Now it's time for me to share about a more planned, structured dinnertime, that did happen as we hoped. As mentioned earlier, CLCP has had a great relationship with Christian law students at Temple, who come to assist on most clinic days. As a way of fostering relationships among Christian law students and lawyers, and to express CLCP's appreciation for their work, we invited all students and a handful of volunteer attorneys to our home one night after clinic.  (We live just a few blocks away...)

We sent out the Evite, set the table, and planned a fun meal. In the end, 7 of us gathered around our dining table. Tortilla soup, cornbread, and salad were on the menu, but the memorable parts of the evening were the conversations shared among us.  One law student came and inspired us all with his new-found PASSION for Christ and his overflowing love for the Lord.  Two recently barred attorneys joined Ted and Pete in a reflective conversation on Ted's ongoing question of, "what would Jesus look like as an attorney?" Ted envisions a "scrappy" street lawyer, one who addresses the needs of the poor, yet ministers to the entire person, one who listens and treats clients with compassion and love. He himself would be "poor," and would not seek to climb social/professional ladders...

One of the young attorneys responded with, "Ted, it sounds like what you are describing is a legal missionary."  Ah ha.  I thought this was an interesting distinction to make, but it still raises some questions for me.   I felt like many light bulbs went on that evening, and a lot of "amens" were thought and spoken.   Fellowship happened.  I was so thankful for this!

What a joy

On Sunday, Ted and I had the opportunity to attend an Indonesian Mennonite Church in South Philly. An old professor of mine and his family are members there.  It was a joy to be there, to experience worship in Indonesian and meet friendly, welcoming brothers and sisters in Christ.

The highlight for me may have been belting out "O come let us adore him," but in Indonesian. (I've been looking for the translation online.)  Just a few days earlier, Ted and I had watched the 2006 film, The Nativity Story. In the Christmas story, I am always so moved by the peculiarity of the wise men traveling from the East, across deserts, to follow Christ's sign. It is so bizarre, so completely wonderful, that I am amazed once again to think how all peoples from across the world are called to turn towards Christ, to embrace and worship Him.

Worshiping in a different language on Sunday recalled that amazement in me, the idea of us all being foreigners who are called towards the King of Kings, who was just a small child, for us.

Dinners, Part 1

A few weeks ago, Ted and I invited two of our neighbors over for dinner. It was something I had wanted to do for weeks, but whether it was conflicts with scheduling or not catching each other on the street at the right time, it had taken awhile to make it happen.

Tuesday, at 6pm, we had the table set beautifully in fall colors, and a favorite recipe of ours was just finishing on the stove. We waited, and waited for our neighbors to come, but… nothing happened. No one came! At 6:30 I decided to call one of the expected guests and she said, “oh yeah, I can’t make it!” Apparently the other neighbor was nowhere to be found… but our friend said, “You know, Thursday would really be better for me anyways.” Ok, so we were okay with trying for Thursday instead – but I knew to be a little more prepared for the unexpected... (Thankfully, our friends next door were home that night and in need of dinner, so we carried the food over and ate together :)

Two days later, Thursday, we had a somewhat simpler meal prepared to serve. Was anyone going to show up this night? We thought they might come at 6, but by 6:30… no one had come. I called the same neighbor and she was clearly not at home, and the other neighbor was nowhere to be found, again. So, we invited another friend to come by but he did not answer his phone. Finally we dug into the food ourselves and had great leftovers for the following week.

Ha! Sounds so strange, right? Well it may not be so uncommon, as our friends next door made clear after our first “no show” dinner. They have had similar experiences to ours, and they don’t think it necessarily indicates that people aren’t interested in getting to know us better. Having people over for dinner may not be a common part of the culture in our neighborhood—at least not in the form we expect it.

Fellowship @ Temple

Ted has had some wonderful opportunities this fall through his involvement with CLCP. In early November, the Temple Law chapter of CLS invited him to be their lunchtime guest speaker, to share about his ministry and calling to North Philly. Temple’s CLS has had a great volunteer relationship with CLCP for the past three years, through sending students to assist during clinic days in the North Philly site. This lunch was a great opportunity to get to know their group better (and for me to meet many new faces.)

Ted’s central question for his talk – “what kind of lawyer would Jesus be?” paved the way for some personal reflection and good discussion at a later point. To me, Ted's words revealed that, if we are to go beyond the quirky answer offered by one attorney at the CLS conference, “Jesus would not have been a lawyer!” and dig into the implications of the question,“what would Jesus do?” for the legal profession, there is much rich territory to explore.

Ted’s reflections centered on some of the same thoughts he expressed in his support letter on what a legal missionary would be:

Someone who… is committed to a place… directs others to a relationship with Christ; his work and life would be spent in pursuit of justice, peace and reconciliation while calling all people to love, compassion and simplicity; he would disciple others and equip them to continue building God’s Kingdom.

Bottom line… his work would be a ministry.

It was so great to be received by the Temple students. We left invigorated by our time and the people we met there!

South Philly vision

I was so excited by the connections that God kept bringing together after our time at the CLS conference.  Just a couple weeks after returning, my old supervisor at Penn, Megan, e-mailed Ted about a Penn GSE professor who is involved in doing some research with Saint Thomas Aquinas church in a South Philly neighborhood. Ted and I had already heard about Saint Thomas because of their diverse Mass line-up reflecting the demographics of their community – Indonesian, Spanish, Vietnamese, and sometimes Haitian Creole, in addition to English. They have a history of reaching out and recognizing the many needs in their community. We had immediately thought this could be a great site for one of CLCP’s bi-monthly legal clinics. Gerald, the Penn professor, felt exactly the same.  Over a delicious Thai meal in this South Philly neighborhood with Gerald and Megan, we heard all about his involvement with Saint Thomas, and the vision that the Monsignor has for a Social Justice Center, right on the church grounds! Would CLCP consider joining with and providing support for the Monsignor’s vision?

