The healing, reconciling ministry of the Body of Christ has taken many dimensions over the centuries. In the same way that Jesus was tempted to use the power of God to feed himself in the wilderness, so the Body of Christ is continually tempted to use the blessings of God to benefit itself.
Unlike Jesus, the Body sometimes succumbs to such a temptation for a period of time and yet the Spirit of God among those who continue to worship and study the Word continues to move and give expression to works of compassion and mercy.
At Highland Presbyterian, in 1967, Mike Wassel reported that some of the men of the church would work with youth at the Eleventh Street Boys Center. Such efforts eventually led to a major involvement in what became known as the Lincoln Avenue Project which included tutoring, sewing classes, baseball teams and a variety of other activities by which Highlanders grew in faith by reaching out across the economic and often racial divisions of our city.
In 1973 Arch Scales reported on and secured economic support for an ecumenical Crisis Control Ministry which brought food to the hungry, clothes to the naked and shelter to the impoverished of our city. Highland continues to be a major supporter with both money and volunteers. Each month worshippers bring food and place it at the table of our Lord as a visible expression of our meeting Christ through feeding the hungry.
Jesus’ invitation to meet him in prison has also found its expression among the Body at Highland. From Mike Wassel’s initial work with the Yokefellows’ prison visitation to support of an ecumenical prison chaplaincy and an attempt to create a program to minister to victims of crime, the Word of God has sought expression in connection with those who were touched by crime.
In 1995 Highland joined prisoners in the local prison in a spiritual retreat so that both church members and prisoners might listen to God speaking in their midst. In 1996 members of Highland became part of a new effort sponsored by the prison chaplaincy to provide mentors for youth who have gotten in trouble with the law.
None of these are extrordinary acts. They emerge out of the interaction between the study of the faith and the natural compassion in the human soul. God leads leads us through who we are.
