Jessica Wires
Why?
Matthew 28. Go. The instructions are pretty clear. I want to learn how to live them out every single day. I want to go. I want to stop waiting for the “right time”. I want to take risks. I want to find justice. I want to change. I want to be a sold-out disciple. I want to be the hands and feet of God. I want to love unconditionally. I want to learn compassion beyond measure. I want to serve with everything I have. I want to care for the poor, oppressed, and hurting… I want to LOVE the un-loved of our world.
These are a few of the reasons that I am going to Chicago in a few days to join this program called Mission Year. I don’t really know what exactly is going to happen but I do know that God is in control and that means it’s going to be amazing! I am asking you to walk with me in prayer as I live out this journey. Thank you for the part that you play in my life. I will keep you updated along the way.
“I think that’s what our world is desperately in need of – lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about.”
-Shane Claiborne
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…
Jessica Wires's Blog
Elephants and the Big Picture / Feb 16, 09:33 PM
“There are four blind men who discover an elephant. Since the men had never encountered an elephant before, they grope about seeking to understand and describe this new phenomenon. One grasps the trunk and concludes that it is a snake. Another explores one of the elephant’s legs and describes it as a tree. A third finds the elephant’s tail and announces that it is a rope. And the fourth blind man, after discovering the elephant’s side, concludes that it is a wall. Which one is right? Each in his blindness is describing the same thing: an elephant. Thus all are right, but none wholly so.” – A Buddhist Sutra
I have heard this story used to make several different points. I have heard it used to describe God, being something we cannot fully understand. I have also heard it used as an aid in understanding world religions and the reason that there are so many. But recently when I was reflecting over it I realized a different meaning as it applies to what I am learning this year about reconciling differences.
We can all relate to the four blind men in this story. They are all certain of what they have found based on the knowledge that they have been given and on the influence of their surroundings. That does not make them any less wrong.
Everyone has a different perspective based on the influence of culture, upbringing, and surroundings. We decide we do not like someone because they are “so different”. We cannot live in the same neighborhoods, go to the same churches, or share our lives with each other. Why? Because they are calling something a snake and we are so sure that it is a tree. We cannot understand their point of view and they cannot understand ours.
This disunity has been a problem we as humans have been facing for a long time. We are separated by race, social class, religion, and any other reason we can find. For example, since moving to Chicago I have become aware of the racial and economic lines that are drawn all over the city. It is made very clear that many people are unwilling to live around those that are “different” than they are. In my community (Englewood) a huge injustice I have witnessed is the cycle of poor education. My neighbors and friends that live here cannot send their children to the kind of schools that they deserve to go to. They do not have the same advantages from the very beginning because racism and classism have kept them stuck in a situation that is nearly impossible to get out of. So around and around we go.
We are told that the two greatest commands are love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. We seem to have a hard time defining neighbor. In a book I recently read, Jesus and the Disinherited, the author, Howard Thurman writes, “Jesus defined the neighbor by telling of the Good Samaritan. With sure artistry and great power he depicted what happens when a man responds directly to human need across the barriers of class, race, and condition. Every man is potentially every other man’s neighbor. Neighborliness is nonspatial, it is qualitative. A man must love his neighbor directly, clearly, permitting no barriers between.”
Luckily we are not left without a solution to our problem. There is a fifth man in our story who is not blind. God can see the whole picture (the whole elephant). Jesus came to heal our blindness. To show us the big picture that he sees. If we would allow ourselves to be healed we would see that we are wrong and from there we could work towards racial and social reconciliation and the peace that we are meant to live under. We have a role to play in the process. We have to be willing to accept that we cannot see the big picture and be willing to move towards understanding and loving those neighbors that we find to be different. It has been my experience that we are usually not as different as we think we are. If we will allow ourselves to be healed of our blindness and have God-vision we will realize that we are all looking at an elephant instead of a bunch of unrelated objects.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
1 Corinthians 12:21-26
Newsletters / Feb 8, 11:31 PM
If you have not been receiving my newsletters and would like to know what I have been up to in Mission Year so far here they are…
September:
Greetings from Chicago! Those of you who have walked through the “Mission Year preparation process” with me know how exciting it is to finally be able to say that. My experience so far has been incredible! I have been able to explore my neighborhood (Englewood) and I have seen several things. I’ve seen poverty, violence, broken homes, and racial divides. I have also seen kind people, beautiful children, creativity, and hope for reconciliation.
I have realized that my being a part of this community makes their problems my problems, their pain becomes my pain, and if they are hurting I am going to be hurting too. It has turned “you, them, and theirs” into “we, us, and ours”. I have already fallen in love with this community and the people that I can now call my neighbors. It feels so right to be here. I learn something new every day and every day my eyes are opened to things I have never known before.
There are a lot of things that I still don’t about this place but there is one thing I know for certain; God is already here. I am not bringing God to this city. I am only here to learn about what He is already doing here and come alongside Him to be a part of it. I hope and pray that barriers are broken down, in-justices are reconciled, and God’s love is shown.
