Thinking about "How Then Should we Live" Issues 3

I started studying the book of James the other day. I've been reading and studying the Bible for many years and I know I have probably read the book of James at least twenty times, if not more. This time I decided to study it because of some of the verses from James that I have been using on this blog and some other things I've been writing. In continuing to think and pray about how to go about life here in America I think James might be the book to study for a good dose of Biblical world-view and practical advice. Right off the bat in chapter 1 verse 5 James says "If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking". I don't know about you but I feel a bit foolish that for so many years very few of these issues were on my radar. How could I have not known? How should I now respond?

I am in great need of wisdom but I want to be careful about where I find wisdom, I want to make sure I am seeking God's wisdom because I know it is easy for me to jump into a cause and feel so much passion to right the wrongs and "fix things" when it might be possible that a fix would not be in the best interest of the very people I have a desire to help. I know I have operated off of misdirected mercy before when I've jumped into something that looked like it would take care of a need. The biggest one that stands out to me was about eight or nine years or so ago when I gathered clothing for some very impoverished people in Romania. We sent over a huge amount of used clothing only to hear later that instead of providing warm winter clothing for children in some cases we were providing something for their parents to sell to buy vodka and had created a huge headache for the pastor who had to secure release of the goods and then get people to unload, store, sort, etc.

Here's a interesting thought; wealth is not the answer to poverty and success in God's economy has nothing to do with how much "stuff" one has. It's possible that when we get to heaven that many of the popular, powerful wealthy people will get asked to stand at the back of the crowd and then the biggest crowns will be passed out to those who in our culture's estimation would be considered impoverished nobodies who worked entirely under the fame radar. James says something else very interesting in chapter 1 verse 9. "Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field....In the same way the rich shall fade away with all of their achievements." The poor believers aren't rejoicing because they have little. Instead they are constantly aware of their dependence on God and His miraculous provision and are rejoicing in His care for them. We on the other had need to be humbled because we rely on our own provision and abilities to get us through each day. We do not see that it is God who keeps us and God who provides. We somehow believe that it is our own goodness, intelligence and abilities that keep us. Here's the big question for me - can I approach the issue of social justice in faith knowing that God is calling and fashioning me for being a part of His blessing to those in places of need or will I rush in with the idea that I have the resources, intellect and power to make a difference and tackle something out of my own strength?

Water:A Basic Need Unmet for Billions

Today is Blog Action Day 2010 . Thousands of bloggers all over the world are blogging about how nearly one billion people on our planet have no access to clean drinking water and 2.5 billion have no access to sanitary toilets which in turn causes raw sewage seepage into steams and lakes contaminating drinking water and causing disease.


On the African continent 109 million hours will have been spent by women and children searching for, collecting and carrying water (many times polluted) back to their homes today. This is 109 million hours not spent in school or in a some pursuit that could better their lives.


More people die from the diseases caught from drinking unsafe water every year than from all the deaths from violence and war. 42,000 people lose their lives from not having access to safe drinking water and sanitation every week.


We are so blessed and so blind. Many of us have no idea that so many suffer from something we so take for granted every day. The average American uses 159 gallons of water a day without ever being concerned about the quality or quantity of their water. Remember the verses in Matthew 25 that talk about the righteous being those who provide a cup of water to "the least of these". By taking action and giving to organizations that provide clean water and do it in Jesus name we are obeying Christ's desire that we become those who see others in need of something so basic to life and rush in to help meet the need.


Please consider engaging your church in a conversation about water. One organization that is giving 100% of all money raised to the drilling of wells by groups already active in third world countries is charity:water.  Charity:water was founded  by Scott Harrison who in his own words says " I desperately wanted to revive a lost Christian faith with action and asked the question: What would the opposite of my life look like?" God answered his prayer by giving him a mission to bring clean water to everyone who needs it.


At our church any profit from our coffee shop goes to charity:water and we also actively raise money all year long through events and awareness activities. We have found that providing clean water and sanitation is an issue that everyone can agree with and get behind. It's also an issue that has opened dialog both within and without our church about issues of faith and justice.

Thinking about "How Then Should we Live" Issues 2

When considering justice issues and relying in part on our consciences to help us decide where we stand on issues there is one major point we need to factor in. In 1st Corinthians 4:4 Paul says "My conscience is clear, but that doesn't prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide." (NLT) In other words, sometimes our conscience in a matter is faulty. Our conscience may not be pricking us, but that does not make everything we do right. Sometimes we don't have enough information on a topic and other times we have deadened our conscience by making excuses or continuing to make choices contrary to what it is telling us.


Let's consider coffee. I might know that many people who farm coffee are exploited due to their lack of knowledge, poverty and that they work for very low wages on large plantations.  Also, some small coffee farmers accept very low prices for their crops, but even knowing all that might not be enough for my conscience to bother me when I go to buy the cheapest can of coffee I can find. Maybe I really don't have the correct information for my conscience to be informed enough to understand the issue. Maybe I have reasoned away the pricks to my conscience because after all coffee growers are so far away, mostly in poor countries anyway and after all if they were smarter they would be able to figure out how to get out of that cycle of poverty right? Besides if I don't buy their coffee they won't make anything at all. Those are a few of the arguments I've heard that might come from dulled consciences.


