{"id":42448,"date":"2016-06-08T17:32:25","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T22:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=42448"},"modified":"2016-07-07T09:38:07","modified_gmt":"2016-07-07T14:38:07","slug":"chicago-pastor-bruce-ray-called-to-a-disruptive-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-pastor-bruce-ray-called-to-a-disruptive-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Pastor Bruce Ray called to a ‘disruptive’ mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yingxu Jane Hao<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rev. Bruce Ray never planned\u00a0to become a pastor.<\/p>\n

Son of a Kentucky pastor in a small town in northwestern Illinois, Ray longed\u00a0to become a writer. So he went to the University of Iowa to study English with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in social work. Though his life took a transformative turn from his plan, his passion in both served him well in his ministry at the Kimball Avenue Church in Logan Square.<\/p>\n

On one Sunday, Ray preached a sermon about Pontius Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus to a small but attentive congregation. Ray, in a dark blue white-spotted sweater, speaks in a deep and vibrant voice full of emotion. His brown eyes peek down at the Mac screen on the podium occasionally, sometimes shining with a seriousness, sometimes with joy. His hand, holding a leg of his classes, waves to bring home his message from time to time.
\n<\/p>\n

Several congregants, including his daughter Ellen, responded with \u201cAmen!\u201d as Ray said that Jesus called His people to \u201ca disruptive and subversive mission.” Sitting beside her mother Karren, Ellen was one of the two younger worshippers present that day. Most of the church members are grey-haired like Ray himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are people of grace and love, and the fruit of love is justice and righteousness. And that is what we bring into this world. And we\u2019ll be perceived as dangerous, threat – if we are doing it right, we will,\u201d said Ray firmly with\u00a0 just the right hint of humor that made his congregants laugh. \u201cWe cannot be safe to the kingdoms of the world because we live with an alternative vision\u2026 And that was what Jesus began, and that is what Jesus has continued to do and will continue to do through his people who\u2019ve been made to be a Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rev. Bruce Ray plays piano and sings with his congregation in a Sunday worship services in fall. The Kimball Avenue Church held its Sunday services for a year in the art studio, Voice of the City, at 3429 W. Diversey Ave. (Yingxu Jane Hao\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ray has been ministering this church since 1978. During the past decades, he has seen congregants leave the neighborhood and his church as they moved to other places due to life changes. But he tries to make his micro-church a healthy one with close relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife and I joked that if everyone had stayed and not moved, we\u2019d have a congregation of thousands. But we don\u2019t, we have a really tiny congregation,\u201d Ray said with a grin.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take a mega-church to do the things Ray preaches and practices.<\/p>\n

One of the leading voices of Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance, Ray and his congregation have taken part in progressive actions to promote affordable housing, living wage and anti-violence efforts. For the past six years they have dedicated efforts to helping preserve public housing at Lathrop Homes on the North Side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the need for addressing suffering \u2013 compassion. But then we also need to go beyond just ministering to the suffering and ask: why are people suffering? And when we ask that question, it gets us to another level of engagement with those issues,\u201d said Ray.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are people homeless? There are a lot of reasons, but many of them are because we eliminate the services to people that need those services, we refuse to raise the wages so that people can actually afford to get to an apartment and sustain themselves,\u201d Ray said, his voice rising. \u201cThere are many churches that have overnight shelters but don\u2019t address why they are homeless. I think my faith has to ask a different question. It\u2019s not just what need needs to be met, but why there\u2019s a need like that in the first place, and how does my faith then lead me to address those causes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, he and his congregants can be spotted at various protests or rallies – sometimes in Logan Square, sometimes around City Hall.\u00a0 In a recent action called \u201cOccupy Palm Sunday,\u201d Ray and several of his church members asked the Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Housing Authority to keep their promise of the one-to-one replacement of the public housing units at Lathrop Homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do we what, show us the plan!\u201d \u201cIf we don\u2019t get it, occupy!\u201d They chanted side by side with community members, housing activists, and congregants from different churches.<\/p>\n

