You have not moved to this side of town to rescue the inner city. Rather, you’re all getting yourselves saved a little at a time by doing life together across lines of difference.
“When I was in prison, ” Jesus said in Matthew 25, “you visited me.” We find Jesus in prison because prison is where Jesus has established residence here on Earth. We don’t visit to take Jesus to inmates. We follow Jesus into the hell of America’s prison because this is the way God has revealed for us to receive the gift of resurrection life.
Last night I was reading a book by a young woman who moved to Africa as a teenager. Her story stirred up a lot of feelings, both positive and negative, for me.