Here is how I think the processing of that information about coffee should probably go: I should be thinking "What scriptures tell me how I should react to this knowledge?". Well, there is the second "commandment" that Jesus gave in Matthew 22:39 "Love your neighbor as yourself." If I was a coffee farmer who worked hard to produce a crop of coffee would I want to be treated like many coffee farmers are? How about the very strong admonition given in James 5 verses 1 through 6. The language is very in your face when James says in verse 4 "For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies." On the basis of these two verses I can see that if I want to live in a way that would please Christ I must consider my actions in the marketplace - I need to line up with the values of the kingdom of God. 


I picked coffee as the subject of this blog post because I have more than just a passing interest and knowledge on the subject. In 2005 my family opened a fair trade, organic only coffee shop in Durham. In researching coffee, after deciding that we wanted to attempt opening a shop, I learned a lot about coffee as a crop and how it is brought to market. We decided there really was no choice to be made even though the cost to us would be up to double the cost of  regular beans and we could not sell a cup of fair trade coffee for more than the going local rate.   Even so we just could not sell something produced by what sometimes amounts to slave labor so knowing we might be shooting ourselves in the foot we chose to sell only organic fair trade beans and coffee. I think our shop may have been in front of the organic, fair trade movement by a few years - now many more people have become interested in both organic and fair trade. We enjoyed the shop but after 18 months decided that selling it was in the best interest of our family. 


Here are a few resources for more information on coffee if you're interested http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/ , http://www.equalexchange.coop/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade

Thinking about "How Then Should we Live" Issues

When I started exploring questions of justice in more depth a few years ago I was quickly struck by the fact that what I was learning was going to either force me to change how I live or I would have to make a conscience decision to live in apathy or worse. One thing I do not want to be is self righteous. I've pretty much discovered after 54 years that my righteousness is just what scripture says it is in Isaiah 64:6, filthy rags. That's because my own efforts at being righteous create self righteousness. It is only when I understand that Christ has provided a righteousness for me and allowed His Holy Spirit to convict and cleanse me that I begin to get it right. We are called as Christians to walk in a righteous way. My way may look a little bit different that yours just because the things that I am convicted about and convinced of may be a bit different. Of course I'm not talking about the things listed in scripture. Instead I am referring to those things we can call points of conscience. Since I know that chocolate is mostly produced by child slave labor in the Ivory Coast can I buy chocolate if I know it was most likely produced using slave labor? Aren't I then becoming part of the problem? How about buying a beautiful rug from India or Pakistan that is not labeled child labor free? What about sugar, coffee, tea and cotton? How far do I have to go not to abuse my conscience? Does buying fair trade coffee or chocolate make a difference? What do you think?  I'm going to take a stab at discussing all of these issues. Hopefully the process will help me solidify my own convictions...

Exploring Helping w/o Hurting in Durham

My husband and I are going to a twice monthly group that is part of our church's small group ministry for this fall. We are doing a book study on the book When-Helping-Hurts: how to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor or Yourself. The study group is made up of people who are members of Grace Church as well as members of the community. I am very impressed with the book which was written as a collaboration between Brian Fikkert and Steven Corbett and forwarded by John Perkins.

Fikkert and Corbett set the book up to be a study by an individual or a group with group exercises and questions at the end of the chapters so it is perfect for a small group study. I appreciate that the gospel is central to their work instead of just being peripheral. We have made it through the first chapter and have started on the second after two meetings. The discussion has been good and honest. I read the book shortly after it was published a little over a year ago and thought at the time that it would make a challenging book to discuss in a group. It has certainly challenged me on some issues and made me rethink some of my attitudes towards domestic as well as global missions efforts. I am looking forward to continuing on with the study.

Considering the Unthinkable

Tomorrow I will be helping out with the Stop Child Trafficking Now fundraising walk in Chapel Hill. Stop Child Trafficking Now was formed to attack the problem of child sex trafficking in America by going after the demand side. Stop Child Trafficking Now believes that by building cases against men who purchase sex w/ minors they can make a large dent in the sex trafficking of minors in the US.

It is interesting that everyone I talk to about child trafficking agrees that it is an incredible evil. This issue has absolutely no political divide. Everyone is for doing everything that can be done to rescue children (both boys and girls) who are trafficked in the sex industry. The problem comes because too many people after their initial expression of disgust and agreement will say something like "that' is so evil that I'd really rather not think about it" and they don't.

I'd like to challenge you to think about it. Think about the fact that the Justice Department says at least 200,000 young children and teens are trafficked during any one year in the US. Think about the fact that the statistics show that most runaways are picked up by traffickers within 24 hours of running away. Think about all of the children trafficked by their own relatives - the ultimate betrayal. Think about the young men in high schools paid by traffickers to convince young teens to leave home with them. Think about the fact that all over the world children are trapped in trafficking and that many of these children will die of disease, drugs, alcohol and violence all because there is a market for their services by the demand side, the men who do not believe they will suffer any consequences for buying a 10 year old girl and raping her. If these men were prowling our neighborhoods, attacking our children we would do anything and everything in our power to have them captured and put in jail for a very long time. For some reason since we can compartmentalize trafficking to something that happens to someone else, somewhere else and not to our children and not in our neighborhoods it is also easy to push it to the back of our minds and demonize only the traffickers while disregarding the depravity of a man who would purchase a child for his own pleasure.

After you have thought about trafficking please do something to help stop it. There are several excellent organizations working tirelessly all over the world to bring child trafficking to an end. This weekend Stop Child Trafficking Now is holding walks all over the United States. It may not be too late to join the one near you. Beyond this weekend; talk to your pastor about what your church could do to educate church members, read some books on the issue, check out the web links to the right of my post and pray for those who are in the trenches combating this issue and the children they rescue.