Jesus, the Streets, & Mayor Menino (1 of 4)

Whenever I read the accounts of Jesus life, I am struck by the fact that the settings for many of these stories are the streets and roads of Palestine.  Today, when most of us think of a religious teachers we imagine them ministering in a mosque, a church building, or a synagogue.  We don't picture the dusty by-ways between rural towns or busy city intersections.  Yet, that is exactly where we find Jesus so often.  He's meeting people who are out on the streets of the towns and cities he stayed in. The funny thing is Mayor Menino knows where we should find religious leaders (see "Mayor Calls for Help after Teen Slain" from the Boston Globe).  Menino told the ministers he called to his office: “Get out of the churches and get on the street and help us out. Help us out.’’

As a Boston minister, I want to take Mayor Menino's plea to heart.  I've felt for a long time that we will truly know God is moving when we start experiencing on the streets of our city stories like the ones we read Jesus and his followers experiencing in the gospels and the book of Acts.

This feeling and a love for the people of my city has motivated me since I was a teenager to take the message of who Jesus is to the streets to the people that you won't find in church on Sunday mornings.  That's why for the last month my friend Jeremy and I have been spending our Thursday nights meeting people on the streets of the Fenway where our church gathers.  Over the next three days, I will be sharing stories from our more recent experiences from drunken business associates to bar bouncers will see how the love of Jesus can make a difference...

Tomorrow: A Night on Landsdowne