Tiff's FAQs

The term “missionary” carries with it a lot of baggage. Some of it I don’t mind toting around, but some of the more cumbersome pieces get a little heavy at times. I find most conversations about what I do to go as follows: You work at a non-profit? That’s great. You’re an Americorps volunteer? Super. You’re a missionary? Silence. Eyes glaze over. End of conversation.

Well, that’s not always true. Sometimes people get really interested at that point and we continue to have a great conversation. Still, the above example is usually the norm. So I decided to write up a few of my most frequently asked questions, regarding being a US-2 missionary.

So you’re a missionary. Does that mean you hand out tracts in the Congo, converting the heathens?

Um, no. While I commend my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in the Congo, I am a domestic missionary, which means I stay in the U.S. And I’m a social justice missionary—not specifically an evangelist. I’m actually pretty awful at sharing my faith, but I’m working on it. And I don’t really find tracts a particularly great outreach or use of paper.

I am, however, still a commissioned missionary with the United Methodist Church. And I have vowed to support the four goals of the General Board of Global Ministries, which are:
1. To make disciples of Jesus Christ
2. To strengthen, develop, and renew Christian congregations and communities
3. To alleviate human suffering
4. To seek justice, freedom and peace

So you’re a missionary from the Bible Belt. You must love Dubya, Pat Robertson, and Contemporary Christian Music?

In Denver, it’s been really nice to find a lot of people like me, who believe a liberal Christian is not an oxymoron. No, I didn’t vote for George W. Bush. And I don’t think the Religious Right is right about much anything. I really like this statement from Jim Wallis, Sojourners editor and author of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It: "Since when did believing in God and having moral values make you pro-war, pro-rich, and pro-Republican? And since when did promoting and pursuing a progressive social agenda with a concern for economic security, health care, and education opportunity mean you had to put faith and God aside?"

Furthermore, while I love hymns and thoughtful songwriters who deal with spirituality and worship, I think most CCM is pretty uninspiring. As the writer Sara Cook wrote in her article “Who’s Down with G.O.D.?” for Bust magazine: “Jesus came to take away our sins, not our taste.” (great article btw…I have a copy if you ever want to read it.)

I guess I should also put a disclaimer here, saying that I only represent my own experiences with God and that my opinions do not line up with all Christians. I apologize if I offend with my sense of humor or if my views don’t match up with what God has shown you. I must also confess that I'm not always a good representation of who the Lord tells me to be.

Why did you decide to move 2,000 miles away, live below the poverty line and “give up” two years of your life?

God told me to.

So what exactly do you do all day?

Have you ever wondered what happens to those bags of clothes, secondhand toys and canned food items you graciously give to non-profits? Well, they end up on my desk. Just kidding, but I do my fair share of donation-sorting for the 245 people we have living within our walls. As for the rest of my role here, I do a little bit of whatever needs to be done, from writing newsletters to caring for kids. Eventually, I will lead work teams and youth groups that come to Warren Village to do projects, maintenance and construction. Along that line, I spend a great deal of my time speaking at churches and organizations in the community, recruiting support and volunteers. I also get to teach residents and former residents about sharing their own stories, which is one of the best parts of the job. As a journalist, I’ve always loved stories and one of my favorite Bible passages is Proverbs 31:8-9: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Everyday I get to speak up for people and teach them to speak up for themselves.

Good Word

Isaiah 58:6-12

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Sparkles like Fireworks in Your Mouth

So I've been seeing these billboards around town advertising the new Fresca. I mean, really, hadn't you wondered what ever happened to Fresca? I'm not much on soft drinks, but it's nice and fizzy and fun. And as the ads say, it "sparkles like fireworks in your mouth." Seriously. I wouldn't make this stuff up. Turns out, Fresca has a new design and two new flavors. If you, too, had ever wondered about this ever-evolving Coca-Cola product, check out its historical timeline: http://www.fresca.com/flash_content/index.html

It kept me entertained for a few minutes. And the site has these nice, little fizzy dots that follow your mouse around. What more could you need for cubicle entertainment?

