NOTH

This past Thursday I was given an Good Neighbor award by Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods (CHUN) for my work in the area of public safety through Neighbors on the Hill (NOTH).

Now, for those of you who know me, you realize that the reason I'm so involved in my community is that I see it as essential to my vocation as a citizen ... in other words, it's part of how I live out my faith.

Most of you who read my blog also are most likely aware that I believe vocation is at the heart of how we need to do evangelism in a post-Christian world. The general idea is that, as we live out our faith, our lives will look different and people will be prompted by the Spirit to ask what it is that causes us to live our lives the way we do.

While, this approach works to an extent, it has its limitations. After all, I'm not the only one working to make my neighborhood safe ... I wasn't even the only one awarded for my work. In fact, we have atheists, Jews, agnostics and others who are a part of Neighbors on the Hill, and we're all working on making Capitol Hill a better, cleaner, and safer place for all of us to live.

So, what is the other key to Christian living in the New Testament that prompts people to ask what it is about us that's different? According to 1 Peter (and a number of other places), the answer is our Christian hope ... that certain confidence we have that Christ is going to return and, when He does, life will be so incredible that it will far outweigh any suffering we experience on this side of eternity.

May God give us all the hope we need when times are tough and allow that hope to be a wonderful witness to the work of Christ in our lives.

Today was a huge day for Neighbors on the Hill, a community group here on Denver's Capitol Hill that seeks to elevate Capitol Hill by taking part in actions projects that result in a cleaner, safer, and better community, working with local police and government agencies to accomplish mutual goals, and encouraging sidewalk, front porch, and balcony conversations.

Today was our spring clean up day followed by a community social and we had about 100 people out cleaning the streets, many of whom showed up for a BBQ at the end of the day. Not only did our local CBS news crew show up, but so did the man ranked the ninth best big city mayor in the world last year, John Hickenlooper. Of course I had to get a picture of Robbie with the mayor (who by the way, is as friendly and sociable in person as he appears in all of his TV ads).

So, how does this tie into faith? Vocation in the community of course!