Lent 4 - forgotten places.

I've been listening to this series on Harper High School by the folks at This American Life. The stories reveal the difficult realities of educating young people in an urban high school in Chicago where violence is all too common. At Harper, social workers struggle to connect and care for kids who've learned early that trusting others and vulnerability isn't safe. Most of the high schoolers are gang members not because they made a choice, but because of what street they happen to live on.

Perhaps the most moving thing about this story is that it is not unusual. There are places like this everywhere across our country. Schools and communities that are all but forgotten by those of us who have retreated to the safety and affluence of the suburbs. Maps of the geography of our economy, like this amazing project, not only reveal how uneven the spread of wealth in the United States is, but also just how clear the dividing lines have become.

As I look at those maps and hear the stories of the kids at Harper High, I am reminded that to be a person of Christian faith, is to be a person called to those underserved and ignored places. It means we cannot rest in our communities of safety, while others suffer. Over and over our scriptures proclaim that God is for the oppressed, the poor and the broken. Psalm 9 promises, "The needy shall not always be forgotten," and cries out to God to "Rise Up!" on their behalf.

As we follow God into the wilderness of Lent, I believe that we too are called to Rise Up. Of course there are no easy solutions to cycles of poverty and violence. The problems are complicated and all mixed up with economics, race, politics, education and more layers than I can name here. But complexity is not an excuse to be still or silent.

I have to ask myself: How will I be God's hands and feet? How am I willing to risk my comfortable life and stand with and for others? These are the questions that I face this Lenten season, and which I confess I have not spent enough time answering with my life.

Part of the answer for me has to do with partnering with schools like Harper, and supporting teachers and students in their work. As I look around my apartment, filled with shelves that are overwhelmed by too many books-- more books than we will ever have time to read-- I am reminded that for too many young people around the world, education is a luxury they struggle to access. Last year I volunteered weekly with this great organization called Reading Partners that partners volunteers with students in inner-city schools to give them one-on-one tutoring to get them caught up in reading. This year, when my weekly tutoring no longer fit into my schedule, I did not work to find another option to replace it.

I don't know exactly how I will move forward, but I know that I come into this season of Lent repentent, aware of how much work I have left undone, and prayerful that God will open my eyes to the forgotten places, and give all of us the courage to rise-up against injustice and inequality in all its forms.