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!

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!