One of the goals of Mission Year is learning to live in community with other people. Everyone who is part of the program is placed on teams. I have been put on a team with five other girls. While these people may or may not become my best friends in the world my goal is to understand, appreciate, and love all of my teammates, and to actively seek God’s best for each one of them. Although we have known each other for only two weeks, my team has grown close through activities such as baking cookies for our neighbors, assembling furniture without any manual or directions, rolling a laundry-filled cart with a wheel that won’t stay on down to the Laundromat, and spending a week in the woods together during our training in Atlanta. These are beautiful girls with hearts full of compassion. I feel very blessed to be able to serve with them this year. We are all different people coming from all different walks of life. I ask that you please pray for them and me as we overcome obstacles and embark on this journey together.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the prayer that has already been lifted up for me. Since I arrived here I have felt a peace that only comes from God. I have not felt fearful. I have been surrounded by His love and encouragement. I know that it is because so many of you have been praying for me. Keep it up! Please know that I love and appreciate you all. I can’t wait to share my experiences with you as I go through this year.
November:
A few weeks ago all of the Mission Year teams in Chicago participated in PRoP (Paupers Right of Passage). We got up early and met at CCIL (Chicago Christian Industrial League), a homeless outreach ministry. When we first arrived we were taken one by one into a room where we were asked a series of questions in Spanish. The purpose of this was to show us the hardship that so many of our non-English speaking neighbors have to deal with on a daily basis. A task as simple as taking a child to the doctor becomes a very complicated situation if no one speaks your language. After interrogation we were taken to a room of clothing and told that we could pick out one shirt, one pair of pants and a coat. The clothes that we came in were to be handed over in exchange for the ones we received. After we were dressed in our “pauper’s attire” we were paired up and given a list of things to experience for the day.
List in hand, my partner Sara (a fellow Memphian) and I set out, not really knowing what we were going to do. We decided to follow the list and the first thing on it was “ask someone for leftover food”. Seemed easy enough so we set out for The Cheesecake Factory where we thought there would be plenty of opportunity. As I sat on the steps of the building trying to muster up the courage to ask someone for their leftovers I realized that this was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Finally, I decided to just go for it. With my heart pounding, I approached two women carrying leftover bags and said, “Excuse me, my friend and I are hungry and were wondering if you would be willing to spare some food.” She looked me up and down, looked at my friend and said, “No, I think I am going to use these later”. I was shocked. I could not believe that she stood there with her leftovers in her hand and denied them to someone who was hungry. I was not actually in need, but she didn’t know that. This same scenario happened several times as Sara and I continued attempting to find someone generous enough to share from his or her surplus of food. We were unsuccessful.
The next task on the list was to sit on the street corner with a sign… alone. We found a cardboard box in a dumpster, and borrowed a pen to write on it with. After we made our signs we split up to find our spots. This was the hardest part of the day. I was sitting there all alone as people passed by as if I wasn’t there at all. Some people glanced down at me and quickly looked away. Some pretended they didn’t see me at all as they literally stepped over me. Everyone who did look down at me gave a look of disgust as they passed by. One lady even said, “Shame on you,” as she turned up her nose and stepped over. It was the most de-humanizing experience that I have ever had. People assumed that I was worthless based on what they saw. People disapproved of my being there in their way because of the conclusions that they drew. The only person who treated me like a person the whole day was an actual homeless man I met named Mr. Bill.
Mr. Bill walked by and quickly knew that I was not homeless. After explaining to him what I was doing for the day he decided to show me some tips on how to panhandle. After a while he sat down and we spent several hours talking about his story. It was very apparent that he was so thankful to have someone to talk to and care about what he had to say. I was only on the street for a few hours and I felt the effects of being treated like I was worthless. I can only imagine what it would be like to live that out every day. Waking up every day with no one to care about whether or not you are alive is a much worse problem than not knowing where your next meal is going to come from. After talking with Bill and reflecting on what I experienced that day I realized that the problem of homelessness is not really about being hungry or having a place to sleep. Though those are problems that come with the package the real issue is not having someone value you as a human being. God made all people with a purpose and He loves all of His creation, not just the wealthy or well esteemed. All people are precious in His eyes as the people He created them to be. We are supposed to view each other as God’s precious creation. We should love and care for each other. We are supposed to value each other as God values us and not place special value on those we deem “important”. I believe God has “special concern” for the mistreated, for those that we take value away from. If an artist spent many years creating a work of art, a masterpiece, only to have it destroyed by the first person to look at it- the artist would be devastated. It is like this only on a much grander scale when God’s creation is mistreated/oppressed/displaced.
“We are called to love the world. And God loved the world so much that He gave Jesus. Today He loves the world so much that He gives you and me to be His love, His compassion, and His presence.” Mother Teresa, No Greater Love
I am still reflecting and learning from this experience. I am not entirely sure what to do with all of the emotions, thoughts, and lessons I got out of that day. What I do know is that it is not hard to make someone feel valued. At the very least a simple hello could make a difference in the way you make someone feel on any given day. Even if I don’t feel comfortable giving out money because of whatever the situation is I can always ask someone how their day was and show them thπat I value them as God’s creation. There is so much poverty, oppression, and despair going on in our world. Thinking about all of it is very overwhelming to me. All I know to do right now is take it one person at a time and show as much of God’s love as possible.
