Jesus threw an amazing banquet for the poor at People’s Park this past month. It was a beautiful picture of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and the body of Christ united in serving the community! There was an abundance of catered food and rich desserts and beverages for 250 people with food to spare. The presence of His Spirit was tangible in the peace and joy of the atmosphere: people praying for each other, worship going on, people washing each other’s feet, people opening up, people blessed!
Quotes and things that were seen and heard:
“A 14 month baby, Scarlet ate a full meal there with her mother and father. Scarlet had serious sunburns.. and Thanks to some of the people serving, Scarlet got some baby sunscreen, she got tons of baby wipes, and boxes of diapers!! I got the honor of changing her diaper.. feeding her, holding her.. playing with her.. and washing her and drenching her in sunscreen. She was very loved by her mom and dad :) After the father told his story about his family.. I thanked him for sharing.. he said it was nice to hear someone not say, shut the f*** up. :)” –Christina Hisel
o At the prayer station, students commissioned Paul as a light of God on the street.
o A non-Christian student from the Afro house co-op stayed afterwards for a long time to talk with a homeless community member about the Bible.
o Jamie Tan met a peer who grew up in a more violent neighborhood in Richmond, took a tour of the Berkeley campus and encouraged him in his education, gave him her Bible and prayed with him. He wants to go to her church =)
o A non-Christian student with a huge heart for social justice was involved, and saw this as an act of faith.
o A community member received prayer for grief over the death of a friend.
o “I was surprised at the people who were open to God. I spoke with one girl who wanted me to pray for healed relationships and a restored identity.” –Marisa Whitchurch
Church in action! “we felt alive! it was like air.. just finally being out there together with the body of Christ, loving and serving people, it felt so right to just see His body move with Him outside of the four walls of our church buildings! ahhhhhhhhhh! thank you, Jesus!!!” – Isaac Kim. “It was so much FUN to be a part of the Body of Christ coming together from all different churches and places, and seeing how He is working in places I have never been to. And then seeing the Body of Christ not just coming together but going out to the poor—that is something I guess I have seen before, but I have been longing for it to happen here and it did! Thank you Jesus! It was just great to be not of the world, but definitely in it. I want to do it again!” –Marisa Whitchurch
People in the park community had advised us not to set up tables and just dish out food in lines, as the custom is at the park, but as we sat down to share a meal on decorated tables, the Lord showed His value for people. Even an hour before it started someone advised, “Don’t waste your time setting up tables, it’ll be easier for you if you have people get in lines for the food and then you can just leave...that’s how it’s always done here at the park.” Afterwards, a man who has lived on the street in Berkeley for 30 years said to me, “Hahah you went against my advice, but this was the 1st time in People’s Park history, [people have been seated at decorated tables to be served food]!” – Mark Hawthorne (known as Hate Man). It was revolutionary, like Jesus =D
Reconciliation: Beautiful interactions between people across class boundaries. Beautiful interactions across church/fellowship/denominational boundaries (e.g. Christians praying for or with Christians from other ministries, working together to serve). “Today i chatted with an 18 year old for a good half-hour. we exchanged thoughts that inspired us both because we came from such different lifestyles. he shared about his favorite places, his travels, his hopes when he goes back to school again. and i got to share even about what faith means to me. and because of this context that we were in, allowed me to express with evidence that faith meant more than a thing to talked about, or philosophize about. it was something meant to be lived.” – Sarah Lee
The Spirit of the Lord Jesus brought an atmosphere of freedom, peace, and love. People in the community had warned us of things like potential knife fights over the food, but there was such peace/grace in people’s interactions. “This is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in People’s Park,” said one community member. At the park, people often said that they were just soaking it in, basking in it. Indeed, a beautiful scene.
- “Why are you doing this?” – people shared about Jesus, or directed this question to an event program that spoke of Jesus’ heart and invitation to the poor in Isaiah 55 and the beatitudes.
- “There was a couple moments when i got to stop, when i stopped serving or running around, and i got a good glimpse at the whole scene, that i realized...that i was witnessing God's kingdom here on earth. and i felt absolutely honored, blessed, privileged to have witness a bit of that reality.” – Sarah Lee
- “This was an amazing example for the freshmen in IV. I met Florence and others who really saw this outreach as an Act of faith.” –Vincent Lui
- “You inspire us older people,” said Paul. “There is so much joy.”
