An Exegesis of San José

This has taken a little longer than I wanted it too, but finally some news on our night out as a urban mission class. As mentioned earlier, we left the class room and took to the streets (probably where urban mission should begin). Each student had chosen a particular area to focus on such as: physical space, smells, architecture, signs of hope etc. The first real encounter that impacted all of us was a gothic (in black) dressed lady holding a sign in the midst of rush hour that said, “free hugs.” Most of us did hug her, with the rest of San José staring at us as if we were insane! A class visitor (Randy of Centrifugal Expressions) made the comment to the girl, “You know Jesus would do this same thing!” He’s right! I think Jesus would identify the loneliness in the hearts of these city people and do something about it. It turned out she and a friend just decided people in the city need a hug. It spoke to the issues of isolation and loneliness people feel in San José. In addition to this encounter we had several others, including the opportunity to pray for a young man just released from prison. I hope to share more in the next couple of days and more importantly, share the implications for ministry here among people in San José.