\"3\"
Ray and other clergy reenacted the Bible story of the walls of Jericho falling apart by holding signs representing the Chicago Housing Authority. This Moral Monday action last November demanded that Mayor Rahm Emanuel remove the barriers to safe, secure and affordable housing. Ray said he felt proud that half of his congregation was\u00a0there. (Yingxu Jane Hao\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf you look at any social justice movement, you\u2019ll often find people of faith at the foundation of it,\u201d said Ray on the active involvement of him and his church in such actions. \u201cWho is better than the faith community to be the conscience of the mayor and the city?\u201d<\/p>\n

Leah Levinger, executive director of the Chicago Housing Initiative met Ray six years ago at a meeting about Lathrop. A long-time co-worker of Ray\u2019s in the efforts to save Lathrop, she feels impressed by Ray\u2019s deep commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many causes do people stick with for years? And he\u2019s stuck with this cause through thick and thin,\u201d said Levinger. \u201cIt\u2019s courageous to be vocal and so public so consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a public housing advocate herself, Levinger said Ray has been a great leader from the faith community to bring people who are not directly affected as allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe talks about the work we need to in a way that doesn’t alienate anyone. That\u2019s hard to do. I feel that regularly,\u201d said Levinger with a shrug. \u201cSometimes you can talk about stands people should take but you talk in a way that turns people off. It\u2019s hard especially when you feel lot of emotion on the cause you are working on. And I think he never got submerged by anger and injustice. He always channels anger in a way that is productive. That\u2019s a pretty high level of spiritual development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good news is about life<\/h3>\n

In college, Ray was always grappling with the question of how to integrate what he learnt about social work with how he lived his faith. He found the answer in two books: “Christianity and the Social Crisis” by Walter Rauschenbusch, the father of social gospel movement, and “In His Steps” by Charles Sheldon, who introduced the idea of “What Would Jesus Do?”<\/p>\n

Those two books helped move Ray toward his mission. \u201cI\u2019m at now has just been a progression of that over a long period of time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his senior year in college, Ray found he didn\u2019t just want to write, he wanted to work with people in the city. So he started to find ministry opportunities. The timing was good. The Kimball Avenue Church, which has a connection to his home church, had a job opening for a pastor. So Ray started ministering at the church right after graduation. Four year later he started attending North Park Seminary Part Time and got his degree in 1990.<\/p>\n

Before Ray moved to Chicago, Logan Square, where Kimball Avenue Church located, went through rapid transitions in late 1960s and early 70s. Ray\u2019s wife Karren grew up in the neighborhood and was part of the congregation then. The neighborhood witnessed the flight of non-Hispanic whites and an influx of Puerto Rican and Mexicans. The changes in the community led to increased gang activities and crimes, creating an atmosphere of mistrust, animosity, anger and fear, Ray said. Two years before he arrived to serve as pastor, the church was robbed and there was even gunfire outside the building.<\/p>\n

The response, was to turn inward. The church became a safe fortress for the congregation in the midst of the ethnic transition. Instead of embracing it and responding to the needs of people coming in, they shut themselves off from it.\u00a0 So when Ray first came, it was a very scared congregation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are scared of their neighbors and very mistrustful. I didn\u2019t like them very much. Not very Christian actually,\u201d he laughed. \u201cLove your neighbors as yourself. But It was more like fear your neighbor. That was part of the task that I felt really strong about. People needed to be able to be safe again, to reach out to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray and his church took action very slowly. One of the efforts was to make the church a polling place for the precinct. It was non-threatening. And people came into his church, said Ray.<\/p>\n