Love One Another: A Plea to the Angry Soccer Mom on Speed

“As the little English girl prayed, ‘O God, make the bad people good and the good people nice.’”

-taken from Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace?

“From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, spare us, O Lord.”

-Teresa of Avila

So I got attacked on Sunday by a group of angry pro-lifers. Ok, so attacked might be a slight exaggeration on my part to make myself look better, but there was definite insulting. I guess I should make a disclaimer here: I think abortion is always a tragedy and something that I really don’t think God has in mind for us. But, even though I find myself on the same side of the fence, I find it much more difficult to love the average abortion protestor than say, the average, maximum-security inmate. Ok, maybe another exaggeration. But not by much.

I guess I should set the scene. I’m walking home from the library and then I realize I have to walk through a group of protestors, lining 14th Avenue. They all have signs that say, “Abortion kills children.” And, gee, they even considered diversity because they had the signs in both English and Spanish. Wow.

I could have walked on by, accepting the different ways we all like to spend our Sunday afternoons when I saw the huge posters of severed baby body parts. Like a lot of anti-abortion protests I’ve seen, these pro-lifers decided to display huge signs with graphic photographs of partial birth abortions, sparing no squeamish stomachs, but having ample amounts of blood, guts and decapitated heads. And then they started yelling about how they were doing this in the name of Jesus.

As a would-be journalist, I appreciate the power of a photograph. I think horrible scenes sometimes need to be seen, to shine light into dark places and illuminate atrocities. But when you wield such a powerful weapon, the ramifications need to be considered. In my humble opinion, if you’re trying to stop abortion in the name of God’s love, you might want to find a more loving way to do it.

I would have been fine if a holder of one such scene of slaughter hadn’t spoken to me. Apparently, I look as if I fit into the abortion-having demographic to which they were reaching out. I guess he wanted to know what I thought about the murder of millions of children. I was annoyed and in my often un-Christian way, decided to play Devil’s Advocate. I asked him, being a man, if he had ever considered having an abortion. And he replied: “What does being a woman have to do with having an abortion?”

Well, folks, things just went from bad to worse.

As always, I’m really not good at saying what I mean on the spot. A rather angry lady decided to shove a five-foot poster in my face. I've taken to referring to Angry lady as the Soccer Mom on Speed. This is probably very judgmental and un-Christian-like, but she ticked me off. I tried to explain to her that I was actually on their side—I just preferred a more loving approach. She said the truth was love. She said adoption is the key. I said I agreed. My own mother gave up a baby when she was sixteen. I have always admired her immensely for that act of selflessness in providing my half-sister with a better life. But when I asked the crowd of adoption supporters, who among them had adopted or foster children, not one raised their hand.

Angry lady then told me I wasn’t a follower of Jesus Christ. I said, in a rather annoyed, un-Christian tone, that I did follow Christ. She asked me over and over what church I attended, until finally, I got a little self-righteous myself and said I was actually a commissioned missionary with the United Methodist Church. I think that one had her for a minute. But then she said that was my problem. The United Methodist Church was made up of a bunch of liberals and we love homosexuals and abortionists. Well, I was a little flattered because I am a liberal and would love to belong to a church that loved all people equally. Still, last time I checked, the UMC Social Principles did not condone abortion or homosexuality.

The abortion protestors did bring up some good points though. They pointed out that the Lord was a God of justice. Agreed. Since I thought the pictures were offensive, they asked if I agreed that Jesus was also offensive to people. True. But what had always stood out to me was that Jesus was usually most offensive to the self-righteous and the Pharisees, while he was very loving to those society deemed sinners. After all, sin is sin. We’re all sinners and I don’t think God has some sort of sliding scale or point system up there. I do believe in justice, in repentance, in faith, in grace. But most of all, I believe in love. “Love others as yourself.”

