Chapters 6 & 7
August 29, 2006
Alright folks it appears we have come to a stand still on reading the book. I am assuming that people are reading and that everyone is too busy to post comments. Not sure whether to extent Chap 6 & 7 one more week or not. Anyway couple thoughts on the chapters.
Before reading this book I had never thought about how isolated I am from those in need. Shane really does a good job of showing how we have developed a middle man type system where we don’t have to interact with those in need. He mentions that when we actually come in contact with those in need and they come in contact with us is when community happens and we are all changed. Very good thoughts. We support a child through compassion international and we correspond once a while but I have often felt like it is just so disconnected. Shane mentions that in some ways this type of giving, while good in some ways, allows us to clear our conscience concerning the poor. We can just check off that part of the list and move on. Any ideas on how we can actually connect?
Chapter 7 is very relevant for this week. Shane talks about what happened on 9/11 and his trip to Iraq. Really opened my eyes. When Christ talks about loving our enemies and praying for those that persecute us it has always seemed distant or not very relevant in my life. But wow, what an opportunity right now to demonstrate radical love. We are to be peacemakers, people that realize that every single person on earth is loved by God, those right here and those that live in Iraq. Let us pray for those that are Iraq.
That’s getting close to the heart of what Shane wants us to get to in this book: learn to really engage and connect with the poor and needy (in whatever way that looks like).
One thing that is hard to change but I think deserves some attention, is what happens when we buy a house in the nicer neighborhoods of the city. This right away puts a huge gap in between us and them. We put ourselves in a situation where we hardly even hear of anything having to do with the poor. What if a group of people went down into the places of the city that are worse off and lived there? That would right away allow us to really experience and engage in the lives of the needy. I know it’s quite a move, and pretty scary and thinking of putting ourselves and children at risk sounds crazy. But that would create major change in our lives and hopefully the neighborhood.
I know for a fact that we are missing out on a huge blessing when we keep ourselves isolated from those who are hurting… we can’t forget though that they are in our own churches and much of the time we just need to have eyes to see them and a heart that is willing for God to use us to help them. On page 159 he talks about the distribution center of the church and the rich dump stuff off and the poor come pick it up but no one leaves transformed. So true! It can be said too that we can go to church everytime the doors are opened but we still are not transformed.. “and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” Isaiah 58:10.. All we need to do is probably look next to us in church and we may find someone in need.. not so sure we even have to look very far to find someone who is hurting. I think what we can do though is get on our knees and pray that God would use us where we are to help those in need…
I wrote something related to what we are talking about on my blog. there is plenty of suffering around us that we do not realize is even there. I do think that we shield ourselves very well from it, not only with distance but also psychologically. I know that I have felt guilty that I have not asked the Starkel’s how they are doing as much, as well as Spencer. Furthermore, there are plenty of people I think that I blind myself to their pain, rather than enter into it as Henri Nouwen suggests in Wounded Healer.
I found chapter 6 very difficult to read because I see myself all over that chapter. Where he talks about people doing things to appease our consciences, but still keep a safe distance from the poor. He also talks about having extra bedrooms when people are homeless. We all have so much more than just our daily bread. One of the teachers at school tried to get a program going where people would sign up to help each other-I need a plumber(you are a plumber)-you need a cook(I can cook)-do you get the idea? Trading services. There is a cost to join. She could not get enough people to sign up to make a go of it. I think this is what Shayne was talking about in terms of interdependence. We don’t want to depend on each other.
One other thing- in terms of why the rest of the world hates us-Last Sat paper had some thoughts by area pastors on why we have terrorists after us. Rob Bell said that we are 4-5percent of the world and use 40-50 percent of the world’s resources. I had heard this before, but not in numbers like that. The world looks at us as so greedy and we are. We have so much.
Anyway, some random thoughts on ch 6.
Good thoughts.. not sure why we feel we have to be so independent and yet the result seems to be isolation and then lonliness as Shane says. ??
I like those thoughts Mom. One interesting part about the rest of the world is that they associate America with Christianity, especially the Muslims. Therefore, most hate Christians. I was talking to a minister who grew up in Pakistan. If you are a Christian in Pakistan, you will often get persecuted for being a Christian for many reasons. The muslims will often persecute them after the US attacks or bombs Muslim countries. So when the war with Iraq, many Christians in the Muslim countries have been persecuted. They associate the US with Christians and the Christians overseas pay the price. Anyway, just scary that the world hates the US and Christians are associated with it.
Good thoughts on these chapters. I have to say chap 7 really opened my eyes. I understand that we need to deal with evil in the world but while we wage war on terrorism I think a lot of people are getting hurt in the crossfire. I could go on and on about this but I think there is a problem when a political party claim itself as Christian. When it does so all the actions of that party are then viewed by outsiders as representative of Christians.
Good thoughts on these chapters. I have to say chap 7 really opened my eyes. I understand that we need to deal with evil in the world but while we wage war on terrorism I think a lot of people are getting hurt in the crossfire. I could go on and on about this but I think there is a problem when a political party claims itself as Christian. When it does so all the actions of that party are then viewed by outsiders as representative of Christians. But I guess we need to show the world what Christians look like. Everything that Christ did seems so radical because he was representing another kingdom. As we follow him we should probably look pretty radical. We should probably stand out pretty clearly from the ways of this world.