WHAT IS OUR RESPONSE?

For the past year, my wife and I have really been wrestling with what it is that God is calling us to do in our community. Granted, I have an amazing job where I work hands on with the youth of our community, but I can quite seem to pin-point what else God is doing in our lives as He continues to open up doors for us to show the love of Christ to those in need.
My close buddy, Steve, wrote this blog on his website OUR RESPONSE, and I find comfort in knowing that God is stirring in others in our community to take a step towards radical love for the cause of Christ to those that need it most in our community. A great challenge. Please read.

Impact of awareness
June 20, 2009

This was quite the interesting week for me; as some of you know from the last posting, I was in a position of working directly with the issue of homelessness. The next day I was face-to-face with the issue of suicide as I helped walk someone through their options for life. Earlier in the week I was counseling someone on marital issues. Today, I was once again involved in conversation about homelessness & unemployment. There is so much struggle and pain and stress in our world today and, frankly, I enjoyed my life more when I wasn’t aware of these things. For many years I had no idea how many people in Isanti County struggled with homelessness, unemployment, poverty, disease, addiction, depression, and strife. This made me much more comfortable in my life; and allowed me to more easily enjoy all of the comforts and relationships and security I have. When I would hear about an isolated case of struggle, it was easier to think about it in terms of one persons “fault” or “issue” or whatever. But when you peel back the covers to see that these issues are impacting hundreds of people in our small community, it’s shocking…. and then when you have conversations with the real people who are going through this life stuff, you begin to internalize it and it begins to impact your overall worldview.

There is a beauty in not knowing stuff. I don’t know if “bliss” is the right word, but there is a comfort in ignorance. But there are some things that must be known no matter how uncomfortable they might make us. As an individual, it is better to know that you have a disease (as tough as it is to hear) so you can treat it. As a community, it is better to know that there are many people suffering (as tough as it is to hear the stories) so we can do something about it. As a society, it is better to know that the gap between the rich & the poor is increasing at an exponential rate (currently over 75 to 1) so we can consider our response and move toward improving the standard of living for all of humanity.

My outlook on life was much simpler when I was unaware of the magnitude of homelessness & depression in Isanti County; my life was more enjoyable when I couldn’t tell you the names and stories of dozens of people unemployed or un-housed; my ability to do what was in my best interest was much easier before I investigated the magnitude of global poverty; it was much easier to prioritize the consumption of my income around my desires when I wasn’t hampered by the needs of others.

We need to be aware that there are many people in our communities and world that are in desperate situations. WARNING! This awareness, if allowed to be internalized, may begin to haunt you; it will stir in you; and it will change you. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to look at these situations and not ignore or avoid them. I desire to be part of a revolution in this community and beyond that is symbolized by courage to understand the situations; that is marked by the sacrifice of self for the sake of others; and is littered by story after story of people who have had their life positively impacted.

TAKING CARE OF FAMILY

My friend and co-servant Steve Fredlund sent me this blog and it really challenged me on how church family can really be church family. this was posted on http://burnsidewriterscollective.blogspot.com/2009/06/generous-christians.html. I pray it moves you to think of ways you can use your time, talents, and treasures to show people in your communities of faith that they really are family.

GENEROUS CHRISTIANS
The other night a new friend and I were talking about our Faith Journeys when he asked, "Why do you like your church? What is it about *Mars Hill?" I had to stop and think. How do I summarize all that I feel and know about my church into a few words or phrases? Mars Hill feels like home, but it's not the Place that I love, it's the people and what I learn there and through them. I said, "At my church we talk a lot about living the Best Life Possible. We talk about Loving People and Loving God. We wrestle with what that means and looks like. We discuss The Third Way- for sometimes it seems that we have 2 options to solve a problem or a conflict, but often there is a Third Way and it involves Love." Not to mention my Community of Friends who walk My Story with me and I with them. They make me feel a little less crazy and show me what it means to really love and be generous.

