Mudshot Eyes

This link tells the story of Liviu Librescu, who I mentioned in the Virginia Tech post yesterday. It tells about the Holocaust survivor’s life and also gives some description of how he barricaded the doorway of his Virginia Tech classroom protecting many of his students from the killer.

It doesn’t take much looking to find evidence that evil and suffering are a reality. The tragedy at Virgina Tech this week was no exception. Especially significant was the death of Professor Liviu Librescu, a survivor of the Holocaust. April 16, the day of the shooting, was also Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah. Interviews with students revealed that Librescu died shielding his students from gunfire.

No matter how much money is made or how secure a person is in their circumstances, everyone is touched by evil and suffering to some degree. Yet the Bible consistently calls us to trust God, and to be thankful for his care. Some have chosen to dismiss the difficulty of reconciling a trustworthy God with inexplicable evil, but to ignore it only lessens our ability to communicate God’s trustworthiness.

We can move beyond the mystery of evil and into a deep trust in God, not by explaining why evil occurs, but by knowing that God uses broken people and infuses their lives with meaning. He is not in search of the successful brokers of power and accomplishment, for upon his return, “Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors, but scars.”

Where do we take the miasma of pain, suffering, and evil? Philosophical speculation and rational reflection suffer shipwreck on the shoals of the enormous difficulty. The only territory left to explore rivets our gaze on the vast, unbounded ocean of the glory of God.
- From Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning

Sleep, sleep tonight
And may your dreams be realised.
If the thunder cloud passes rain
So let it rain, rain down on he.
So let it be.
So let it be.

Sleep, sleep tonight
And may your dreams be realised.
If the thunder cloud passes rain
So let it rain, let it rain
Rain down on he.

Lyrics by U2

Last year was a tough year for “Merry Christmas.” It seemed like every corner store was banning the dangerous phrase from being spoken by employees. Instead, a “Happy Holiday” was wished upon us.

There is a HUGE difference between being merry and being happy. Merry people are busy saving the world by making sure that everyone acts like Jesus, even if they don’t know Jesus from Alice Cooper. The merry mission is to strongarm the entire world into behaving as if they already know Jesus. This comes at the expense of His reputation, but for merry people it is well worth it.

The new front line of battle last year became a simple phrase: Merry Christmas. If you don’t acknowledge Christ on Christmas, then you are in big trouble, pal. But the tables were turned this year. In almost every retail establishment I’ve been to, there is somebody saying the magic words, “Merry Christmas!” It gives me goosebumps, or should I say, a chill. With each Christmas salutation, I wonder if it was Christian peer pressure that forced them to do it!

Christendom has temporarily won the Merry Christmas battle, but we seperate ourselves further from the world and from Christ when we insist that the world act like Him without ever knowing him. It brings double damage to His cause: Not only are people given an inaccurate picture of what God is doing in the world, but they also are repelled by the people who represent Him.

God’s invitation is to a messy manger, in a messy stable, to worship a Savior who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. Can we find a way to invite people to such a scene without asking them to first clean up their act?

Along with one.org, there have been other movements over the past 3 decades that have raised awareness and moved people to action regarding a variety of humanitarian crises. Unfortunately, the abundance of pop stars supporting these causes makes it seem like the “hip” thing to do. At first glance this may seem like a good thing. Helping the poor as “the latest trend” may bring a lot of help to people who otherwise wouldn’t receive it, right? Temporarily, yes. However, passing fads are just that: passing.

This latest movement toward helping the needy may be a societal blip on the radar. However, within the church I think we are seeing a genuine awakening. Many churches have come together for ongoing efforts to help those displaced by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast. Even youth groups are more inclined than ever to put their hands to the plow, the hammer or the paint brush. The Church has always responded to phyical needs during times of crisis, but there seems to be more awareness beyond those temporary calls to action.

OutOfUr.com has an entry by Dan Kimball on this topic called “
“>Pop Justice: Is social action the latest church trend?” that’s worth checking out…

I had a very, very haunting conversation with a good friend who is a pastor at a church in southern California. We hadn’t seen each other for awhile and as we were catching up he was excited about a ministry he was starting with used clothing stores where all the profit goes to orphanages…

If you visited One.org, one of the things you would see is the fact that a lot of famous people, from George Clooney to Pat Robertson, have given their voice to draw people to the site. I’m not a big fan of social trends, especially when they are led by hollywood types who are severely disconnected from anything resembling real life. However, One.org is simply encouraging people to get involved and educated about two things: the needs of the poor around the world, and what our government is doing to respond.

Fighting hunger and poverty is a mission that crosses political lines. We have people in Congress from our neck of the woods that speak for us when it comes to what goes on with our tax dollars. America is a great country because we can call our representatives and say, “If you want my vote, do what I want!”

In addition, the mission to help the poor is one that has echoed in the Bible from the voice of the prophets to the hands-on action of Jesus. No matter the way we choose to respond, each generation is called to engage the problem of poverty in both hearts and hands. When we call our Senators, give to a ministry like World Vision, or to help build a home with Habitat for Humanity, we involve ourselves with God in what he is doing in our world.