- “Now when I pass by the park it doesn’t seem as scary – the people are human!” –1st year student
- “One of the things that I saw that really touched me was the willingness for some of the volunteers to buy diapers and baby wipes for baby Scarlet who is just 13 months old. The family has a tough family background. On top of that the little girl's uncle and grandfather passed away on a boat accident back in November. It was such a blessing for the family to receive that gift and to have Scarlet taken care of. Her parents, Erin and Nanook are in people's park (from what I understand) about 3-5 times a week in the daytime during public school hours. They will be continuing visits to People's Park until 2011, when Scarlet's aunt graduates from highschool and they move to an area with lower living costs. Acts of love towards this family would do wonders.” – Kevin Tsui of YWAM
Foot-washing Station testimony: “The morning of the banquet, I was overcome with a great desire to wash the feet of the homeless. Prior to this, it was the last thing on my mind to even be near dirty feet. But after that morning, I was so excited to do it! At the banquet, I walked around the entire park asking anybody if they would like their feet washed. So many of them responded, "No, thank you, kind sister....but I can wash your feet if you like." Wow! And one homeless man named Matthias walked around with me and wanted to carry my tub of water for me every time I went to fill it up. Dang, who's helping who out, again? There was one man whose feet I was washing who commented on how he saw the generous, humble hearts of all the volunteers at the banquet. I distinctly remember him saying: "Sweetie, if you continue to have a kind and loving heart, you are going to do great things in the future. God bless all of you." Amen, amen, amen. Through God and His love, we are equipped to do such powerful, influential things! I honestly felt like they blessed me so much more than I blessed them. The day after the banquet, I was walking down Telegraph Avenue when I passed a group of homeless people who shouted, "Hey, you're the nice girl that wanted to wash my feet!" May we continue to ask the Lord to pour out His abundant love to the homeless and teach US how to love on them :)”
Prayer Station testimony: “As people wash their feet, serve food, talk to them, I saw them opening up to us, and not only homeless people, but also people who walked by, they wondered what was happening and walked toward us. It was the one lady that we prayed for her shoulder, (Naria?) So after giving them the program sheet and telling them to eat food, she saw bunch of us laying hands on a homeless man and praying at the table, and asked, 'oh, what are they doing?' So I simply said that they are praying, and asked her if she wants to receive prayer as well. and she said yes. I think it was because she was very open for all the things that we were doing. She was willing to open herself up and trust us, trust that we will not do any harm to her, but bless her. and me and brian, we prayed for stephan, who we talked before, and it was outside of the pray camp. and after that, another one was waiting to get prayed for, sitting at the pray camp. PTL :) I think everyone wants to get prayed for.”
// Behind-the-scenes
How it budded: Last year I was dreaming with God, and one of the dreams I wrote down was to throw a lavish banquet at People’s Park, because I was sick of seeing people who live on the street scavenging and begging for food and I just wanted to see them eat something that reflected their identity as God’s beloved. The Lord kept expanding this vision: from honoring the homeless who are devalued by society, to also feeding students who are spiritually poor, to also feeding Christians who pick at crumbs under the Lord’s table without realizing their Father is the Richest King!
As I started talking to people about this idea, I realized that it was truly on God’s heart. The day I wrote down this dream, Grace Kim gave me a prophetic word, “Go for it – He believes in the dreams in your heart and He wants to make them a reality by doing it together!” Christina and Ryan had both felt like God wanted to throw an event like this in years past, and Joe Oh also felt He’d been waiting to do it for a long time.
How did it come together? The Lord used this event to unite the Body of Christ in serving the community! At this banquet for the poor, I felt rich in community. I felt so blessed and thankful for all the various people and groups who were present or helping out. It especially struck me at two moments: 1) The day I realized I was witnessing a picture of unity in Christ, I was full of thanks, and that weekend the Lord doubled the funds TWICE in two days! 2) During the set-up time at the park, we circled up and held hands to pray for the event – it was an even blend of people from InterVarsity, the Ark, and ministries from the South Bay. The International House cooked 150 portions of catered food for us for free! Champa Garden restaurant cooked another 150 portions for a major discount. People brought over 40 bottles of Martinelli’s Apple Cider and baked an amazing amount of pies and desserts with love, including a wedding cake for Jesus! One group baked TWENTY beautiful pies. There were so many helping and willing hands at the event that I didn’t even have to ask anyone to do anything. Aside from moving through the Body of Christ, the Father carried this to completion by His grace. I am an INFP personality type and I neither like nor excel at logistical planning. There were key pieces missing all the way up until the start of the dinner! But the Father carried me, and it was like a dream come true!