When he first came, the church was also very theologically \u201cconservative,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main concern at that time was where someone was going to go after they die. It wasn\u2019t about how are people living or what are the conditions that people are facing as they live,\u201d said Ray. So the emphasis of the ministry \u201cwasn\u2019t about people\u2019s needs, or engaging where people were at,\u201d but only \u201csaving their souls.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Ray wanted to challenge the prevailing definition of salvation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s more important about how this life has been transformed by the presence of Christ, and heaven is just a nice benefit.” \u2013\u00a0the Rev. Bruce Ray<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhen Jesus came he announced the good news, or gospel. I think we\u2019ve done the gospel and the service by only making it words where it gets shaken down to this idea of \u2018when I die I\u2019m going to heaven\u2019 \u2026 as if that\u2019s the only thing that the gospel means, but that not what Jesus said,\u201d said Ray. \u201cWhen Jesus started his ministry, he said I have come to give sight to the blind, to make the limb walk, to release the prisoners, to relieve people of oppression, and to bring good news to the poor. So I think that the good news is about life; it\u2019s not about afterlife only. In fact, I think it\u2019s more important about how this life has been transformed by the presence of Christ, and heaven is just a nice benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Ray, salvation is not to only \u201cget on the lifeboat,\u201d but also to live out a life that is aligned to God on a daily basis personally and collectively as a church. So he tried to educate his congregation to orient their eyes away from themselves and their own needs, and refocus them outward to the needs of others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t call him a preacher. I call him a teacher. I think he taught his congregation, and then pushed them to move,\u201d said Marianne Deacon, long-time member of the church. \u201cBut he had to take time, because we had a lot of older people. They were not really interested in going out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deacon laughed, saying, \u201cNow we are of the older people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this congregation of predominantly 50-something people act differently than those of before: they go out more. And this is what Ray thinks a church is supposed to do. The church today is \u201cprofoundly different\u201d from the church she grew up in when she came home from college, said Ellen, Ray\u2019s daughter who works for the Center for Changing Lives and is active on housing and immigration issues.<\/p>\n

The change came not because of turnover. \u201cMany of the people are the same, but, together, and through my parent\u2019s example, we have all evolved, grown, learned and, yes, changed,\u201d wrote Ellen in an email exchange. \u201cI believe my church, under my dad’s leadership, had a conversion experience to know Jesus better by understanding the gospel as a call to social justice. I love that I am part of a community that wants to, is hungry to, be challenged to do what is right and just and is willing to change in order to fulfill that call.\u00a0 I am a better person because I am a part of that kind of faith community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The church on the street<\/h3>\n

In 2011, after their church building was ruined by\u00a0the ruptured steam boiler and other damages, Ray thought that they didn’t have to fit their ministry into the shape of our building. So the 110-year-old church building was taken apart.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN1229\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
The vinyl siding of the church building was removed as the deconstruction in 2011 went on. The church building sat on the southwest corner at the intersection of Medill and Kimball Avenues. (Photo courtesy of the Kimball Avenue Church)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"6.1\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
The church was taken apart nail by nail, piece by piece. Most of the materials were sold and recycled. (Photo courtesy of the Kimball Avenue Church)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"6.2\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Congregation and community members helped to build community gardens after the church building was torn down. (Photo courtesy of the Kimball Avenue Church) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

When there was no church building, Ray said they had to learn how to be a church without walls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really had to be the church on the street rather than the church in the building. We didn\u2019t want it to just be Sunday morning, we wanted it to be more times during the week that we would interact with people\u2019s needs. What does ministry look like when you have no building? So we collaborate a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of their collaborations with other neighborhood organizations. is to feed the homeless. They served the meal once a month for five years through Humboldt Park Social Services. Several other churches also volunteered to serve other Sunday meals, so that the program could provide a daily meal to the hungry at the Humboldt Park Methodist Church. After this program ended, Ray and his congregation decided to carry on the work. They have been partnering with the First Lutheran Church in the neighborhood for two years.<\/p>\n

At the traditional Thanksgiving meal last November, they made salad, mashed potatoes, stuffing and green beans. And of course, the turkey played the leading role. They also prepared cranberries, soft drinks, and pumpkin pie.<\/p>\n

\"4\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Ray and several people in his congregation prepared the Thanksgiving meal for the homeless using facilities at the First Lutheran Church. (Yingxu Jane Hao\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"5\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
The Thanksgiving meal included turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and green beans. (Yingxu Jane Hao\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

Ray said the grace at the front of a room full of homeless people. Then he exchanged greetings with everyone in the long line as they waited to be served. Everyone knows him, and he seemed to know everyone. He called them by name in his joyful and sonorous voice. He ate with them at the cafeteria tables, catching up with their lives and bursting into laughter from time to time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kingdom of God is now and not yet. But there are glimpses of it when the people of God rise up with their voice to say \u2018tear down the wall,\u2019 when the hungry are fed, when the homeless are housed, when the church acts to relieve suffering. There are these glimpses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family you want to be a part of\u201d<\/h3>\n

