social justice and the gospel

“It is not a matter of engaging in both the gospel and social action, as if Christian social action was something separate from the gospel itself. The gospel has to be demonstrated in word and deed. Biblically, the gospel includes the totality of all that is good news from God for all that is bad news in human life—in every sphere. So like Jesus, authentic Christian mission has included good news for the poor, compassion for the sick and suffering justice for the oppressed, liberation for the enslaved. The gospel of the Servant of God in the power of the Spirit of God addresses every area of human need and every area that has been broken and twisted by sin and evil. And the heart of the gospel, in all of these areas, is the cross of Christ.” – Christopher J. H. Wright

It is better to just look at what God wants, not what we can fit into our personal views, schedules and segmented groups of how to ‘deal with’ the poor and oppressed. The gospel and social action are not separated and should not be in matters of injustice and mercy.  Jesus cared for the poor and the rich and even the overly ‘religious’ or ‘pious’. Each needed different healing. Each were a deeply embedded part of his ministry. We must follow Jesus’ example and let it permeate our lives…service, healing and sacrifice…in words AND in deeds.

needed interruption

Justice cries out from so many corners of our society. But unless events break into our lives – events like a man peddling for change on the corner or a picture on TV of a child living in poverty – and force us to ask questions, we often do not notice. Unless our lives are interrupted by an uncommon means, we tend to keep up business as usual. We need to be interrupted.

Will Samson
Justice in the Burbs: Being the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live

Needed interuptions. Small shockers that jolt us from our day dreams. Interruptions that shake us into awareness of others is necessary. I think about how evil creeps into our lives each day. Evil is not like the movies or overly dramatic books. I think evil shows up in over-extending ourselves into looking only at what affects us. Evil is in the numbing rhythmn of ‘don’t rock the boat” routine. This numbing has us looking past those who need help to the status quo, encouraging us to think more of our own needs and ’self help’ as we watch talk shows and read books to improve ourselveshinking we can fix ourselves into being happy. Evil is the imbalance of self-need, of which Jesus did not practice.

What would Jesus need today? Jesus probably wouldn’t have an answer to that question, as it is more of a personal need. Not Oprah or Dr. Phil. Not Steven Covey. (The list is endless these days)

Of course, Jesus spent his ministry jolting others into awareness. If we are Jesus hands and feet. . . the body of Christ on earth, are we to jolt others as well? Someting to think about.

Your thoughts?

‘

one dollar for herman and you have helped the homeless

Every small thing counts, even that one dollar bill in your pocket or wallet.

I found this through the Ordinary Radicals site. It’s about a way that one dollar and a few others can help one homeless man named Herman.

Most of you reading this have had encounters with the homeless. I encourage you to tell your stories at the  end of the this blog. I have encountered homeless in my life. In fact, since going on youth urban ministry trips through CSM as well as reading books like, “In the Gutter” by Craig Gross, “Under the Overpass” by Mike Yankoski and “Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne, I see more homeless people every day. In fact,  I look for them.

Often we struggle with what is the best way to help the homeless. We struggle with our own assumptions and prejudices about why people are homeless. Often these struggles leave us frozen in place instead of moving into some sort of action. Any action, my friends is action. You know Jesus would not hesitate, and neither should we.

Here is your opportunity to skip that soda or cheap hamburger at McDonald’s and collectively pool our dollars to help Herman. Read about his story and who is helping him with this money. Then act.  They encourage you to only send a dollar and pass the suggestion on to another.

He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.
“For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s;
upon them he has set the world.  1 Samuel 2:8

Licking the envelope as I type this (okay, maybe not simultaneously!)

Deana

wastelands and desert people gardeners

Wasteland
1. Land that is desolate, barren, or ravaged.
2. A place, era, or aspect of life considered as lacking in spiritual, aesthetic, or other humanizing qualities; a vacuum: a cultural wasteland.

Wasteland is a word, when Googled, brings up 9,010,000 entries in .20 seconds. From bands to songs to poems to suburbs, our world is full of examples of wastelands. There is a song called Baba O’Reilly, often labeled, “Teenage Wasteland,” by the Who. Waste Land is one of T.S. Eliot’s most famous poems. It describes a journey of the human soul searching for redemption using a revolutionary style at that time. The Wasteland is a Celtic motif that ties the barrenness of a land with a curse that must be lifted by a hero. Wastelands shows up in Irish mythology and French Grail romances, and hints of it may be found in the Welsh stories as well. In the Bible, wastelands and deserts surround communities.

There are many stories in the Bible which show wastelands (deserts) as places of testing. The people of Israel wandered 40 years in the desert to learn faithfulness to God. John the Baptist was the voice calling from the desert of the coming Christ. Jesus was tested for 40 days in the desert by Satan to grasp the reigns of empire and spiritual power. Wastelands are testing and proving grounds.

I am being tested.

I am a desert dweller in just on the perimeter of a metro area in a community which is far from the intense life of inner city Kansas. In fact, many of the metro areas I’ve traveled through or lived in over my lifetime have a pattern of weaker inner cities (services, money, etc.) surrounded by more affluent neighborhoods and communities or ‘burbs with less visible poverty. Yes, all cities have poverty, but it seems to concentrate in the rundown areas of the inner city cores in a seemingly downward spiral of despair. The result of this isolation is a wasteland of comfort and affluence is a life cut off from people in the city, numbing my ability to recognize need, want, to the stories of the homeless. Where I live feeds the ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ paradigm through geographic separation, commuting between suburbs to work, and the lack of constant visual reminders of suffering.

