Coming (Back) to America
Even though it’s been over a month since my return from Kenya, I’m still feeling the experience in a profound way. I couldn’t help but connect the poverty that I saw and specifically the issues of African children and youth in some of the areas of Kenya with African-American children and youth in many of our inner cities in the United States. I struggled in explaining clearly to my European-American brothers on the trip with me what I was experiencing. I had similar feelings when I visited South Africa in the summer of 2001.
I believe there is a deep connection between issues facing African children and youth and African-American children and youth. For some reason though, many evangelicals have developed a deep sensitivity and compassion for African children and youth, but not as much for African-American children and youth. I know that this is a broad statement and that I must give room for the exception. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s harder to get large suburban evangelical churches to become just as passionate about dealing with issues of poverty and brokenness in Oakland, Detroit, or North Minneapolis as they are about it in Kenya or the Congo.
Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that there is an extreme poverty that exists in parts of Africa that no poverty in the United States can be compared to. But even with this fact, there are still issues within inner cities of the United States that call for the same passionate action as is evident in parts of Africa. It’s not an either or issue, it’s a both, and.
I think part of the issue is that many evangelicals see the United States as this fair and just society that provides opportunity for anyone who is willing to work for it. This is to say, that if you are poor in the United States, to a large degree you are to blame. But, because of the perceptions and views of Africa, poverty in there is somehow connected to other forces. My question is, can the United States be the land of freedom, opportunity, and democracy and still have other forces beyond simply individual opportunity that could cause one to fall into poverty? I think the recent economic crisis in our nation proves this to be true. Many hard working and educated Americans have lost their jobs and homes despite in many ways doing the right thing. There are some who have lost their homes because they were given a home loan that they really should have never received, but there are many others who are victims of the other forces.
I came back to America with an even deeper passion to work to see the Christian church have a biblical and broad ministry strategy to address the poverty impacting both African and African-American children and youth.
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The Bible says “Justice! Justice! Shall thou seek!,” not “Social Justice! Social Justice! Shall thou seek!”. The Bible calls us to care for the poor, not the “inner-city” poor, the “white” poor or the “black” poor. We are called to care for the POOR, both financially and spiritually, wherever:both in the inner-cities of America AND the cities of the African continent! If certain people have a heart for poor children in Kenya, don’t imply they have no heart for poor children in America. Like with one of your favorite terms (“social justice”) I think you have lost the Biblical basis behind non-discriminating desires for “justice” and to help the impoverished. Breaking these commandments into sub categories implies that certain areas of justice, if you could even really divide them up like that, are more important to God than others. I don’t think there is a Biblical basis for that reasoning. If this was the case there would be scriptures supporting such sub categories. The only positive change in our world is going to be made through God’s Power. We are called to obey, only God can bring the change. This is the imbedded fallacy of the “social gospel.”
It’s easier to write a check to a far-away place than it is to wrestle with the issues down the road from you in that certain community…especially if you hit a red light while passing through.
It’s easier to blame European colonization or other factors “somewhere else” for “those people’s” issues than it is to truly wrestle with why you feel so nervous at certain red lights uncomfortably closer and closer to where YOU live.
It’s easier to read a book or magazine article (or blog, for that matter) about a far-away place, it’s history, it’s issues and so on…because unless you personally visit that place, this remains primarily an intellectual exercise.
It’s awfully difficult to intellectualize what you think and feel at those red lights.
It’s easier to acknowledge injustice in “other places,” because that really won’t require anything of you personally. But injustice going on down the road from you? That you question…because to acknowledge THAT injustice is more likely to require something of you.
Yes, it’s easier to feel long-distance compassion for anonymous people from faraway places who will never car jack you at a red light because they’ll never be that close to you.
It’s harder to once and for all get real about the history and circumstances that have made certain red lights HERE so scary, and why the number of scary red lights is growing. It’s harder because this will involve more than just writing a check or reading a book, or quoting the latest statistics to others in the coffee shop. It will involve more than engaging in ideological and theological arguments.
It’s harder because it will involve what I’ve come to believe is the single most scary thing of all for most of us — actually engaging with THEM. Do you know that God loves THEM and US in equally ridiculous and amazing ways. You might say yes intellectually or theologically, but do you really KNOW this Love?
It’s harder because God wants the best for all of us – THEM and US. And until you start to learn how your insulated fears out in the suburbs are directly related to the quite UN-insulated hopelessness near those red lights…until you start to understand that THEY ARE US, none of us will bask in the best that God desires for all of us.
You can’t gain such an understanding from a distance.
The path is narrow, and involves getting uncomfortable and messy.
The Bible has a beautiful definition of serving the poor, but we can’t pretend like the pastor’s statements are untrue, or even far-fetched. A fair reading of his statements doesn’t accuse any group of people of having no heart for black American youth and a big heart fro black African youth. It simply acknowledges the collective reality that Christian/Americans/Middle-Class Communities tend to be more willing to be present in communities that are far-removed from their own lives. The word “divide” is not even in his post so I don’t see how you deduced that He intends to draw staunch lines ideologically or theologically concerning justice. God’s power is supposed to be evident in our lives. You can’t ask him to be careful about not implying things if you’re going to do the exact same. The social gospel is a choice. Want it or move on.
Marcus, I think you need to do a little research on the history and definition of the social gospel. The social gospel represents man’s effort ( the key phrase here is “man’s effort”) to bring God’s Kingdom to earth so that individuals might be saved. This is contrary to the Gospel and teachings of Christ, where the hearts of individuals are changed and THEN, as a result the world is made a more Godly place: God’s Kingdom. And yes, the term “social justice” does identify an impermissible subset of the “justice” God calls for in scriptures. It implies that justice for some is more important than justice for others. You betray your sense of “entitlement” when your response to legitimate opinions of others is to “move on.”
Hi Marcus: My last post, I guess, was not posted as I quoted specific examples of why I feel it is dangerous to sub divide justice as being more important for some than for all. The “pastor,” as you call him, certainly has a right to censor out opinions different than his, as it is his blog. I guess your statements and arguments are undeniably accurate and correct, as the “pastor” has chosen to shut down any opposing views, something he and his mentor Jim Wallis do often, but always claim it is the “other side” who advocates such censorship practices. I guess it is too tempting for them when the very bread they eat only exists through the strife they help create.
Not sure if you’ve noticed but one month on and you still have three comments (out of five total) that are still here, uncensored.
You seem to have a very fine line between social justice (man’s effort) and your preferred view of justice (‘hearts of individuals are changed…world is made a more Godly place). Is it that much of a stretch to read in Efrem’s words that man’s efforts for social justice are informed by the changes in their hearts that God has brought about?
Additionally, I think we can agree that our system offers justice to some more than justice to others. Some can afford a lawyer, some cannot. Some have been advantaged by unjust systems of the past, some have been disadvantaged. Efrem is not saying that ‘justice for some is more important than justice for others’, he is rather saying that the body of Christ has a responsibility to increase access to justice for those who are unable to access it (it being implied that those who currently have adequate access to justice do not need that support).