We encourage you to read through Exodus 14 this week, and we look forward to meeting as scheduled next Sunday, April 28!

My trip was spent working in the free general clinic that Samaritan’s Purse runs in Cité Soleil, a slum outside of Port-Au-Prince. There were two other nurses and one physician also volunteering during the same time period, in addition to the Haitian physicians, nurses, and other staff who run the clinic full time. I primarily worked in triage, with a translator, and definitely was stretched in my medical assessment skills… it made me realize how much more I have to learn as a nurse when my assessment of how sick a patient is must be done with hardly any of the monitoring or diagnostic tests that we rely so much on in the US.

Eddy, one of our triage translators

It was sobering to know that so many things that are generally survivable here in the States – premature birth, diabetes, various heart and lung conditions – can basically be a death sentence there because there are simply not the resources to treat them, both financially and because there may be nowhere for the patient to go that is capable of providing what they need. For example, one day we saw a young man who probably had pericarditis, inflammation of the sac around the heart, and simply finding a hospital to send him to that had a cardiologist – not to mention just an ECG machine! – was a difficult task for the clinic coordinator! This patient ended up having to go the general hospital in Port-au-Prince, where he would wait hours to be seen. Some of the most common complaints are clearly a result of the living conditions in Cite Soleil – polluted air and water, inadequate food, many living in tents, ongoing gang violence – so without fixing those causes treating the cough or diarrhea or worms or whatever it might be won’t have much of an impact. It is heartbreaking to see premature babies who are not eating well, malnourished kids, mothers whose children have died, victims of violence and extreme poverty. But at the same time, while the needs are overwhelmingly great, there are many for whom the clinic is able to provide tremendously needed care – hypertension medications, antibiotics, prenatal care, health education – that they might not otherwise be able to get, and that is worth it. 

One of the highlights for me was the opportunity to work with and get to know the Haitian staff of the Cité Soleil clinic. They come every day to serve patients in one of the poorest, most dangerous parts of the city, with smiles on their faces and unfailing graciousness, joy, and humor. We participated in devotions with them each morning, and it was humbling and such a joy to see the incredible faith and reliance on God that they exhibited. Every time we participated in a Haitian worship service, or heard someone pray, I was so struck by the depth and fervency of it… God is real to them, a source of joy and strength in a totally different way than for most American Christians, because He is desperately needed. One of the nurses I worked with told me how her husband was killed in the earthquake when their house collapsed, and she now works two jobs to support herself, her young son, and two other kids she has taken in. But with a smile on her face, she then told me, “my husband is gone, and I am alone, but I have Someone and His name is Jesus! And I love Him so much.“ 

Devotions with the clinic staff

Besides our days at the clinic, my fellow volunteers and I had the opportunity to spend a weekend at the main Samaritan’s Purse compound, where their other relief programs are based. Meeting this whole assortment of people serving with SP in various capacities, people who took the leap to serve, – for months, years, or as a career – wherever God has called them, was inspiring and so encouraging. I was overwhelmed with the reality of our God who uses imperfect people surrendered to Him to accomplish His perfect will, who brings beauty out of suffering and joy out of sadness, allowing us to love and serve with His heart in ways we could never do in our own strength. There is so much joy in abandoning control to Him and going wherever, doing whatever… that is what I want for my life.

We also had the chance to visit several orphanages, some run by various Christian organizations and some by Haitian individuals who took in kids from their communities. Meeting and playing with these kids, being surrounded by small hands and shy smiles, longing for a hug and some attention, not to mention getting to know the selfless people who saw a need and decided to do something about it, is something I will never forget. The picture below is from one such place, housing 40 kids, run by a Haitian guy who supports them through his job with Samaritan’s Purse. These kids were sweet, happy, and well cared for, but unable to go school due to the fees and uniform costs.

I feel like I was the one who was blessed by this trip, so much more than anything I was able to contribute – blessed by the chance to experience this place and be so welcomed and be part of an amazing team of people, to play a tiny part in the unending, grueling work of trying to make a small impact among such rampant and deep-rooted suffering. It confirmed for me the desire God has placed in my heart to continue to purse opportunities to work in third world countries, and I am praying that God would open up the right opportunity, in the right timing, for me to go somewhere for a longer period of time. I would love to return to Haiti – I loved the culture, the people, the fact that since I speak French I could actually communicate, and the way in which Haitians have persevered and faced the multiple tragedies that have struck their country.

Thank you for reading all of this! Please continue to pray for the country of Haiti, for the reconstruction efforts and the many things God is doing there.

God bless,

 Nicole

We will be sending two groups to the Union Gospel Mission to serve either lunch (11:00 am to 1:30 pm) or dinner (4:30 pm to 7 pm). If you would like to join one of these groups please email wes@hallowschurch.org.

If you are unable to join one of these two groups, here are a few alternative ideas for how you and your friends can scatter to serve on that day: be an unexpected blessing by eating out and paying for a stranger’s meal or leave a larger than normal tip, clean out your closet and give warm clothes to someone in need, or buy a coat and/or an umbrella for someone in need.

In any case, we ask that you scatter with us to serve people in the city of Seattle on Sunday, December 30!