We have yet to meet with the Monsignor to discuss the possibility, but the idea of a partnership is a dream that has now been planted. CLCP is still young in some ways. They have an incredible network of attorneys built over its 10 years of operation, but the administrative infrastructure is just now in a process of being strengthened, and a third clinic site is already slotted to open on January 12^th in West Philly. So a question to consider is how quickly can CLCP expand – how quickly should it expand, given the work there is to be done in establishing the main office and gathering support?

So, we have yet to see what may become of our meeting in South Philly, but it was still an exciting exchange that we so appreciated. There is real potential for ministry in Saint Thomas’ neighborhood! And, the molasses cookies at Megan’s house afterwards were a real delicious treat J

CLS Conference

For me, a lot of the excitement about Ted’s legal ministry (see CLCP) began when we attended the Christian Legal Society’s annual conference in Chicago in October. Ted’s work was gracious enough to fund my ticket to travel to the conference alongside Ted. Both of us, along with Ted’s boss and his wife (Pete and Wendy), attended the all-day seminar on Christian Legal Aid. It was an excellent day. The discussion leader, Bruce Strom, taught us so much from his experience starting Administer Justice, a full-time legal aid ministry in Eglin, Illinois. Bruce stepped out in faith, leaving his private law practice to begin pro bono legal services to low-income neighbors.  What a cool testimony!   He gave us resources from his practice, and his co-workers offered so much advice to the group of sixty-plus Christian attorneys who want to extend themselves to follow the Christian calling to care for the poor, seek justice, and with compassion to reach out to those in need.  Even though Wendy and I were maybe the only non-attorneys in the room, I was so jazzed thinking about the possibilities of legal ministry! It was a fruitful couple of days for Pete, and Ted, of making contacts and brainstorming and praying for their ministry – there is such a broad horizon ahead, and it seems like the possibilities are endless…

The four of us reflected in"The Bean"

A real highlight of our 5-day trip was meeting a Chicago pastor, who graciously allowed Ted and I to sleep on his church’s floor in the city. Through some contacts at our church in Philly, this Chicago pastor found out that we were coming and in need of any type of accommodations. He hosted us for three nights – we opted to stay on his floor even though our friends had some extra space in their hotel room!   Something about Pastor Juan’s testimony, his demeanor, and his faith, changed us.  His blunt, honest words during a Chicago neighborhood tour “blew our minds and touched our hearts” – as I wrote in my journal a few days later. Himself being a previous heroin addict, he now ministers to recovering addicts in a part of the city that used to be the “badlands,” but is now slowly gentrifying.  This is close to where our Philly pastor began his ministry, and Pastor Juan was one of his earliest congregation members and a co-laborer in reaching out to their community with the gospel. One thing Pastor Juan kept emphasizing is how, as humans, we have a hard time “letting God be God.” We perpetually want to take control and give Jesus “tips” on how to run things. But, as Pastor Juan would say, “God is pretty good at being God. He doesn’t really need our help to run things.” Ha. I definitely feel the need at times to make sure God has everything under control. There was so much more that struck us. We were all four grateful for the few moments we had in his presence that weekend.

CLCP

Christian Legal Clinics of Philadelphia (CLCP) is a legal ministry that operates “neighborhood clinics” bi-monthly throughout Philadelphia. For ten years now, lawyers (mostly Christian) have committed time each month to offering free, hour-long consultations to people in need of assistance, but who cannot afford standard legal fees. CLCP operates their clinics through partner organizations, who both offer space for the clinic to run and promote the clinic within their neighborhood. The model has worked for these several years, and now, God has prepared the setting for CLCP to strengthen and expand its efforts.

In North Philly, CLCP partners with the Ayuda Community Center, a faith-based organization started by members of our church in Hunting Park. Every other Tuesday, three to four attorneys gather in the Ayuda clinic, and each one meets individually with two to three clients. The attorneys’ aim is to offer expert advice on the client’s legal issues, and also to extend compassion through a listening ear and prayer. In some cases, the attorneys may even be able to take on a client’s case pro bono. In these poignant situations, the Gospel enters as a way to console and encourage oft-distressed clients, and each attorney’s ultimate aim is to minister to everyone who walks in the clinic’s doors.

Now, because of God putting the right people and processes in place, and one particularly generous donor, CLCP has hired their first ever employees, established a head office, and is prayerfully looking to expand their services to other neighborhoods in the city.

TED is their first full-time hire! And we’re so blessed by that J Read more about what Ted will be doing  here.

Philly

This is a blog about what we're doing in Philly.

Philly is a great place to be.  Its major deficit is that it’s so far from California (big negative), but this is where Ted and I found ourselves three years ago, in a time of natural transition in life and as a result of much prayer and conversation.

Ted started at Drexel Law while I worked at UPenn.  After year one, we married and moved to a new neighborhood, closer to the church we had started attending and the ministry opportunities represented there.  I started an accelerated master’s program in international development at Eastern University. Just six months after I finished, Ted got his JD!

So, here we are! We are now members of our church, Ted is commencing work as a lawyer right in our neighborhood, and God has been so faithful in providing us a place to be, with friends and beautiful spots nearby.

As we move into our fourth year, thank you for being invested; thank you for caring for us and for even wanting to know what’s going on!

Love,

Katharine