“I assure you, as often as you did it for one of the least of these brothers, you did it to me.” Jesus, Matthew 25:40
“If our poor die of hunger, it is not because God does not care for them. Rather, it is because neither you nor I are generous enough. It is because we are not instruments of love in the hands of God. We do not recognize Christ when once again He appears to us in the hungry man, in the lonely woman, in the child who is looking for a place to get warm.” Mother Teresa, No Greater Love
January:
“How many souls have you saved?”
I was recently asked this question by a well-intentioned friend. It was a little disconcerting but I was not really sure what to say at the time. In the past few weeks since returning from Christmas break, I have been reflecting a lot on what I am doing in Mission Year and how my perception of that has changed since I began in August. Before coming to Chicago I had visions of moving to a “poor” neighborhood and spending a year “fixing” people. I have since learned that neither do people need someone to fix them nor am I so great that I should consider myself a divinely appointed “fixer of the poor.” My intentions were good but I was also arrogantly naïve. I am living in Englewood surrounded by a lot of people who are going through things just like anybody else. The details are maybe a little changed but when it comes down to it I am surrounded by neighbors who are no different from me and no different from you.
I am here to connect with and genuinely love people. I am learning how to walk through life with people, from celebrations to suffering. I recently read in a book by Rob Bell “to express love is to move toward them in a definitive way. In this way, God, an all-powerful being, creator of the Universe and everything in it showed pure love by meeting people on their level, in their world, on their soil… he became like them.” I want to learn to love like God loves. That is what I am here to do.
“Our first need is not for people to fix our problems. People who charge in and have all the answers and try to make things right without first joining us in our pain generally annoy us or worse yet, they push us away. They have nothing to give us. The God that Jesus points us to is not a god who stands at a distance wringing his hands and saying, ‘If only you’d listen to me.”
-Rob Bell
Last trimester I worked at Team Englewood High School in the morning and at By the Hand Club for Kids in the evenings. I decided that I wanted to focus my full attention on one of my service sites, and though I enjoyed the work I was doing at the high school, I felt more invested at By the Hand. I now work at BTH from 10-7. In the mornings at BTH I go on home visits (meet with the families of the kids in the program), help with class prep work, and support the staff in whatever else is needed. I am really enjoying the opportunity to learn from the staff and focus my full attention on the kids I work with.
Thank you all once again for all of the love and support you give me. The incredible experience I am having would not be possible if it weren’t for you!
I am still trying to reach my financial goal. If you have not had the chance to donate yet and would like to, please contact me: wiresja@mail.lipscomb.edu or give online at www.missionyear.org/blog/jessicawires. Thanks :)
If you do not receive my newsletter in the mail and would like to please send me an email with your address. wiresja@gmail.com
A Day in the Life / Nov 10, 09:59 AM
Greetings from Chicago! Things are going well. My October newsletter will be coming soon (even though it is already November). Please send me a message and let me know if you would like to receive newsletters.
I thought I would walk through a typical day so that those who are interested can have a better picture of what I am doing here in Englewood.
6:30 A.M. Wake up and start the day with some time in personal devotions. This time with God has been so precious to me to get the peace that I need to go on with the rest of the crazy day.
8:15 A.M. Ruth, Shaunie, and I walk to Team Englewood High School (an inner-city school in my neighborhood) where I volunteer as a teacher’s assistant. I work with students who are falling behind and do any other tasks the teachers need help with.
12:45 P.M. Ruth and I walk over to By The Hand Club for Kids. By The Hand is an after-school program with an emphasis on academics and a commitment to nurturing the whole child—mind, body and soul. It focuses on kids who are in critical need academically and in their home lives. I work with a group of about 20 5th graders; helping with homework, teaching lessons, and bible study.
7:30 P.M. We head home after dropping kids off. We eat dinner together every night as a team. After dinner depending on the night we work on curriculum, play games together, or just spend time talking with each other.
Saturdays are neighborhood outreach days. We spend time getting to know our neighbors and work on building relationships with those that live around us. We have gone door to door introducing ourselves and delivering cookies, drawn on the sidewalk with kids, played soccer and frisbee in a vacant lot near our apartment with some teenagers, and sat and talked with families. This is my favorite part of the week.
Sundays I attend church at Antioch Missionary Baptist. I am involved with the youth group. I am loving getting to know the kids. Sunday afternoons are spent grocery shopping, doing laundry, or any other chores that we need to get done.
Mondays are Sabbath days. It is a time to rest and and recover to be able to start all over the next week.
I love what I am doing here in Chicago and all of the things I am learning. I believe God has placed me here at this time to learn from Him and to grow.
I love you all very much and I appreciate the prayer and encouragement that I have been receiving! God Bless!
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