Caleb Mechem
What am I doing?
“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17
I don’t want a dead faith or even a nice, healthy faith. I want a faith that never stops growing. As I close my eyes to go to sleep each night, I want to be able to recognize the specific ways that my faith has grown that day, and I want to question how I ever survived with the mere faith I had the day before. I want to, every day, follow Jesus more closely than I did yesterday.
So how do I make that happen? Well, I don’t, of course, without the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit, but James gives me some pretty good advice in his letter. When I ask, “How can I grow in my faith?,” James responds, “Act it out!”
So that’s what I’m doing, moving into the inner-city for a year when a lot of people who love me want me to go back to school. I’m going to act out my faith in a place that could really use more followers of Jesus translating their faith into action.
Rich Mullins sings something to the effect of, “faith without works is like a song you can’t sing.” That’s pretty beautiful isn’t it? My faith IS a song! It’s a really great song! But what good does it do the world if I never let that song out of my head? It’s easy for us Christians to pretend we love everyone that we haven’t met, but what good is love if no one receives it?
God shows the world His love by leading His followers to people who need to receive it, and I believe that God is leading me to Mission Year. I pray that He will use me to share His love.
To sing His song.
I hope that you’ll pray for me too.
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Caleb Mechem's Blog
The Lord's Supper / Feb 7, 08:31 AM
A couple weeks ago, one of my housemates and I decided to get some pizza and share it with some guys who we’ve seen sleeping out around City Hall here in Camden. To be honest, I only went because Jason invited me along; I wasn’t particularly excited. I just did it because I didn’t have much else to do.
In fact, I was a bit afraid. I’d tried before to meet these fellows and they were pretty uninterested in me.
But we went and we sat down with these four or five guys and we ate a couple pizzas. One of them told us a lot of stories about peoples’ kindness and God’s provisions and they told us a few jokes. After about fifteen minutes, I stood up, told them how happy I was to meet them and started to leave. As I walked away one of them said, “Thanks for breaking bread with us!”
His words have stuck with me. All those Sundays that I ever ate a wafer and drank a sip of grape juice came rushing into my head. What are we doing when we partake in that tradition? I’ve come to the conclusion that what we’re doing is symbolically committing ourselves to one another. Not to the people we’re sharing a pew with, or to our congregation or denomination or to the structured American Church. We’re committing ourselves to Jesus and to anyone and everyone who remembers him.
And I think the true beauty must come when we step outside of the symbol. Instead of merely taking part in a two-century-old tradition, let’s also share food and talk about our experiences of God with the people that society tells us we should be staying clear of. Business people and homeless veterans, retirees and teenagers, Pacers fans and Pistons fans, Iraqis and Americans: let’s all share a table together. After that Saturday afternoon, I’m convinced that that is what true Communion is.
Let the wafer and the juice be a reminder.
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A Christmas Story ... / Dec 20, 11:28 AM
We started planning for our neighborhood Christmas party over two weeks ago. One night we made dozens of invitations with construction paper, glue, markers and crayons for neighbors on our block, people from our church, people we work with, the nuns who live a couple blocks away and a few homeless people: nearly 50 people in all.
When it comes to snacks, we definitely decided to err on the side of leftovers. On the savory side, we had three different kinds of chips, pretzels, trail mix and popcorn balls. And the sweets! Sugar cookies in the shape of snowmen and Christmas trees, double chocolate cookies, miniature pumpkin pies, miniature peach pies, cranberry muffins, no-bake cookies and a three-layer chocolate chip cookie cake with chocolate fudge icing. Beverages? Five cases of soda, a case of cranberry apple juice, sweet tea and hot cocoa – with marshmallows, or without.
We were still finishing up the baking and cleaning the kitchen when we heard a knock on the door at 6:15, and the party wasn’t supposed to start until 6:30! It was a guy we know pretty well through Urban Promise named Tony, who has lived in North Camden all of his life and he brought along one of his friends, whom we didn’t know. Our party was underway, but we still had 15 minutes before people were really going to rush in!
