<a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/3543209293_43d437c7bd.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-433" title="3543209293_43d437c7bd" src="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/3543209293_43d437c7bd.jpg" alt="" width="403" height="500" /></a>
<h5 style="padding-left: 150px;">Photo courtesy of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/cushinglibrary/">Cushing Memorial Library</a></h5>
Do you ever have so much to clean around the house that you do nothing at all? The same can be true when you wake up one morning and realize your garden has become a jungle of weeds, or when you come back to work after a week away and find a frightening number of emails filling your inbox.

I am the type of person who thrives on being busy and having deadlines, <strong>but the moment "busy" crosses the line to the land of "overwhelmed," I'm paralyzed.</strong> Even if I have a half hour to devote to making a dent in whatever mountain is looming over me, my available time and energy is like a speck in a very big picture. It's easier to just set that picture aside and distract myself with something else.
<h4>An even bigger picture: The kingdom of heaven on earth</h4>
This is what it can feel like to be charged with bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth. <strong>My faith has been transformed in many ways the past few years by the understanding that heaven is not something we simply long for at that time when we die, but it's something we should long for here on earth</strong>—day-to-day harmony and orientation and <em>rightness</em> between real people and God, as well as all creatures and fields and sky. That's what Jesus was talking about when he prayed the Lord's Prayer: "...on earth as it is in heaven." That's why he was put on the earth in the first place.

<strong>"Overwhelmed" is the word that best describes what I feel when I start contemplating the complex, deeply-rooted tangle that is formed by so many societal problems and justice issues.</strong> I definitely experience waves of compassion, but they are followed by tsunamis of helplessness.
<h4>A small part of the kingdom, coming into focus</h4>
Sometimes, though, in that enormous sea of neediness, something comes into focus, drifting directly into your life. <strong>It's a confluence of circumstances—the particular heart you have, finding itself in a certain place at a certain time, with just the right combination of need and inspiration and support.</strong>

That's the sort of thing that's happening right now for Jason and I, and some members of our small group from church. It started when we became friends with Jesse, who goes to our church and started a <a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/?p=407">tent community</a> called Safe Haven as an alternative housing option for some of the growing number of homeless people in our community.

In the past week, though, a series of events have really spurred us on toward action, rather than just encouraging words. We attended a Safe Haven open house, went to a court hearing, invited Jesse and others over for dinner to continue the conversation, and learned that Safe Haven <a href="http://news-gazette.com/news/courts_crime_fire/2009/07/31/homeless_must_vacate_champaigns_tent_city_after_tonight">lost its zoning appeal</a>. This past Friday, July 31, was the last night the members of the community could set up tents for the night on the Catholic Worker House property near our church.

Yesterday afternoon, six of us attended our church's council meeting to discuss how we might be able to do something for the homeless community, which, in our town, is centered in the half mile radius directly around our church building.

The point, really, is this: There are 15 human beings, currently without other housing options (for a variety of reasons), who are trying to be creative about practical solutions, all the while building a true community in a world that has largely left them feeling very cold, afraid and alone. And here we are, at this particular time and place, with these eyes and hearts. The perfect mix of need, inspiration and opportunity doesn't present itself every day. <strong>And although the need is big, the ways we could help feel significant, yet manageable.</strong>
<h4>Faith without action is dead</h4>
As the backdrop for all of these events, it's probably no coincidence that our small group chose to spend the summer studying James. (Incidentally, the choice was made in May, before the tent community was even formed.)

Going into it, I was feeling like James is one of those books I know all too well from my college days. It even struck me as a bit of a Bible study cliche.

But I'm at a very different point in my life, now, so the book I encountered is a very different book. <strong>My own struggles and heartaches have been my crash course in compassion,</strong> allowing me to approach the poor and needy in different ways, and also allowing me to understand a bit more what this faith I have is all about.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.</em> <strong>~ James 2:14-17</strong></p>