My answer seemed simple yet I knew it was true. Those are the reasons I love Mars Hill. My love is not based on how I feel about sermons, worship songs, theology or decoration. It is based entirely on the fact that I am better for knowing people there and have learned how to love God more.

The next day I spent 7 hours working in my Garden. I thought about God, the Creation Story, how plants burst forth from seeds, and about my answer to the question, "Why do you like your church?" I wasn't sure if I answered well or if I had really touched on the heart of the matter.

Sunday I went to church.

Church started with singing and immediately I was smiling because the worship team was using a red, plastic Kazoo. Love it. Then later we sang a hymn from 1848, nice and slow, with the sounds of an organ. *Rob and Ed team taught on this passage and it was all I could do to stay in my seat without clapping and hollering. Acts 2:44-45, "All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone who had need."

Beautiful.

This was the early Christian church. It was a group of people who found a way for those who Have to give to those who Have Not. It's about community, sharing, loving and living together. They talked about leaping with Joy - meaning, those who have enough are so happy that they are literally leaping with Joy. They have the ability to Leap because their are no stones in their shoes (it's hard to walk with a pebble in your shoe). And then there are those among us who are Limping with the burden of having nothing. How can we share our Joy? While Ed explained this Rob was placing buckets around the stage. Then we heard this, "If you are leaping because you have enough and are paying your bills and have a little bit left over, you may come forward and give. If, however, you are limping because you have to choose between buying food or paying for medical bills, please come down, reach into the bucket and take what you need."

By now I am crying. Such leaky eyes.

Before Ed could really finish the invitation to give, people were already going forward and dropping money. I heard purses being unzipped and saw men reaching for their wallets. The stage was flooded with Generous Christians. After a few minutes Rob and Ed interrupted and said, "We see a lot of people giving and we thank you. But we know a lot of you are out there and you are hurting. Please. Please. Please, come forward and take what you need." Never in my life have I heard a pastor stand on stage and invite people to take money. They were begging people to take it. I saw a few people go forward and sheepishly reach in and count out a few bills. Ed said, "Some of you have taken a bit, please come around a 2nd time and take More." I was still sobbing from the sheer Joy of watching it all unfold.



This, then, is why I love my church.


*Mars Hill Bible Church, Grand Rapids, MI
*Rob Bell, Ed Dobson

ADANNA'S STORY

A true story taken from Red Letters: Living a Faith That Bleeds.
Adanna’s name is a beautiful African word meaning “fathers daughter.” But Adanna won’t live until the next harvest season unless something drastic happens. In her home country of Zimbabwe, there are no jobs, there is no money, and the only thing certain is death that surrounds her. The expected life span for people in her country is only thirty-three. She has watched her mother, her father, and her sister waste away to AIDS. Adanna is now the head of the house hold. She is ten years old.
Adanna’s parents left no way for her to care for herself and the rest of the family. She has exhausted every favor from her neighbors, every form of assistance from surviving relatives, and sold her last possession for food. But her and her siblings woke up starving again this morning.
There is only one way for he to survive. Adanna has heard about a group of local men who will trade food for sex. Dare she even consider such a thing? For all of her young life she has dreamed of someday having a family of her own. She has protected her purity because she wants the man she marries to be the only lover she ever knows. Her mother taught her this. But she has to make a decision. A terrible decision.
She goes to see these men. Perhaps they’ll have compassion for her. Perhaps they’ll give her food without asking anything in return. They look at her, they grab her, they fondle her, and they laugh. They refuse to give her food. “Why should we give you anything, you ugly little mongrel?” they shout.
They tell her to go into the back room of the store and wait. She steps into a room that smells of urine and mold. She is shaking. A sickly man is sleeping in the corner. Suddenly, three men come in drinking and shouting. They approach her not as a human being but a mere animal. She screams. She cries. Nobody is listening. Nobody cares.
And they steal her dreams.
She leaves with food. Enough to keep her alive. But what kind of life? She has contracted HIV and she will die of AIDS within three years.