Well... since my last post I have been thinking about the balance to what I said- about how the church was a bit useless for not sorting out all the world's issues ; )
I was thinking how Lord Wilberforce, the Amish and countless other Christian groups were anti-slavery. And fought for it. And how their experience was that God was leading them.
How Martin Luther King Junior really felt lead by God in his stand for social justice.
How lots of my friends are into helping people who are less fortunate than them. How others are fair trade geeks. Or don't like the cigarette industry because its effect on children in the communities where it is grown...
I have been thinking that as much as there is evidence that Christians dont seem to be THAT amazing overall at getting social issues right, there is as much evidence that ones of us and groups of us, are responding to what we believe is the true call of God - be it a little prompting here and there or some major kind of call.
That's something to get excited about. That is something to be encouraged by.
Because as much as the world has crazy issues in it, and as much as the church should be for the world, there are also other people in it. You cant point to all the bad issues and say - naughty Christians. You can say, get it together people (all people, everywhere)!!!! And then the church can seek God for how to live, and which issues to focus on, and just look at the things they care about and start doing something till God says do something else!
I have been reeaaallly challenged about how we need to hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit in the day to day. I think that God is available to give us peace, provide some direction, point us to needs, strengthen us to love when we cant be bothered any more. That's the challenge. Not to get busy living as Christians so that we miss the point.
I think the church is very busy.
Sometimes it needs to be.
But sometimes not.
Yesterday I went to David Wilkinson's church - the guy who wrote the Cross and the Switchblade. He did a lot of work in the 1970s with the gangs of New York, and that book is about his experiences. I wanted to go to this church because his book impacted on me as a teenager, and because I thought he lived Christianity with a great deal of integrity. His church was cool... I heard that his church has a big missions population - they are sent all over the world. However, in that 9/11 happened, God told the church to keep the leaders home, that he wanted them to serve at home that year. When 9/11 happened, all the leaders were at home base, and were ready and really easily mobilised to help the people most affected. They fed people, housed people, etc. That is so so cool.
So, I think, yay this guy. Who hears from God and does it.
I have noticed that the differences I notice most in the States are the 'desperate' ones. The homeless thing, racial issues - the basics. But also the things that to fix are the 'heroic' ones. I noticed that when I re-read my last blog.
Since then, I have been thinking- what does God want with people like me? Has he only come for the homeless and those in survival mode? What is it that really sets a Christian apart? What is it about God that he is there for drug addicts and homeless, but also for me? What is it that God wants with my life that I need him before I become a person in need of desperate, basic help for survival?
I think the thing that is important is that God wants to be involved. With me. He wants to help when I'm anxious, to step me through life so that I have His peace, and His blessings in my life.
Am I qualified?
Nope.
Am I sick enough?
Could get there... hahaha. I dont need to be sick. I just think that my life with God actively in it would be a better adventure ; )
Do I need His blessings and his help?
Possibly not. Plenty of people survive in the world without God. But I would like to have God's involement. Because I know God is real. And I want to respond to God, and to see what happens when I live like that. And because when lots of us join in with what God is doing it is easier to see the effect of his involvement.
Will my life be markedly different?
Maybe, maybe not. I think the point is to keep listening to God. The difference will be inside me mostly, and over time I hope that comes out as something cooler than when I'm not listening. I dont want the difference to be only that I go to church. That isnt enough.
Will I have to help the homeless and the drug addicts, etc?
Maybe, maybe not. I have had this passion for seeing better justice for Maori in New Zealand, and I dont think that that is coincidental. I like organising things, I'd like to tie that into helping people connect to each other - I'd like to help people get to know who Christians are in Kelburn where I hope to live so that they can have access to God's help. The point really is not for me to save the world. The point is for God to save the world. I would be suprised if the church as a whole wasn't involved in some kind of 'emergency' help. But there are a lot of other needs, which are valid and not desperate, and God is for all of us.
SO.
That's been my thinking and revelations over the last few weeks...
And what do I think now?
I think the church has a real challenge to think about how it is. I think that as Christians we need to be checking each other to see if we have become mediocre. It is possible to help the homeless and have stopped hearing from God (not so good). It is possible to be just praying and hearing from God, and being prepared for something in the future (why not!?). It is possible to be living as a Christian with sin that the church readily identifies, and be working it through with God (yay, that is the whole point). I think as Christians, we are allowed to just live. We are allowed to be in our lives enjoying that God is at work, and/or trying to figure stuff out, or struggling through stuff and seeking his help. And I expect that in His love for the whole world, he will be keen to have the church meet the needs of people around us, in all sorts of ways.
At the end of the day, I think I have sorted out my thinking a bit to get that God is for me, too. Just like this. Travelling in New York and shopping till I'm too tired to walk any more. It's so fun. I can see him helping me work things out in my head as well while I'm here.
God is a goodie. I also realised that God wont zap the worlds problems away because he's into free will. And he has a funny role for the chruch, which I'm just learning about...
