What are we doing?!

What are we doing? By we I mean the church in America. As I stood in front of my congregation last Sunday to tell just a little bit about my trip to the Dominican, I was disappointed. Not because people weren't paying attention to me, but because they automatically go into hibernation mode whenever anything like a missions trip or helping others starts being talked about. I could care less if they didn't listen to me. What I care about is the church and the BUBBLE they've deliberately put themselves in. Since when did we as a church stop being pro-God and anti-anything that doesn't fit our little mold of what a "good Christian" should be? That's what scares me.

Where I come from in Aroostook county is especially worrisome. We, myself included up until a couple of weeks ago, live in this safe, sanitized, bubble that we feel safe in. The world outside of these county borders doesn't exist and there is NO need to explore whatever God may call us to do outside of these stupid towns. The truth often is...we are ignoring God's call. Do I think everybody is called to be a missionary? Not necessarily. We are called to tell the world of God's neverending love for us -- whether it be in the Dominican Republic, the cities of America, or even in our neighbor's kitchen. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but the church in America is falling ill and nobody is doing anything about it.

The most noticeable difference between us here and our Haitian brothers and sisters in the Dominican Republic is that they have a spirituial wealth that outdoes ours by a 1,000,000,000:1 ratio. While we've spent all of our time and resources in buying that latest Christian literature, apparel, music, or chasing down our favorite Christian artist, these people have been getting nourishment and peace from an everlasting source: Jesus. Even when we have a relationship with Christ, I notice SO many Christians still aren't happy with how their life is. They spent so much time trying to convince themselves that what they want is what God wants for them, and in the end they still end up miserable, looking for the next temporary solution to their unhappiness. I was the exact same way until I saw WHAT I was doing.

"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart." Ephesians 4:17-18. We've come so far from what Jesus commanded us to be in this world that we're starting to be of the world. You can agree with me all you want, or assume I'm not talking about or to you, but I am. Get up and do something. Don't just hum and haw at what I've said. If you feel the Father calling you, GET UP AND GO. We're dying as a church because we've morphed into this thing that is commanded by those who claim to speak the truth of the Lord, when in reality all they spew is hatred and bigotry (two things Christianity ISN'T). Christian capitalist culture? PLEASE. Since when did being anti-gay and anti-abortion become the only things we care about? Those should be two miniscule things. It's HIGH time we started being pro-God again and anti-political. Poverty? Hunger? Disease? Children without families? HIV/AIDs relief? Things. that. matter. I hope and pray that I will one day have the spiritual wealth my Haitian brothers and sisters do -- I hope the American church soon follows suit. Otherwise, we'll be hurting more than we already are.