Just The Way It Is.....

Recently, in conversations, some of you have asked about ways to more directly engage in discussions on racial reconciliation, cultural sensitivities, and how Christians can be part of a march forward instead of remaining stuck and saying, "well, that's just the way it is."   One option is to apply to be a Dweller in Los Angeles through the Presbyterian Church's Young Adult Volunteer program, though you do not have to be a Presbyterian to sign up.  If you are a young adult between the ages of 18-30, would like to spend a year directly engaged in questions of economic and racial injustice while living in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, sign up by June 1.   The new director, Elizabeth Leu, is passionate about reconciliation and cross-cultural ministry.  

Elizabeth Leu, Director of DOOR Los Angeles

If you've ever been told, "that's just the way it is," but that doesn't sit peacefully in your gut, then this opportunity might be perfect for you.

The experience in Los Angeles, from the heart of Hollywood, is profound and life-changing.  A stone's throw from Paramount Studios, one of the strongholds in the storytelling capital of the world, serves as a stark backdrop to the lives of our neighbors living on the streets.  God will challenge you to ask questions of the American Dream: who is it for?  Who might it be stepping on?  Why are the demographics of homelessness and the prison population so similar?  What does Matthew 25 really mean?  Are we supposed to serve "the least of these" so we can feel good about ourselves only, or is there something we need to learn?  Do the perspectives of those living without material or social wealth have something to teach us about following Jesus?  After all, Jesus is there, amidst them.  Can we see Him?

Click here to apply by June 1, 2016

Changes, by Tupac

The Way It Is, by Bruce Hornsby and the Range

Lyrics to The Way It Is (incidentally the first pop song I ever learned to play on the piano!)

Standing in line marking time--
Waiting for the welfare dime
'Cause they can't buy a job
The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old ladies' eyes
Just for fun he says "Get a job"

That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

They say hey little boy you can't go
Where the others go
'Cause you don't look like they do
Said hey old man how can you stand
To think that way
Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules
He said, Son

That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

Well they passed a law in '64
To give those who ain't got a little more
But it only goes so far
Because the law don't change another's mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar

That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

Lyrics to Changes

Come on come on

I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself

Is life worth living should I blast myself?

I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black

My stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch

Cops give a damn about a negro

Pull the trigger kill a nigga he's a hero

Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares

One less hungry mouth on the welfare

First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal the brothers

Give 'em guns step back watch 'em kill each other

It's time to fight back that's what Huey said

Two shots in the dark now Huey's dead

I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere

Unless we share with each other

We gotta start makin' changes

Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers

And that's how it's supposed to be

How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?

I'd love to go back to when we played as kids

But things changed, and that's the way it is

That's just the way it is

Things will never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah

That's just the way it is

Things will never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah

I see no changes all I see is racist faces

Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races

We under I wonder what it takes to make this

One better place, let's erase the wasted

Take the evil out the people they'll be acting right

'Cause both black and white is smokin' crack tonight

And only time we chill is when we kill each other

It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other

And although it seems heaven sent

We ain't ready, to see a black President, uhh

It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact

The penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks

But some things will never change

Try to show another way but you stayin' in the dope game

Now tell me what's a mother to do

Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you

You gotta operate the easy way

"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way

Sellin' crack to the kid. " I gotta get paid, "

Well hey, well that's the way it is

That's just the way it is

Things will never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah

That's just the way it is

Things will never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah

We gotta make a change

It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.

Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live

And let's change the way we treat each other.

You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do

What we gotta do, to survive.

And still I see no changes can't a brother get a little peace

It's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East

Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs

So the police can bother me

And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do

But now I'm back with the blacks givin' it back to you

Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up,

Crack you up and pimp smack you up

You gotta learn to hold ya own

They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone

But tell the cops they can't touch this

I don't trust this when they try to rush I bust this

That's the sound of my tool you say it ain't cool

My mama didn't raise no fool

And as long as I stay black I gotta stay strapped

And I never get to lay back

'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs

Some buck that I roughed up way back

Comin' back after all these years

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat that's the way it is uhh

That's just the way it is

Things will never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah