I once was a Republican. I was raised in a conservative family and graduated from a very politcally conservative college. I spent my days driving around listening to Rush Limbaugh.
Many of us are born into a world view and we maintain that world view for our entire lives. Often we are not challenged in our world view because we typically surround ourselves with those who agree with our beliefs. This can make life comfortable but it doesn't always lend itself to philosophical growth or the expansion of our world view. Some of you will read that last statement and say, "my world view is correct...it does not need to change or grow but it needs to be understood by more people so that they can be "right" like me."
The first major challenge to my world view occured when I attended a missions conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and I heard Tony Campolo speak. Tony is a Baptist Minister and a Sociology professor who is an excellent speaker. He is brilliant and funny. After hearing him speak, I felt compelled to start volunteering at the Union Gospel Mission, an organization that works with recovering addicts in Winnipeg. I volunteered and started going there weekly. Shortly after that, we moved back to New Orleans and I begin connecting with the Gospel Mission there as well. Through direct experience, my world view was changing. I did not realize it at the time but it was happening. Black and white issues were morphing into grey. I began to meet and interact with people who were poor - very poor. People who had grown up with a very different world view than me. People who saw a world of very different opportunities and possibilities.
Then, I went to Honduras after Hurricane Mitch on a medical relief team. I saw poverty like I had never seen before. After all I had seen, I was starting to feel my thinking change.
I had a moment of reckoning one Christmas. We went with a small group to the Central City area of New Orleans and we gave Christmas gifts to poor families. I distinctly remember Rush's words in my head that week as he was talking about "entitlements" and how destructive it was to give to the poor and that we need to cut back on certain programs and force people to go out and work. There I was, sitting in a small apartment with a poor mom and her 4 kids...no father...no clear pathway out of their povery. She grabbed my hand and said, "without this, my kids would have no Christmas, God bless you."
At that moment, I began asking myself some tough questions. What would happen if we took this families "entitlements" away? Who would step up and help this family in the short term and make sure the kids were fed?
One of the things we take for granted when we are not poor is that we have choices. We have options. We have access to transportation and resources and connections. Most poor people don't have choices in the same way that we do.
So, as we sip our lattes saying, why don't they just get a real job? There is a real mom out there who is facing the choice between a minimum wage job (or two or three) and providing child care for her children or government assistance - which may be more money. This is a "choice" none of us would want to make.
Where does the Church come into this discussion? Much of the evangelical Church identifies as republican. Their world view is shaped by guys like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc. (I am not suggesting that the democrat point of view is any better. I do not identify with either party.)
I believe, without going into too much detail here, that there is a biblical precedent of caring for the poor. If you read this and disagree with me, contact me directly and I will share some specifics that shape that perspective.
At some point, societally, we abdecated that responsibility to the goverment - I believe to the detriment of the Church, government and the poor. If the Church was in the business of caring for the poor exclusively, I believe it could restore dignity, accountability, and productivity to the poor. Not to mention the financial benefit to the government. I whole-heartedly believe that God's plan was the Church - not the goverment.
We could spend several days discussing how that would look so I won't try to explain my theories or plan here.
Finally, I have serious concern about the perception of the Church in the world today. If you go back and read the Book, I think would could probably agree that Jesus was very popular with the following people: "sinners", prostitutes, extortioners, outcasts, misfits, etc. How do you think today's evangelical Church ranks among those groups?
Jesus was quite UNPOPULAR with Pharisees, Sadducees, and religious leaders.
Somehow we seemed to have flipped the script.
Jesus is not a fan of bad behavior. He is not a fan of destructive behavior. But, Jesus is a lover of people and it is His love that will draw someone in.
Somehow the Church has gotten into the business of being the morality police for those who do not attend the Church. Whether we are trying to tell the poor how to live or trying to tell the gay community what they should or should not do. It is just wrong and it seems clear to me that most of the evangelical Church today does not resemble Jesus.
We are quick to judge those outside of the Church. We are slow to give. We have a theology that is all about bettering our own lives sometimes at the expense of others. We have a theology that does not respect the earth, we have a theology that does not respect anyone who disagrees with us, we have a theology that would allow for the poor to become poorer because we are too busy to be interested.
As I am always quick to point out, these are generalizations. There are exceptions to this and I am as guilty of doing all of these things as anyone.
Some of you may read this and be offended. I get that. My hope is that you will not read this and feel the need to defend yourself or justify why you believe the way you believe. I hope that you will read it and own the portions that are true and look for ways to try to understand things differently.
The world needs you. The world needs you engaged in the cause of the poor, the widow, and the orphan. Afterall, James 1:27 tell us that that is what TRUE religion is.
It is time for us to start putting our money where our mouth is and to start looking more like Jesus and less like a group of modern-day pharisees.
Peace,
Vince
