Reading to Save...Money and Lives

There are staggering statistics related poverty and illiteracy. "85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate." Unfortunately illiteracy does not just affect juveniles. The way prisions know how many cells to have in the near future is to look at the reading levels of 4th graders. "Two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare." Two- thirds! That does not give much hope for those students who makes it past the 4th grade still not reading proficiently. But, we most not give up hope. It is never too late to learn to read. The process may be slow and challenging but the reward is great. Working with high school students who are at high risk of dropping out, a lack of reading skills is common. In fact, during my first year working at Church Hill Academy, an alternative school in the East End of Richmond committed to training and equipping students with the skills necessary for becoming responsible, virtuous, and articulate men and women, 7 out of my 9 students were not reading at grade level and two of them were reading at pre-primer level (Pre-K). They were 15 and 17 years old and could not read Dr. Seuss. Reading is one of the major requirements to being a successful student and citizen. There are success stories though. One of our Academy students, age 15, has improved his reading level by one grade over this past school year and numerous levels in spelling! The Academy’s reading specialist recently tested this student to see his progress. He has shown measurable progress in both areas, specifically in spelling and reading fluency and comprehension. Another student has been with the Academy for three years and increased her reading level by 4 grades. She is 19 years old and will be 20 years old when she graduates high school. According to the Washington Literacy Council, “more than three out of four of those on welfare, 85% of unwed mothers and 68% of those arrested are illiterate. About three in five of America's prison inmates are illiterate.” Literacy not only opens the mind to foreign worlds and beautiful poetry, but it can free the individual to live a life free of poverty and incarceration. It is the greatest gift. And, it is not only a gift to the person learning to read but their families and us as taxpayers. "Penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help. This equates to taxpayer costs of $25,000 per year per inmate and nearly double that amount for juvenile offenders." Teaching others to read or supporting that cause will literally save lives from returning to prision and save your taxpayer dollars. Support literacy effort however you can in your area.

A Cathedraled Life

You wrote no lofty poems

That critics counted art,

But with a nobler vision

You lived them in your heart.

You carved no shapeless marble

To some high soul design,

But with a finer sculpture

You shaped this soul of mine.

You built no great cathedrals

That centuries applaud;

But with a grace exquistite

Your life cathedraled God.

Thomas Fessenden wrote this poem hopefully for his mother. I wonder if my son and other future children will feel the same way about my life.

Recently, my best friend and neighbor have been considering starting a Classical Christian school for our children (when they are of age) and for the other children in our inner city neighborhood. There is currently a Classical Christian school in Richmond, called Vertias. It is however, located 20 minutes away and is quite expensive. I know that my child's education would be worth that but there are other things to consider since committing to living in Church Hill and desiring growth and change for this neighborhood as well. Is it fair that since my husband has a successful career we can afford this school? Is it fair that I have a car and am able to stay at home with my son to transport him to school and be involved during the day? What about the many families that I would be driving away from each morning as they walk to one of the public schools in our area.

Many people who are familiar with classical education (if not, check out http://www.welltrainedmind.com/classical-education/) are skeptical that this could be successful in an inner city environment even with middle class educated families supporting the movement. However, after researching, there is a school that has both low, middle, and high income students from varying ethnic backgrounds. It is called Logos Academy in York, PA (www.logosyork.com). I am going with my family and my neighbors, Beth and Chris, to visit this school in May. It was started by two moms with young children who wanted a Biblical and rigorous education for their children and for all those around them.

I struggle with the idea of starting another school. Being a part of starting Church Hill Academy, an intervention high school for our neighborhood teens, I know the committment that it takes to start something and the lasting committment that it continues to take to make it a success. After having my son, I decided to stay home with him and work from home for CHAT. How do we, as moms, reckon with caring for our families, children, and homes while wanting to help those children around us who do not have the same advantages like the option to even stay home.