This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed, I will send fire upon Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem.” This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Amos 2:4-7

I am being tested not to ignore the cry of the poor and oppressed. Tested to look past the Applebee’s and Chili’s, the Mall, the Wal-Marts and other strip mall, cookie cutter establishments that dot the suburbs to the cry of the poor and needy in the town where I live. Tested to look deeper into what I consume and ask, “Who made this? Were the people who made these garments treated with respect or in a sweatshop? Do I need another one of these things?” More and more I think, “Should it be this way?”  For the last question, the answer is a definite no. I do not have all the answers to these questions, but I keep searching and keep asking more questions. In the meantime, I look for more ways to love my neighbors, wherever they live.

Jesus did not think that only he sowed the Word of God. He was constantly sending people away, telling them also to sow the seed of the kingdom . . . a distracting, violent, and tempting world, keep sowing the seeds of love. Sow it everywhere, even when Herod cuts it down, and even when the world’s riches try to choke it.

Sowers must not become discouraged easily. The disciples were constantly butting up against Jesus’ thoughts about the way God’s reign comes on earth. ‘It will never work that way!’ you can hear the disciples thinking at almost every encounter. They thought the kingdom would come quickly like the apocalypse, as almost all revolutionaries from Marx to Guevara have insisted. But Jesus’ revolutionary patience claimed that another kingdom is coming—one that you can participate in but cannot build; a seed you can plant and water but cannot make grow. You can’t drag the kingdom of God into the world. But you can’t stop sowing the seeds either. Sow them everywhere. “Jesus for President,” (Claiborne and Haw) You can read more about this book here.

I leave you with these lyrics from the ‘80’s band Tears for Fears. The still ring true after their release in 1989, almost 20 years ago. Something to ponder as you ask your own questions and search for answers.

Seeds of Love

By Tears for Fears

High time we made a stand and shook up the views of the common man
And the lovetrain rides from coast to coast
D.j.s the man we love the most
Could you be, could you be squeaky clean
And smash any hope of democracry ?
As the headline says youre free to choose
Theres egg on your face and mud on your shoes
One of these days theyre gonna call it the blues

And anything is possible when youre sowing the seeds of love
Anything is possible – sowing the seeds of love

I spy tears in thier eyes
They look to the skies for some kind of divine intervention
Food goes to waste !
So nice to eat, so nice to taste
Politician grannie with your high ideals
Have you no idea how the majority feels ?
So without love and a promise land
Were fools to the rules of a goverment plan
Kick out the style ! bring back the jam !

Anything…
Sowing the seeds
The birds and the bees
My girlfriend and me in love

Feel the pain
Talk about it
If you’re a worried man – then shout about it
Open hearts – feel about it Open minds – think about it
Everyone – read about it Everyone – scream about it !
Everyone, Everyone – read about it, read about it
Read in the books in the crannies and the nooks there are books to read
(Chorus 0

(mr. england sowing the seeds of love)

Time to eat all your words
Swallow your pride
Open your eyes

High time we made a stand and shook up the views of the common man
And the love train rides from coast to coast
Every minute of every hour – I love a sunflower
And I believe in love power, love power, love power !!!

Sowing the seeds
An end to need
And the politics of greed
With love

change

Most of us can remember times or places when significant changes happen in our lives. Perhaps these events are graduation, marriage, the birth of a baby, a baptism or confirmation, the death of someone we hold dear. All these are significant events with traditions, ceremonies and acknowledgement that things are changing. Often I’ve noticed this is not often the case in spiritual or discipleship growth, at least not for me. These changes seem more subtle, often persistent until I yield and turn to another direction or another pathway. Such is the case now as I transition to something different.

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1: 17

This change began on a mission trip to Houston almost 2 years ago. A small but mighty contingent of FirstLighters (Pastors Steven and Ben, 4 young women and myself) went to serve through the CSM (Center for Student Mission) for a week. This was my first week-long endeavor into Mission and I was nervous. This was unknown territory to the urban core and I had no idea what it would be like or how I should act, but something (God) told me I HAD to go. And so after a few weeks of hemming and hawing, I raised my hand to become an adult leader on the trip.

God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the “gods”: “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Selah Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Psalms 82:1-4

It was mind-blowing, wholly educational and way, way different than I imagined. It honestly changed my life. You see, I can trace back the decision I made to go to Houston as the starting point for where I believe God wants me to go now.

For the past 6 months I’ve considered moving my service from Worship to the Glocal Missions area of FirstLight with Carol Zimmerman and the rest of the team. This has been influence by books I’ve read, activities I’ve participated in and even what others have said to me. Most importantly, through prayer/talking with and listening to God, this decision has been mulled over and over. Rest assured, this decision has not been made on impulse.

There is, as it should be, always a need for more leadership in Missions. Indeed, I also have a growing passion in this area that can benefit God’s Kingdom, to rally around those who are poor, oppressed and ignored on the fringes of society and world. I really feel that God wants me to serve here.

I will be transitioning at the end of March. You may still see me helping with setup or tear down or singing with the band as continued service in FirstLight ministries, but Ambiance and related duties will be taken over by Jamie Norris and others within the Worship Team. I have learned so much from these 3 years on the Worship team and I will miss it. Yet, I feel that God is calling me to do this. And what I’ve discovered is that gentle persistent voice of change is very hard to ignore.

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. 3 Isaiah 10:1-3

In Christ we all serve,
Deana

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much…it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt