In the wilderness of Chinatown Oakland

This Sunday's OT lesson is from Exodus 16. Reading the commentaries for this passage, I can't help but think of how this passage fits with what our church is experiencing at the moment.

Thoughts drawn from the hatbox:

(1) Some of our church leaders are at this moment experiencing, sensing, hearing quite a bit of grumbling from the "congregation". Our smallish family church is not unlike the group that congregated to complain about the lack of food while wandering the dessert. We've been hearing mumblings about lack of spiritual food and guidance; we've heard complaints about the lack of spiritual nourishment in the programmatic activities; we've heard complaints of thirst and weariness in working in ministry. Some of our leaders themselves are weary and are threatened, internally, by anxieties over a "coup" of sorts. Some, dare I say it, are on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.

(2) I see so much discipline is needed. I'm not quite sure if today we could follow instructions as intense and difficult as the ones God provided for the people in the desert. We can hardly find the discipline to meet together for small group study to fill our spirits and minds. How could we possibly follow these detailed instructions to make manna?


(3) For a long time now, we've talked about how limiting our location might be. Smack dab in the middle of Chinatown, we can only hope to connect with a particular demographic. The question had always been, could we really meet the needs of the people in this area, or are we looking to connect to a different constituency. In other words, might our location box us in -- literally -- in Chinatown? My thoughts? The people in the desert were called to worship God and they saw the glory and wonder of God in the wilderness -- in the very location, the very geography where they thought they would die (oh, the irony!). So perhaps our location is really not a Chinatown desert that will dry us up. Perhaps it is the very place where we will continue to see God's glory. This is where we will find God -- on the jostling, bustling sidewalks of Chinatown, in the jumbled, smelly store fronts on 8th street, and in the elbows and faces pushing at us, behind us, in front of us, below us, around us...