But not only the time committment of starting another school is to be considered. What about pursuing greatness in the schools that are already exist? Assisting the public school teachers, teaching there, and sending our children there. There are many families in Church Hill who are committing to this model. Growing up in NC, parents were just like those families. They, along with other families, committed to the public school system. We attending K-12 in the public school system, they ran the PTA, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the schools, and supported their efforts in any way possible. At this point, however, that is not the education I would want for my children. The mind has a great capacity that I believe a classical education will challenge and enlighten his ability to think critically and communicate ideas. This does not lessen my desire to have a quality education, whether public or private, for my neighbors and their children. Education in general is a gift to society that I want to help open to enrich the lives of our next moms, dads, teachers, workers, and leaders.

Will my life be building a "cathedral" for the community that could last for generations or will that effort pull me away from caring for my future children and other dreams I had to pursue like going to graduate school for social work, continuing to support Church Hill Academy, and helping young mothers. It is worth it? Are they the same efforts? Is living my life "cathedraled for God" displayed in building schools, having relationships with parents and students, and educating our future? I am assured that in both the answer is yes.

Failing the Next Generation

In response to my last post, I have continued to plow the land. My son is now 9 1/2 months old and one of the joys of my life. Struggling through post-partum depression after giving birth forced my hand to raise a white flag, ask for help, and seek the widsom of others. With medication, friends, and prayer, my post-partum depression is lifting. I feel free to be the mother I always wanted to be with my son and love him with the passion I always imagined that I would.

Plowing the land in my home does not just mean my son. My husband and I have intentionally moved into Church Hill of Richmond, an inner city neighborhood, with other families to simply be neighbors and love those around us. In the years that we have lived here, our lives have been changed. We have been forced to consider our community with every decision that we make about groceries, housing, health and exercise, and most discussed - education. While my son, Henry, is not even walking, I strive to research and plan his education for his well being. I have started a school in Church Hill for the high school participants of CHAT (Church Hill Activities and Tutoring www.chatrichmond.org) and wondered if Henry would one day attend that school.

As many of us know, education is one of the greatest tools in perserving and expanding a culture. Reading is of prime importance if we are to operate as a democratic country. Education is the cornerstone to all advancement of a people, a family, and a person. This is my concern as I stare into my community's bleak educational environment. WIth three public elementary schools in our neighborhood, there would seem to be many options. However, those schools are zoned for 5 out of the 7 housing projects in the city of Richmond. With little parental involvment, low expectations, and lack of preparation, the schools are failing. As a Christian and a lover of this community, I desire to see the education of my son and neighbors to be excellent not only for the sake of knowledge but to know the One who gives all knowledge.

As John Piper wrote....

The issue of earning a living is not nearly so important as whether the next generation has direct access to the meaning of the Word of God. We need an education that puts the highest premium under God on knowing the meaning of God’s Book, and growing in the abilities that will unlock its riches for a lifetime.

Currently, the environment of education in the East End of Richmond is failing our next generation. I want to take responsibility for that and be a part of the movement of change.

When You Want to Run

It always seems easiest to run. To run from what we are afraid of or to run to what we love. Let's not move slowly towards those things...lets run! I wanted to run and even today I thought of running. But, how do you run from yourself? From your life?

Somehow I think that if I start running it will take me to a new place where what I am running from no longer exist. But, that just isn't the case. There is only so far you can go. In fact, the furthest place you can come still has reminants of home, reminants of those things I so desparately wanted to run from. But, the truth is that I did not run. Luckily, there are usually people or your own desire for self-preservation that makes us remain and walk slowly until we realize that running can wait.

My favorite constellation is Pleiades. Pleiades is a summer constellation that displays the seven female children of Atlas, a Titan who held up the sky, and the oceanid Pleione, the protectress of sailing. Usually the naked human eye can only see six of the sisters during the summer months. The Greek poet Hesiod mentions the Pleiades several times in his Works and Days. As the Pleiades are primarily summer stars, they feature prominently in the ancient agricultural calendar. Here is a bit of advice from Hesiod:

"And if longing seizes you for sailing the stormy seas,

when the Pleiades flee mighty Orion

and plunge into the misty deep

and all the gusty winds are raging,

then do not keep your ship on the wine-dark sea

but, as I bid you, remember to work the land."