I can’t help mourning God’s church sometimes, how we often reduce ourselves to two hot-button issues and forgot about our central command: to love. I can’t help thinking that modern-day Pharisees would look a lot more like the abortion protestors than the Mary Magdalenes going into the clinic. Maybe that’s why I wish I could figure out a way to get on the other side, because, well, they seem cooler and a whole lot nicer. I know I’ve got a lot of Pharisee in me, and I think we all have to remind ourselves to remove the planks from our own eyes before we start picking gunk out of our neighbors’.

God’s love is perfect. As tough as it is to swallow, He loves without favoritism. He loves children, pro-choicers, pro-lifers, terrorists, murderers, and every single one of us. I know I need to remind myself that the people I met that day are technically on my side. And even though I feel like they make my job as a Christian a lot harder, God’s love and grace embrace them as much as it does me.

Here are some extra thoughts from Philip Yancey’s book, quoted from those more eloquent than I:

“Be careful, lest in fighting the dragon you become the dragon.” -Nietzsche

“I’ve decided I’m against abortion. I think it’s murder. But I have a dilemma in that I much prefer the pro-choice to the pro-life people. I’d much rather eat dinner with a group of the former.” Andy Rooney, commentator on 60 Minutes

“Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the ninety-nine will read the Christian.” -Dwight L. Moody

The Joke's on Me

So I have a hot date tonight! Only problem is, he's a stand-up comedian (yes, he has a "real" job too, Mom). I met him after I saw him perform a couple weeks ago. We've had a great time hanging out, but this is our first big outing. Along with the usual pre-date jitters, I can't help thinking that no matter how the night goes, I'm going to become fodder for his next act ("So I was on a date with this girl...") But I guess laughing at yourself is a good thing, so maybe I shouldn't mind being someone else's punchline.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

So I woke up this morning to the white, fluffy stuff covering the ground. For someone who normally sees snow every couple years, this is exciting news. I am a little confused, however, considering it was sunny and 80 degrees on Saturday. But everyone has said that this is Colorado and in a couple days, it might be in the 70s again.
Of course, the only problem is that no one seems to understand my fear of driving in ice/snow. I tell them that the whole state of South Carolina shuts down when we get an inch of snow, but no one seems to believe me. I asked how I'm to drive on ice and they told me to just take corners carefully and honk my horn if I start to skid. Mmm...good thing I can walk to work.

Mapquest

So I'm beginning to understand that we are a very regional nation. Like, yesterday, Sara* asked me if South Carolina was in the South because she thought it was that state that split off from Virginia (btw...still the South). I said, "No, that's West Virginia." "Oh," she said, "I think you might be right."

It's all good because I have to admit that Colorado's a pretty square state amongst a few other angular ones and it took me awhile to know which boxes were what. I also have to confess how low I sunk in the name of defending my Southern upbringing. I actually used the fact that South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union as a plus in designating our membership in the Confederacy and thus, the Southern states. Wow, never thought I'd use that as a positive.

*All names have been changed to protect the innocent.

What?!?!

On a recent trip to hurricane relief centers in Houston, former First Lady Barbara Bush commented on how the evacuees were faring in the Astrodome. She said:

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Why, of course! I guess she's saying poor people don't really care about having a home--the Astrodome must actually be a step up. I mean, they wouldn't know the difference, considering they're poor and all.

This kind of statement speaks directly to the culture of poverty that America struggles with. This mentality says that second-class and second-rate are all "those people" deserve. After all, that's what they're used to anyway. Whether we want to admit it or not, many of us feel that the poor are that way through fault of their own. And someday, I might actually figure out what "deserving poor" means. I find, working with low-income parents, that many feel like they are treated like second-class citizens. And I would love to say that it's their imagination, that they are being overly sensitive, but how can I when a figurehead for our country says something like that.

Barbara Bush is a representative of our country, an institution that espouses liberty and justice for all. We say everyone deserves to pursue happiness, poor or not. And when I think about being happy and doing "very well," I don't really envision camping out in the Astrodome.