Follow Us!

Follow n2n on facebook!

Become a fan: Neighbor to Neighbor Outreach

What's our response?

Here are some startling statistics that I heard off the River City podcast:

The United States is..

1st in gross domestic product
1st in the number of billionaires
1st in health expenditures
1st in military technology
1st in defense expenditures
1st in military weapon exports

The United States is also..

Highest in relative child poverty
Highest in birth rate among teens ages 15-19
Last in protecting children against gun violence
Highest in number of persons incarcerated

Not to mention, we also have the widest gap between the rich and the poor.

So what's our response to this? Anger? Numbness? Compassion? Apathy? Blame? Attempts to justify and distance ourselves from "those people" who perpetuate the problem?

In light of the injustices of our world and our cities, preaching a gospel that Jesus is just our personal savior is dangerously incomplete. Jesus not only is our personal savior but he is our societal savior. Just because certain things are in their current state, doesn't mean they have to be in the future. A gospel preached/taught/proclaimed with no talk about action and change for right now is no gospel at all.

I'm not exactly sure where I got this quote, or who is responsible for it but I like it. It's been written a few times in the journals that I keep.

"Jesus' teachings are suicidal to the rich, powerful, and the privileged." (more on this in a bit)

Again what's our response to that statement? What's my response to that statement? Angry? Annoyed? Dismissal?

If I'm honest all three of those for me. Wherever I turn, it seems that Jesus is continually revealing to me that the way to life and 'life to the full' is to die to myself daily (Mark 8:34-35). And it's true, the way of the kingdom is a downward pull.

Displacement

"Christianity was never meant to be safe. We are just promised that when we walk into danger, God is with us... ...Perhaps the most dangerous place for a Christian is in safety and comfort, for we need to follow the way of the one who left all comfort, born a baby refugee, and wandered Galilee a homeless rabbi." -Shane Claiborne

I like Henri Nouwen's take on the same subject. How as Christians we should be moving away from the 'ordinary and proper places'. But not because we've come to recognize it as good social policy, but because we are following the example of our God (Philippians 2:1-11).

Stuff White People Like

This list is hilarious. And the explanations given are even funnier. But sadly I identify with way too many of these.. (Stuff White People Like)

Just skimming through the list quickly, I identified with 35 of them.

Good Investment

This is pretty exciting (click here).

Two Years..

"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?" -1 Corinthians 15:55

Through death comes life. Because of the victory we have through Christ's death and resurrection, days like today don't have to be filled with deep sadness. I'm sad yes, Jason was one of my best friends and he will always be missed. However, two years ago there was victory as Jason went to be with his heavenly Father.

Today I'm reminded of the lives that Jason saved through his decision to be an organ donor. Through his earthly death, there has sprung up new life. His story, life, and spirit is very much alive. And for that I'm thankful.

This by no means encapsulates his entire life, but here are some good pictures (click here) from his foundations website.

Also: Ray of Hope

Servant God

"Here we see what compassion means. It is not a bending toward the underprivileged from a privileged position; it is not a reaching out on high to those who are less fortunate below; it is not a gesture of sympathy or pity for those who fail to make it in the upward pull. On the contrary, compassion means going directly to those people and places where suffering is most acute and building a home there. God's compassion ts total, absolute, unconditional, without reservation. It is the compassion of the one who keeps going to the most forgotten corners of the world, and who cannot rest as long as there are still human beings with tears in their eyes. It is the compassion of a God who does not merely act as a servant, but who expresses the divinity of God through servanthood." -Henri Nouwen

Jesus' compassion is characterized by a downward pull. He came not to be served but to serve. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.

It's hard to wrap your mind around that when it seems like an 'upward pull' and upward mobility is what we're all about and what we strive for in life. Sometimes I wish following Jesus was easier. But therein lies the mystery of the Christian life.. that if we lose our life for Jesus and for the gospel, that we will actually find life (Mark 8:35). And that's not some twisted oxymoron either, because as Henri Nouwen puts it, the downward pull is not a movement away from God, but a movement toward God.