Tragedy

                                                                                                                                                               Myanmar: 

Red Cross fears death toll may be as high as 128,000

2.5 million in need of food, water, shelter and medical care.

China :

Current death toll at 22,000

At least 14,000 still buried

At least 4.8 million homeless

 

When tragedies like these happen, it seems to bring up all kinds of questions.  I want to focus on just one of those questions right now -  Why in the hell don’t we care?  These statistics are so staggering that it’s impossible to really get our mind around it.  Maybe that’s why we don’t even try.  That’s just what they are to us – statistics.  Somehow we’ve numbed ourselves or learned to turn a blind eye to the reality of the pain and suffering that people around the world are enduring. 

I’ve started doing some observations whenever disasters or tragedy happens.  I’ve started observing the media and their coverage of these things.  It’s really amazing.  Whenever an American tragedy occurs, the coverage dominates every headline and news program for weeks, even though the death tolls from these events (9/11 = 2752; Katrina = 4081; Iraq = 4078) pale in comparison to the staggering numbers from these other disasters.  However, when an event that is even more catastrophic occurs somewhere else, after a day or two, it usually makes the headlines right between the latest American Idol cut and the top ten ways to secure a better career.  My guess is it’s because these American events hit so close to home.  These events make Americans realize that our country is not invincible or untouchable, and that we’re not above it all.  It shakes up our nice, comfortable little lives and makes us realize for a moment that we’re not as secure as we thought.

I don’t even know where I’m going with all this.  I just know this freakin’ country makes me sick.  We’re so arrogant and caught up in our own little worlds, that we don’t even want to think about the pain and suffering going on elsewhere, let alone actually give up some of our own luxuries to make a difference.  At least we’ll all be in church Sunday morning, singing to Jesus, thanking him for all the ‘blessings’ he’s given us.   We are a ‘Christian’ country after all, right?  Or that’s what the statistics say, with 78.5% of Americans considering themselves Christians.  I know I’m making a lot of judgemental, blanket statements, and I know that this doesn’t apply to everyone, but overall I’m just sick of our ‘Christian’ culture and the American Jesus we’ve created.  I wonder what the real Jesus would’ve thought about America. 

Koinonia

Koinonia is a Greek term used many times throughout the New Testament to represent the relationship within the early church. The first time it is used is in Acts 2:42-47 when describing the early church in Jerusalem:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need…They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”

It’s amazing that the term, “the fellowship,” was a description of its central character as one of sharing in a common life.  As I try to imagine what ’koinonia’ would look like in our culture today, I never can quite get my mind around it.  Does God really call us as a church to experience this type of fellowship - sharing in our lives, our money, our possessions?  Something within me rises up and says “No, he wouldn’t really call us to that“ or I think “that was just their culture, it doesn’t apply to us today”.  But why?  Why wouldn’t God call us as a church to that?

I try to ask myself, which is more likely:  1) That God would call his church to come together to meet in a building a few times a month to worship and give a lot of superficial hellos and how are ya’s, then leave to go live the rest of life independently, or  2) God would call us to replicate the example of the church He gave in His Word, where we experience fellowship, sharing in life, money, possessions, experiences, etc., and through this fellowship the kingdom is spread.

I’m coming to the conclusion that we have chosen the way we want the church to interact because it fits into our lifestyle and culture.  The second option, let’s be honest…. it requires a lot.  It requires a total surrender of the life that we believe we are entitled to or deserve.  Something has taught us that we deserve something in this life.  We’ve somehow forgetten that the one and only thing we deserve is death, eternally……end of story.   We’ve stopped listening to God and started listening to our culture.  We’ve began looking at the Word of God through our American glasses.  Anyways, I truly believe that the world will not see change until the church takes off its glasses and opens its eyes to the fact that God has called us to koinonia.  We forget the fact that by pursuing our own selfish desires, we’re the ones ultimately missing out –  we’re missing out on experiencing the life of fellowship that God has designed us for. 

The Fatherless Church

One thing I feel like I’m continually brought back to in my journey is the lack of men within the church/body. I’m not saying that the numbers of men are declining or anything like that. What I am saying is that I rarely see men that are willing to step up, engage, and take responsibility for younger men. Our American culture has painted us this picture of “church” in which the responsibility is all upon the leaders/pastors/etc. It’s their “job” to lead everyone into spirituality. Whenever someone has an issue or a problem that needs help or prayer, they take it up to the pastors/leaders. 

 The more I talk to young men from our generation, the more I see men that are apathetic to the church. It’s an attitude of “they don’t know me and they don’t care”. Our generation is one that is crying out for authenticity, honesty, and truth, probably more than any before us. Our generation doesn’t want programs, lists, expectations.  So many young men I talk to are longing for someone to come alongside them in their journey – not to point out their sin or tell them what they need to do. No, they just want someone who’s walked the road, who’s taken similar shots in their life, to come along side them and relate to them from their own experiences.

So my question remains – where are all the men in the church? The need is there. Where are the men who will take responsibility for the younger generation? The more I am around older men the more I see a generation of men that have been worn down by life. This is obviously an assumption, but I think that most men don’t believe they have anything to offer. They feel as though they are just barely keeping their own head above water, trying to keep everything from crashing in on them. Marriage, kids, finances, family, etc. All of that going on and they’re probably just trying to experience what little “life” they can in the midst of it all. Not only have these men been spending years of their life just trying to make it… they’re trying to do it ALONE. The first thing to go for men is relationships with other men.  It is so rare to hear of men that have other men in their life that they are close with. Not just someone to play golf or poker with, but someone who knows what’s truly going on in their life. Men have grown used to making it through life alone. What’s funny is that if you ask them and they’re really honest, it seems like most men really are longing for that though. They’re longing for other men to come along side them, relate to them, get to know their story.  Deep down, men want to share, they want to talk about what’s going on. I don’t believe the problem is that men aren’t willing to share, the problem is that men aren’t willing to listen.