There I was minding my own business when I came across this article on the welfare system across the pond.
I would not class myself as an anarchist, I would not even say I sign up to the ethos of what Jesus Radical is all about. The reason I read it is because of entries like this that come along and jolt me to realise how much culture influences my perspective and how liberating it can be to consider other perspectives. It is for this reason that I enjoy coming across thought-provoking writings from different ends of the Christian spectrum.
The part that caught my eye in this particular entry was where the writer says the following
We focus on individuality instead of mutuality, personal responsibility instead of collective responsibility, and discernment of “right action” instead of vision of shared prosperity. We give over the immense power we could have as “we”, as soon as we admit to there being a “them.”
I am only too aware of the great struggle between individual responsibility and collective responsibility. Almost every day I am confronted with the dilemma of whether or not it is for the individual to work his own salvation out or whether its a time to bear the burdens of the brother. It is often too easy to be cynical about the needs of the individual and their reference to various other factors for turning them out in a particular way.
Things begin to clarify however, under the light of the love of Jesus Christ who after all is returning for the community where every individual is valued in themselves and in the context of that community. I am like Christ because of how I live in the context of community – serving, sharing, exercising gifts for others, etc. etc.
Consider however that call to a vision of shared prosperity. Consider that in the real life and workings of church community. Consider what it looks like when there is no desire to distinguish between them and us, rather focussing on the we altogether. Consider what that means for how we engage with the broken and disturbed among us. Consider what that means for the renegades and malcontents among us. Consider how the problem then isn’t about blaming them, but seeking answers that will benefit us.
I know that has implications for our engagement with the wider society around us, after all, the witness that is displayed to the world is the love we have for each other and that in itself impacts our neighbours who look on and then engage with that. There again the death of self and the life of Christ makes the paths to communal harmony straight and the rough places of divisive difference the plain of cohesion and celebration of the diversity that allows the united Body to function.
Not just mere rhetoric not just pretty words – real life. In small pockets, in a multitude of life experiences, this is working and it is exciting to be a part of it, even if in observing it in the lives of others.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 