Among several volunteers from Ray\u2019s church, Kyle Gilbertson is the only younger face.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old music teacher at Phoenix Military Academy said he joined the church partly because of Ray\u2019s active involvement in social justice actions. An atheist years ago, Gilbertson said many churches that he went to \u201cdidn’t have that same kind of urgency, or seriousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay to be both spiritual, and to be political and activist the same time. And meeting a pastor and congregation that seem to embrace that idea was good for me because it was where I was already but it was sort of legitimation,\u201d he said, while opening a can in the hustling kitchen occupied by his church members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I appreciated most about Pastor Ray?\u201d Gilbertson put the can down, adjusting his John Lennon Glasses and starting to answer, unaware that Ray was in hearing range.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here!\u201d Ray cried out with a naughty grin. Everybody laughed.<\/p>\n

Gilbertson, laughing with a flush on his cheek, moved to a corner outside the kitchen.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis positive energy. He never stops. He never seems like he\u2019s tired or exhausted, or like he can never do it anymore. He keeps a huge level of activity. It seems that he thrives on that, instead of getting tired,\u201d said Gilbertson in a gentle voice. \u201cAnd he\u2019s open to trying all sorts of different new things. He\u2019s got that openness and feeling of excitement about everything he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Deacon, who has known Ray for about 37 years, the answer is simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe listens. He\u2019s compassionate,\u201d she said with appreciation.<\/p>\n

The time when Deacon first met Ray and Karren as neighbors, her children were going to an after school program at the Kimball Avenue Church, but she was going to another church.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I gave birth to my son, and I had an emergency C-section, and the staff said that my pastor was there and coming in to see me. And I thought in my head, \u2018I don\u2019t want to see him. Why does she or he – there were many ministers – have come to see me?\u201d she recalled. \u201cAnd then pastor Ray came in and I was relieved. And next moment I knew I was going to the wrong church. And that\u2019s why I started to go to this church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPastor Ray has never been out for what he can gain,\u201d Deacon added. \u201cIn fact, he\u2019s worked for our congregation for a low income for many years because we couldn\u2019t afford at one point to pay him a whole lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray and his wife Karren raised their two children in the neighborhood. Deacon called Ray\u2019s oldest child Ellen \u201cmy dear friend since the day she\u2019s born.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Levinger, who has been working with Ray on the frontline to preserve public housing at Lathrop Home and with his daughter Ellen through the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, \u201cthey are just like the family you want to be a part of, like if I could adopt them and join their family, I would, because they are just deeply good people.\u201d<\/p>\n

An oasis to feed the body and soul<\/h3>\n

The congregation has been on the move since 2011 after their 110-year old house of worship at 2324 N. Kimball Ave was torn down piece by piece and recycled with most of the materials sold. The process also became a workforce training project. They trained and certified six people in deconstruction, including three homeless people.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though we lost the building, we did it in a really eco-friendly and socially responsible way,\u201d said Ray with pride. \u201cWe feel really good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray isn\u2019t sure when or whether they\u2019ll rebuild the church building. On the vacant they have already built an \u201coasis\u201d – a labyrinth and a community garden – a place of rest and refreshment.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are coming to find your center again. You are walking back and forth until you get to the center,\u201d Ray said while walking the labyrinth. People pray and reflect on their lives in this practice which could date back to Middle Ages.<\/p>\n

\"7\"
Ray walks the labyrinth. This practice helps to “find your center again,” said Ray. (YIngxu Jane Hao\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the gardens beside the labyrinth, 26 families and three churches grow fruit and vegetables there in spring and summer, said Ray. They plant eggplant, tomato, green beans, kale, basil, green peppers, etc. There are also two ponds that have mosquito fish in them. The church installs solar fountains to keep it like living water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost our building,\u201d said Ray. \u201cBut the plan is to have a place that feeds the body with the gardens, and a place that feeds the soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"6.4\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Kale is growing in the community garden. (Yingxu Jane Hao\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"6.5\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Teens from the Design.Build.Grow.Eat program have been building arches over the garden this May. (Photo courtesy of the Kimball Avenue Church)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"6.3\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Cucumber grows in the community gardens. (Yingxu Jane Hao\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

