solving problems

There are big problems in the world.  We don't often concern ourselves with adressing them, unless our daily work requires that we do.  For some people, biblical faith inspires engagement in such problems.  For others, humanitarian goodness encourages their concern to fight the good fight. However you come at these problems; faith, ambivalence, or genuine humanitarian concern; they are real.  Here's a starter list:

• Hunger and food insecurity
• Affordable housing
• Access to health care
• Access to clean water and sanitation
• racial and gender inequality
• Growing disparity between wealth and poverty
• religious/ideological extremism that leads to violence

If we take these as massive global problems, we might ask ourselves what role does the individual play in solving these things?  I don't mean, how can each person do their small part to ameliorate the suffering caused by these problems.  (Although that may be part of the solution).I don't mean how does one person stick a bandage on a massive, bleeding, open wound.  I mean what role might an individual play in solving these problems for good? I know one person can lead a movement that brings real change.  Think about Gandhi in India or Desmond Tutu in South Africa or Lech Walesa in Poland or Liu Xiaobo in China or Leymah Gbowee in Kenya.  These individuals found ways to address real problems with direct action.  It is possible to be a catalyst for substantial change, an instigator, a mobilizer who inaugurates and activates latent desires for justice in the hearts of humankind.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about problem solving in his ethics.  It is an invitation to the church to be about the work of solving massive global problems.  In the 1940's he saw the world coming apart.  He saw an apathetic, indifferent church, unwilling to confront the problems with creative and meaningful action.  He saw the church stand idle or contribute to genocide.  He suggests that the church cannot avoid the injustice and brokenness that wounds the world and threatens our annihilation.  We must seek to end it together as a global movement.  He wrote:
 
"What is behind the desire, which is awakening in Christendom throughout the world, to hear a message from the church to the world that offers solutions? It is essentially the following ideas:  the social, economic, and political, etc., problems of the world are out of hand; the ideological and practical solutions being offered are all ineffectual; the world of technical progress has thus reached its limit; the car is stuck in the mud, the wheels are turning at top speed but cannot pull the car out; the problems are so universally human, both in their scope and their nature, that some quite fundamental remedy has become necessary; with respect to social, economic, political, sexual, and educational problems, the church has thus far failed; through its own fault it has given offense, which hinders people from believing its message.  "Woe to those who give offense to one of these little ones..." (Matthew 18:6.) A theologically correct Christian proclamation is not enough; neither are general ethical principles.  What is necessary is a concrete directive in the concrete situation.  The strength of the church's spirit is not yet exhausted.  Christians throughout the world have grown closer to one another than ever before.  Jointly we must tackle the task of proclaiming a message from the church.  In short, the church is supposed to offer solutions for the world's unsolved problems, thus fulfilling its commission and restoring its authority."

I know there are churches that believe in the cure of souls and the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins as the only locus of action for the church.  The church has been relegated to the spiritual realm.  Church is a private institution for believers and members. Church exists for Christians. The evangelical Christian worldview has abandoned the world to hell, sought to save a remnant of chosen faithful believers, and centered their work on weekly worship of God.  They have failed to see the connection that Jesus makes between salvation, the forgiveness of sins and real, physical healing!  Jesus did not only announce the forgiveness of sins.  He healed people, brought enemies together around a common table, restored dignity to the poor and the mentally ill,  advanced the role of women, confronted the wealthy and powerful with a vision of a common humanity in which all were fed, housed, etc...
Many people are skeptical and do not believe global problems like poverty and hunger can be solved.  Actually, the money and resources are there.  The will to exercise power to mobilize resources in order to effectively address these problems is what prevents them from being solved.  Human will.  I believe that we have been offered freedom from the mistakes of the past in order to live better now. The New Testament story is about becoming free from that which prevents us from being fully human, enjoying the fruit of creation, and living in harmony with others.
I think Bonhoeffer is right.  The church is uniquely poised to meet the challenges of the 21st century with imagination and hope.  As the church in the west loses authority and power we gain the trust of those who long for health, peace, and dignity. We gain their trust by listening and serving them in real,authentic ways.  We gain their trust by sharing generously.  We gain the world's trust by standing with those who bear the burden of global injustice and telling the world that this must and will come to an end.
I am the pastor of a small congregation of Lutheran Christians in a small town in Pennsylvania.  But we are working together to end hunger, to end the deadly threat of Malaria, to repair broken relationships, to heal the sick, to bring dignity to those trapped in poverty, to care for the elderly and the young.  I believe that we are called to solve the world's problems because it is our faith in God's goodness, power, and love that will save us,heal us, and set us all free.
    
