"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." - 1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

The solidarity of YHWH with the poor, despised and oppressed of this world is nowhere made clearer than the cross of Jesus.  From Abel forward throughout the biblical narrative God has demonstrated a preference for the underdog.  The weak are embraced and the strong rejected.  

This God called a man, Abraham, from city life to a nomadic existence and granted him and his wife a son, although both he and his wife are said to have laughed at the promise given in their old age.  This God rescued suffering, enslaved Israel from Egyptian bondage, then generations later sent the nation into Babylonian captivity for their wickedness.  What had Israel done?  Among other things, they neglected or abused outright the poor, needy and outcast in their midst.

When God came to live among us, he opted for a humble, poor family of the house of David (who himself had been called from the obscurity of the sheep pasture to the throne).  Loved by many only for the blessings received through him, including healing and food, he was opposed by the religious authority of his day.  Rejected by those who should have thrown arms open wide to him, his words were distorted and falsehoods were concocted against him.  Handed over to the civil authority as a rabble-rouser, Jesus was condemned to the cross.

"...looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:2 ESV

Some well-intentioned believers in our day grumble about the cross. They say that wearing a cross symbol or singing hymns about the cross is like singing about an electric chair.  It was a method of execution.  What these people miss is that the cross, for the people of the first century, was a horror greater than a noose or needle.  The cross was a symbol not of trial-by-jury and (debatable) justice served in a democratic system ruled by laws.  The cross was an instrument of terror and oppression, utilized by the deified state to keep the subjected masses under control.

Roman citizens were not crucified.  This form of execution was reserved for the non-citizen subjects.  It was also a quite common form of execution.  After uprisings hills were often dotted and roads lined with crosses bearing the dead or dying rebels.

Bloodied, unclothed Jesus was subjected to the shame of the cross, and so God himself experienced directly the public disgrace of seemingly failed purpose.

"When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him." - Colossians 2:13-15 NASB

The ultimate tool of the fallen powers, torture and death, was turned back upon them.  Facing down the systemic evil of this world and the demonic forces that back them, Jesus took the full brunt of their fury and came out victorious.

It is a mistake at the Lord's supper to mention the resurrection.  Of course, we meet on the first day of the week in celebration of our Savior's resurrection.  That is not the point of what some call the "Eucharist."  In the bread and fruit of the vine we commemorate not the empty tomb, but the empty cross.  A common and shameful form of death was accepted by our Lord and used for our salvation.  In the cross we see victory.

"Then he said to them all, 'If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.'" - Luke 9:23-24 NRSV

The course of Jesus' life, and indeed the entire narrative of Scripture, is one that followed the course of humility, hardship and rejection.  It also culminates in ultimate victory and vindication.  If this is true of the way of God with mortals, how can we who invoke his name and claim to follow him expect to experience anything else?

If you are looking for a simple, introductory study of the Trinity, this probably isn't the book for you.  Despite its relative brevity (240 pages), The Tripersonal God is a depthy book with plenty of Bible references and notes to chase down.  

The writer, Gerald O'Colllins, S.J., takes the reader through the history and development of the doctrine of the triune nation of God, beginning with the Hebrew Scriptures and working his way into modern times. Thus the approach is structured along historical lines, rather than broken up into categories usually employed by systematic theology.  This strategy works well, for the most part.

There are a few things in particular that I really appreciate about this book, aside from its structure.

First, the writer (a Roman Catholic theologian) does not hesitate to quote cite those books identified outside the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions as "apocrypha." From a Protestant perspective I appreciate the inclusion of Old Testament apocryphal sources, as it contributes to understanding the popular mindset and understandings that were current in the times of Jesus, his disciple and the early church.

Second, Rev. O'Collins accepts and utilizes the perspective of contemporary higher criticism.  Although I have my doubts about some aspects of higher criticism, O'Collins manages to handle this method of scripture analysis intelligently and faithfully, never undermining the core essentials of the Christian faith nor denying the role of the canon in shaping our understanding of God's nature.

Third, with plenty of notes and citations, one can easily spend a rewarding few weeks or even months exploring the information presented.

Though I would by no means recommend this book to someone just starting out on their exploration of the topic, it is a very good text for anyone who is willing to take some time and do some serious thinking about the Trinity.

My first semester attending Central Christian College of the Bible (CCCB) was a rough one.  Thankfully, I wasn't enrolled full-time, but instead was living in the dorm, taking one class and carrying a full course load over at Moberly Area Community College.  Had I been full-time I might have dropped out sooner and missed some important things, like unlearning hereditary original sin as a doctrine.