The Lord has already been opening doors for future ongoing gatherings like this! Many people have been expressing interest in helping to make them happen.
Thank you all so much for being a part of this. Praise the Lord, His heart is so beautiful and His love is so abundant!
Pictures =D
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Banquet at People's Park, anyone?
King Jesus wants to invite people to His banqueting table – all who are physically poor, spiritually poor, emotionally poor, any kind of poor – and fill them with GOOD, RICH food that satisfies.
I feel like people who’re out on the street in Berkeley often eat leftovers, donated canned/stale food, or food bought with spare change or recyling refunds. Living like scavenging animals, or dependent on the pity of fellow humans. It’s a constant struggle against the lie, “I must belong here on the street, like the pieces of garbage floating around me.” But these are God’s children!! I want to see them eat something HIGH QUALITY for once – for the food they eat and the clothes they wear and the place they sleep and the dignity they feel to reflect their identity as God’s beloved.
At this banquet, hopefully we materially privileged folks will also see a picture of the Kingdom of God: a feast, paid in full by Jesus Christ, for anyone who knows they are poor and hungry. Hopefully you and I will be filled, too! This is also an invitation for those of us who may have been picking at crumbs under the Lord’s table or filling up on the world’s junk food, stunting our growth because we don’t live like OUR FATHER is the LORD OF THE UNIVERSE!
It’s not up to us to produce the food, but to take our place at His table and invite others to TAKE THEIR PLACE – AMEN THEY ALL HAVE A PLACE!!! – every person who is homeless, every student who’s thirsty for justice on campus, every one of us who’s hungry for love and community, purpose, self-worth, rest...whatever we are longing for, it all comes down to a hunger for JESUS even when a name for that empty space can’t be found. Let’s make His name known! This is the Jesus who said to the Samaritan woman waiting for a savior, “I am He,” the living water, the bread of life. Time to roll out the red carpet for King Jesus, as He is rolling out the red carpet for all who are thirsty!!
Here’s His invitation to all:
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine an milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”
-Isaiah 55
I feel like people who’re out on the street in Berkeley often eat leftovers, donated canned/stale food, or food bought with spare change or recyling refunds. Living like scavenging animals, or dependent on the pity of fellow humans. It’s a constant struggle against the lie, “I must belong here on the street, like the pieces of garbage floating around me.” But these are God’s children!! I want to see them eat something HIGH QUALITY for once – for the food they eat and the clothes they wear and the place they sleep and the dignity they feel to reflect their identity as God’s beloved.
At this banquet, hopefully we materially privileged folks will also see a picture of the Kingdom of God: a feast, paid in full by Jesus Christ, for anyone who knows they are poor and hungry. Hopefully you and I will be filled, too! This is also an invitation for those of us who may have been picking at crumbs under the Lord’s table or filling up on the world’s junk food, stunting our growth because we don’t live like OUR FATHER is the LORD OF THE UNIVERSE!
It’s not up to us to produce the food, but to take our place at His table and invite others to TAKE THEIR PLACE – AMEN THEY ALL HAVE A PLACE!!! – every person who is homeless, every student who’s thirsty for justice on campus, every one of us who’s hungry for love and community, purpose, self-worth, rest...whatever we are longing for, it all comes down to a hunger for JESUS even when a name for that empty space can’t be found. Let’s make His name known! This is the Jesus who said to the Samaritan woman waiting for a savior, “I am He,” the living water, the bread of life. Time to roll out the red carpet for King Jesus, as He is rolling out the red carpet for all who are thirsty!!
Here’s His invitation to all:
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine an milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”
-Isaiah 55
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
HOPE
i just got off the phone with a friend who is probably the most wounded person i have known in my life, and i was really messed up about it. i was asking God to come to her rescue but my head and my heart were still messed up for a while...but THEN I realized this strange laughter rising up in me, and God started showing me where he is taking her! it is a wonderful future. it is real, this future, already purchased by the sacrifice of Jesus.
to hope and pray could look like crossing your fingers and throwing some words out there. but to really hope in JESUS is to DANCE in the midst of injustice because you KNOW it will be made right. it is to see people suffering around you and all over the world and to LAUGH. HAHAHAHAHA I laugh at you, because you are not the ultimate reality. Jesus has already won, and now He's just working it out, with us as His partners! as His partners, we need to be on the same page with Him...we need to choose to hope in the strength of His love, so that we are not overwhelmed and paralyzed by pain, and we can be ready to receive the victory with hands open!