Longing had seized me to sail the stormy seas. I wanted to plunge. I wanted to flee. My route would have been taken in a car and I somehow thought I could leave the stormy seas behind. But, I took Hesiod's advice and kept my ship on land and decided to work the land. Working the land, my land - my family, my marriage, my mind - is scary. It is hard and it sometimes seems appealing to plunge into some other life. But, this is the land that God has given. He has given me a newborn son, a foster child who is in the hospital, and a husband who does all he can to be perfect for us all. My mind is full, my heart is heavy, and right now, the land is hard to work. But, I fall to the mercy of my Lord and beg him to show me how to work my land again.

Working Women July 10, 2006

As a college intern working for CHAT this summer, I have been assigned a high school intern who is also hired by CHAT. While they do not raise their financial support individually, their salary comes from the CHAT budget as well. They are required to meet with the college interns on a regular basis, do one hour of school work a day, complete a bible study, attend life skills classes that we teach, assist with the tutoring program, and pretty much just be our sidekicks for the summer. Imani Clark is my high school intern partner. She is 15 and going to be a freshman in high school starting in the fall. While the list of responsibilities seems quite structured, our times together have been quite a challenge to complete assignments, find a strong work ethic and understand her responsibilities as a leader within the Church Hill community. While I was incredibly frustrated the first few weeks with her lack of homework completion, her little capacity of follow directions, and her immature attitude towards sacrificing her comforts to be a part of the workings of CHAT, remembering a recent book I have read helped me to understand why it was so difficult for Imani to get on board with having a job and fulfilling the responsibilities that come along with that.

In William Wilson’s book entitled When Work Disappears, he explains the terrible cycle of little to no routine, poor work ethic, laziness, boredom that arises with joblessness. Without a job, there is no motivation for most of the day, there the little to no management of time, goals are lost, schedules are forgone, and the system of routine is forgotten. If this is the case with many of the mothers or grandmothers that are raising the children of Church Hill, there is no picture of what work is like. Unlike me, Imani does not have a picture of dad getting up with the sun, eating breakfast, reading the Bible, and heading off to work only to arrive with the setting of the sun feeling tired yet accomplished and purposeful. Work sets a purpose into a person, gives structure, and helps to build up self worth. Unfortunately that picture is not given for most living in the inner city. Without an image of what work is like, every assignment that I would give Imani seemed like the largest task imaginable. Reading for an hour a day is an impossible chore if there is no structure to your day. Once I realized the standpoint from which she was coming, it has made it easier to help her learn what it means to be a working woman, what it means to set a daily schedule, and what it means to fulfill the responsibilities of working. It is sad to know the potential of so many others like Imani in the neighborhood that if given the opportunity to learn the value of work but also hopeful at the alterations Imani can make on the generations soon to come after her.

I See Everyone the Same July 2, 2006

“I see everyone the same. In fact, everyone should just be purple in my eyes.” Yes, those were words that have come out of my mouth. Growing up in a racially divided yet diverse area seeing everyone “the same,” was given a hand clap and seen as the greatest form of acceptance and love of Christ. However, as my journey of racial reconciliation continues and my study of sociology grows, I am quickly being humbled by God that “seeing everyone the same” is not, in fact, at all how God sees each of his children. The reality hit home when at our City Vision Group today, Carolyn, who was leading the group on racial reconciliation in the city of Richmond, asked a follow up question to the statement of seeing everyone the same. She asked, “you see everyone the same as who?” The answer to that question is that we see everyone the same as us. As a white, upper middle class, southern female, that is my standard of measurement. I would expect everyone to live up to those mores and codes of culture in order to ever truly be like me. In my heart, I believe I want people to be like me. That would make this world easy. But only easy for me.