A little research after I started at CCCB turned up that this movement of churches, the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement, generally rejects hereditary original sin.  That being the teaching that children are already born guilty of sin, though not their own.  Still, one of my classmates, who then was an "evangelical" outsider like me at the time, came to me one day in near-total shock, having discovered that "this bunch rejects original sin."

To be completely clear, the people of this movement don't deny that there was a "fall." Rather, it is the idea of being "born in sin" that is rejected.  I came around to their perspective over the course of a couple of years and still hold this view, but have trouble with one of the passages used to support it: Ezekiel 18.

In Ezekiel 18 three generations of men are described.  The first does what is right in the sight of God, the second does what is evil and the third may either follow in the corrupt and violent ways of his father or choose the path of righteousness.  These verses are commonly utilized to support moral individualism.  Again, I agree with this perspective on the human condition.  I just don't think that's what this passage was talking about specifically.

In context, the prophet was referring to successive generations of kings: Josiah, Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin.  The trouble with the people of God was reflected in their kings, or vice versa.  In any event, while free will is evident and repentance clearly an option, the real story was one of prophetically declared options and the purposes of God.

In a pinch I would still use Ezekiel 18 to demonstrate that guilt isn't inherited and that options really do exist that can be freely chosen or rejected.  My understanding, however, would be deeper and informed by the knowledge that this is really the story of Israel, her kings and the faithfulness of God to his promises and his own nature.

"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live." - Ezekiel 18:30-32 NRSV

When Brian Nicklaus mentioned he had bought a copy of "An Unsettling God" by Walter Brueggemann, I knew I'd have to borrow it.  I'm glad I did.

This slim volume, consisting of "only" around 176 pages of text divided in 6 chapters, is dense reading.  Seriously, I think I could camp out on this book for a year working out everything Dr. Brueggemann says here.

As with virtually everything I read, there are some aspects of the writer's viewpoint I couldn't quite accept, such as Brueggemann's rejection of what he terms "supersessionism," the belief that in Jesus of Nazareth a new covenant has come that supercedes the old.  Rather than risk misrepresenting Dr. Brueggemann's position here, I'll just say that I follow the advice of my professors at Harding University: I treat the text like chicken, eating the meat and spitting out the bones.

Dr. Brueggeman discusses in this book the nature of God as revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures as one of relationship with four "partners,": Israel, the Human Person, the Nations and Creation.  All four were fantastic in their analysis of the text, from a faithful critical perspective. I was especially encouraged by the description of YHWH's relationship with the human person.  He spoke in terms of a person at ease living in obedience, discernment (wisdom) and trust, while the person in crisis acts in complaint, petition and thanksgiving.  After the crisis is resolved comes praise and hope.

In my opinion, the best part of Brueggeman's handling of the Old Testament biblical texts is how he looks at them on their own internal merits, in the light of solid critical scholarship, without undue regard to the later re-interpretations of Christian writers.  While, as I mentioned above, I disagree with his position on "supersessionism," I respect his ability to set aside the lens of classical Christian thought in his reading and analysis.

Below I include a rather lengthy set of quotations from this book.  Read through them slowly and I believe they will make sense, even without their original context.  Better yet, buy a copy of "An Unsettling God" and see everything I failed to mention or quote.
                             ________________________________

“The God of Christians, understood in the midst of God's revelation to ancient Israel, is a God deeply at risk in the drama of fidelity and infidelity in the world.” - page 11

 “In these ancient texts and in its ongoing life in the world, Israel is indeed an oddity and a mystery, because Israel is a theological phenomenon that has concrete sociopolitical embodiment and is expected to live differently in a world of power.” - page 19

“The command to justice is understood as marking the polity of the community of Israel. That is, justice is not charity, nor is it romantic do-goodism. It is rather a mandate to order public policy, public practice, and public institutions for the common good and in resistance to the kind of greedy initiative that damages the community.” - page 28

“For our purposes, it is enough to see that for reconstituted Israel it is a sure datum that the future is not in hock to the present and will not be extrapolated from it. The future, moreover, is not to be determined by Israel's obedience; the future, as it has been since Israel's most daring core testimony, is in the hands of the One who is sovereignly faithful and faithfully sovereign.” - page 51

