Contradictions and Downward Mobility

Pasadena seems like a city of contradictions to me thus far. Driving through Old Town at night and seeing all of the dressed up folks out for a night on the town, and then crossing the freeway into my neighborhood, the differences in income status are clear to see. Yet even within Northwest Pasadena, I feel the contradictions. From my window I see a man poking through the bus stop trash can, looking for recyclables. If I walk west on Washington, one of the main streets running by my apartment, I'll pass by where one of the first shootings happened this summer. Two of the parks closest to my apartment are known hang-outs for gangs. Yet if I walk half a block north, I see huge wealthy houses with roses growing madly over the fences. Scott McKey, the director for Northwest Neighbors, came over to meet my roommate Diamante and I last night, as we will be tutoring and mentoring youth through their network, and he was explaining that in northwest Pasadena, there are pockets of poverty right next to wealthy streets and houses. I'm just beginning to realize that, and it's a bit disorienting.

I've been reading the Irresistible Revolution, and it's been giving me a lot to think about. Shane writes, "we bring folks like them [suburban evangelicals] here to learn the kingdom of God from the poor, and then send them out to tell the rich and powerful there is another way of life being born in the margins. For Jesus did not send out the rich and powerful in order to trickle down his kingdom. Rather, he joined those at the bottom, the outcasts and undesirables, and everyone was attracted to his love for people on the margins. (We know that we all are poor and lonely anyway, don't we?) Then he invited everyone into a journey of downward mobility to become the least."

The gospels back up his words (Jesus certainly talked to wealthy tax collectors and religious men, but when it came to who he spent the majority of his time with, it was not the well-to-do or socially important), and in theory I am drawn to these words, but when it comes to my life practically speaking, it becomes harder. Am I willing or wanting a journey of downward mobility to characterize my life? I don't mean making foolish decisions that pull me down into want and hardship, but a life that chooses to join in solidarity with the poor, to hoard little and give generously. What do I do with the fact that I would never have gone to such good schools, traveled to so many wonderful places, or graduated from Willamette U. if my immediate and extended family hadn't had a certain degree of wealth to give me those opportunities? Can I call myself a follower of Jesus if I hang onto my stuff instead of following his words to share with his body, the people of God? What does sharing in my context look like? Coming from a middle-class background, I feel like I have simplified some things in my life, but when I'm honest with myself to look at local and global economics, the disparity between what I still have and what fellow members of the human family have is so huge, it flattens me. So what role does grace play--and what role does repentance that leads to action play? I am not quite sure what all this really looks like to practice in my life, but Jesus certainly turns the American Dream upside down.