I'm thinking this is how we can partner with Him as He works out the restoration of the world:
1) Stepping into pain and healing it with His love. we can do this if we really believe love > pain. (a revelation from Angel Huang). I just learned this cool thing: in the days before Jesus came and dwelled with us, God told people to stay away from people who were "contaminated" by sin because they would be infected by it and die. sin was a contagious disease. but after Jesus died and came back to life for us all, He showed that His love is stronger than death itself! and suddenly, God started telling us to go and lay our hands on people with leprosy and they would be healed instead of the leprosy spreading, because that Love would be more contagious than any disease! but we must catch this Love, first...I can honestly say I'm glad I had that whole experience of depression/cutting/addiction, because it was a strong experience of His love when He stepped in and healed me, and now I have more of His love to pass on =] and also, I can finally really believe that God can heal anything in the world, because I've seen it first hand!
2) Prayer. I will pray and ask God to move and move us until justice and healing are a reality for everyone. "Prayer is opposing the current reality" (Jamie Tan). and I will ask You because "I believe that You move at the sound of my voice!" We move at the sound of Your voice, and You move at ours!! Amazing!!!
to hope and pray could look like crossing your fingers and throwing some words out there. but to really hope in JESUS is to DANCE in the midst of injustice because you KNOW it will be made right. it is to see people suffering around you and all over the world and to LAUGH. HAHAHAHAHA I laugh at you, because you are not the ultimate reality. Jesus has already won, and now He's just working it out, with us as His partners! as His partners, we need to be on the same page with Him...we need to choose to hope in the strength of His love, so that we are not overwhelmed and paralyzed by pain, and we can be ready to receive the victory with hands open!
I'm thinking this is how we can partner with Him as He works out the restoration of the world:
1) Stepping into pain and healing it with His love. we can do this if we really believe love > pain. (a revelation from Angel Huang). I just learned this cool thing: in the days before Jesus came and dwelled with us, God told people to stay away from people who were "contaminated" by sin because they would be infected by it and die. sin was a contagious disease. but after Jesus died and came back to life for us all, He showed that His love is stronger than death itself! and suddenly, God started telling us to go and lay our hands on people with leprosy and they would be healed instead of the leprosy spreading, because that Love would be more contagious than any disease! but we must catch this Love, first...I can honestly say I'm glad I had that whole experience of depression/cutting/addiction, because it was a strong experience of His love when He stepped in and healed me, and now I have more of His love to pass on =] and also, I can finally really believe that God can heal anything in the world, because I've seen it first hand!
2) Prayer. I will pray and ask God to move and move us until justice and healing are a reality for everyone. "Prayer is opposing the current reality" (Jamie Tan). and I will ask You because "I believe that You move at the sound of my voice!" We move at the sound of Your voice, and You move at ours!! Amazing!!!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
WHOOOO!!!
HAHAHAHAHA I can't stop smiling =] =] =]
for years, I faked most of my smiles and all of my laughter.
just last january, I was cutting myself worse than ever!
I didn't even want to walk out of my room, I was so depressed, and now I'm dancing all the way down highway 17!!!
God is so crazy awesome..I am so thrilled right now, getting back from a party with the Holy Spirit in Santa Cruz with yining and angel. We drank in so much JOY, it was such a contrast from drinking a ton of alcohol..and yet parallel in some ways!
At an AA meeting with an old friend last saturday, I was reminded of a lot of things about my past alcohol addiction:
This is for real. I could never drink enough alcohol and I would always be left empty, but this spiritual water that Jesus gives is LASTING and FILLING -- it becomes a deep well in our souls, a river of living water that will flow out to the nations and bring healing and new life wherever we go! I was so thirsty. I'm going to drink enough for a nation! because God is endlessly abundant in His love for us.
Before winter break, I was thinking about asking Vicky Nguyen to keep me accountable to not drink alcohol over break...but then I started to feel like maybe I didn't want to..maybe I wanted to re-attempt that whole, controlled drinking thing that recovered alcoholics can sometimes manage. But I had tried that in august when I turned 21, after three days of contemplating whether or not to try it (I think Jesus was hurt by how much I wanted to try it, because I had cheated on Him with Alcohol in the past, and it was as though my old lover had moved into town and I desperately wanted to go say hello) -- it didn't work at all..I couldn't stop for three days. So I realized that I would likely be drunk on alcohol every day if I opened that door even a crack during winter break, and it would separate me from God and from people.
