Takin' it to the streets........

"Takin' it to the streets..."  The Doobie Brothers sang it in the 60's.  It would be a good motto (if not a tune) for the people of God.  Taking it out there - out of our quiet sanctuaries, which were only ever meant to be a temporary respite - and back out to the streets.

Oh yes! We do that every week.  We leave the Sunday place and travel to the Monday place and that is where we live 6.75 days of the week.  Then why does it sound like such a radical idea?  Jesus took it to the streets; in fact, Jesus was 'itinerant' which is a fancy word for 'homeless.'  Jesus talked to the street people, the tax collector and the woman caught in adultery and the father with the demon possessed son.....all those street characters.  Jesus ate with all kinds - every kind - of person, and offered them healing and hope and salvation.

In the streets was where Jesus did his ministry because his message and gift of salvation was first good news to those who lived lives of darkness and desperation, those who were hungry for any good word, those who needed most to know that, in God's eyes and in God's plan for all creation, they were not losers but beloved children.

Don't know how we managed to forget the connection between Jesus and the street people, but there it is.  And there is where we need to be also.

Sing along with me, 'we're takin' it to the streets.....'