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?

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a testimony of treading water, garages and creativity

A long time ago, I was bent on being famous in fiber art. Most of my extra time was for this purpose. Weekends, evenings after work deep into the night were spent creating art in my studio, honing my craft. My end game were competing in exhibits, selling work and looking towards when I would be a part of museum collections. I spent other time updating a website store, buying supplies, teaching and conversing with other fiber artists to extend my network online. I thought about ideas for creating pieces while I drove to my 9-5 job and sketched out ideas on scraps of paper during droning meetings. I dreamed of quilting patterns as I walked at night and as I did the laundry. And for my efforts, I reaped some benefits of all that energy. But in retrospect it was a lot like spiritually treading water.

A little over 5 years ago, several of the people I know began the journey of starting a new church in our town. We knew it would be lots of work and time commitment, but most of us felt the call to do so. But really, we had no idea what this would really be like. None of us had ever planted a church before. It was about half way through this time that I realized that God really wasn’t in my life that much. I had put God in the garage so to speak. God was still accessible, but truly not part of my daily living space. For most of my life, I gave God little thought outside of any ‘church activity’ such as worship, church events and the like. My life was God or other, not both.

Convenient

Compartmentalized

Safe

But as my service to planting this church increased, I realized this view would have to give way to something else.

Our God is a wild God, and cannot be tamed. God cannot be defined, categorized or controlled. God is God and we are not, no matter how much we try to lord over our lives. I began to understand this as I learned to practice the presence of God, to read the scripture more and wrestle with it, to learn to talk to God anytime. Often my talks or prayers were not the calm, eyes closed version of contemplative prayer. Indeed, I raged and lamented to God with my eyes wide open, openly yelling in protest and anger. But through this God let me rail and wriggle but kept whispering what had to be done next. Then in slow AND in great leaps. . . things starting shifting.

Unnecessary commitments dropped. I spent my time, my energy in different directions, for different reasons. I began to realize that discipleship was more than going to church on Sundays. Discipleship was a mix of joy and sacrifice, sometimes pleasant and often unpleasant and confusing, challenging my perception of the word Christian. This was not the bill of goods my born-again colleagues touted in college. There some tried to convince me that being saved for heaven was within my grasp if I just said a certain paragraph of word and I was ‘in.’ It seemed to good to be true, and now I know it isn’t that easy. This was not what I understood from my UMC roots. This did not fit any of my experiences in various churches and denominations as we traipsed across the country during my husband’s Navy years. God was in my face all the time. God was making me look into the mirror or myself and there when I cringed at what I saw.

For some reason I never put it all together until recently. I am a firm believer that there are many time lines in spiritual growth (not everyone is at the same place at the same time). God uses all in the time that is needed based on who we are. Indeed, I am often more like doubting Thomas than I care to admit. Therefore, I must put myself in the spiritual late bloomer category, giving new meaning to the phrase, “Great Awakening”. I learned that instead of the easy road, discipleship will require much more than just some words, it requires action, a lot of tripping on bumpy roads and several roller coaster rides. It requires constant challenge and transformation. The journey is messy, gritty, and unpredictable. It requires me to be more foolish and less cool. It shows me my pride and humbles me in the same instance. The more I listen to God whispers the less controlled and contained my life becomes. Yeah, God does drive me crazy.

What I do now is so different than 5 years ago. And even in the past year, this has shifted to a more intense focus on areas of concern to God…poverty, justice of the oppressed and mercy. This is so different than me from the past ‘famous artist’ stage where I had no time to commit to service projects or extra money for charities. I read a lot more as well. Bell, Claiborne, Willard, Zacharias, McLaren, Yancey, Wright, Lewis, and Miller have challenged my understanding of Christian discipleship, service and sacrifice. Now God lives not only in my house, but in other places I go . . . work, play, the kitchen, the bathroom, the backyard and places in between. As my good friend Ben Simpson said last week in his sermon, the spirit of God fills our cups and overflows into our lives and those around us. It seems that right now, I am always stepping in spilled water from my cup or someone else’s.  The scales are off my eyes and my lenses are focused on what needs to be done in God’s Kingdom.