The church and community members have been constantly improving the whole project. Ray said they would replace bricks with flowers and words like peace, love, wholeness, \u201cthings you want to incorporate into your life.\u201d Recently, teens from the Design.Build.Grow.Eat program have been building arches over the garden.<\/p>\n

Three black planters, one slightly higher than another, stand at the center of the labyrinth. Ray said flowers representing flames of fire will be planted there.<\/p>\n

\"timeline2\"
In the center of the labyrinth, three planters will have flowers to represent fire. \u201cMoses meeting God in the burning bush. You come, and you have your Moses moment,\u201d said Ray. (Yingxu Jane Hao\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMoses meeting God in the burning bush. You come, and you have your Moses moment,\u201d Ray said with a smile. \u201cYou become centered again, you realign yourself to the things that you want to become and what to do. After you have your moment, you breathe deep, and then you are ready to go out, and face life again, better prepared to face it.\u201d<\/p>\n

An era of new challenges<\/h3>\n

Since this February, the congregation has moved back to a \u201chouse church format.\u201d After worshiping in an art studio on Diversey Ave. for a year, the church now holds the Sunday service in a house, which is also the church\u2019s office, beside the community gardens at 3413 W. Medill Ave.<\/p>\n

\"8\"
The congregation now holds their Sunday services in a house beside the community gardens at 3413 W. Medill Ave. Ray’s family used to live here. After they moved out in 2011, this house has been used as the church\u2019s office. (Yingxu Jane Hao\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though it does not give the congregation the space to grow as they need to, it does reconnect the church visibly to the Labyrinth and the community garden, which serves as their primary outreach with more people walking the Labyrinth and gardening. Through the summer, weather permits, the church might do some outdoor services, and have some concerts in the yard.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly. The church is struggling financially,\u201d said Ray. \u201cWe need to look at what options do we have to find different revenue streams, increase our capacity to give and sustain ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray has worked for the congregation for a modest income for many years. For a period of time Ray worked a second job, but juggling between them prevented him from giving as much of attention to his pastoral work. So Ray decided to continue to work full-time for the congregation.<\/p>\n

Sustainability is an ongoing concern for many churches. Ray\u2019s congregation met with several other congregations last Sunday, discussing the possibility to rent a co-working space.<\/p>\n

A dwindling and aging congregation might be another concern for the church. Ray said the there would be 25 to 30 members if everyone connected with the congregation came to services. Gilbertson said he would like to see more members, including younger people like him, in the congregation. There is a challenge, but Ray said they have been working on this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all the work that we do in the community, I think that people are aware of us and what we do. We are visible,\u201d said Ray. \u201cBut we haven\u2019t been able to successfully translate that community awareness and involvement into participation.\u201d<\/p>\n

It might be even harder to get a younger generation to show up in the church. A Gallup religion trend report last year<\/a> identified this growing number of younger people without a formal religious identity as “nones.” But Ray said no affiliation does not mean they don\u2019t have a spiritual desire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure whether younger people in the community are necessarily interested in a Sunday morning kind of expression of their faith,\u201d said Ray. \u201cMy observation is that they are passionate about community and connection, coming together around things like gardens, social justice actions, but not necessarily the way of worship.\u201d<\/p>\n

While acknowledging the importance of the community gathering together in actions, Ray thinks it\u2019s also important to root the actions and community building in Biblical faith – \u201chaving the foundation of why we\u2019re doing those things, not just doing them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to become more strategic as a congregation about developing in more full understanding the way people, whatever age, are thinking about their spirituality and faith, and how can we better connect faith and actions for those people,\u201d said Ray.<\/p>\n

Discussion with his 34-year-old daughter Ellen helps Ray to understand the mindset of millennials in the efforts to get them connected. One of the challenges is to engage younger people\u00a0 in a less formal way, since church on Sunday doesn\u2019t always relate to their lives, Ray said.<\/p>\n

One of the ways he wants to try is to create conversation circles. The conversation is not discussing a specific kind of dogma and breed, but things younger people really doubt from time to time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Jesus really God? Younger people struggle with that doctrine. So rather than being dogmatic and saying that Jesus is God, it\u2019s more like bringing people together to talk about it with without being judgmental,\u201d said Ray.<\/p>\n