  

who am i

"Am I really what others say about me?
Or am I only what I know of myself?
Restless, yearning and sick, like a bird in a cage, struggling for the breath of life,
as though someone were choking my throat;
hungering for colors, for flowers, for the songs of birds,
thirsting for kind words and human closeness,
shaking with anger at capricious tyranny and the pettiest slurs,
bedeviled by anxiety, awaiting great events that might never occur,
fearfully powerless and worried for friends far away,
weary and empty in prayer, in thinking, in doing,
weak, and ready to take leave of it all.
Who am I?  This man or that other?
Am I then this man today and tomorrow another?
Am I both all at once? An imposter to others, but to me little more than a whining, despicable weakling?
Does what is in me compare to the vanquished army, that flees in disorder before a battle already won?
Who am I?  They mock me these lonely questions of mine.  Whoever I am, you know me, O God.  You know I am yours."  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from A Testament to Freedom.
In my devotional reading for today.

worry that distracts us

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.  She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying.  But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me."  But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;  there is need of only one thing.

            Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her." Gospel of Luke, 10:38-42.

You are worried and distracted by many things.  Jesus is right about that.  The worries of life that distract us are real.  They grow in time.  They weigh us down.  They keep us busy, don’t they?  Worries that distract us are those things that command our attention and time, such that we forget God.  Work, family, health, home, money, relationships…Every day we are faced with the things we must do.  But are all those things needful ?  How do you prioritize?  What worries are distracting you from the truth about yourself and your life? 

One thing is needful.  But we multitask.  We are doers.  We are defined by what we do, our work life or our extracurricular activities.   We are not focused on one thing; we are involved in many things at one time.  We keep busy schedules.  We exhaust our minds with all that we are trying to accomplish.    As a Lutheran congregation, we are caught up in our doing.  Campaigns and porches and meals.  We are active servants.  Church is about what we are doing for others.  Like Martha, we offer our labor.  We practice hospitality and there are chores. We cannot ignore the chores of preparation for Peter’s Porch or community meal. 

The more we accomplish, the better we feel about ourselves.  Like a drug, we can become addicted to the payoff for our actions.  The payoff may by actual income or it may be the adrenaline or the euphoria we get from achievement, from success, from the value we subscribe to accomplishments.

Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken away from her.  Sitting at Jesus’ feet.  Mary is not ignoring the necessary chores hospitality demands.  She is making a choice.  Stillness and silence before the master.  What I must do is not as important as what Jesus has done and said. I must reorient the truth about myself and my life in Jesus. For he invites me to sit at his feet and listen.

What did he teach Mary?  How beloved and precious she is to God.  How close God is to her in times of joy and times of sorrow.  How much God will provide for her when she calls out to him in need?  How she can trust God to carry her, to bear her burdens, to lift her up, to rescue her from trouble, to keep her safe?  That God is a healer with power to raise the dead.  That she is invited to patiently wait for the Lord to act on her behalf?   Set aside your worries that distract you from the truth that you need to hear.  Hand over your worries, you pain, your fear to Jesus.  Worrying cannot add a single hour to your life.  But God can.  God knows what worries you.  He sent his son to give you peace.  Peace in knowing that what you have done, failed to do, will do  tomorrow does not define you . You are defined by the God who made you and loves you.  You are sons and daughters of the one God of creation.  You belong to the God of love.  Stop.  Sit. Listen.  Take it in.  Your life is gift.  Receive it.  Give thanks.  Trust God.  That’s enough for today.  Amen.