“These themes thus form one coherent construal of Israel's unsolicited testimony about its life as YHWH's primary partner: (a) loved to existence, (b) commanded to obedience, (c) scattered to exile, (d) recipients of YHWH's hidden turn, and (e) gathered to obedience and hope.” - page 52

“I have no itch to dismiss either the notion of image or the ancient physiology reflected in the text. But I do not want to be sidetracked from what seems to me the central concern of Israel regarding humanity: namely, that the human person is a person in relation to YHWH, who lives in an intense mutuality with YHWH.” - page 60

“These three aspects of humanness – obeying, discerning, and trusting – are of a piece, even though they are characteristically evidenced in different circles of tradition. These three habits (or disciplines or practices) of humanness articulate the sine qua non of what it means to be human in the purview of Israel's testimony. Humanness requires:

• listening and responding to the summons of the sovereign, 
• discernment in wisdom in response to the hidden generosity of God in God's world,
  
  
• trusting completely, without reservation, in the reliability of YHWH and YHWH's world.”
     - page 77
  

“The affirmation that YHWH will bring human life right is so deep and so wide in Israelite conviction that the lack of resurrection texts, in my judgment, does not evidence a lack of intellectual or theological courage to make a claim of this sort. Rather Israel's full trust in YHWH's will and power to right the world is such that an explicit statement is not particularly required in this faith. In its canonical testimony, Israel seldom engages in speculation about such matters. But Israel is unflinching in its theological assertion about the good destiny of human creatures who fight through the drama of rehabilitation and rest themselves in the new life YWHW gives.” - page 90

"There is no doubt that YHWH relates to human creatures as free and sovereign. They are created out of YHWH's great generosity, and perhaps out of YHWH's yearning. They are situated in the midst of YHWH's sovereignty and commanded to live on YHWH's terms. When those terms are violated, trouble comes. The world of human persons in their life with YHWH is a fairly tight moral system. The amazing alert offered in these texts is that in the midst of the sanctions that YHWH pronounces, in the face of guilt and in the face of mortality, in the face of both situations in which the human person is helpless, YHWH is attentive. Full of steadfast love and compassion, YHWH is like a father who pities, like a mother who attends. YHWH is indeed for human persons, for them while they are in the Pit, willing and powering them to newness. It is the central conviction of Israel that human persons in the Pit may turn to this One who is powerfully sovereign and may find that sovereign One passionately attentive. That is the hope of humanity and in the end its true joy." - page 97

“Wisdom is the critical, reflective, discerning reception of YHWH's gift of generosity. That gift is not for self-indulgence, exploitation, acquisitiveness, or satiation, all practices of 'foolishness.' Wisdom urges careful husbanding, so that resources of creation may be used for the protection, enhancement, and nurture of all creatures. Wisdom is the careful, constant, reflective attention to the shapes and interconnections that keep the world generative. Where those shapes and interconnections are honored, there the whole world prospers, and all creatures come to joy and abundance. Where those shapes and interconnections are violated or disregarded, trouble, conflict and destructiveness are sure.” - page 141

“The world, as YHWH's creation, requres daily, endless attention to the gifts of creation, for their abuse and exploitation can harm and impede the generosity that makes life possible. Creation, moreover, has within it sanctions to bring death on those who neglect the enhancement of generosity.” - page 141

“Israel bears witness, as did its antecedents, to an enduring force of chaos in its life. This chaos may go by many different names – Tiamat, Leviathan, Rahab, Yam, Mot – which we may summarize under the names of Death or Nihil. In a variety of texts, this rhetoric in Israel points to a recognition that something is at work in the world seeking to make impossible the life of blessing willed by YHWH.” - page 143

“This is a powerful, irresistible, transformative resolve, to be undertaken with a high level of emotional intensity. It is a burst of generativity that is going to change everything and create a newness. This is a God who will not forsake: 'I will not forsake them' (42:16); 'You shall no more be termed Forsaken' (62: 4). In this resolve to new creation, YHWH promises to overcome all forsakenness and abandonment known in Israel and in the world. When creation is abandoned by YHWH, it readily reverts to chaos. Here it is in YHWH's resolve, and in YHWH's very character, not to abandon, but to embrace. The very future of the world, so Israel attests, depends on this resolve of YHWH. It is a resolve that is powerful. More than that, it is a resolve that wells up precisely in tohu wabohu and permits the reality of the world to begin again, in blessedness.” - page 161

"Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen." - Martin Luther, Diet of Worms, 17 April 1521

During my brief time as a Presbyterian I heard the phrase "always reforming" (ecclesia semper reformanda) thrown around.  This, of course, referred to the idea that the Protestant Reformation wasn't something completed in the past, but rather an ongoing process.  Though ground had been gained, much more remained to be done.  Later, as I became more involved with the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement churches (Christian Churches/Churches of Christ) I learned that the early leaders of this American reformation saw themselves as continuing the work of the Protestant Reformation.  Some even believed they were completing it.  I would like to suggest what really should be obvious.  There needs to be a renewal and furtherance of the Restoration.

