We need the orphan as much as the orphan needs us

I live in a new suburb of the nice part of a city known nationwide for being the unofficial capitol of conservative Christianity, Colorado Springs. You could watch the local news for weeks straight and not see any stories about real crime in this city of somewhere around 600,000 people. In other words, you could say I live among some of the richest, safest, and most comfortable people in the world. I guess this should be a good thing, but sometimes I walk around outside and feel like I live in Disneyland. Like none of this is real.

It's real easy to start to think that my life is just about me. After all, I'm bombarded by about 3000 advertisements everyday, all trying to convince me that I am in need of something to be more successful, happy, and comfortable, and their product or idea or system is just what I need. And of course, the product can be completely customized to meet my individual needs. I'm the customer who is always right, and the consumer who always wants to "have it my way".

You see, I don't actually know any poor people. In American terms, nobody would consider me wealthy- I'm a 27 year old kid who works for a non-profit! But from a global perspective, I'm a king (check out Global Rich List sometime to see where you fit in on the global wealth scale- you'll be shocked). The fact that you are reading this post online, in English, means you are probably doing pretty well too. If you have a car, you are immediately in the top 8% of the world. I don't know what that means for those of us who have 2, or 3, or 4...

Please don't over react and think I'm saying that money is evil and we should just burn it all (although the pyrotechnic in me might enjoy THAT bonfire!). It's nothing more than a tool. What I'm saying is that we, meaning you and me and our friends and family, are probably in danger of losing perspective on what life is about. Because we like to think it's about our needs and desires and happiness. The only problem is that that's not what the Bible says.

The over-arching theme of the Bible is about a God who hears the cry of the oppressed and rescues them. But what happens is that those rescued people quickly forget what it's like to be at the bottom, and soon become the oppressors. God tries to warn them, to remind them of who they were and what He did for them, but if they don't repent, something interesting happens. Remember, God always hears the cries of the oppressed, and He will rescue them. Which is not as fun if you are the one doing the oppressing.

When I think of this, I realize that I live in the richest, most powerful country ever. And I don't often hear the cries of despair and pain that come from the forgotten, abused, and forsaken, because I don't even see them. But God does, and He is on their side. I have to ask, which side am I on? Do my actions, decisions, dreams, and prayers lean toward those who are underfoot or to those who are standing tall and proud on the backs of the least? Am I working against God when I think I am following Him?

I worship a God who made Himself nothing, who left His rightful high and lofty place to live among the poor and forgotten, and who even allowed them to end His life of love (Philippians 2). But I, by accident of birth, find myself among the rich, and I don't want to humble myself to serve those just a little less privileged than me. I'd rather focus on my wants and desires, trying to make my life a little better. I even tend to view salvation as something for me, another product that is good for me to buy, one more thing to give me the life I want. Have I become a consumer of God rather than a follower of Christ? Have I become a taker instead of a giver? If I truly follow Christ, if I really want to be like Jesus, how can that path lead anywhere but lower and lower?

This is why I need the orphan. The orphan may need my help for real, physical needs in a broken and hurting world. But I need the orphan for my own salvation. I am in danger of hoarding more and more wealth for myself in bigger retirement accounts while ignoring the hungry all around (Luke 12:13). The orphan reminds me that I've been blessed to be a blessing. I'm in danger of focusing on my own comfort to the extent that I isolate myself from the poor (Luke 16:19). The orphan reminds me that if I separate from the poor, I'm also hiding from God. I'm in danger of saying to God "Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking," and hearing in reply "You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here" (Matthew 7:21 Message). The orphan reminds me that God is not a genie in a bottle waiting to make my life better, but that I should be attentive to his voice and respond with love for those he loves.

But bigger than all that, I am in danger of missing the opportunity to join with God -who loves the whole world- in his beautiful project of redeeming his entire creation, not just me. He is inviting us, his children, to partner with him in the thing he cares most about, the thing he gave his life for. He is inviting us to be more like him. To give up our own lives to love, to serve, to share joy, to offer hope, to proclaim freedom, and to actually live to the fullest. Do we truly believe we can be like him? Do we truly believe the Spirit of God dwells in us? Do we really love the world so much that we will give our life for those who don't love us back, just like Jesus did?

We need the orphan because we have so many influences distracting us from the real point of life. The cry of the oppressed can pierce the siren call of self-love and refocus us on God's self-giving-love. The point is not to be moved by guilt or even by extreme need. The point is to spend time with the one who loved us first, to love him back, and to love the world just like he does. What could be a better life than that? It seemed to be good enough for Jesus.

heads up

Hey friends, World Orphans is currently working through the statement "We need the orphan as much as the orphan needs us". A bunch of the employees are responding to this idea on their personal blogs, and I'm taking part in it too. So that's what the next post will be about. You can check out the other responses according to the schedule found here and stay up on all World Orphan blogs here.

great is thy effectiveness?

