Friday, February 12, 2010

The Conference - part 1


I knew would have to do this sometime. Today's the day! I'm going to document everything (or at least some for now) I received at the Faith and International Development Conference last weekend. All while sipping Maxwell House with a touch of CoffeeMate French Vanilla, and listening to some brutal, face-pummeling, hardcore. The band's name is Belie My Burial, you should look them up and buy their EP. My favorite song is "Paper Idol"; it has a sick video too. Their music is, for lack of more appropriate terms, destructive, inspiring, and beautiful. Yes.

Now to the conference. I loved it! I went in with only a few expectations, simply because I didn't know what to expect. I suppose what I expected most was to be inspired by what was said, to be informed about the state of the world, and to gain some understanding and direction for the path of my life. Thank my Jesus, all three were fulfilled.

The opening song would set the tone for the rest of the conference:
This is my father's world, oh let me never forget.
That though the wrong seems oft' so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my father's world, why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns, let the earth be glad!

After singing, the conference began with Ron Sider, author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. He led our devotions by outlining God's care for the poor--he lifts them up. He has acted in history to lift them out of their condition, like in Exodus when Israel was lifted out of slavery. Sider noted that the poor and the oppressed are the only people that God singled out (see Luke 4, verses 16 through 20). He then moved on to discuss how God defending the poor and oppressed is just as important as God being the creator and the Almighty. He mentioned the classic verse, Matthew 25:40, where Jesus says "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Those who oppress, oppress the Maker, and those who assist are giving to the Father. Sider voiced the fact that Jesus came to a poor peasant family, a seemingly insignificant way to enter into the world as our Savior; all the more evidence that God empathizes and is tremendously on the side of the poor in our world.

Sider moved on to say that God has acted in history to pull down the rich and powerful. James 5 provides a somber warning to the rich. The people who oppress their workers and gain by their oppression and neglecting will be judged. Sider quoted Jeremiah 5:27-28:

"Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor. Should I not punish them for this?" Declares the Lord. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?"

Neglecting the poor and oppressed is equally as offensive as actively oppressing and exploiting. For instance, Lazarus of Luke 16 was neglected, not oppressed. The rich man who forgot Lazarus was punished like one who was actively involved in oppressing. This point hit me the hardest--as someone who is so capable of helping the poor, my neglecting to do so has been as terrible as someone who is in the business of exploiting and depriving through other means. I picture myself as some corporate CEO, paying workers in Mexico or China basically nothing so that my company can prosper, and I can drive home in a really nice car. Of course, I would never want to do that, but if I take what Luke 16 has to say seriously, that's exactly what I'm doing, but through different modes. Wow. That kicks me in the balls more than the song "Misery Architecture", Belie My Burial's song which is written in like drop B-flat and has about five or six different time signatures and about three different face-melting breakdowns. Nice allegory, huh?

Isaiah 58:
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."

The rest of the chapter is worth reading. If we claim to be God's people but don't care for the poor, we are not his people. It is God's intention for his people to care for the poor, as noted above. Our faith calls us to action (1 John 3:17-18). I wish that more emphasis was placed on the poor in our churches and communities; the same amount of emphasis found in the Bible.

For the next segment of my blog, I will be listening to Switchfoot, Hello Hurricane. I will stop drinking coffee. I will be missing chapel, but this is far more rewarding. I love Jesus!

There was a dude, pretty sure his name was Milton, or something Milton, who talked about world health, it's improvements and downfalls. He mentioned that many science and political dollars have been spent in the past towards world health. Things like PEPFAR, PMI, The Global Fund, The Gate's Foundation, and the Global Health Initiative have made significant progress against HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, and malnutrition. However, the work is far from done. Milton had some sad statistics: 36% of all babies born in Bangladesh are low birth weight, 43% of under 5's are stunted because of malnutrition, and 48% of under 5's are underweight. This was just one example of malnutrition and deprivation in the world.

One of the most interesting portions of this presentation was his chart of behavioral determinants: Communities and Societies surround Organizations, which surrounds Social Networks, which surrounds Individuals. It was interesting to see in pictorial form how people are affected. This chart is something that I will remember in the future, simply because it is insightful as to how people are accessed and affected.

Milton showed a few charts; one of them was a chart of GNP, gross national product, with relation to life expectancy. It was surprising to see that life expectancy was very much the same down to a certain point, when GNP fell to terribly low numbers. Essentially, it is not necessary to have a high GNP in order to have equally high life expectancies in the world; the poor can live just as long, provided they have basic health care. The question that Milton posed was this: can the developing world get healthy before it gets wealthy? The missing pieces are you and me. Everyone is in some way responsible for health in the world.

I am always yours. ~Switchfoot, "Always".

One more part of the conference before I run to class. We watched the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell, an inspiring story about a woman in Liberia who rose up with other women to protest war and injustice there. She worked with both Muslims and Christians to end suffering. It was touching and powerful. The film addressed some of my deepest concerns about social justice and evangelism, as to how they work together or contradict each other. I've hesitated in the past to swallow up social justice issues, because it seems like a waste in comparison with the terror of hell--why do these issues matter, when eternal salvation is bigger. However, because of the film, I can now see that Christ won't reach anyone until bullets stop flying; Christ won't reach anyone because bullets don't pick and choose. If people are dying anyway, it would be wrong to reach their souls alone. I will not refuse people justice because they don't accept the truth.

Sing it out, sing out loud. I can't find the words to sing. You be my remedy, my song. I see you with what's left of me. ~Switchfoot, "Sing It Out".

More soon.

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