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​What a wonderful time at CLA-LA's December clinic - our annual Christmas clinic! It was a joy to be part of. The food was delicious. We were once again treated to a lovely home-cooked Christmas meal prepared onsite by the Filipino Fellowship for the second year in a row, complete with pasta, salad, rice, chicken and egg rolls. Pastors Romy and Lilian dela Cruz of the Filipino Fellowship, for those who don't know, are the parents of our very own CLA-LA Executive Director Sarah McKendricks! I am told you will often find her pastor dad volunteering at CLA-LA's monthly clinics providing spiritual counsel to clinic clients; what a wonderful family legacy!

The dessert bar lovingly tended by CLA-LA volunteer Joe Teirab with such enthusiasm was also such a treat. The Jefferson Campus facilities offered by the Young Nak Celebration Church for the clinic site was also wonderful, decked with a Christmas tree and festive decorations. And the happy-looking decorated Christmas gift bags lined up waiting to be picked up by clinic clients added a festive and welcoming touch to the room. Dave Kleinknecht, Director of Hope for LA (a ministry of Pacific Crossroads Church), a familiar smiling face at CLA-LA's monthly clinic, was also present, bringing along his team of volunteers.

Thanksgiving is almost here, and before I eat too much turkey and fall into a food coma, I want to reflect on a few reasons I am thankful for CLA-LA.  

I think of our recent Prayer Breakfast, where hundreds gathered together to pray for issues affecting our clients: homelessness, mental illness, the effects of prison sentences and broken families.  

Last weekend I was reminded again of why we do what we do. One of our volunteers had been given the opportunity to share with his church about why he serves with CLA-LA. I always like to hear our story told by our volunteers, interns, and clients: it reminds me of the incredible heart change and people-to-people connections that happen when we meet to serve. What he said has been resonating with me this week. 

Last week we discussed how the passion of Christ shows his understanding of injustice. He was judged and found guilty, despite his innocence. He bled and died. From all reasonable appearances, justice and hope were lost forever. Might had triumphed over right. There was nothing more to be done, no further fight to be won, no possibility of redemption. 

But on Sunday we celebrated the resurrection of Christ. And in the resurrection we have a wondrous hope: if Christ is risen, then death and injustice do not have the final say.

The resurrection means that all injustice is temporary. 

This week we remember Christ’s crucifixion. When we read the gospels we are reminded that Jesus himself was no stranger to injustice and abuse. If we look with a “legal” perspective, what do we see in the final week before Jesus’ death? 

We see that he was wrongfully accused, and had no one to speak for him. We see the full force of a justice system, meant to punish wrongdoers, being corrupted to serve the desires of those in power. We see Jesus convicted despite His innocence. We see him sentenced to death. We see his friends abandon him, deciding that they don’t want to be associated with a criminal. We see a final opportunity for clemency denied. And, on Good Friday, we see him suffer the ultimate injustice: He is tortured and executed, despite having done no wrong.

If you were to lose something of great value, chances are you would do whatever it took to find that item. If you lose your phone or wallet, you will carefully retrace your steps until you figure out where it is. We know what has great value to us by how far we will go to find those items when they are lost.

In Luke 15 Jesus shares two stories: one about a shepherd who loses one sheep and leaves the 99 others to seek it out, and the other of a woman who loses one of her ten coins and searches her whole house until she finds it. Both the shepherd and woman stopped what they were doing and dropped everything else they had all because they saw the one sheep and one coin as incredibly valuable.

What has great value in our lives? Maybe it’s children, our family, our job, or home, but when it comes to matters of the heart, what might we say? That question is often a little harder to answer because it’s difficult to identify when something is lost within us. Maybe our relationship with Jesus slowly drifts away and we wake up years later realizing there has been a gradual shift in our lives and we feel far from God. Or maybe a relationship has been broken, and we long to see that bond restored. When there are things within us that have gone missing, we should desire to see them restored.

We’ve been talking over the last month about what it means to see our neighbor - to really recognize them as individuals beyond the contexts and situations we meet them in. But we’ve known all along that merely seeing people isn’t enough. At some point, we must translate our seeing into doing. 

But what does that look like? How can we know how to act - and have the courage to do so? And why, in middle of the busyness that fills our lives, while we still honor our responsibilities to family and work and immediate community, would we bother? 

Our last blog post talked about truly seeing the people around us. Too often we interact with individuals as co-workers, opposing counsel, waiters, classmates, clients, or even friends and family members. But we fail to see them as real, vulnerable, strong, infinitely valuable, incredibly complex people. 

I know that I often fail to treat the people I meet with the love and respect they are due. I see the exterior, and not the image of God inside of them. Still, since I know that I am commanded to love, I try to love more. I try to push through interpersonal differences. I put the emphasis on my actions. But what if we need the Lord to change more than our doing — what if we need Him to first heal our seeing? What if the experience of loving our neighbor starts, not with the action of service, but with taking time to see them for who they are and who they were created to be? 

Last Tuesday we held client appointments at Homeboy Industries.  Before the day began, I stood beside the homeboys and staff as they gathered for daily announcements and the morning reflection.

One of the homeboys shared that morning, and what he said resonated with me. He encouraged us to take time to see one another, explaining that what caused him to truly change his ways was the discovery that when he came to Homeboy Industries, someone saw him.  

It made me ask, “Am I taking the time to see who is right next to me?”  

His reflection also reminded me of the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), who saw the wounded man along the side of the road and took care of his wounds as opposed to those who passed by earlier, who chose to ignore that they saw the man suffering and continued on their way.

This made me ask a second question, “How am I responding to what I see?”