Great Expectations

Luke 13:18-21

I get a lot of energy from seeing everything that is possible from taking a first, small step. Absolutely nothing big, substantial, and meaningful happens without a first step. A small thing. Maybe it is an idea. Maybe it is seed money. Maybe it's a single aspect of a massive problem that seems impossible to solve, but that one small thing is something that can be solved. Maybe it's a mustard seed that has the potential to grow into something profoundly massive: a tree where birds can make nests in its branches.

On Monday night this week, I was given a glimpse of how tiny mustard seeds becoming massive trees, like Jesus shares in Luke 13, are a glimpse of the realm of God among us. Individual members of our congregation and our community came out to make a strong stand against a city statute that makes a form of homelessness--sleeping in your car--illegal. I saw mustard seeds in each of the individual witnesses brought forth, in emails sent to city council representatives, in 3 minute speeches. It was awesome.

Each person's witness in support of safe parking was like a mustard seed to me. A small thing, but one I believe will continue to grow as our elected representatives see that there ARE constituents who want to do something meaningful and compassionate to address homelessness.

And because of all of these mustard seeds, people standing up and speaking out, on April 25, our city will actually reconsider language in our municipal code that criminalizes vehicular-based homelessness, starting a process that gets statutory language out of the way of our partners, the Colorado Safe Parking Initiative, so they can help us serve our neighbors sleeping in their cars and helping them get into housing.

Homelessness anywhere seems like an impossible problem to solve. There are so many competing factors and bewildering complications. Ranging from how so many factors lead to homelessness (joblessness, housing costs, a lack access to healthcare and/or nutrition), and how so many factors can get in the way of the primary solution to homelessness: affordable housing.

In Luke 13, Jesus reminds us that the massive tree or fully leavened bread being a glimpse of God's kin-dom here on earth didn't just appear magically--they started small. God gives us seeds and everything we need to grow them in order to co-create with God the kin-dom we are trying to build on earth. God hands us just a teaspoon of yeast, and all we need to do is add some water, salt, and flour for the yeast to propagate itself into the bread, leavening pounds of dough. Small starts. First steps.

Safe Parking by itself will not eradicate homelessness in our city. But it is a seed. A small start. A seed that can grow and when people see its branches and its stature their imagination and courage might grow alongside it to consider other ways that we can eradicate homelessness. As our witness, commitment, and courage grows, the seemingly impossible problem of homelessness becomes even smaller. We take more chunks out of it. We grow gardens that help folks process trauma. We start tiny villages of sturdy but affordable structures that afford privacy and dignity to its residents--cheaper alternatives with less red tape involved--to get people rapidly into housing so that they can begin their journey out of homelessness.

And isn't that really the kin-dom of God we are praying for? A realm where no one is hungry? Where no one is suffering because they lack the fundamental basic needs of shelter and security? A place where people are no longer prevented from becoming fully the image of love they were created to be because of obstacles like homelessness, illness, drug abuse, or poverty?

Each step we take is a mustard seed.

And if we all get together, we can be partners in fully realizing the kin-dom of God that is already among us.

We can plant those mustard seeds. We can grow a forest.