Then 6:30 rolled around. Then 7, 7:30 and no new people showed up. Tony and his friend left, leaving us to sit in a room full of chairs, cookies and Christmas music. Then at around 8 o’clock, Tony’s brother showed up. He stayed for a couple hours and when he left, we put several dozen cookies in the freezer and went to bed.
[Before I go on, let me just say that I don’t consider our party a failure. Talking with the three fellows who did show up was a great time. We talked about our neighborhood and some of our different struggles and they told us stories – some hilarious, some sobering – about growing up in Camden. We also had a great time baking (and eating) all that food.]
To be honest, I’m not very surprised that people didn’t show up. I doubt that Christmas parties at houses are a very big part of the North Camden holiday season and, even if they are, we’re just five random people who showed up a couple months ago and everyone is still trying to figure us out.
Our party was a reminder that, even though we look different than most of our neighbors and live in North Camden for a different reason than they do, we’re still just people. When we pass our neighbors on the sidewalks and chat with them, they don’t see missionaries or do-gooders or saints; they just see new neighbors. New, strange faces in the neighborhood.
And that’s not much less than I want to be. I don’t want to be a missionary; I just want to be a good neighbor who cares about the neighborhood.
So I suppose we just need to keep smiling at folks.
To keep talking to them.
To keep praying with and for them.
And we have to invite them back for our next party.
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Lately... / Nov 2, 10:36 AM
A lot has been happening.
Last week, all of the Mission Year teams in our area had a commissioning service. We had been here for nearly two months, so we all made a ceremonial decision to committ to our year together. It was a beautiful service and it helped me to feel closely bonded not just to the people I’m living with, but with the other thirteen people in the Philly area as well. We may not share all that much in common, but we’re committed to growing with and challenging each other for the rest of the year.
The five people in my house also wrote a covenant with one another, outlining what exactly it is we’re committed to. We based it loosely on Romans 12.9-18:
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”
We all signed and, in recognition that we are members of the Body of Christ, we each put a different finger print on it. Mine is the middle.
This past week, I settled into my routine schedule at my community service sites. I’m working one morning a week at St. Luke’s Medical Services, a doctor’s office for un- and under-insured folks. Two mornings, I’m working at My Brother’s Keeper, a residential drug-rehab facility in North Camden. And I’m working at an after school program run by Urban Promise. There are about 40 1st-4th graders at our program. I work mostly with the 1st and 2nd, it’s great, albeit a bit crazy, getting to know these kids.
Things are going well. I’m settling into my new house and my new neighborhood and my new routine.
I look forward to hearing from you all.
My New Home / Oct 10, 04:30 PM
Last Tuesday we moved into our new house. We live right across from an elemtary school and just a couple blocks from our church. Our neighbors are wonderful and my housemates and I are getting to know each other better with each day.
I’m excited to learn from my neighbors and journey through this year with them.
Here I Am / Sep 25, 08:29 AM
It’s taken a few weeks, but we’re finally starting to get to business here in Camden.
I came to Philly three weeks ago and spent a week getting to know the other team leaders and Caz, our city director. It was a wonderful time. Once the rest of our housemates came, we took a trip to a farm outside of Atlanta where we camped for a week and had some orientation with all of the Mission Year team members and staff from across the country. I loved my time there and I’m confident that I’ll be processing what I learned there for months and years to come.
I’ve been in Camden about a week. We’re actually still looking for a house, so we’re staying at a house on the campus of Urban Promise (www.urbanpromiseusa.org) while Mission Year, Urban Promise and folks from our church work their tails off trying to find us a permanent home in North Camden.
We’re still going through training, but we’re all going to be working at after school programs starting Monday and by October, we’ll be settling into our other community service sites and falling into our patterns and routines for the year.
It’s amazing so far.
Everyday has been an invitation to follow Jesus.
I pray that I’ll continue to accept.
Please pray for me too.
