"Bonswa" means Hello after 11a; from midnight to 11a, the correct greeting is "Bonjou."
We just got back from attending the Sunday service at Maranatha Church in Bohoc. If I am recalling correctly, Maranatha is a Baptist Church. Maranatha, though, is unlike any Baptist Church I've ever been in. This morning was "Children's Sunday," so we were graced with lots of kids, including a children's choir. The music was delightful (even though I hardly understood a word). Perhaps, once my Creole improves, I'll be able to understand the sermons a little more. That might also help with understanding what the chickens, roosters, donkeys, and dogs are trying to say, too!
Anyway...
Before Pastor Telius (who is also on the Bohoc Leadership Counsel) preached from Matthew 21:12-22, Leah introduced the team (in Creole [which the congregants loved!]), and then we all introduced ourselves: "Mwen rele [my name is]..." Alison, Steve, Yours Truly, Brooke, Ryan, Ramsay, Kimberly, April, Necie, and Drake. ). After the introductions, we did a repeat of yesterday's "Here I Am to Worship" in both English and Creole. The congregation seemed to like that, too! On a side note, we all seemed to think that Sol was at the church we visited today. He even led some of the worship. If it wasn't Sol, it sure looked like him. Anyway, for those of you who don't know, Sol is the local agronomist and, in my estimation, has probably forgotten more about plants than most college professors know. We met Sol last year, and, from what we could determine, he's been an absolute Godsend to the people of Bohoc. His knowledge is, to say the least, extensive. Even though Sol is extremely gracious, he's one of those types that, when you have a question for him, you wonder if it's a good enough question to merit his time. :o)
This morning's devotion was fabulous. Leah shared from Philippians 2:3-8 and from John 13:1-17. The focus was on service to others. During her talk, she shared two definitions from Websters:
To help: to aid, assist, or contribute strength to save or rescue.
To serve: to act as a servant to others.
The question Leah had for all of us was this: Can you see the difference?
Sometimes, in our culture, seeing any difference between helping and serving can be quite difficult. Usually, because we often think that helping is serving when, more often than not, it's not. As such, I am going to use this morning's devotion as a spring-board for writing a little about poverty, poverty alleviation, our missional philosophy at newhope church (as it manifests in Haiti and Kenya), and the roll we as Christians in the United States can play.
Poverty
Whenever I think about poverty, the first thing that comes to my mind are the poor and marginalized who live in developing and rebuilding nations like Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq, and many of the war-torn nations on the African continent. While being "materially poor" is only one aspect of poverty (and a huge one at that), it is NOT the only aspect. Far from it, in fact. We in the west (those who, by every worldly measure, comprise the largest conglomerate of "the materially rich" in the world) tend to define poverty in terms of A LACK of material goods, such as money, food, clean water, education, jobs, medicine, or public infrastructure. The materially poor, however, while they do mention such things, most often define poverty by the ways in which their impoverished conditions MAKE THEM FEEL. Unseen words such as shameful, hopeless, inferior, powerless, humiliated, terrified, depressed, socially isolated, abandoned, voiceless, and taken advantage of are all apt descriptors of ways in which the materially poor often feel.
Broken Relationships
Life is all about relationships: One’s relationship with God, with oneself, with others, and with the physical world. As Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert write in When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself (Note: The reading of this particular book is required reading for anyone going on an international missions trip with Hope Missions/International [HM/I] at newhope church.), the above are considered the four foundational relationships of life on earth. The fall of man, unfortunately, damaged all four of these relationships. Corbett and Fikkert argue that poverty, when viewed systemically, is really the result of a breakdown in all four of these relationships.
As a human being, I suffer from the brokenness about which Corbett and Fikkert write so candidly. But...because of my material affluence (or relative affluence compared to most in the world), I tend to discount (or, perhaps, hide from?) the depths of my brokenness. How does this happen? Well...if (and when) I'm feeling badly about myself in one or all of the above relationships, it is very easy for me to distract myself with the many things I have around me. For example, I live in an 800 square foot apartment, and yet I have one computer (the laptop I'm writing on now), two TVs, two DVD/VCR players (not including the DVD player that's integral to my laptop), two CD players, over 100 movies, and over 300 CDs. I probably have enough entertainment media within arm's reach to distract me for months on end. If I'm feeling lonely or cut off from human contact, all I need to do, sometimes, is just log-in to my Facebook account and "interact" in some manner with others, who (just like me) are probably sitting at home alone or in a coffee shop somewhere surfing the net. I have discovered, though, that instant messaging with someone on-line is NOT the same thing as having an in-person, heart-to-heart conversation with that person...especially, when such a conversation takes place within the context of an intimate friendship that has been built over time, where that person knows the messy details of my life and where that person can say the same about me.
All too often, it seems, we settle for a counterfeit intimacy simply because we won't allow ourselves to feel our disconnectedness with God, with ourselves, with our friends and neighbors, or with our social and physical environments. And so, rather than working on becoming genuine friends with God, with another person, or, even, with ourselves, most of us run to our addictions to anesthetize the almost overwhelming feelings of sadness, loneliness, and disintegratedness that characterize our inner lives. And then, when our familiar addictions start to fall apart (and they ALWAYS do eventually), we look for something else to distract us, be it alcohol, food, sleep, pornography, sex, religious activity, work, or any host of things that "promise" comfort or pleasure or, simply, just a change in state. Or we pay a "professional friend" hundreds—if not thousands—of dollars to listen to the waves of unexpressed feelings, pent-up hurts, and unmet relational needs as they crash upon the shores of our souls. This is in no way my attempt to disparage the counseling field or anyone who avails himself or herself of such services, for, as I have experienced in my own life, talking through things with a trained counselor can be extremely helpful.
We in "the west," while we tend to feel a lot of the very same things the materially poor feel (for such feelings are endemic to the human condition), we have the means to run from or blot out such feelings, at least partially. The materially poor, though, rarely have such options. (And I think that's a good thing in many ways.)
Okay...that's it for now. This afternoon we head back to Matthew 28 to love on and to blow bubbles and make balloon animals with about 50 kids.
Bendi bene ou...
Dave (On Behalf of Team Haiti 2012)
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