Leaning Forward

We're comfortable...

We're comfortable with routine, we're comfortable with expectations, we're comfortable with the standard, and we're comfortable with sustaining...

In a recent conversation with a friend I was talking about the Praise&Worship ministry that I am a leader of at school... I was talking about a vision where rather than the community of worshipers leaning forward to and anticipating each Thursday night worship gathering, they would view it as an opportunity to lean back or "touch down"...

By this I mean that the community would be reaching out in this world and seeking out God's face in the hungry, the oppressed, the naked, and the voiceless, and then would take our worship gathering as a time to meet as a community that cries out to the Lord through song and builds each other up...

Too often I receive comments from people that make it seem that our gathering is the one hour they come to get filled up and then rather than spending the other 167 hours of the week pouring out the Love of Christ and being the hands and feet of God, they self-indulge and sit around waiting for the next week of "emotional pump up time".

I am far from adequate... I am selfish, prideful, undisciplined, jealous, reserved, and awkward... So I am by no means saying that I have got things under wraps, but I am currently trying to lean forward in my life, rather than always leaning back and then jumping to attention during Sunday morning or Thursday night "worship".

I don't know if this analogy works... It makes sense in my mind, but one of my failings is communication... so if this is nothing more than a giant rambling for you I am sorry, but it has helped me work a few things out... so maybe this post is just for me...

And that's all I have to say about that...

This Generation's Civil Rights Movement?

I have heard of things like Invisible Children, Rapha House, Baht, International Justice Mission, World Vision, and I support two studly young gentlemen through Compassion International...
I have seen films like Trade and Blood Diamond...
I have heard missionary accounts of the horrors of trafficking...
I have talked with friends about how we feel helpless because we feel as though we can't do anything for those in other continents despite our passionate desire.

I am not entirely new to this, but I have spent the last week pouring myself into books, articles, films, and blogs about human trafficking.

In case you are not aware... Slavery did not end in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation... Slavery plagues the world today. Be it in the form of forced labor, or sexual bondage, or child soldiers, slavery is still very much a part of the human condition...

The estimates of how many people are currently enslaved are upwards of 27 million...

As I have been reading and watching this past week, I have found myself horrified. The descriptions of the conditions people are exposed to are beyond comprehension. I have become physically sick to the point of vomiting while reading... It's pretty intense...

This problem is this generation's civil rights movement... This abhorrence is this generation's opportunity to glorify God and share the love of Christ with the hurting, lost, and abused.

So what do we do? Again, I have had overwhelming discussions with friends where we feel so ineffective and unable to make a difference... and often times in these conversations we forget one of our greatest weapons. Prayer. We start by praying... continuously. We pray for the enslaved, we pray for the traffickers, slave holders, and abolitionists, and we pray for governments and law enforcement that have the opportunity to expel the corrupt and make clear, unambiguous legal frameworks. We can also raise awareness and lobby for action with our nation's leaders. This is what Invisible Children is currently trying to do, and there is opportunity to support that movement.

Above all, remember that we serve a God who loves and hurts with us. We have the power of the Holy Spirit... Let's put it to work...

“Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills – against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence…Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation…

It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Robert F. Kennedy