OK, so I promised I’d answer the question, How do we pray and live out this story of physical liberation when we are not physically oppressed? This is something that’s been on my mind lately. During the Class, we wrestled with this. A few days earlier our home group/church (I’ll start talking about this soon… once I get back into a rhythm here.) went through a few passages of Scripture where the cry for liberation was also expressed, and we, too, struggled to identify with the cry. After all, we are by any sensible standard wealthy and free living in the USA. We suffer no great oppression; truth be told, we don’t suffer much of anything. So, how do we appropriate (Pardon the verb.) these passages and work them into our faith and Jesus-following?

The one hook both groups readily latched onto was the spiritual angle. There is a habit for Scripture to speak of spiritual matters through physical metaphors, and this is something we evangelicals seem to be good at catching onto. We read words like

He has demonstrated power with his arm; he has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance of their hearts.

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up those of lowly position; he has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, as he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.

and we see the spiritual realm. We see the spiritually hunger being filled with Living Water and the Bread of Life. We see the spiritually proud being cast down in judgment, while the lowly are lifted up. This we can identify with. We get spiritual hunger and poverty; we understand spiritual pride. This is how we understand such passages of scripture. Such an understanding is right… but incomplete.

Yes, passages such as this express hope for a spiritual liberation from spiritual poverty and hunger, but they also express hope for a physical liberation from physical poverty and hunger. It is yet another “both-and” of which I am so fond. So, how to we live in light of this double-edged perspective?

My suggestions in the class centered on seeing, serving, and shopping.

Seeing the Poor

For many of us this is the first step. We live in the burbs, work in the burbs, shop in the burbs, etc. We can go weeks without seeing our next door neighbor much less someone who suffers. Our media is sanitized, ever turning our eyes upward – no, not to God, but rather to those higher up the social ladder, those whom we are told we must strive to emulate.

Instead, we must be intentional in our efforts to see the poor. This means we must choose sources of information that will tell the stories of those who suffer. Newsletters from organizations such as World Vision or Compassion International, for example, open our eyes. On a smaller scale, but doing no less good, are charities like Tijuana Christian Mission, and the thousands of others who work quietly around the world lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry.

In the class I shared some stats from Global Rich List:

• The bottom 10% of the world’s population live on $400 a year
• The bottom 50% of the world’s population live on $850 a year
• In 2004, the US federal poverty level for a family of 5 was approx. $22K; that is in the top 11% of the world’s income
• My own income, approx. $45K, is in the top 1.5% of the world’s income

Seeing the poor and changing our perspective is the first step.

Serving the Poor

“The work we do may not save ourselves, but it might save another.”

The next step is action. It can be as simple as sponsoring one of those children you see at the aforementioned charity websites. Or, you can get local, and volunteer at one of your city’s soup kitchens of shelters. Next vacation, go on a mission trip instead of to Disney World. The impact of such an experience will last far longer than the souvenirs. To tease you into coming back (and to get me writing regularly again) I’ll tell you what I recently did in my neighborhood in another post.

[BONUS] Here’s one I didn’t share in the class, because I didn’t have my act together enough to put together handouts or slides. How about supporting the (Red)emption Campaign? I’ve mentioned it before, and it’s only $10… Canadian! Act now, and your donation will be matched dollar-for-Canadian-dollar.

A good friend of me has said something to this effect on more than one occasion: “The work we do may not save ourselves, but it might save another.” Words to live by there. In serving the poor we are allowing Christ to re-incarnate in our lives, and continue the work of ushering in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Shopping Differently

OK, this last one I threw out there on a whim. We had just watched the Walmart movie, and so I wanted to see what kind of reaction I’d get. My goal here was to get people thinking about how they live and how that lifestyle might unwittingly be oppressing others. For example, have we ever wondered how Walmart (or any other big box suburban retailer) can afford to sell their stuff so cheaply? The same question can be asked of our restaurant food. (I watched Supersize Me last night.) This is an area I’m just just starting to explore, so I didn’t have any answers; mostly I was sharing the questions in my own head.