In fact, the term being “color blind” even reached popularity and continues to plague the way many people think of race relations. “If we could just get past race and start to see more than that about a person, we would be better off,” “I don’t see color when I see a person,” and “why cant we all just get along,” are all phrases that I have heard and said when thinking of race relations and how God wants us to handle this broken aspect of the fallen world. Carolyn even pointed out a song by Michael W. Smith, a christian recording artist, who sang a song entitled “Color Blind.” He asks…

“Why can’t we be color blind
You know we should
Be living together
And we’d find a reason and rhyme
I know we would
’cause we could see better
If we could be color blind”

Michael W. Smith, myself, and many others I know have claimed these same thoughts. Being color blind would just solve everything. God doesn’t really see color does he? Aren’t we all the same in his eyes? If that is how God sees us, then shouldn’t we look at other people the same way? Isn’t that what reconciliation is all about, seeing people as God sees them?

The way to start on the journey to racial reconciliation is to answer some of those questions posed above. A question that encompasses most of those thoughts and ideas is “what color will we be in Heaven?” Percy asked many of the CHAT kids, who are all black, that same question along with many others to create a racial reconciliation video tipping the edge of this major issue. When asked what color they would be in Heaven, some responded white, some black, one said brown. Do you think you will be the same color in Heaven? How would you feel beleiving that you would be changed into another race in Heaven?

“So, are there different races in Heaven?” one City Vision participant asked after watching the video. Revelation 7:9-10 answers that question…

^“9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

Every nation, tribe, people and language are standing before our God. What a picture of Heaven we are given in Revelation! Therefore, our motivation on earth should be to make that picture of Heaven a reality. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught the disciples to pray saying “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We, as God’s disciples, should bring His kingdom here to earth.

So how does that happen? How I bring the kingdom of Heaven onto earth regarding racial reconciliation and the multiethnic culture that God sees as so valuable. This can only be done by God’s love grace. Carolyn pointed out that in 2 Corinthians 5 Paul explained one part of creating Heaven on earth through the message of reconciliation:

^“14For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. ¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

But this message of reconciliation is hard. As I talk to a friend of mine from home, we talk about how we hate the city and would rather live in the wide open spaces of the country. I have had a house picked out on the county line since I was 10 years old. It is a beautiful white house in a wide open space with a lake and a front porch. What more could any good North Carolinian ask for? And as much as I prayed to God for that house on the county line, I also prayed to God to be a part of His will on this earth. Part of his will is serving the poor, reconciling people to Him, and loving my neighbor. That is what reconciliation means. It means stepping outside of what is comfortable, giving up what I thought I wanted, and intentionally forming relationships that serve our loving and powerful God.

Is that easy? No, it is not easy. But are we as Christians suppose to go after what is easy. Take a look at the major players in the Bible. Did they go after easy? Did God call them to walk to easiest route, to fight the easiest battles, or teach the easiest lessons? No. God called his follows to take risks, to challenge society, to love regardless, to take up our cross and follow him. That means as followers of Christ we should be a part of righting the wrong of race relations in America. It means moving to places where we are the minority and loving those around us. It means using our money for serve others. It means making the gospel a reality. That is what reconciliation is about. That is what Christ is about. It may not be easy but we are Christians should not be about what is easy but be about bring the kingdom of Heaven to earth despite the cost.

The New City June 25, 2006

During our City Vision Group meeting today, Cory focused on the city. He entitled it “An Urban Journey from the Broken City to the New City.” Since these meetings are mostly geared towards people who live outside of Richmond city limits, I was interested to see how this discussion was going to go. By starting the study with the idea of the broken city, we looked at the very first city; Enoch was started by Cain, a murderer. The second city Babel tried to build a tower so high that they could reach heaven to make a name for itself. As one woman pointed out, as she was growing up, these were the passages used to support the idea that Christians should not be in the cities. They were places of sin and immorality.

However, the Bible also paints a glorious picture of the redeemed city. Numbers 35 describes the cities as a place of justice where a fair trial can occur. Psalm 107 reminds us that as the people cried out to the Lord when they were hungry, thirsty, and tired that the Lord “delivered them in their distress…[and] He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.” Other passages in Numbers explain how the cities were the cultural and commercial centers. And most importantly, Psalm 122, a song of ascent, shows how Jerusalem is a place of worship and faith.

