Clothing the naked

The corner of Western Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive on the south side of Peoria.

South Side Mission Associate Executive Director, Youth, Sheree Lyles was driving a van full of Day Camp kids back to the Mission from a swimming outing about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. What they encountered at the corner of Western Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive shocked Sheree and filled her with pity and dismay.

There, on the sidewalk, was a woman who had just been brutally assaulted. She had been beaten up badly. The thug tradition dictates that when two women fight, the victor tries to strip the loser and leave her naked and bloodied. This poor, wretched lady bore the marks of a beating and was naked from the waist up. In broad daylight. At the corner of a busy intersection on the south side of Peoria. As Sheree rolled down her window, she could hear the jeers and wolf whistles of passers by.

Sheree knew she had to help the helpless, compromised woman there before her, but with a vanful of kids, her options were limited. Sheree immediately pulled over and asked the woman how she could help her. The police were called, help was on the way. Sheree fished around in the van to see if there were any clothing for this pitiful woman. Miraculously, there just happened to be a jacket in the van that fit our new friend well enough. Sheree was able to get the woman calmed down and to see that her injuries were not life threatening.

Isaiah 58, verses 6 through 14 is a very good picture of what goes on at South Side Mission. If you look at the ways the Lord describes "true fasting," these are the activities in which we occupy ourselves. Except we don't often have a chance to truly clothe the naked. Until last week.

Please pray for our new friend, for restoration of her health, her reputation, and her self-esteem. Most importantly for her soul. Please also pray for zip code 61605, the south side of Peoria, as together we help to push back the darkness and lead others to the Light.

Isaiah 58:6-14, from the NIV with thanks to Bible Gateway.com

6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.