My intern leaned his six-foot plus frame back against the table behind him, his arms crossed across his chest as we talked. His position did nothing to diminish the height difference between us. What was he then, 20, 21? With unkept blonde hair, ruddy cheeks, and a full beard.
(Something about him vaguely reminded me of a guy I had dated in my Peace Corps years. I never did figure out if the nostalgia came because of his size or because of his laidback, can't-rush-me personality.)
I don’t recall how we had gotten on this topic, but he had just told me that despite being raised in a Christian home and having attended a Christian high school, he no longer considered himself a Christian. Curious, I asked him why not. Scratching at his chin, he gave a half shrug. "My school was very traditional. They didn’t seem to believe that you could both be Christian and care about social justice issues."
I blinked. "I’m a Christian and I care about social justice issues." This was probably an obvious thing to say, considering that he was interning for me at the migrant shelter I was currently managing.
Chuckling, he noted, "Yeah, they probably wouldn’t know what to do with you."
It was only a year after that I discovered how unfortunately right he was. Not because I had anything to do with his high school, but because another group of Christians, ones from the church I had been attending and even within my own family, felt similarly. The backlash I received for supporting migrants and advocating for more humane border policies was intense. People told me I shouldn’t be helping those "illegals", that, rather, America had to "take care of our own". They told me I needed to "repent" and fall in line behind the (previous) president, who was cracking down on the border with very inhumane policies. They said it was wrong to speak out against the president's policies because the Bible says to respect our leaders (a gross misinterpretation of that verse, by the way).
Fast-forward another few years, and I am in a seminary program where my focus area is theology and social justice. I am in school with dozens, perhaps, hundreds, of Christians, who believe as I do: that not only can people be Christian and advocate for social justice, but that God actually calls us to do so.
In a conversation I had a few weeks ago, a Christian woman noted to me that the Church has by and large abjugated our responsibility to care for others and turned it over the government. At first, I bristled at this comment, thinking it a far right talking point against social welfare systems. But then, I had to pause. In a way, she's not wrong. If you look back throughout history, the majority of schools, hospitals, community centers and programs, mental health support services, and so on, were started by Christians. Now, we didn't always get it right, but we did a lot of good, too. Nowadays, you don't see that as much. Most of the programs which help the poor, the sick, the hungry, the orphan, and the imprisoned, the "least of these", as says Jesus' parable in Matthew 25, are coming from the government. These are things God called us to do - the Church - but we are no longer by and large doing these things.
I suppose what bothers me is not that the government does them - someone needs to - but that we who were called are not only ignoring our calling but we are championing against the government doing these things as well. We support limiting social programs like food stamps and cash aid and Medicaid and so on and so forth, without offering any type of alternative. Some vocally stand against these programs; others are willing to vote for the politicians who advocate for limiting the assistance millions in our country rely upon.
There are many social injustices in our country. So, so many. The increasing poor while the rich just get richer and the middle class disappears. The under-taxing of the wealthy. Substandard education. Unsafe housing. Food scarcity. Systemic racism. Mass incarceration, especially of black and brown bodies (the documentary "The 13th" on Netflix is a great review on this issue). Unregulated automatic weapons mowing down innocents. Inhumane border policies. Police brutality. Big pharm pushing drugs. Gender inequality. #metoo
Just to name a few.
They say being "woke" is a bad thing. I see being "woke" as recognizing all these problems exist! It's like emerging from a pod in the "Matrix" movies, where all of a sudden you realize the America you believed in is nothing but a bunch of gas-lighting, propaganda, and illusions. This is not the land of opportunity - at least, not for the majority of us.
We have big, BIG problems. Big problems funded by a wealthy, white, primarily male elite, who want to keep systems the way they are. It frustrates me to no end because it feels so... hopeless. Change feels impossible with so much power and influence and money behind the way things are.
The Church could have so much influence if we were to open our eyes. If we were to stop resting in our comfortable lives and realize God has called us to so much more.
Timothy Keller, in his book, "Generous Justice", writes, "The logic is clear. If a person has grasped the meaning of God's grace in his heart, he will do justice... If he doesn't care about the poor, it reveals that at best he doesn't understand the grace he has experienced, and at worst he has not really encountered the saving mercy of God. Grace should make you just."
Christians should be at the front of the Black Lives Matter protests. Christians should be advocating for education reform and increased standards of housing. Christians should be challenging the penal system and the mass incarceration and modern-day slavery of people labeled "criminals". Christians should be at the border, welcoming the stranger. Christians should be providing care to the poor, the sick, the hungry, and the homeless. Christians should be supporting policies which respect the dignity of all human beings, because all are made in God's image. Christians should be standing up for peace and love.
Here's a great, local to me example, which I recently discovered. This organization started with a Christian couple who realized there were many families in their neighborhood experiencing food scarcity. So, they began a food pantry in their garage. Within a year, they were feeding over 150 families! Recognizing the garage model wasn't sustainable, they started a nonprofit. Twenty-five years later, their food pantry feeds over a million people a year. They also provide prepared meals to schools, nursing homes, and homeless shelters, to the tune of 100-200,000 meals a year. All free. They don't require any type of documentation for people to come and receive assistance - not like all the paperwork and income limitations the government requires. They exist merely to serve. They also offer job training, foster care and group home programs, and substance abuse recovery. All because a couple of Christians decided to live out Jesus' words to love their neighbors.
I truly believe God puts something on every Christian's heart - something they are passionate about. Something He wants them to do something about. Many of us ignore it, or at best, we send "thoughts and prayers" around the issue, without doing anything that would possibly inconvenience us or put us out of our comfort zone.
What has God put on your heart? Which of these issues are you passionate about?
Maybe it's time you stepped up in faith, following the leading on your heart to make a difference in the community around you.
Or, at the very least, stop fighting against those of us who are standing up for what God has called us to do.
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