I am prone to addiction. I am just so thirsty. I always need to have one addiction in my life -- something of which I just always want more and more all the time. something to FILL THE SPACE in my heart without tearing it up. Dear God, thank you for being my perfect addiction. The search has ended: I've found the One who satisfies. I am safe with you. You massage my heart and heal all the pain. you make it softer and more ALIVE instead of dead and desensitized. YOU LIVE IN ME and I am filled with JOY overflowing!
So instead, I realized I could ask my friend to keep me accountable to getting drunk EVERY DAY -- drunk in the Holy Spirit! drinking in so much joy and love in Jesus that I forget myself and do crazy things (who knew it had the same effects as alcohol =P). now I can love with abandon
// edit: hang over from drinking so much Holy Spirit = waking up with a smile already on my face, and bursting into laughter! hahaha this is crazy, but oh so awesome, I want you all to taste what I mean. He is good =]
for years, I faked most of my smiles and all of my laughter.
just last january, I was cutting myself worse than ever!
I didn't even want to walk out of my room, I was so depressed, and now I'm dancing all the way down highway 17!!!
God is so crazy awesome..I am so thrilled right now, getting back from a party with the Holy Spirit in Santa Cruz with yining and angel. We drank in so much JOY, it was such a contrast from drinking a ton of alcohol..and yet parallel in some ways!
At an AA meeting with an old friend last saturday, I was reminded of a lot of things about my past alcohol addiction:
- I was always so thirsty, I had never been able to resist drinking alcohol that was readily available. The only time I managed not to was the most victorious night of my life up to that point: Oct. 14 2007. I stayed up ALL night long, until the sun came up, struggling every minute to convince myself not to drink. I finally brought myself to pour it all down the sink so that it was out of reach.
- It was like I would WATCH my own hand reach for a bottle independent of my will, and the rest of me would desperately but helplessly try to stop it. On three occasions, my phone rang the second before my hand touched it, and I was able to stop..thank God. He always intervened in crazy detailed ways like that, to show me that he was involved in every little detail of my life and he was still there time after time and he was never going to leave or give up on me =]
- It consumed my efforts and my thoughts during 2006, after May 2nd. I was always trying to figure out how to hook myself up without talking to anyone I knew (I was super paranoid about anyone finding out).
- A staff worker at my christian campus fellowship, Carol Lee, hinted something to me, telling me that she once talked to a woman who was working at CityTeam's alcohol/drug recovery program like I was, who then realized that she had an addiction problem too and she enrolled herself in the program!
- I would go around the frat houses AFTER parties were over and pool the half-empty cups of alcohol into bottles and stock them in my fridge, or end up leaning on some concrete steps until 6am.
- I would always drink alone.
This is for real. I could never drink enough alcohol and I would always be left empty, but this spiritual water that Jesus gives is LASTING and FILLING -- it becomes a deep well in our souls, a river of living water that will flow out to the nations and bring healing and new life wherever we go! I was so thirsty. I'm going to drink enough for a nation! because God is endlessly abundant in His love for us.
Before winter break, I was thinking about asking Vicky Nguyen to keep me accountable to not drink alcohol over break...but then I started to feel like maybe I didn't want to..maybe I wanted to re-attempt that whole, controlled drinking thing that recovered alcoholics can sometimes manage. But I had tried that in august when I turned 21, after three days of contemplating whether or not to try it (I think Jesus was hurt by how much I wanted to try it, because I had cheated on Him with Alcohol in the past, and it was as though my old lover had moved into town and I desperately wanted to go say hello) -- it didn't work at all..I couldn't stop for three days. So I realized that I would likely be drunk on alcohol every day if I opened that door even a crack during winter break, and it would separate me from God and from people.
I am prone to addiction. I am just so thirsty. I always need to have one addiction in my life -- something of which I just always want more and more all the time. something to FILL THE SPACE in my heart without tearing it up. Dear God, thank you for being my perfect addiction. The search has ended: I've found the One who satisfies. I am safe with you. You massage my heart and heal all the pain. you make it softer and more ALIVE instead of dead and desensitized. YOU LIVE IN ME and I am filled with JOY overflowing!
So instead, I realized I could ask my friend to keep me accountable to getting drunk EVERY DAY -- drunk in the Holy Spirit! drinking in so much joy and love in Jesus that I forget myself and do crazy things (who knew it had the same effects as alcohol =P). now I can love with abandon
// edit: hang over from drinking so much Holy Spirit = waking up with a smile already on my face, and bursting into laughter! hahaha this is crazy, but oh so awesome, I want you all to taste what I mean. He is good =]
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
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