For Americans, the month of November brings with it the reminder to take notice of the blessings in our lives and to be grateful for them. This November was no different. At the Clinic, we took stock of things like amazing partnerships with organizations like Shepherd Community Center, a group that is fighting to end generational poverty on the near Eastside of Indianapolis every single day. We also reflected on current events happening in our world and in our country, and our Executive Director Chris Purnell shared his thoughts on what it means to respond to them in a way that brings glory to Christ.

Jesus taught this to his followers in fairly concrete terms. He said if you’re going to invite someone to your fancy soiree, invite the poor and those who can’t pay you back with a return invite (See Luke 14:7-14). And, in a very famous passage in Mark, he says that all “payments” made for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven will be repaid by God in the end—and then some (See Mark 10:17-31). In the reality of Christ’s kingdom, we are free to be generous and free to receive generosity because we all know where the gift comes from.

This month included one of our biggest volunteer events of the year: Refugee Adjustment Day 2015. Coordinated by Immigrant Justice Program Manager Brandon Fitzsimmons and Staff Attorney Rachel VanTyle, the Clinic helped 51 refugees complete green card applications in just one day! In fact, a majority of the photographs* in this month's collage feature men, women, and children who have fled catastrophic conditions in their home countries and who now reside in our community. During this event, we streamed our first live broadcast using the Periscope app. If you're interested in receiving an alert the next time we broadcast live from an event, please be sure to download this app and follow us @NCLegalClinic. We also learned more about Grace Church and all of the ways they are using their position to serve the community via the Grace Care Center.

At the Clinic, we deal with the legal complexities of suffering in many of its guises. Poverty. Abuse. Betrayal. Relational baggage. Debt. Mental anguish. Homelessness. Death. It’s all there: suffering persistently parading its wares in open mockery of the goodness of God’s creation. And yet, for James, suffering gets turned on its head. Indeed, for the beleaguered, for victims of injustice who cling to vibrant faith in a God who suffered deeply and traumatically, suffering gets transmuted into something beautiful. Suffering becomes redemptive. Death leads to resurrection.

This month was one of our busiest of the year. Between Justice For All celebration preparations, various CLEs and trainings, and UVisa Day there was barely a free second for our staff. However, our theme for this past month has also been Renewal and so even in the midst of the craziness, we took time to reflect on what it means to be renewed in all the different areas of our life and work. If you were unable to attend JFA on September 23rd at the Westin Downtown, you can still see the fun photos above in this month's collage. You can also watch the video that we premiered at the end of the event and that tells the story of three different clients and the attorneys and staff who worked with them.

There is rest to be had in ministering to others. As Tim Keller points out, there is a freedom to self-forgetfulness. Serving others, fulfilling others’ needs, actually fills you. But there is a rhythm that’s modeled for us in the Bible. After fashioning everything from nothing, God set aside one entire day for rest. God rested to show that he was God and that His creation was good. When we enter into that rest, we too are renewed by the understanding that God is God and that His creation is good. When I rest, I realize, shockingly, that the world doesn’t depend on my awesomeness in order to continue. It depends on God’s.

During this last month of summer, we at Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic focused our minds on the theme of Forgiveness. The blog highlighted Project PEACE, a program that helps those who are going through a Family Law conflict resolve their issues outside of a courtroom. We met an immigrant couple who became tangled up in the confusing and convoluted tax code, but who then received assistance through our Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, as well as financial forgiveness from the IRS. Michael Hurst, Executive Director of Legacy House, discussed the free counseling services their organization provides to victims of violent trauma. And finally, we invited you to join us at our biggest annual fundraiser, Justice For All, which will take place on Wednesday, September 23rd. There's still time to support the Clinic and the work we do! Please purchase your tickets here.

And that is what forgiveness is. It is the “and yet” after the laundry list of horribles and rampant disregard of human dignity. Forgiveness is the “and yet” after the trauma of race, gender, or class-based violence is heard and seen for the monstrosity it is. Forgiveness is the cosmic “and yet” of a God shamelessly crucified by a world he came to redeem.

As our nation celebrated Independence Day this month, our blog highlighted the various kinds of Freedom that we pursue for ourselves and for one another. We bonded together as a staff team at an Indians baseball game. On the blog, we learned more about The Julian Center and their commitment to protecting victims of domestic violence and assault, giving them the opportunity to move forward in their lives, free from fear.

And that’s the paradox of being human. We love freedom—but we use it to enslave. Today’s freedom fighter is tomorrow’s oppressive dictator. We are “bent,” as C.S. Lewis put it, towards destruction and we use our power to take it away from others. Not only do we enslave others, but also we allow ourselves to be enslaved by meager things. I rush around, looking for something else to occupy my time and entertain me and fulfill me and satisfy me. We enslave—we are enslaved.

This month we contemplated the idea of "Refuge": Refuge from domestic abuse and sex trafficking, refuge in our country for immigrants, as well as the refuge of a home through the assistance of organizations like Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership. We also asked you to follow us on Instagram @NCLegalClinic and submit photos that embody the term "Refuge" to you using the hashtags #Refuge #MyClinicStory #StoriesOfJustice. In the past few weeks, we have received lovely contributions, some of which can be seen in the collage above, by people like Raina Armbruster, Emily Yarman, Seth Utter, and Angie Simmons.

We all long for home. But, this side of paradise, we all are homeless, restless. St. Augustine famously wrote in his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” Augustine hit on something profoundly human here. Whether we are homeless or have lived in the same house for forty-seven years, there is a restless striving that is baked into life.

This final month of spring, we considered our role in the community and the role of community in our lives. We learned about various problems such as vacant housing and veteran homelessness that are affecting Indianapolis, as well as the programs and organizations that are trying to combat such issues. To introduce the Legal Clinic more fully to the city, we hosted our first monthly community prayer meeting and the second annual Jazz for Justice event.

Community is true when it is gritty and glorious; sacrificial and satisfying; when it is a fellowship of “differents” gathered around a shared vision of justice, a shared Savior. But we must come expecting to be poured out, to sacrifice. If I seek fulfillment in community, I will leave empty. If I seek to be emptied for the community, I will find fulfillment.

This rainy month of April we spent time ruminating on how our faith compels us to acts of compassion. In lock-step with this theme, the Clinic's semiannual Refugee Adjustment Day* took place on April 25th. On that day, 24 volunteers from College Park Church (as part of their annual SERVE day), plus 9 additional volunteer attorneys, worked with our staff to help 62 immigrants apply for Legal Permanent Residence. All in one day!

God gave us emotions. Far too often, we either suppress them or glorify them. Jesus, however, chose a third way: he used them. Jesus sees the crowds, feels their pain in a genuine way, and tends to their needs. Thus, Christ demonstrates how emotions are tools we can use to showcase what the kingdom of God is like: plentiful, healing, restorative, and just.

Enjoy this look back at some of the Legal Clinic’s March photo highlights—what a generous month it was!

"Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed." -- Proverbs 19:17