Good Bones

When Kathy and I trekked from Ohio to Washington in 1998, we didn't waste a lot of time before introducing a short-term mission trip to Mexico. In years prior I co-led groups of youth and adults to Monterrey and Juarez, and Kathy grew up doing missions as a teen in Mexicali. We knew the transforming power of such trips, how they can open the heart of a young person, define the church in a deeply transformative act of mission. We believed in this, believed it would be a great ministry in our new congregation.

When we learned what Amor ministry did in Tijuana and found a local church in Washington that would partner with us, we jumped at the chance to co-lead a group and work with Amor.

Amor has quite a story, quite a mission. They began in 1980 with a brilliant step. Instead of bringing their definition of mission to Mexico, Gayle and Scott Congdon asked for a meeting with local pastors in Tijuana before they did anything.  They asked them, what would be the best form of mission and ministry we could bring here, something you need but can't do? The local clergy were quick with an answer: housing. Tijuana desperately needed housing.

Tijuana is in some ways a city of the world as it is the place where people of the world hoping to reach America don't make it; Tijuana is the heartbreaking town of people from around the world living in dashed dreams.  Lot of people want to come to America and a lot of people don't make it. What should be a sleepy boarder town south of San Diego is a wild, sprawling series of shacks and lean-tos and broken-down cars doubling as a place to sleep. 

              If you drive the barrios of Tijuana even today you will find a tremendous need for housing, affordable housing.  In 1980 the Congdons established Amor.  Amor was created to build houses.  Small houses, 11x22, what we might think of as a large shed, but for people living in hovels or two-to-three families in a tiny house, the Amor built home is the kingdom of God, a promise land. Hope.

              There were three big obstacles for Amor to succeed.  The first was security.  Mexico has always had a tough reputation of risk and danger.  How could parents of a teen in Boise, Idaho send their 15-year-old-kid to Tijuana? The pastors gave the answer again.  If the Congdons would go forward, the pastors would be the security guards, provide safety. And for more than forty years that is what they have done.

              The next challenge was the law.  It was against the law to bring power tools into Mexico without declaring them and paying a huge fee.  Why there is such a law is a sad truth of greed and power something Amor ministries was not in a place to overcome, and neither were the clergy.  So it was decided the Amor house was designed to be constructed without power tools or heavy equipment.  No circular saws, no nail guns, no cement mixers, no backhoes.  Just saws and shovels and trowels and hammers.  Everything would be done by hand in four days. 

              The four days was the last hurdle.  It takes about fifteen youth and adults to build an Amor house in four days if they work hard, really hard.  What is more, the house needs to be built correctly.  The foundation needed to be poured and leveled correctly so the walls could go up; the walls needed to be square so the windows, doors, and roof could be hung and set.  This all needed to be done in four days by people with no carpentry skills, many never having swung a hammer or sawn a board let alone mixed yards of concrete by hand to yield a perfectly level foundation.

              I am not sure how many Amor houses I have built, a lot.  Yet with each one I felt part of a miracle, a joyful miracle.

              Part of the joy of finishing an Amor house is the family. You hand them keys, everyone cries; you watch their dreams be reborn.  Another part is the power teens have knowing they did this, they built it, they didn't quit.  I have seen many young people in this moment.  Life is bigger, they are stronger, tired-to-the-bone, but ready to start again, keep going.

              One such teen became an orthopedic surgeon.  I asked jokingly if it was the Amor trips that made her want to be an orthopod.  She didn't blink and said, "yes.  It was.  That is what I wrote in my admission essay."  Not everyone became a surgeon because we hauled them down the coast and spent a week in Mexico.  But I can speak on behalf of my children, the ones we hauled down the coast.  For them the church became a place for building hope, transforming lives, filling hearts with strength, this definition of the church was created by Amor.

              Building an Amor house is a wonderful experience, a wonderful moment to redefine the church as a mission, faith as an act of sacrifice.  Again and again, I watched young people see the truth of the gospel, you only keep what you give away, you must become the servant if you want to be great, you must die to live.  This is good theology, good faith.  You want to follow Christ? Give your life away, give it to others who can offer you nothing in return, nothing but thanks.  This is at the heart of our reading today. 

              If you want to follow me, you need to live it.  Faith is not what you think, not your creed or doctrine, not a rite or a ritual.  Faith is a profound trust lived in humility. If you humble yourself, have the courage to be meek, you will be freed from fear.

