Today, due to famines, war, floods, drought, religious extremism, poverty, etc., many people around the world find themselves as refugees. In the Old Testament, "foreigners" or "strangers" were one of the groups that God wanted special protection for, as well as widows, orphans, and Levites. I think that God honors and blesses those who honor and bless these groups that often don't have their own protection otherwise.
In "Pilgrims and Peacemakers: A Journey Through Lent Towards Jerusalem, Garth Hewitt tells the following story:
The late Bishop Festo Kivengere of Uganda told me about a group of refugees for whom he campaigned, who were on the borders of Uganda and Rwanda. In fact, they were not even classified as refugees. They didn't even have that dignity, they had no status at all. They were rejected by all communities and he campaigned on their behalf to the United Nations. He told me that, as he walked around the camp, he was utterly shocked and appalled by the conditions and quite distraught, but many of the people in the camp were Christians, and they held a little service and began to sing, and the song they were singing said, 'Where God is, there is joy' and they clapped their hands and they said, 'Where God is, there is laughter' and they laughed. At first he just couldn't believe it and he went to one woman afterwards and said, 'How can you possibly praise God in this situation?' And she smiled and said to him, 'You see, Bishop, you come and visit us and then you go away again, but Jesus never leaves the camp.'
In France, some like Voltaire were/are deists. They see God as being like a distant watchmaker. While He may have created the world, He is nowadays distant. However, the doctrine of the immanence of God is the "God with us" idea. God is not an impersonal, far away Being. As a former refugee, Jesus can identify with the pain and difficulty of living in a foreign land and of not having one's own land.
One of my former grad school classmates, Mark, has lived with his wife and adopted sons in Chicago for a couple of decades. He heads up the Urban and Ethnic Ministries with my organization. A recent e-publication of our group has an interview with Mark about what is an urban Christian. He says:
Urban Christians are people that are fully engaged and a part of the city and neighborhood in which they live. They have an appreciation for place. It means that they live, work, minister, and worship with their neighbors.
This is what Jesus did. He had a ministry of presence -- a ministry of hanging out. It's a Biblical idea.
Urban Christians are concerned about the economic, spiritual, and physical welfare of their neighbors. God is not only concerned with individuals but with the welfare of entire cities.
Why would God mention the cattle of Ninevah in Jonah 4 verse 11? It's because cattle were the main economic system of that city. God cares about all aspects of our lives.
During this week, we have experienced some of the particular challenges in our neighborhood in Paris. Our son, who is 7 and in French 1st grade, has experienced some violence at his public elementary school. On Monday, 3 of his classmates were messing with him during the lunch break and tore something of his hat. He's had problems with 1 of them throughout this school year. He came home Tuesday with a band-aid on his leg. Apparently he received a kick from someone .
Yesterday (Thursday) my wife spoke with the school principal, as well as our son's teacher Karine. There is no school on Wednesday, so this was the earliest she could. Karine said that this is a rough class and that a number of them come from troubled families.
The French gov't, in trying to encourage the mixing of the classes, has HLMs (gov't subsized housing for people of poor or modest incomes) in all areas, including Paris. Many of the troubled kids come from families living in these "projects."
Our first reaction is to want to bust the heads of those who are messing with our son. (I've felt like doing this on the playgrounds sometimes as well, when seeing how wild some of the kids are). However, violence often breeds more violence, rather than helping resolve the situation.
Our 2nd reaction is to want to protect our son at all costs. Last year we had considered putting him in a private elementary school for this year, but decided against it, as we heard that our son's public school was a good one. We wondered if we had made a wrong choice.
However, we remembered that we had prayed about the choice of schools, as well as that God would put him in the right class with the right teacher.
My wife discussed this with the mother of one of our son's classmates. The violence in the school was discussed at a recent parents' meeting that we missed. She suggested that we attend these parents' meetings.
Certainly we want the best for our children. My wife and I both have memories of our suburban grade schools being safe places. If we felt our son was in grave danger, then we would pull him out.
But I think that these experiences are a wake up call to my wife and I to more active involvement in the school. I recall reading or hearing Ray Bakke, an urban ministry expert, say that even in the worst schools, a child could get a good education if the parents were involved. One way that we could be salt and light in our particular neighborhood is through more hands on involvement at the school. My wife will be accompanying our son's class to 2 films in the next few weeks. She has also mentioned volunteering to help teach English, a compulsory subject in France.
As the world becomes more urban, our kids will need to learn in cities, as well as with problems like violence. We want our kids to be peace makers, but not get trampled on for appearing as being weak. We may put them in karate or a similar class, not as a means for beating up people, but for defending themselves, as well as others who cannot defend themselves. We want them to learn to be wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.
We want all our family members to have a ministry of presence in our neighborhood in Paris.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire