I was in Pittsburgh last weekend with my sister at her apartment and there is an old Cathedral converted into a college building - but it looks just the same except instead of pews there are desks and tables- I curled up for hours there reading and these were thoughts I scribbled down.
""If we are not outraged by the seed as by the bloom, there is not true justice in our heart. For all atrocity and the ugliest things of this life begin in our own hearts- in greed, in prejudice, in pride, in envy, in suspicion and fear of those different than us, in the way these fears threaten us. Activism must be every Christian's response, not to issues, but to life. We can not be passive-ist. Our imaginations should be exercised and stretched to match God's zeal for mercy and justice. We should be outraged by the systematic stereotyping and villifying of any people, of media constructs that spin our life. We should and must question the voice(s) behind the messages and adverts we consume as gluttons. We should refuse to stand (or swallow) such.
We have became a nation of passive-ist, not engaging- apathetic, uncaring, and utterly self-absorbed. The reality of poverty, of death, of the spiritual realm leaves us unmarked, and less inspired than the fictitious fables we feast on all hours of the day. The outside world is traded for the matrix of cyber-space, relationships for mirrors and echo-boxes. Our identity as Christians, as belonging to God through faith in Jesus the Christ- must never be sold for nationalist pride. Being a Christian should make our love and concern for those different than us- for Muslims, Buddhist, Atheist, homosexuals, (post-)modernist, new-agers, etc- greater. It should make us more willing to sacrifice to show them the heart of God. In the essence of Christ, it should make us friends and neighbors to our enemies. Because only through conforming to the nature of God will we preach truth. In my view, patrioism is valuable to the extent it produces thankfulness and commitment to making one's country a better place for the world."
But at what point do we resign ourselves to eternity's corrections? To what point do we resist? Should we stop at nothing to promote justice? Where do we draw the balance? How do you change a system/worldview/religiosity- that does not want to change, that would sacrifice you to continue in its way? And why are we so afraid of these questions? Of changing, of allowing that we were in error in our thoughts and practices? Why are we so prepared to be unnoteable, so afraid of taking any action that might effect us. We shrink from disturbing our own lives. What words could conjur a blow to this selfishness in me? Could stir up a true surrender to Jesus Christ? I'm trying to be unsettled, to understand, to be willing to engage, to seek, to change and allow changes, to be corrected graciously. Humility. It must run so deep- to allow anyone to be our teacher, especially those we do not want to be taught by. This discontentment must grow until we know our only choice is to change.
"High King of Heaven, my treasure Thou art." I am so thankful for friends willing to question and seek- to put themselves out of comfort to allow change. They inspire me to be braver- to dare those things, to not allow discontentment to settle into apathy.
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