Last night I had a very disturbing dream. In it, I was with Faith and Eric in Indiana, with them as they viewed their new apartment for the first time. From the outside, the place was not very impressive. It was a warehouse looking place, with everything floored with cement as well as their being many dark corners and ripped chain link fences. We walked into a basement. The place looked terrible. There were no doubt leaks as well as cracked walls and low lighting. The whole place was furnished but very despondent. Apparently Heather was going to move in with them in the summer and work part time as an art teacher (I remember thinking in my dream, "Did Heather get a teaching degree?).
Later in the dream, they were looking for a religious speaker to come to the town. He had many stipulations, however, and those qualifiers were very shady. Eventually, he came to the place explosively and I was the only one around. I was bolting the doors and he was nearly shaking them down.
Around this time I woke up, not wanting to find out what would happen next. As I thought about the dream, I thought about the fear that was in me and the shame that I took over Faith and Eric's new dwelling. It didn't seem good enough for them and the whole neighborhood was frightful. But, as I continued to think about it, something clicked.
Around this time I woke up, unwanting to find out what would happen next. As I thought about the dream, I thought about the fear that was in me and the shame that I took over Faith and Eric's new dwelling. It didn't seem good enough for them and the whole neighborhood was frightful. But, as I continued to think about it, something clicked.
While at Urbana and even before when I was reading The Irresistible Revolution, I began to think seriously about our responsibility to the widows and the poor.
26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (From James 1)
So often, we live a life of selfish Christianity--as demonstrated by my last post where all I could think about were my crowded living conditions--where we think only about improving our own selves and morality. First of all, we have no power in improving ourselves and have to trust God for any sort of remedy. Second of all, if all Christianity is is a solo flight to morality, who would take it? The way Christians are acting today really shows why people think that Jesus was just a very moral man instead of a revolutionary.
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. (From James 2)
So many times, people will pull out this passage and say that it means that having faith means that we must be good. However, the "faith by what I do" is prefaced by the context of taking care of the naked and the hungry. One thing Urbana really refreshed to me is that as Christians, we are to be living as a body that takes care of itself as well as the others hurting in the world who have these needs. This has been on my heart so much this semester. I've been thinking of how I can help those in slum communities or those who are impoverished and I've found a few different places. One is an arts program directed to the impoverished in Minneapolis. The only problem with that is my lack of transport. There is also the option of getting involved with Streetlight, a campus group who goes to the innercity and does work there (a program I am most likely going to get involved in), and the third is an idea that shoots into the future a little. I am currently on the road to becoming an art educator. This is a profession that can be done from many places and most recently, I have thought about moving to a slum community to teach.
Now this is where the dream comes in. In my dream, I was repulsed and frightened for the majority of the time. Upon waking, however, I discovered that I was repulsed and frightened by the very problem that my heart is being softened to; I was repulsed by the very thing I seek to remedy. So, I don't know if that feeling verifies or goes against my current convictions. Because shouldn't I desire to remedy that which repulses?
Anyhow, as you can see from above a lot of this thought came from James (the book, not Jim R.). I would encourage you to read it; it's a meager five chapters and it's so packed with things that our church today has forgotten about. Sigh.
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