The Protestant Reformation in Europe challenged the papal domination of all matters spiritual, placing the canonical scriptures back in their rightful place as the source of authority for Christians.  The doctrines of grace and faith were rediscovered and much of the Bible was read in light of the struggle against earthly centralized relgious authority that claimed monopoly over salvation.  This re-reading was often quite flawed and tendentious, leading the reformers to make pronouncements citing passages that frequenly had little to do with the subject at hand.  In any event, ground was gained, despite errors of both moral and theological natures.

In the heady, democratic free air of the United States, where no single version of Christianity was given official approval, voices began to be raised calling both for an end to sectarianism and a return to the simple nature of the New Testament church.  Unity was emphasized along with fidelity to sacred writ.  In this process of deepened study and rigorous debate the truth was uncovered that baptism by immersion is not only a sign of discipleship, but the point at which remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit is applied to the life of the believer (Acts 2:28).  Over the following decades, stretching out over nearly two centuries, the key hallmarks of this restoration movement have been the necessity of baptism, weekly communion and local church leadership by elders.  While there have been serious differences over many points of faith and practice, including these three I just mentioned, they have nevertheless remained prominent characteristics of this fellowship.

We are at a point now where I would like to suggest that a renewed restoration is needed, a firm commitment to the idea of "always reforming."  We can't possibly believe that any of us individually or all of us collectively have arrived at a thorough understanding of all that God has to tell us in His Word.  Without leaving behind the teachings of faith, grace, baptism and biblical church order, it is perhaps even past time for us also to gain an understanding for and appreciation of three inter-related areas of biblical doctrine: justic, resurrection and New Heavens/New Earth.

"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?  Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday." - Isaiah 58:6-10 NRSV

We who concern ourselves so deeply with being correct about how we organize ourselves as churches have, with some brilliant exceptions, done a rather poor job of taking seriously the call to living justly.  God regularly and consistently called his people, Israel, to look out for the poor, the aliens, the widows and orphans.  In the New Testament Jesus lived and died with his message of passive resistence to evil, a third way that neither fights directly nor runs from the oppressor.  He had compassion on those around him and healed them.  The first century church apparently kept a list of widows who received assistance.  If God's chosen fast is mercy and kindness, setting free the oppressed, how can we consume ourselves with endless morbid debates about words and chasing after faddish gimmicks to achieve "church growth"?

"Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." - 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 NRSV

If you blinked you might have missed it.  Notice how the passage above, from a section of Paul's first letter to the Christians in Corinth that focuses on the resurrection of the dead, comes to a close.  After a long discourse about how our future hope is not a disembodied, ghostly existence in the afterlife but instead a more-real-than-real bodily resurrected condition, the apostle Paul reminds us that our work done in Christ's name is not in vain.  There is deep meaning hear that we have not yet begun to tap.

"But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home." - 2 Peter 3:13 NRSV

In hymn after hymn and sermon after sermon, all I hear is about dying and going to heaven.  The hope of salvation held out in most Gospel presentations is dying and going to heaven.  This is not the hope we are given in the Scriptures.

From Abraham's promised land to the New Testament's closing description of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, the hope of believers has not been an escape from supposedly evil physical existence.  In fact, it is a gnostic belief, foreign to the teachings of the apostles and prophets, that supposes there is anything wrong with matter.  The Bible speaks of God creating the heavens and earth and calling it all "very good."  In Jesus, God the Son took truly human form, dying as such and being raised from the dead, and in that same body was received back into the throne room of God.

The Christian hope is not death, judgment and then heaven.  It isn't even death, resurrection, judgment and heaven.  The Christian hope is dying (and going to be with Christ), resurrection, judgment and New Heavens/New Earth.

The teachings of justice, resurrection and New Heavens/New Earth must be restored to the church.  As we commit ourselves to correctly teaching and living out the hope we have received in Christ, through faith, repentance and baptism we will find ourselves and the Lord's church renewed in power and purpose.