I do still create, but with words, not fabrics. I used to write a lot before the artist thing. Now I am back at it, one of my original loves. If only a few people read my blogs, that’s okay. I will still write as it is truly how I process thoughts and this discipleship ride. I still have the studio, but it is for the most part, inactive and I’m not sorry for it. It seems as if others are more concerned about my lack of ‘art piece production’ than I am.

Instead my thoughts are on other things. Mostly Micah 6:8, Isaiah, Genesis 11 and 12, all of James and Jesus.

Now as I drive, do dishes or walk, my creativity focuses on ways to affect what is happening in Darfur, how the children in Tanzania and Uganda our family sponsors are doing, how to help fulfill the needs of the hungry and homeless, what is the best way to be a socially-conscious consumer, how can I pass this passion on to the youth of our church and my daughter and also trying to move towards being as green as possible. My time is also spent talking to God about these things and in prayer for others. For me, this is a better type of creativity. Onward.

My friends, what good is it to say you have faith, when you don’t do anything to show that you really do have faith? Can that kind of faith save you? If you know someone who doesn’t have any clothes or food, you shouldn’t just say, “I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat.” What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help? Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!

Suppose someone disagrees and says, “It is possible to have faith without doing kind deeds.”

I would answer, “Prove that you have faith without doing kind deeds, and I will prove that I have faith by doing them.” You surely believe there is only one God. That’s fine. Even demons believe this, and it makes them shake with fear.

Does some stupid person want proof that faith without deeds is useless? Well, our ancestor Abraham pleased God by putting his son Isaac on the altar to sacrifice him. Now you see how Abraham’s faith and deeds worked together. He proved that his faith was real by what he did. This is what the Scriptures mean by saying, “Abraham had faith in God, and God was pleased with him.” That’s how Abraham became God’s friend.

You can now see that we please God by what we do and not only by what we believe. For example, Rahab had been a prostitute. But she pleased God when she welcomed the spies and sent them home by another way. Anyone who doesn’t breathe is dead, and faith that doesn’t do anything is just as dead! James 2: 14-26

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

sick

Most would agree that being sick is no fun. Being sick away from home is even worse. This week I was both away from home and sick. In a hotel, no familiar remedies at hand, no liquids at my fingertips to hydrate me. No familiar bed or extra covers. No comforts to help through the fevers and chills, no family, no friends, just me and the germs for company. It only takes an experience like this to force into the forefront the importance of home, friends and family during times like these, or any other sorts of stresses.

My home dilemma was solved on Friday when I flew back from North Carolina to Kansas. For me, it could not be soon enough.

Millions of others face this fact every day, but instead of a temporary displacement, their loss of home is permanent. Across Darfur and Chad, over 2.5 million Darfuris live in displacement camps, some away from family, friends or tribe due to war or death from war. Their lives uprooted, often with the clothes on their backs as their only possessions, fleeing from bullets often at any hour of the day and night. They fled from their homes, soon burned to the ground. Entire villages erased, leaving nothing but smoking piles of rubble.

Living in camps alone would be a hardship enough, but their means of sustaining their life now depends on organizations across the world struggling through red tape and rebels to get their shipments to the camps. Living in camps also encourages disease and sickness due to close proximity and limited medical supplies. And of course, there is always the threat of more attacks by the Janjaweed rebels and government forces attempting to exterminate these peoples. And so it continues.

What hope would you have?

What will happen to them next?

For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. Psalm 72: 12-14

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:27

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:2-16

You are their best hope. Yes, you.

Visit www.savedarfur.org to learn more about how you can help right now.

If you are in the Kansas City area, you can learn more about this region by attending a movie and conversation around, “The Devil Came on Horseback” on Thursday at 7PM. 138 Main, Gardner, Kansas. Contact me if you can attend. We’d love to have you there.

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