Ted shared a story with me last night that I loved hearing.  Recently one morning, while at his office (see CLCP), he had a few visitors from the neighborhood. A loving leader in our community, Adela, brought in one young woman and her mother to seek legal advice.  Though several hours before the official start of "clinic time" (4-7pm every other Thursday), they found someone to talk to in Ted.

I don't know the details of the young woman's case (as rules of confidentiality require), but I do know that she had burdens overwhelming her, and the tears flowed freely as she broke down and shared her story for Ted.   The legal issues were entangled and complex (as is frequently the case in difficult situations), but what this woman clearly needed as much as legal advice was hope and help to withstand the current trials she faces. 

So Ted shared Truth with her: truth of God's love and His ability to redeem all situations; the truth of His strength and His power to sustain us and overcome the troubles we face - not necessarily by taking them away, but by walking with us through them, if we believe and acknowledge Him.   They prayed together, and Adela ended the time in song, holding the crying client and kissing her forehead, communicating that God is Love, and He cares for us.

God is a Comforter. Amen!

Mural at the entrance to Ted's
office building, Joy in the City.

Celebrations!

The Open House celebration at CLCP last Thursday was a great success. After weeks of hard work planning the event (on Ted’s part), sending out invitations, and hoping for a good turnout, I can say it paid off in a lovely way – many people came, and they didn’t seem to want to leave!

I don’t know why I have a tendency to sit in the background and worry about things. Two months ago, Ted and Pete decided to throw this Open House party, at the suggestion of a CLCP donor. Neither of them had experience in planning an event like this, but they put their heads together – along with  the Ayuda clinic coordinator Pam, who does have extensive experience in this – and sweat through the details involved in making any four-hour “open house” event a success.

As for me –  I prayed for them.  I refilled coffee dispensers and set out dessert displays during the event. I made nametags. And that’s about it!  Oh yes … and I worried!  I didn’t know how to make this event a success. How do you plan a program for a rotating crowd, not knowing when the peak traffic times will be?  I didn’t know how best to dive in and be a part of the planning committee, so I watched some of the planning unfold.

When I arrived two hours before the kick-off to help with set-up, I saw that Ted and Pete had already arranged the tables and chairs, and skillfully displayed artwork from Ayuda’s youth art program around the room. It looked great. But not as great as when 40-50 people filled the room at the peak of the party! J

So many people came: volunteer clinic attorneys and their spouses, law school friends of Ted’s, pastors, teenage volunteers from HPCA, and other key community members. We had a diverse food spread for a hundred people – Thai, Mexican, and Puerto Rican; Susan Post gave a tour of the newly opened Esperanza Health Center next door; and half a dozen ministry partners shared their excitement and vision for the legal clinic’s work. You can hear what the speakers had to share, here.

So I didn't really need to worry - just trust. Ted and the team did such great, hard work to pull this off. Thank God for a great event! And for an opportunity to share and celebrate with so many the work  CLCP is doing. 

The theme for the year at CLCP. Ted helped design this
concept, and a graphic designer from church prepared it.

A great crowd of folks.

Yummy spread with Ayuda artwork in the background.

Ted sharing his story of why he works at CLCP.

Dinners, the Finale

Well now I can wrap up this saga by sharing a third encounter we had, one which also happened to be centered around food, but with a much different outcome than what happened in part 1.

As you read there, our first attempts to invite some neighbors into our home did not quite pan out as expected... they simply didn't pan out! A few days after our lovely dinner with the legal clinic folks, Ted and I decided to try again, but with a much simpler approach.

Tostones, the sweet version.

I had made some yummy loaves of pumpkin bread the night before and saved one for some neighbors of ours, a Puerto Rican family with whom we had exchanged many "hellos" and "how are yous" in the past. Knocking on their front door, with pumpkin bread in hand, we were greeted by the mother with warmth and invited into their home.  Over the next half hour we sat and talked with the mother and father, heard stories of his father's farm in Puerto Rico, saw some great pictures, and then... were invited into the kitchen for an impromptu cooking lesson!  Tostones were on the menu - one of my and Ted's favorite tropical snacks :)  Being Puerto Rican, they had tons of plantains on hand, and the mother just kept smashing them and frying them up, sending us home with a heap of them! (And this after eating several while standing in their kitchen.)  Plus, they also sent us with some delicious vegetable soup that the father had just made.  It was so much fun to be invited into their home, to sit and talk, and to be invited back again.  "Our home is your home!" said the father before we left.  What nice people, what a sweet gift.

There ends our three-part "dinners" saga from the month of November! ha.  What saga will there be next?  :)

Dinners, Part 2

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!