For him, part of the discussion is to understand where people at and how can the congregation engage people where they are at, and lay the foundation that enables them to sustain their action long-term. The challenges are new, but the situation is familiar: leading his congregation to meet the needs of the community and to answer the call of the gospel, just like what he did almost 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlow Wind Blow\u201d<\/h3>\n

As a pastor, Ray has not given up his love of writing. He not only incorporates that passion in preparing the sermons, but also published a book. “Blow Wind Blow” is \u201ca children\u2019s book with an adult message,\u201d said Ray with a profound look.<\/p>\n

\"9\"
Ray has published a book called “Blow Wind Blow.” He wrote this book to encourage his congregation to welcome new experiences. (Photo Courtesy of Bruce Ray)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The story starts with a little boy who lives in a house with his father, grandfather, great grandfather. All the windows he sees are nailed shut. The little boy asks why they don\u2019t open those window. His father tells him \u201cthere are scary things out there and we are vulnerable to them.\u201d His grand father tells him \u201cthe wind will come in, make everything dirty and mess up with our order.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, he gets up enough nerve to knock at his great grandfather\u2019s door. When the door opened, lo and behold, all the windows in the room are open, and they start the conversation about \u201cwhy do you open your windows?\u201d. The great grandfather says \u201cbecause without the wind, the air, there\u2019s no life.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the book, the great grandfather gives the boy a hammer and says \u201cyou have to decide whether you want to open your windows or not.\u201d The little boy goes back to him room, ponders on the question, and in the end decides to open his window. In front of the open window, he shouts, \u201cblow wind blow!\u201d<\/p>\n

The book, Ray said, was written in a period of time when the denomination they were part of were really afraid of new things and they weren’t open the window. The wind is an allusion to the Spirit, but it is also about freshness, new things that coming to our lives, sometimes unexpectedly.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe there are people saying \u2018don\u2019t go there, don\u2019t do that, you shouldn\u2019t think about those things,\u2019 but when we are presented by the opportunity, we should not be afraid to try it,\u201d said Ray. \u201cThere is a time where we individually or corporately have to make a choice to give up control, to risk the chaos of change, to experience something new and to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray\u2019s \u201cMoses moment\u201d came when he was called to serve God as a pastor, which he said turned out to be the best way for him to live out his faith and his desire to do God\u2019s work in the world.<\/p>\n

Ray turns 60 this year but he said he doesn’t feel old. He has spent almost four decades shepherding his \u201clittle flock of sheep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very pound of Kimball Avenue Church,\u201d Ray said, in a serious and sincere tone. \u201cI know we are small, I know we are growing older, we might not be sustainable currently, but I think what is really fantastic about this congregation, is that they have never shied away from taking risks. They have always been willing to open the windows, to say \u2018blow window blow.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo at top:Ray spoke at the Las Posadas action at Lathrop Homes, a public housing project in Logan Square. The protest enacted a Bible story to urge Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the “innkeeper,” to preserve public housing units in Lathrop Homes. (Yingxu Jane Hao\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yingxu Jane Hao The Rev. Bruce Ray never planned\u00a0to become a pastor. Son of a Kentucky pastor in a small town in northwestern Illinois, Ray longed\u00a0to become a writer. So he went to the University of Iowa to study English with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in social work. Though his life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":42553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,30,675,2582],"tags":[1621,61,2826,728,71,838,2853,2854,2850,2851,2849,192,2852,625,2829],"class_list":["post-42448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-public-affairs","category-social-justice","category-spring-2016","tag-action","tag-chicago","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-community","tag-community-gardens","tag-faith","tag-labyrinth","tag-lathrop-homes","tag-ministry","tag-pastor","tag-promo","tag-social-gospel","tag-social-justice","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nChicago Pastor Bruce Ray called to a 'disruptive' mission - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-pastor-bruce-ray-called-to-a-disruptive-mission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago Pastor Bruce Ray called to a 'disruptive' mission - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yingxu Jane Hao The Rev. Bruce Ray never planned\u00a0to become a pastor. Son of a Kentucky pastor in a small town in northwestern Illinois, Ray longed\u00a0to become a writer. So he went to the University of Iowa to study English with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in social work. 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