I found this video from Mars Hill Church in Seattle a while back. Check it out, then swing down below for a new-to-me insight that hit me this morning
Now check out Isaiah 44:21. Immediately after he tells the story of the foolish man who builds a god out of his left-over firewood, he contrasts it with His own forming of Israel, his chosen people.
We form idols and bow down to them. God forms us, and graciously condescends to us, “not forgetting” us, even though we are that foolish craftsman praying to a stack of firewood.
I have been wrong about lots of things in my life, but I have never been more wrong about a topic than about poverty.
For years I’ve been on the political right side of this argument. Poverty, I would have told you, is a problem that can be fixed by people taking personal responsibility for their lives, and setting out to take control of life. Recently having been unemployed, I got a first-hand look at what it takes to get a job. I’ve been struck by how much of my ability to find employment has been based on things totally outside of my control.
I am employable because I can read, write, do arithmetic in my head, and conduct myself well. But all of those characteristics happened as a result (not a necessary result, but a direct one nonetheless) of me being born into a certain family, in a certain socioeconomic setting. Sure, I had to apply myself and learn, but the road was pretty easy. I slept through high school and still landed in one of the best colleges in the nation.
My ability to comprehend complex subjects, my ability to pass tests, and my personality and people-skills? All by grace. I didn’t do a thing to deserve or create those things. So it’s really easy for me, from my comfortable suburb with my bachelors degree, to decry impoverished people for “not trying hard enough.” It’s easy, and it’s probably the least helpful thing I could do.
I’m not coming with answers, so much as an encouragement for those of us who are so quick to try and apply our trickle-down Reaganomics as a way to alleviate poverty to step back from the situation and admit that it is far more complicated than we originally posited. Also, I’d like to strongly recommend the book “Ministries of Mercy: The call of the Jericho Road” by Tim Keller, (that’s not an affiliate link, I don’t get any money when you click it) as it is the catalyst that has so rocked my boat recently.
I just read this great piece on CNN. You should read that, and come back here for my commentary.
I have previously written about my disdain for almost all of the corporate “news” outlets. And the above-linked article is further proof of my theory. The article is about economic theory from an economist. It’s not about politics. But right there in the middle of it, the interviewer tries as hard as he can to appropriately label the conversation:
Screen Capture, yo.
What’s the point of the question? Why even ask if he is conservative or liberal? This journalist seemingly has no concept for someone who can simultaneously agree with a liberal and a conservative.
Here’s the only reasons I can think of that you ask the question: (1) you want to label him and put him in a box that you either have already discredited or already agree with, instead of learning from him. (2) You want a soundbyte that you can play across all of the 25 networks in your corporation that will either infuriate the base, or solidify the base, for your particular organization. (3)You want hype, not education. (4) You aren’t interested in solving the problem, just stirring the already angry hornets-nest that is the American political landscape.
Thank you for not participating in the hype, Mr. Rajan. Your answer turned the conversation back to an opportunity for education, dialog, and actual change.
Am I way off base, here? Why else do you ask that question?
The other day, a guy handed me a tract through the window at Starbucks. His intro line went something like, “do you like riddles? here ya go!” and he pulled the tract from behind the sun visor on his beige sedan.
After he had driven away, I pulled it out of my apron pocket, and the girl working with me said “Oh, that’s not a riddle. It’s a Jesus thing.” She made a face like she had taken a sip of curdled milk when she said “Jesus thing.”
Literally within minutes, a lady came in, and struck up a conversation with the same girl while she made her drink. She gave about a 3 dollar tip, and casually mentioned that her and her friend would be praying in a few minutes, and asked if there was anything they could pray for her about. My coworker politely declined, but later after those women had met, prayed, cleaned up very well after themselves, and left, she said to me “That was really neat that she asked me how they could pray for me.”
That’s how you open the door to share your faith with a barista at Starbucks.
Both of those customers are regulars. We are going to see them again. In fact, today, the same girl was working with me when tract man came back through. When I mentioned that he didn’t follow up with me about the riddle, my coworker said “Oh, I don’t think he really cares. He just hands out those things to make himself feel better.” What penetrating insight from my non-believing coworker.
I’m not as harsh on the guy as she is. I think his heart’s in the right place. He really wants people to trust Jesus, and it’s scary initiating conversation with strangers. So a tract about a riddle is what he uses. And with a simple tweak to his intro line, I think he might become more effective in using the tract.
If instead of “do you like riddles?” he went with “Hey, here’s a message that changed my life, condensed into an admittedly cheesy riddle. I’d love to get your feedback on it. I put my email at the bottom of it. I know I’ll see you tomorrow when I get my coffee, maybe we could briefly talk then. Have a great day!” and put the tract inside of a 5 dollar tip, he’d have gotten my coworker’s attention without the soured-milk face.
I’m not some anti-tract guy. (Though some of them do absolutely no good for a postmodern-or-later context. Telling somebody that they are a sinner without any sort of definition of terms is pretty useless, in my estimation.) But the medium is already impersonal enough, don’t make it sound completely trivial with your intro.
And maybe it’s time to retire the riddle tract. Riddles are by definition questions that require intelligence, insight or ingenuity to answer. The gospel is news that a child can hear and understand. So, it’s almost the opposite of the answer to a riddle–it requires no extra intelligence, insight,or ingenuity to learn that Jesus died in my place.
The good news is good enough all by itself. No need to gimmick it up. Here’s my question for you (reader): how did you come to Christ (if you have) and was a tract involved? Comment below.
“The lady in the car in front of you paid for yours.”
It’s my favorite thing to say at work, these days. As the newly appointed official drive-thru guy at my Starbucks, I get to become an evangelist every time she comes through my line. I take the good news that a debt has been paid, and I deliver it to the car behind her.
Some people try and shoot the messenger. One guy insisted that I take his money. I pointed at the tip jar and said that if he wanted to put it in there, he was welcomed to, but that I couldn’t put it in my cash register. “I don’t take handouts” were his exact words. I explained that it wasn’t a handout, but a gift from the stranger in front of him. He apparently wasn’t big on handouts OR gratuity, as he didn’t put the money in the tip jar either, but left upset that he couldn’t pay. Really.
Most people are just excited. Sometimes it starts an entire wave of paying it forward. But it’s always fun for me, as the messenger.
That’s precisely what evangelism is*. It’s in the root of the definition of the word. An evangel in the ancient near-east was a messenger sent with news (usually of military victory) to share with people. The most famous evangelist in history (the story goes) ran 26.2(ish) miles to Athens from the battle of Marathon, to announce that the Greeks had defeated the Persians (in a come from behind upset). The point is, an evangelist is one who shares news that dramatically affects the hearers. Either they are now slaves to the Persians, or free people.
Either you owe me 4 bucks for your Café Mocha or you don’t. The news affects you, but it’s not instruction, it’s just news. The Athenians don’t have to do anything to be free people, not enslaved to the Persians.
The guy who just had his cappuccino paid for doesn’t have to do anything but take the drink. (and he doesn’t even have to do that… his receiving it doesn’t change the fact that it’s paid for.)
The good news is that his debt is paid, and there’s nothing he can do about it.
*all deep theological insights were directly stolen from Tim Keller. Buy his books. Seriously.