The Hallows Church community had the privilege of affirming Wes Moore as the Pastor of Missional Ministry on Sunday, September 23, 2012. As such, Wes will provide strategic oversight in helping us magnify and multiply the gospel througout the city of Seattle. In addition to fulfilling the role and responsibilities of an elder (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:7-9), Wes will give strategic leadership to our Missional Communities, exercise oversight for various short-term mission teams coming to serve with us in Seattle, and  provide direction for local community engagement.

Wes and Casey have been married since July of 2008. They welcomed their daughter, Leighton, into the world on May 24, 2011. Wes and Casey were first drawn to Seattle while attending The Church at Brook Hills where they were introduced to Andrew and Kim. They began attending launch team meetings and after much prayer and conversation they soon decided to relocate their lives to Seattle. They arrived in October of 2011 to be apart of all that Jesus is doing with The Hallows Church.

Wes earned his Masters of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

As we approach a new season of worship and mission here with The Hallows Church, we do so with great expectations of our great God. We desire to be a part of a movement of the gospel throughout the wonderful city of Seattle. To that end, we are setting time aside this week to pray and fast for the magnification and the multiplication of the gospel in our church and throughout our city.  We invite you to join us.

Prayer and fasting are often found holding hands in Scripture. We do not fast every time we pray, but we pray every time we fast. In fact, one of the purposes of fasting is to strengthen our pursuit of God’s glory, provision, grace, and guidance in prayer. John Calvin said, “Whenever people are to pray to God concerning any great matter, it would be expedient to appoint fasting along with prayer.” Calvin is simply recognizing and affirming the pattern of prayer and fasting found in Scripture. We want to accompany our prayer with fasting this week.

As we discussed in last night’s gathering, a biblical fast is a voluntary abstinence from food (or from some other legitimate, normal physical function) for a specified amount of time for spiritual purposes. The three key words here are voluntary, specified, and spiritual. Fasts are voluntary in the sense that we choose to enter into various seasons of prayer and fasting. We do not fast to gain God’s grace but to grow in God’s grace. Also, fasts are for specified amounts of time. A fast is not an open-ended exercise. We don’t start a fast saying, “It ends when it ends.” Such an approach lacks focus and discipline and may be confusing a biblical fast with a political hunger strike. In Scripture, we find people fasting for all different types of time frames (i.e. a part of a day, an entire day, three days, 1-3 weeks, or even forty days). Under the leadership of The Holy Spirit, determine how much time to set aside this week for prayer and fasting. If you do not have much experience with fasting, we encourage you to do a partial fast. Maybe go lunch to lunch or sunrise to sunset. You would miss two meals. In any case, abstain from food but not liquids. Please keep in mind that we fast for spiritual purposes. We want to press in and commune intimately and intensely with Christ as we seek His power, presence, and provision for our church.

Our week of emphasizing prayer and fasting will culminate on Sunday, September 30 when we will host a Fall Kick Off BBQ from 4 pm to 6 pm followed by a worship gathering from 6 pm to 7:30 pm. Both events will be held at 717 N 36th St (Fremont Baptist Church).

If you have questions about prayer and fasting, please email andrew@hallowschurch.org or call 206.428.7644.

I want to provide a series of follow-up thoughts and answers to questions that may have arisen as a result of the message. If you were unable to join us, you can access the audio via our church’s podcast. We apologize for the poor audio quality of the first 16 minutes, but know that the recording does improve.

Today, I want to look at how the lawyer should have responded to Jesus but didn’t.

The context of the parable is important. We render the parable powerless by reducing it to a mere moral lesson on kindness. This happens when we abstract the parable from its context. The context of the parable is a conversation between Jesus and an expert in Old Testament law about eternal life and justification.

Just before Jesus tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke points out that the foundation of the lawyer’s world is beginning to crumble. Jesus successfully unsettles the Old Testament expert by affirming the lofty love God requires. In response, the lawyer feels the need to “justify himself” (v. 29). It seems that in his heart of hearts, he begins to realize he does not fulfill the law.

The theme of justification appears again in Luke 18 when Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector:

“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (18:9-14). 

Here we have another picture of an attempt at self-justificiation. The Pharisee lists out all his credentials assuming that they provide the basis for his justification before God. The tax collector, on the other hand, does not try and justify himself, but rather he appeals to God’s mercy. He illustrates the first beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:2).

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is not a mere morality tale on being kind to people. Jesus designed the parable in order to expose the futility of self-justification. If Jesus wanted to make the point–be kind to people–he could have made anyone the protagonist of the story. However, Jesus chose the lawyer’s greatest enemy, a Samaritan, and challenged the lawyer to imitate him. In so doing, Jesus pricked and exposed the man’s racism and religious bigotry. He revealed the lawyer’s inability to love his neighbor as himself. Everyone is a neighbor, even enemies.

The lawyer could not go and do likewise and, as a result, he could not justify himself by claiming to fulfill God’s law. Like the tax collector, the lawyer needed to humble himself and be justified by another. This is exactly what the gospel is intended to do. Romans 3:26 states that God is “the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

In order to be justified, the lawyer needed to recognize the love God requires and confess his impoverished spirit. He should have confessed, “I do not love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. If I did, then I would love my neighbor–even those I consider my enemies, as my self.” Upon confession, the lawyer should have have then savored the love God provides in the gospel by humbling himself and asking for mercy. He should have prayed a prayer similar to the tax collector: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Rest assured–God always answers that prayer! Finally, the lawyer would have experienced a supernatural change of heart that would enable him to show the love God desires in living a life of sacrificial generosity.