but didn't act like it.
God wants us to look at those who are lost and broken with as much compassion and love as we would if it was God himself in that situation. Isn't that crazy?
I encourage you to think about these concepts as I continue to process them. As always, I would love to know your thoughts as conversation is a key part in any learning process.
I'm hoping to be able to publish a blog at least once a week! So be on the lookout for that!
I love you all!
-Amanda
"They tag to be noticed," he said.
These individuals are longing for someone to know they exist, to know they are there. And so they write their names wherever they go so it's impossible to ignore their presence in the world. The very act of graffiti removal is acknowledgment of their presence.
This alone was enough to make me think. But our guide took it one step further.
"God is a tagger."
What? These taggers are gang members. How can this man compare God to these taggers?
As I chewed on it the rest of the day I began to realize what he could have meant.
God demands to be noticed. He writes his name wherever he has been and his presence is unmistakable. You can try to power wash him off the walls of your heart or paint over his signs on the doors of your soul but he is still there and his name will always come back to you.
Don't get it confused- God does not need your pity. He is not desperately hoping to be noticed like some of these taggers are. But his presence is unmistakable and permanent. And he will be noticed.
Another important aspect of this concept of God as a tagger brings me to Matthew 25:31-45. This passage is the one usually brought up when someone is talking about providing for the poor. Just a quick summary of this passage:You got your sheep and you got your goats. God is separating them during the final judgement. After he lets all the sheep into Heaven, God's turns to the goats and says, "Hey I was in need and you didn't help me." And the goats are like, "What we never saw you in need." And God says, "Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." These goats represent the people were not following him, or those who said they were but didn't act like it.
God wants us to look at those who are lost and broken with as much compassion and love as we would if it was God himself in that situation. Isn't that crazy?
I encourage you to think about these concepts as I continue to process them. As always, I would love to know your thoughts as conversation is a key part in any learning process.
I'm hoping to be able to publish a blog at least once a week! So be on the lookout for that!
I love you all!
-Amanda
