image by Mark Kuroda
This is the second installment of a blog series about City Church called "Who We Are." Last week, Karl Digerness talked about the importance of liturgy. This week, we are looking at the work of City Hope, the mercy and justice part of the church that provides tangible ways to participate in work of relief, relationship, and reform in San Francisco.
The Pharisees were always ready to put Jesus to the test. That's what they were doing when, in Matthew 22, one of them (a lawyer, the text points out) asked Jesus "which commandment in all the law is the greatest?" Jesus replied with two commandments on which "'hang all the law and the prophets,'" he said. "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind...and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
It is with that in mind that we talk about the work of City Hope, the place within City Church where loving our neighbors as ourselves takes on tangible reality in a city where disconnection between different groups of people is the norm. It can be difficult to know how to respond to our neighbors in desperate need, especially when so many of us have never had to struggle for basic needs. Without proper education, training or emotional support volunteers can unintentionally do more harm than good in marginalized communities.
That's where City Hope comes in. Just last week, Reverend Paul Trudeau (City Hope's director) was featured in an article in the San Francisco Examiner about Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi's efforts to include faith leaders in future planning for County Jail. Trudeau and City Hope has started a mentorship program for female inmates, five different weekly worship services—a new service for the transgendered population, and is now being invited into conversations about reform for the future.
The role of the faith community is key in helping to lower the recidivism rate for prisoners. Entering into relationships with inmates in mentoring and worship can also serve as an important reminder that guilt does not have to turn into crippling shame. Shame, as Trudeau says, "can give you an inability to believe in redemption for yourself ... to feel loved and worthy and to go through acts of repentance."
City Hope will continue to do its important work in other areas of San Francisco as well. Patterns of incarceration, underfunded schools, and addiction recovery are the three primary areas in which City Hope seeks to build healthy relationships and seek reform, which is done (in part, at least) by training and equipping volunteers. Mentors and mentees are both trained to be in relationship and community with one another. Our prayer is that this results in city-wide flourishing in San Francisco.
City Hope is a vital part of who we are at City Church because the church cannot be for the world if it does not love its neighbor. Relationship is essential to helping people grow and heal, and leads to personal renewal and to the renewal of our city. This reminds us that San Francisco is not just a place where we live and consume, but that it is our home, and as such we play a part in its shalom. We love our neighbor because God first loved us.
Read More at Who We Are Blog Series