AWOL For the Greatest Humanitarian Crisis of All Time

Yikes. It is super hard sometimes to take a an honest look at myself, at my family, at the culture of church that I am so proud to have been raised in and be a part of. But to be open and honest with our faults and failures is the only way to be real. It’s the only way I believe to start making a difference and to truly loving on people. If a broken people can’t and don’t feel loved and accepted, if we can’t show each other the warts, we can’t fully build trust and love.

Well, this chapter showed the warts of the Church. There were times I was cringing! I was thinking of a good friend who is a very vocal atheist and flat out against “religion” (if he only understood that I TOO am against “religion”). But I was thinking of him while reading this chapter and hoping he never really found out some of this stuff, even though it’s such a huge vocal part of the history of the world AND the Church. But I would think, “Is this why? Is this why he is so angry?” There are moments while reading where I see his point.

We have historically been AWOL when it mattered. Nobody reminded us more of this than the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.~

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people… I felt we would be supported by the white church… Instead some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leader; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.“

Yikes. I pray that God will reveal to me where I am more cautious than courageous. Where am I remaining silent? The Church, yes, the Church needs reform, we need to understand TRULY IN OUR HEARTS and lived out through our lives the normal automatic marriage of faith and works – this is the way to proclaim God’s love for a people who desperately need hope and who desperately need a meal. But it doesn’t start with “The Church”. It starts, with me. What am I doing? What am I not doing? What do I need to START doing?

The passage by John Stott that Rich quoted (I won’t write all of it but I highly encourage you to re-review it because it’s awesome) rocked my world:

Just so, if society deteriorates and its standards decline until it becomes like a dark night or a stinking fish, there is no sense in blaming society; that is what happens when fallen men and women are left to themselves, and human selfishness is unchecked The question to ask is “Where is the Church? Why are the salt and light of Jesus Christ not permeating and changing our society?” It is sheer hypocrisy on our part to raise our eyebrows, shrug our shoulders, or wring our hands. The Lord Jesus told us to be the world’s salt and light. If therefore darkness and rottenness abound, it is largely our fault and we must accept the blame.

So there it is. In black and white. Extremely clear. Lord, forgive me. Help me see where I have been a hypocrite and help me change, give me the courage to Do. Something. Because that’s where is starts. Without those two words moved into action, we really are AWOL for the greatest humanitarian crisis of all time.