My faith in collective humanity has been restored.
In one week, one group of people bagged over 480,000 meals and raised upwards of $109,000 dollars to support people in Thailand. The youth took time away from their afternoon options to put those meals together and saved money that could have been put toward t-shirts or cd's or Starbucks to give to those in need on Thursday night.
In a world so dry of hope, so empty some days of the love and compassion we're called to share, a week such as this is necessary sometimes to remind us what we're all capable of.
We are capable of radical change. We are capable of making a difference. It is possible.
We are capable of letting things go that have been eating at us -- things we can't face up to. We have the ability to start fresh.
But all of this comes in the collective idea that we find in Galatians that we are all one in Christ Jesus. It is the faith that we share that allows us to come together as one to do these things.
The Jesus we find in the Gospels is one of radical change, one who breaks down the boxes and the stereotypes and who teaches us how to love others. One who is a glorious model for the life we're all attempting to figure out. How beautiful the world would be if we all got even halfway there.
Imagine the world if we all cared. If we all acknowledged those in need and took action. Imagine the world then, where we all have what we need. It might look a little like the seven thousand Jesus followers that I spent last week with, where we packaged enough meals for 1,170 children who don't have food to eat to have a meal a day for a YEAR. Or, when called, put together an offering of $109,000 dollars to fund farmers and economies and ministries in Thailand.
Pray that we get there. That we get to the sort of sold out for Christ, let's help the least of us get to where we are because we can and should, I love you just because you're alive sort of world. How beautiful our lives together would be.
This past week has given me faith that we can get there. But, as we read in James, faith without action is dead, so it's my hope that if and when each person shares my faith that we can get out and make a difference.
Thank you for your prayers.
(More to come.)
In Him,
Colin
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Found your blog. I think I have a better understanding of where you are coming from. Like you, I think tjat embracing the Gospel involves a radical shift in our understanding of who we are and what is expected of us. And that understanding will always stretch our narrow categories in unexpected and sometimes bewildering ways. I'll meet you back on my blog to carry on the thread there. And I'll keep in mind that I am debating a philosopher.
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