![resto[re]pair](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA3OgrCiAbL1HZ0kRwLL5iXGikneCcLqiFl9x-FBBwodh_WX0tkmAAmswMpdNmElmu49yBbg4MlEdAz5XyLTy4H_xY-CF_HczD36CjTw97Ec90PS4FGfYMh0gJNIYx0s46ITwtdQ/s1600-r/0g7hfxdc.png)
Last night I signed a ballot to join the efforts of the ONE campaign to make poverty history. It is a great thing from what I have read. People from all backgrounds, religions, denominations, and political preference have come together to help make this happen on many different fronts. Many notable celebrities have found a platform within this organization as well. It is great, I am going to support it, but I am still a little confused, saddened, and a few other emotions that I cannot put my finger on.
I feel this way because of the state of the Church, the bride of Christ. So many times we get so busy in fighting what we feel like is social injustice in the areas of abortion and homosexuality, and when I think that those things are wrong and we need to take a stand, I am pretty sure people now know how conservative evangelical Christians feel on these issues. We have come to the point that some groups have become even militant on these issues, making a mockery of the redemption of the Cross.
So why am I rambling, what has struck me? We have these organizations that take care of other types of social injustice, poverty, AIDS (the largest epidemic of our generation), developing the underdeveloped, helping the alien, the fatherless, and the widow. Oh wait, all of this sounds so familiar. Oh yeah I remember now, we, the Church, are supposed to be doing all of this and not just doing it but also leading the way. Where have we gone wrong with our noses stuck in the air, or have we been so concerned about whether or not we are a Calvinist or an Armenian that we have totally passed up the person who is in true need of the love and charity of Jesus Christ.
Now don’t get me wrong I feel that doctrine, theology, and the expansion of our intellect is a very important thing but not if it takes the place of us simply serving. I searched on biblegateway.com three words last night, alien, fatherless, and widow, all at the same time. There are 18 different times in the Old Testament that theses three words are mentioned all together in the same sentence. Time after time we are told to not overlook these people but to look after them and take care of them. So many times we are patronizing with this. We have a food and clothing drive right before Thanksgiving or Christmas, or we hand out frozen Butterball turkeys to those less fortunate but we do it all at a time of the year when everyone else is doing the same thing. Where is our consistency to be involved in these things on a constant basis? To be involved with social injustices is what Jesus has called us to do and now there are many non-Church organizations that we can get involved with but we need to do more as local churches and the Bride of Christ as a whole. We are told that God is the help for the helpless, hope for the hopeless, father to the fatherless, and as Christians we are supposed to transmit these characteristics.
Here is the disclaimer. This is hard. It is sticky and dirty. We have messed it up. It will be most likely seen as political or selfish motivation but we must rise above and bring the hope and redemption of the Cross into all situations. This must not be a place that we constantly dwell, rather one of the things in our balanced walk, it just happens to be something that we have neglected. Seek out the orphan, the widow, and the stranger everyday and share the love and redemption that only Christ can give. We have ONE way, Jesus.
loveandserve
jj
Nov 28, 2006
ONE
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
josh
i also recently signed this same petition. i have become increasingly frustrated as a Chrisitian. like you said the Church has taken head on issues such as abortion and gay marriage. and though i feel strongly about both, it has become apparent to me that in our lifetime and most likely none to come, will we see the overturning of roe v wade nor will the "sanctity" of marriage be preserved as God intended (I use the term sanctity loosely as even within the Church the divorce rate among heterosexual Christians is 50%).
awhile back i started to try and open my eyes to what was going on around me. what i saw was sobering and frightening. there is the AIDS and meth epidemics that are literally orphaning millions of children, there are genocides occuring across the globe, there are the poverty stricken and homeless (and not just in third world countries but right here in the US, even as close as my own town). i feel helpless and at times even hopless. what do I do? what do we do? i starting giving my concerns to the Lord.
our church here in peoria has a ministry, adopt a block. a family in the church is given a block in one of the rougher neighborhoods. two saturdays a month you go (with your whole family even children) and pick up trash, clean up anyway you can, offer assistance to the residents on the street, share the gospel if given the opportunity. my first response? i am NOT taking my kids to that part of town. here i have been praying that God would use me to help someone less fortunate, he provides that opportunity, and it isn't good enough. turns out i am one of those very Christians that I berate for having their nose in the air. it is so much easier to sit around in despair wishing there was something you could do.
so thanks for the blog. it was encouraging to me to know that i am not the only one out there struggling with this dilema. someone recently accused me of being a conservative christian with a liberal agenda because i have been outspoken about darfur and the one campaign (which they assume is liberal backed bc of all the media attention recently i guess). anyway it became clear why we as a Church aren't accomplishing anything. because instead of uniting and reaching out to a hurting, lost world with the love of Christ, we are instead pointing fingers, polarizing our own personal agendas, and ultimately presenting Christians as divisive and hypocritical.
but once again i am back to where i started. feeling helpless. i suppose just being aware and prayer are good places to start though. i liked this quote i found...
quote from the Vice President of Governmental Affairs, National Association of Evengelicals....
"And so, the very first action, even before prayer, is to wake up and look out around us. There is a sin of omission as well as comission, and I think to ignore this brutality is a sin of omission...... This is not something we can turn our eyes away from. And it requires all of the aforementioned actions on our part." Rev. Richard Cizik speaking about the Darfur crisis
-em
Post a Comment