Something's wrong. We pastors are the stewards, the spokespeople, the advocates of a message of hope, life, and peace. And yet so few of us seem to be experiencing these qualities in our own lives. Something's wrong. In a world saturated with fear, insecurity, and stress, we are to show a different way. And yet those at the center of the church are burning out and leaving ministry at a rate of 1,500 per month. If that's what's occurring at the heart of the church, why would anyone on the fringe want to move in closer?

That's the opening paragraph of an article at Christianity Today I just read that discusses the bigger is better myth that still holds so much weight in the Western Church. Some other quotes from the article:

It seems too many of us have our identities wrapped up in the measurable outcomes of our work rather than in the life-giving love of the Christ we proclaim. Something's wrong.
...

Some might say these leaders have failed to nurture their souls sufficiently. We usually want to blame leaders for their own burn out, but when I see the pervasiveness of this problem I wonder if there isn't also a systemic factor. Could contemporary church ministry itself be the problem?
...

Consider a chapter titled "Bigger is Better" from a popular ministry book. The authors write, "A church should always be bigger than it was. It should be constantly growing." Talk about pressure. The problem is this standard doesn’t hold water when applied to Jesus himself. John 6 describes the scene where "many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him."
...

Unlike contemporary business, ministry involves the baffling interplay of the human and the divine, the spiritual and the material. There is a mystery to what we are called to do. Embracing this mystery and releasing the outcomes of our work to God is what we must do if our lives, and not just our ministries, are to be filled with his grace.

I encourage you to read it for yourself. I know this is nothing new for some of you, but I also know there are a lot of voices still shouting for growth and numbers and performance and results, and those voices will go out of their way to silence anyone who doesn't repeat their words. I hope this is an encouragement for those left in the dust of a fast moving "ministry". May you instead walk in the dust of your rabbi.

blogs

I finally got around to updating my blog theme. I have spent a lot of time at work over the last few weeks working on blog headers, themes, buttons, and more, learning a lot. So I figured I needed to at least make my own blog look cool again. Yep, more California style, and surprise, Charger colors. Some things never change.

Also, I have been spending a lot of time reading blogs, because it's a great way to stay up with what other people are reading, thinking, saying, and doing. Plus I found Google Reader, an application that makes saying up on blogs really easy. It collects all your blogs in one place and lets you know when they are updated. Some of my new favorite blogs are Jesus Manifesto (subverting the Empire and such), Revolution in Jesusland (politics through an Emergish lense), and God's Politics with Jim Wallis, Brian McLaren, Shane Claiborne, Phyllis Tickle and others (maybe a little left leaning, but overall a pretty good attempt to engage politics as Christians without choosing sides and attacking the "enemy"). God's Politics has a really strong global focus too. And I can't forget the Showbread and underOATH tour blogs too! You can find links to these and others on the left, and I'd love to know what blogs you read. This is my new favorite hobby!

Preson

Check out Preson Phillips. He's a pastor of a missional church community in Tampa called Watermark. The website is for a cd he recorded of songs written about their journey. It's mostly acoustic, with a folk/indie feel. They lyrics are just fantastic, check out this song called "Until God's Realm Comes", it's one of my favorites and one of the best pictures of the church I've ever found. You can listen to it while you read, just go to his website and hit refresh a few times until this song starts playing in the top left corner...

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We gather to sing of your kindness that’s showered upon us
To whisper your promises, shout out the truths of your love
We lift up your name as we care for your children around us
Encouraged in unity, gathering strength from your words
Thank you for kinship thank for love.

Excited by life, we will sing with the gifts that you give us
Impassioned by mystery, mystical Lord upon high!
Heartbroken seeing what sin has destroyed all around us
Hopeful in knowing what will be fulfilled in your Word
Until your Kingdom comes…

Maybe in this there has been but a glimpse of the kingdom
And maybe our hearts will be stirred for the mission before us
Maybe in this there has been but a glimpse of you Jesus
And mercy will flow through these streets as we exercise worship
Until your kingdom comes

until all are fed
until all know home
until all are free
until justice done
until peace the way
until grace the law
until love the rule
until God’s realm comes
until God’s realm comes
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Pretty sweet, eh? And if you still aren't convinced, he is actually giving the cd away for free on his website.

One of the most exciting parts for me is how I discovered him. My favorite band, underOATH, just put up a song from their new record on myspace. Their guitarist mentioned in a blog that he had produced a "folk record" for a friend of his, and so I decided to check it out and found Preson. I started looking more into this church and just loved reading about what they were doing and their heart for their city, their view of church and the role of God's people. It also was cool to see that the books they recommend are all the same books that have really impacted me! And it turns out 3 of the underOATH guys are part of the church community. So I was pretty excited about that! Well, check it out and let me know what you think!