Broken Identity

What does it mean to be wealthy?  This is a persistent question that people seem to always come back to, from Aristotle (who made the point that money is never the end, because it is only useful to get something else) to the "poorest President in the world" (who makes the brilliant statement that poor people are those who have to work to maintain their expensive lifestyle).  Jayakumar Christian and Bryant Myers of World Vision built a new theory of poverty that is based on inequality, not numbers.  One of their major points was that the most universal feature of material poverty is a broken identity, a marred view of the self.

People with a marred identity view themselves as almost less than human because they've been told that, directly and indirectly, for a long time.  It's like moving from saying, "I failed at that," to saying, "I am a failure."  When you internalize it and it becomes part of who you are, your identity has been scarred.  The concept got me thinking about what things we may do today that perpetuate this.  I immediately thought of the common phrase "illegal immigrant."  I've been strongly opposed to this term for some time, because illegal is not a term that can or should be used to describe a person.  All people are created in God's image, and when people are called illegal, it becomes part of their identity.

But are there other terms we don't even think about that do the same thing?  I heard a story one time of a youth group from a church that was doing construction work in a slum in South America.  They were wearing matching t-shirts proudly announcing that they were serving "the least of these."  It's good that the people didn't read English, because they probably would have been appalled to be called "the least!"  Myers and Christian expand our view of poverty by examining other people who have broken identities, and that led them to realize that the non-poor have their own kind of broken identity: a god-complex of pride that elevates them above others!

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert of the Chalmers Center took this concept and ran with it, emphasizing that we are ALL poor because we all have broken views of ourselves.  When we sweep in to provide the Thanksgiving dinner to the poor family, we run the risk of elevating our own view of ourselves as the saviors of the poor.  The poor don't need another savior - they already have One.  This exposes another dangerous term - "blessed to be a blessing."  If our reason for serving others is because we see ourselves as blessed, we are walking a dangerous line.  We need a new anthropology that acknowledges that we are ALL blessed in a variety of ways.  We have a lot to learn from the "poor!"

Whose Ways?

Originally posted at Stories of LINC North Texas:

God is good at reminding us that He is higher than we are.  He repeatedly tells us throughout Scripture that He is not like us - from saying that He looks at the heart (1 Sam 16), to saying that He is outside of time (2 Pet 3), to simply saying that His ways are not our ways (Is 55).  There is a way that seems right to men....but God's ways lead to good things.  I get the "privilege" of writing a blog post the week before the election, and I think there's something relevant in it for us.  We've been discussing the issue as a staff.  What do we, as Christians, have to do about the political process?

In case you've missed it, there's a lot of fear and consternation about the election.  Each side feels like disaster is imminent if the other candidate wins, and both sides are sick of the caustic bickering and fighting.  Jesus, in the Gospels, has a great reminder to us about the government.  Don't go looking for it, however - He made a strong statement by not talking about it.  As much as his disciples and his detractors prodded Him, he would only say, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's."  Of course Jesus was concerned about earthly governments, He just tried to encourage His disciples not to be.  His Kingdom had nothing to do with it.  His thoughts are not our thoughts.

Today, we see the Kingdom of God flourishing in places where the government is most hostile to it.  The stories of the church flourishing under persecution are everywhere, including throughout history.  We needn't fear that the government will crush the Church - the Bible says that all authority is established by God (Rom 13)!  Both parties seem to want the government to do the Church's job - either by establishing morality or by caring for the oppressed and marginalized - but we as a Church can step up and reclaim our identity and role in society.  This should all give us some peace and comfort, that no matter what happens our citizenship is in Heaven and Jesus is still on the throne.  His ways are higher than our ways!

So what should we do?  The law tells us, as a charitable organization, that we can advocate for various issues but we cannot endorse a candidate.  I think that this is actually a helpful line for Christians.  We can, and in fact we must, stand up for what the Bible says about various issues.  The Bible commands care for the poor.  Since both parties believe that they are caring for the poor, it's up to you to decide which one will be more successful.  It's only by adopting this sort of posture that we can live up to our calling of being "salt and light" in the world (Matt 5), rather than antagonists.  Go vote and be the Church!  Just remember, His thoughts are not our thoughts!