"We are now erelong to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth whether I shall live ever to see your faces more. But whether the Lord hath appointed it or not, I charge you before God and His blessed angels to follow me no farther than I have followed Christ. If God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth of my ministry, for I am very confident the Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of His holy word." - Rev. John Robinson, in his farewell message to the Pilgrims departing for the New World, 1620

Not long ago one of my friends posted on Facebook about the duty of Christians to help those in need.  One of the first comments in response came from a gentleman who stated that we should only help those who are Christians or who are already in process of becoming Christians.  Really?  That sounds more like conservatism speaking than the lavish, unbounded love of God. 

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” - 1 John 4:10 NIV

“We love because he first loved us.” - 1 John 4:19 NIV

While the world was in sinful rebellion, God took the first step.  He had compassion on us in our miserable, unworthy state and took a risk. Those who argue that God knew the future (I disagree with such a view inherited from Greek and Roman philosophers rather than the apostles and prophets of God) seem to me to be simply looking for an easy way to get God (and by extension themselves) off the hook. Honestly, the whole deal could have gone bad.  It didn’t, though.  By God’s predetermined purpose Christ died for the ungodly while they were yet in their sins, and the love of God inspired in many a response.

This radical love of God is something Jesus of Nazareth taught with regard to one’s “enemies.”  In the original context Jesus’ peasant listeners would have understood he was speaking of the Romans and all those who oppressed them.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." - Luke 6:32-36 NRSV 

Did you notice how Jesus described God’s attitude toward “the ungrateful and the wicked?”  The word he used was “kind.”

If one is looking for worthiness or even gratitude in the work of helping the needy, perhaps a little self-examination in light of the Scriptures is necessary.  From a human perspective we want to see people who have already proven themselves worthy of assistance receiving what aid we can provide.  From God’s point of view, though, when we do so we are putting the cart before the horse.  

There are, of course, other objections to be made in support of only helping Christians or those “close to the kingdom” and against seeking to aid any others.

First, resources can be strained.  If we focus only on those who are in the family of God already there will be more to go around than if we accept also those from the outside.  We don’t want supplies to run low, do we?

Jesus faced this problem in his own ministry on at least two occasions. He had his usual entourage which included the twelve disciples, but also a large multitude.  People were hungry but no one had anything to eat, other than some loaves of bread and some fish.  Here’s what happened one of the two times:

"Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?' He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.  Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.' One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 'There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down.' Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.  And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, 'Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.' So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.  When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, 'This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!' Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself." - John 6:5-15 NASB

While this account is rich with content and meaning, one point should be abundantly clear: resources (or lack thereof) are no obstacle for God.  While we must be good stewards of what God provides, if despite our best efforts material runs thin, we must look to Him for provision.

Second, we don’t want to create a dependence on us in the needy.  In other words, if we provide resources long enough, people will come to count on it.  I’ve heard that something like this has happened in large parts of Haiti, though I have no direct personal experience to rely upon.  One example would be the “free” rice that is shipped in as aid from other nations.  Quite a lot of it gets sold on the market, and so cheaply that it has driven down the value of locally-grown rice.  Don’t expect rice-growers in Haiti to be doing well until the nation is weaned off of foreign food aid, at least where rice is concerned.

Mistakes have been made in the past.  Today we are seeing more and more non-profits working under the venerable principle of teaching a man to fish, rather than merely giving him a fish.  Men and women are taught trade skills and other techniques for better sanitation and food production in order for them to improve their own lives.  Even where there are food and material “hand-outs” this is rarely the full extent of the work being done.

A misgiving I’ve had regarding the annual “Dump Day” to raise funds to help people who live off of what they find in a Honduran dump is that, up until recently, I’ve only heard about the missionary and a crew going out weekly to the dump with food.  Where’s the development and sustained outreach that lifts people out of poverty? With the most recent Dump Day there were two encouraging signs.

One was the involvement of Bread for a Hungry World, an organization that seeks to provide material resources but also programs that focus on breaking the cycle of poverty.  A second was news that with the extra money raised a clinic near the dump could be built, staffed (as I understand it) by public health workers.  This is progress!

Yes, Christians should seek to help their sisters and brothers in Christ. The love can’t stop there, though.  The signs of God’s in-breaking new creation will be made clear in changed lives that reach out to those still in darkness, lost in the oppression of this present age and held captive by the evil one.  Help starts at home, but it can’t end there.

"So then,as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." - Galatians 6:10 ESV