              Although not as profound as the heart of the gospel of Jesus, the other gift building an Amor house gives to young people is that they find what it means for something to have good bones.  Good bones: firm foundation built to last, a house made with precision and good materials; good bones, the house will last, is not falling apart, cracked and collapsing. 

              On one Amor trip we were driving home through Oregon and we stopped for gas.  As the teens piled out of the van, they had to walk past something being built.  The construction project was only as far as the foundation and the footers.  It was great to watch teens stop in their tracks.  They wanted to survey the project, take a look.  They were looking for good bones.  A question I love to ask people after a trip is if they walked their house and inspected it upon return.  "Oh, yeah," they say, "of course."  The walls, the roof, the basement now speak to them; they now know what it means to have good bones.

              Our reading today is very important.  This teaching is the last of the Sermon on the Mount and the last one offered in Luke's Sermon on the Plain. When something is the last word, we should see it as very important.  With last words we say things like, "if you hear nothing else. . .."  A final teaching should be a powerful finish. And this is a powerful teaching.  We may not know what it means, but we do remember the image, house built on sand, house built on the rock. Jesus says in essence, make sure you have good bones when you build.

              If you heard sermons on this teaching, the chances are good you have heard that the rock is Jesus. The rock is having faith in Jesus, being of Christian belief.  I have heard sermons that claim the rock is the bible.  Like Jesus, the bible is never a bad answer.  Yet, in this instance, Jesus is not the rock or the foundation as Jesus doesn't teach about himself.  His teachings are never about himself in Luke and Matthew.  And what is more, while digging down, building on rock, in terms of construction, is good advice, Jesus is not talking physical construction. He is talking about the heart, the soul, not a physical building.  He is saying there is a foundation in your heart to build a good life; you need to find it in yourself. He didn't say, I'm the foundation.

              I believe the true foundation, the best foundation of the soul, heart in us, the best rock upon which to build is generosity.  A generous heart is set free, a generous heart can give all the good gifts, can serve as the basis for life to be lived well.  Generosity is the true foundation.  I learned this lesson the hard way on our first Amor trip.  I learned how the best foundation of the heart is generosity from a guy who was not generous. 

              His name was Boyd and as irony will provide, he was the director of the local food pantry.  When Boyd heard about the trip to Mexico for the youth, he got nervous. Our church was the biggest sponsor of the food pantry, and this mission trip could threaten his donations, take away from his work.  He was also someone who needed to feel in control and didn't like the idea that a mission was happening without his control. 

              For months Boyd spread fear and rumor.  Told people how this trip would be terrible, waste of money, people in Tijuana didn't deserve our help, should not receive funds that could go to people in this community.  And when I say he spread rumors and fear don't take this as a bit of idle chatter, whispers in a few ears.  No.  He campaigned. He sought people to help him cancel the mission trip.

              This was bad.  And it was tawdry and took on ridiculous levels of accusation and vitriol.  The funny thing was, the worse he got, the angrier he got, the more people could see how much he lacked generosity.  He believed fear and control would win the day.  In the end though it was clear how Boyd had built his house on the sand.  If his house had been built on the rock, on generosity, then fear would not have swept him away, greed would not have knocked him down, the need to control would not have ruined his reputation in the community. And, in the end, that is what happened.

              I will never forget the moment of confusion.  I remember being dumbfounded.  Why would anyone put this much energy into opposing a small group of teens and adults building a house in Tijuana?  Why?  It may not be your cup of tea or your definition of good mission.  Okay.  But this was hatred and anger and fear and lies.  Why would so much energy go into trying to stop something so simple and good and positive? 

              The bizarre response of Boyd helped me see the truth of our teaching today.  You and I want to be generous.  It's the good bones of the soul. Generosity is how to live a good life.  We don't believe if you help someone over here you take away something from someone else.  Helping someone in Tijuana is not hurting someone in your town.  Generosity is following your heart to give your life away.  Jesus calls us to be radical and prodigious in our generosity, not tight fisted and controlling, not greedy and fearful.

              But you know this.  We trust generosity.  Your heart has compassion and kindness and love and patience.  We know we can only keep what we give away, if we are generous with the gifts of the spirit.  We know this because generosity is the foundation of our heart. The good bones.  Let us build a good life on generosity and never ruin our life with fear.  Amen.