Just like every neighborhood ours is a combination of joy and pain. The Image of God uniquely shines through in the Brentwood area. In many other ways there is apparent evidence that sin has staggeringly vandalized the Image.
The Fall has impacted our neighborhood. We see its results through individual choices and systemic policy. We see it through the ways people are hurt by historical and present day injustice.
Some of the statistical outcomes that reveal things are not as they ought to be:
Overall life expectancy is four to nine years shorter than any other part of the city. For males, life expectancy is a five full years shorter than the next lowest community.
43% of children in our neighborhood live below the poverty line.
The unemployment rate (19.5%) is more than double that of most other parts of the city.
Of those still in the school system, less than one out of four of local high school students reads proficiently (24%).
While we are clearly aware of the reality that things are not as they should be, we know that Christ is redeeming and reconciling all things to himself. We know that his death and resurrection provide the power and the access for individuals to know him, be transformed by him, and become ambassadors of reconciliation themselves. We also know that one day, he will redeem and reconcile all things back to himself. And while we might not see that today, we are all called to act and pray for his Kingdom to come in great and small ways through our lives.