10/18/23
Last week, I wrote about the Christian response to a crisis; we see a crisis as an opportunity to be the body of Christ, not as a reason to run away.
Someone once asked the anthropologist Maragret Mead what she considered the first sign of civilization in a culture. You might think it would be cooked food, or the wheel, or wine.
But it’s not!
According to Mead, the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a thigh bone that had been broken and then healed. In the animal kingdom, you break a leg and you die – you can’t run from danger with a broken leg. You can’t search for meat . . . you ARE meat for whatever can catch you. Nothing lived long enough for its broken leg to heal.
But a broken leg bone that has healed means that someone has taken the time to stay with the one who fell, bound up the leg, carried that person to safety, and tended that person through recovery.
“Helping someone through difficulty is where civilization starts,” Mead said. Notice it’s not technology nor art. It is about our ability to care for each other.
Again, I would point to the early Christians and how their response to crises changed the world. Mead’s most famous quote is “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has . . .”
I’ve spoken and written about the Christian response to sickness, death, the abandonment of children and the elderly . . . in all these, the Christian response was completely counter-cultural, and led to the creation of institutions we completely take for granted: orphanages, hospitals, hospices, and even cemeteries.
It was this matter of caring for those in need that caught the world’s attention and it was through their not running from those in need that they were truly able to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.”
This past Sunday we put this into practice with the creation of our “Blessing Bags.” We have some at the church, and even if you weren’t able to contribute to them, still take one or more, and if you see a homeless person, offer it to them. If they seem open to it, try talking to them. Get their name – I’ll never forget one homeless fellow who comes to LCCI. I remembered his name from his previous visit, and you’d have thought I’d handed him a million dollars. For a moment he wasn’t just a homeless guy asking for a free meal; he was James.
The homeless are shunned, yelled at, abused. Many of the homeless suffer from untreated mental issues. I took one man to Burger King (his choice) and found out (quickly) he suffers from severe paranoia. He can’t even sleep under a tent or awning for fear of someone trying to smother him. It doesn’t take long talking to them to get a sense of why they’re on the streets, and for many it's circumstances beyond their control.
Be kind to them. Learn their names, if possible. Give them a blessing bag. And don’t prejudge them. Jesus said in Luke 6, “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.”
That’s a pretty good summary of a Christian lifestyle – at least a place to start: “God is kind; you be kind.”
Back in the 90s, Gloria Gaither, after working in inner city ministry for two weeks, wrote these words:
I walked today where Jesus walks
Down the crowded streets
Where the children have no place to play
Where the homeless wait
For life to take them in
Yes, I walked with Jesus there today.
I saw the Lord behind the eyes
Of the broken men,
And I felt His wounded hand reach out.
And as the careless traffic sped
Along the other side,
I saw Jesus walk the streets today.
Where the least of all
Find no place to turn
And they fall without a name
Jesus walks with these
The hungry and the lost
Offering water from a cup and bread
The Bread of Life, the Living Stream
Where teaming millions cross
To find that God
Yes, God Himself, walks there.
The blessing bags are simple ways we can show “the least of these” that they are loved.