Shit.
34,000 children die every day from hunger and preventable diseases.
Which sentence bothers you more?
posted by A. Lo @ 3:44 PM
My So-Called Life
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Which sentence bothers you more?
My So-Called Life
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4 Comments:
I ask because I'm off to my small group, and I'm planning to make some comments about the church's "lack of focus" on the poor, and I hope no one's offended.
Well, don't say, "Shit." If you do they might not hear anything else you say.
That happened at chapel one time at ACU. The speaker said, "Shit," to get everyone's attention. It worked, but I have no idea what he spoke about.
But offending someone because of his or her lack of focus on the poor wouldn't be the end of the world.
I think Tony Campolo's famous for starting speeches like that, right, a? Really effective if you've got the right kind of audience.
Any thoughts on how a person in the middle class, living in a nice place with all the stuff they want can/should actually do something to help folks in need?
Scoots-
Yeah, good ol' Tony Campolo. He tends to spit, but he's a great speaker.
I think you asked the million dollar question—how do people who are comfortable in the middle class engage and help people in need?
You know, I thought I would struggle with that question for a year or two after my time in Oakland was over, but now, a year-and-a-half out, I have a feeling that that’s something I’ll struggle with for the rest of my life; I doubt I’ll ever feel like I’m “doing enough” or “giving enough”.
So maybe I’m not the most qualified person to answer that question, but here’s one of the things that I’ve been very excited to see lately: middle class churches engaging the poor in their neighborhoods and communities. In the past, I think I would have suggested that middle class churches disband and relocate to the inner city, tailor their worship to their neighbors there and get on with the work of Jesus.
Now, however, I realize that while getting out of your comfort zone is generally the most effective way to learn hard lessons very quickly, it’s almost impossible to be 100 percent effective if you don’t have some “down time”, or a chance to operate at least somewhere near your comfort zone. Otherwise, you spend all your time trying to adjust, and have very little mental or physical energy to do anything else. (And I only know that because I’ve been there.)
A few weekends ago, though, I got to hang out with members of other churches who are on a missional journey just like my church is. And quite a few of them had stories to tell that are very similar: they’re looking for ways to engage and assist the poor who, in many cases, live right around the corner from their church buildings.
The hard part about this, however, is that churches generally operate in a “you can come in, but then you have to look/talk/act like us” mode. That is, if they brought people into the family who were different in large and obvious ways, they indoctrinated them with their own special brand of culture and language. (They didn’t MEAN to, and they had good intentions—I mean, if you’re a part of a community, you’ll feel more comfortable if you “fit in” there, right? However, this is a flawed philosophy, because how many people are sitting at home right now thinking, “If I only had someone to change the way I thought/talk/dress/act, then I’d be happy.” I bet very few—most people take offense at this if it’s done overtly, and change is rarely fun.)
However, some of the “missional church members” who spoke up are trying to figure out how they can meet the needs of the poor in their communities while not forcing them to look like x or y. This is hard, because it once again hits very close to home on the “comfort” front—most church members are more comfortable when the people they attend with look, talk and think like they do. So how do these churches find the balance between the comfort zones of their current members and the comfort zones of the people they feel they should be serving? That’s a tough one, and it’ll look different in every situation, but I am VERY glad they’ve at least recognized the problem and are on a journey to face it head-on.
One of the groups talked about some cool ways they were using their finances to make a difference. I think this is great, and also very important for middle class Christians to do. However, I think if all you do is give away money, you’ve missed the point.
In a lot of ways, giving financially is the easiest thing to do, because it allows you to sit in your nice, safe middle class neighborhood and pat yourself on the back for the great thing you’ve done. I firmly believe that access to money and resources can change peoples’ lives, but many times it only does so in the short-term, and their situations don’t change because they remain stuck in unhealthy cycles that they can’t get out of.
However, if those middle class people could give of their time as well as their money to find out why those people are poor, why they can’t afford food or medicine, or why they don’t have access to basic necessities like water, or why they are trapped in horrible situations including slavery, the world might change.
Perhaps then those middle class people would realize that the choices they make every day—from the stores they choose to shop in to the officials they elect—have an effect on the poor and the people who have no voice. Perhaps then they’d start to realize how important their actions really are and how they can effect change by making small choices and changes.
For example, I make a choice not to shop at Gap because they use child slave labor to make their clothes. I doubt Gap misses my money (it’s not like I spent much there, anyway), but I have to believe that my choice not to patronize businesses that use poor children as slave labor makes a difference. And it really makes a difference if I can educate other people about it, and if they realize that their choice not to shop there can make a difference, too.
Okay so I didn’t mean for this to turn into a sermon, but I really do believe that middle class Americans can make a difference, and I think the fastest way to do that is for them to spend some time with the poor on their turf. I can guarantee that it will be uncomfortable, but I also guarantee that they will learn something that will change their lives, something that will allow them to read the bible in more effective ways, and something that will give them a whole new picture of God. Plus, I have this dirty and secret belief that God loves the poor more, and I have seen God at work in the ghetto in unmistakable ways. And what good, middle-class Christian would pass up an opportunity to meet the people God loves and see God at work in obvious ways in those peoples’ lives? I wouldn’t.
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