Say whatever you like about the constitutionality of the
health care law, it will not solve all the problems as some hope, and it will
not be the fiery apocalyptic end of civilization as others tend to argue. My concern is how did we even get here in the
first place? How does any "modern
developing" society that believes in evolving intellects and advancement
find itself in a place that must cajole people to move.
We idly sit by criticizing our leaderships every move
demanding them to make changes that allow for better jobs, better pay,
affordable healthcare, and equal access to education and opportunities. The majority sees the world as an incomplete
place and we point figures at past leaders, opposing political parties and
contentious markets for our problems.
When did we adopt the belief that real change must trickle down from the
top?
What if the only way to provide better jobs, equal
opportunities and health care was through small local changes? The early church had it right. The church had the message of Jesus Christ
upon the cross, the message of forgiveness and hope, the message of eternal
life. The early church also believed
that they were called by their messiah to advance his kingdom here on
earth. The advancement of Christ's
kingdom does not come with holy wars, forced conversion, or a Christian
nation-state, but through caring for the poor, widow, and orphan.
The early church quickly attracted a following because of
their encompassing way of community. No
one had shortage of food in the church because they all shared their meals
together. The rich with the poor sat
down side by side, brother next to brother, sister next to sister as equals and
ate the same meal. If someone was out of
a job due to famine, cutbacks, or being blacklisted because of their faith, the
church carried the family through and helped them find a job. If someone was injured and could not work,
the church would not only carry the family through the difficult time by taking
care of food and shelter, they also provided physical care or the injured. If famine destroyed your farm, your house
burnt down, a plague ran through your town, there were no sick days there was
no insurance, there was no equal cheap access to health care, the church was
formed together to take care of every need. The only mandate was to love at all tiems with everything (literally everything) you had.
This kind of community extremely attracted the poor, but it
quickly grew so that even the wealthy could not ignore the power of the
movement. The power and provision was
always driven by Christ as their Lord and savior, but as the church grew in
size and influence they began to focus less on local communities to address
problems. The Churches started becoming
regional, then national, and then global.
The church formed a hierarchy that imitated the powerful nation-states,
with a Pope at the top, cardinals as governors, bishops as local magistrates, and
priests as alderman. The church became
an ineffective government.
The early church understood the importance of influence not
through money, or power, but through joining together, eating, praying, living
together and providing for needs. The
church did not try to fix the world, it tried to care for those within her
reach, and this enacted a chain reaction.
If we want change we cannot hand it over to leaders
governing from the top of the world. Change
begins by reassessing our values, reaching out and joining with our neighbors, and
committing to care for those within our reach.
Everybody wants to change the world, but nobody wants to change
themselves. Everybody wants to save the world,
but nobody wants to save their neighbor.
A smaller focus means a bigger change.
It is time we focused on doing the right things, like making
sure we are paying our neighbors livable wages, not because someone makes us
but because it is right. We need to make
sure our neighbors are getting enough food to eat instead of handing them a
form for food stamps. We need to join
together and help find shelter for those struck with tragedy, and not wait for
the government to do it. It is time we
do the right thing for our neighbors without passing it off to anyone
else. The kingdom of God is coming, and
Christ with it, and we will be judge on his mercy, and how we care for each
other, if we rely on some other force to care for our neighbor why we turn our
back, we may miss out.