Psalms 122: I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!" ² Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! ³ Jerusalem, built as a city which is bound firmly together, ⁴ to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD. ⁵ There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. ⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! "May they prosper who love you! ⁷ Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers!" ⁸ For my brethren and companions' sake I will say, "Peace be within you!" ⁹ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.

Here, a new picture of what cities are like is painted for Christians. The city is the place of refuge, a place of culture, a place of commercialism, and a place of worship. It is where the temple was located. Great city walls were built as a protection around the city. To be inside those city walls was an assurance of peace, protection, and hope for prosperity. Having been to Israel, a clear idea of the power of those city walls is vivid in my mind. Riding up to the city of Jerusalem, reading the songs of ascent, and feeling the awesome power of the city on the hill was and still is overwhelming. There was power there. There was hope there. And having had the opportunity to walk to the city walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, I can see why people wanted to be within those walls.

But just like Jerusalem could never be the city that God intended it to be, cities today cannot seem to illustrate the redeemed cities God described throughout scripture. It is always hard when my grandmother comes to visit me in Richmond. She remembers coming here as young women with her husband and going out to the theater on Broad, shopping at Miller & Rhodes, and spending the night at the John Marshall Hotel. The city of Richmond was thriving with activity in the city. Now though, when she sees those dilapidated buildings, the harsh reality of the changing city is even more apparent to her. It saddens her to see such a change happen to what she describes “a vibrant, fun city.”

What happens over the years? How do these buildings become abandoned? How do the theaters, shops, and hotels move out into the suburbs? A lot of it has to do with economics, housing, and finances. Where the money lives, there the businesses go as well. With the white flight into the suburbs, the changing economy to be strongly service based, and the largest amounts of wealth residing outside of the city, little investment is being made inside the city walls. This is exactly the opposite of what is painted in the Bible as the redeemed city. The city now leaves people without refuge, without justice, without cultural and commercial development, and without places of worship that actually serve the community around it.

So what do we do? What is our responsibility as Christians to make the cities around the country resemble the cities of the Bible God used to honor him? We invest. Let me clarify because investment means more than spending money. We invest in people, we invest in businesses in the city, we invest in the criminal justice system, we invest in the school board. We invest in the churches serving the inner cities, we invest in historic restoration projects, and we invest in making this world look like heaven. Revelation 11: 15 explains that at the end of time “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign for ever and ever.” I think it is time we started making the kingdom of this world more resembling of the kingdom of our Lord quickly.

I use the word quickly with hesitation though. While there is urgency to spread the gospel, heal the broken hearted, tend to the widowed, we must not, as Christians, ever been looking for a quick fix for our friends, our family, our schools, and especially our cities. I find it an easy trap to enter when people from the outside, myself included, enter the city claiming to have all the answers. I call those people the suburban superheroes. They are the people who grew up jaded by the declining inner city and moved the newly constructed suburbs nearly 50 years ago. This suburban super hero though is not in the mix of a changing culture where my generation is focusing on enacting the justice to the cities that has been lost for years. So what is the suburban superhero’s place in this justice movement? For them, they see their middle to upper middle class professionalism as the answer the city’s hopes. Put some money here, create a program there, and pray for “those people” to come to know Jesus and bam, problem solved. Wrong. No matter what color the suburban superhero makes his or her cape, they cannot be Richmond’s savior. Batman, Superman, Spiderman – they were all created. They are not real. Superheroes do not exist. There is one savior, one person who can save us and one person who can make us into a new creation. That person is Jesus and if we ever lose sight of that, we will only be strange fat white people wearing capes.

So plead with God to help you learn how to invest correctly. It might mean giving of your time, your energy, or your money. If we are to be truly effective in creating a city that resembles God’s idea of a redeemed city, it will most likely mean investing our lives. It will mean taking in a teenager who is pregnant and has no where to live. It will mean “adopting” recently released inmate and helping them start a new life. It will mean intentionally forming relationships with people who are not like you. It will mean walking out the gospel every day. And even then, we do not receive capes or a superhero status. We do however receive a welcoming into the family of God.