why acts of mercy are not enough
these thoughts represent my reaction to a lecture by eastern university professor and head of urban studies department, kimberlee "k-lee" johnson.
for those who are unfamiliar with the term mercy ministry, it is meeting people's physical needs through the performing of tangible acts. when we serve as the samaritan did in jesus's parable, we are performing acts of mercy, or mercy ministry.
when i was doing my bachelor's work at eastern, i had to be part of a "service learning " project where i ended up working a few hours per week at a soup kitchen for folks with aids and other terminal illnesses, but mostly hiv/aids. though the experience was more about my own learning than it was about serving, the thing that i believe eastern wanted to teach us through the experience was the importance of these acts of mercy.
but, what k-lee said on friday was that these acts are not enough. it is important to note that these acts are NECESSARY, but not ENOUGH.
my bachelor's degree is in sociology, so studying social structures and social change is nothing new to me. in fact, since beginning my sociology coursework, it has been impossible for me to look at the world without trying to find the connections of society and the individual things i look at... from nature and how society impacts it, to faith and how it influences society, to the guy who lives down the street and his interaction with the world he lives in... but i love to hear others declare the necessity of addressing root causes rather than just symptoms.
in america, and perhaps beyond (though i am not as well-informed about the beyond since i live here specifically), we tend to never get to those root causes. our response to disasters, attacks, or whatever else happens on the national level, tend to only put bandaids on the wounds and forget about where the wounds come from. when we were attacked on that fateful morn of september 11th, we went on the offensive and so many of us were so focused on getting the bastards that we didn't look at why the bastards got us in the first place. true, their fundamental beliefs were a part of it, and true they were trained to attack us... but WHY? why did someone go through teaching them them that we were the enemy? i don't have the whole answer, but for the sake of this particular post, i don't need any answer. the point is that people didn't ask the question.
bringing this back to the topic of acts of mercy, this is the fundamental flaw with mercy ministries... we often stop at helping people and don't go further. we don't seek out the root causes of why the man on the corner is poor. we don't try to find what social systems were are part of placing him there. we just hand him a sandwich, maybe give him a hug, and go on our way. we use a reactive model to address symptoms, but we need to also be employing a proactive approach to address the roots of these symptoms.
ron sider, who teaches at eastern's seminary, palmer tehological seminary in wynnewood, started a group years back called evangelicals for social action. his model for impacting the world has four basic levels: relief (give a man a fish), individual development (teach him to fish), community development (give him fishing equipment), and structural change (assure that everyone gets fair access to the fish pond). i love this model because it addresses needs at every level. the structural level is the level i feel like so many average folks don't even begin to think about and where i feel like i am being called towards educating people about. it excites me when i begin to make connections about social policies/systems and individual events/situations. one may label me a "sociology dork", but i feel such a tug on my heart to open the eyes of others the way that my eyes have been opened. i also feel that i need to continue to learn everyday so that my focus can broaden and i can better understand this world, my life, my God, my wife, and... everything.
the final piece of k-lee's lecture was on spiritual systems. she stated that she felt that spiritual systems were the most neglected element in any model of change she presented or has encountered. she indicated that prayer was always necessary, whether performing acts of mercy or challenging power of unjust systems (and everywhere in between). she indicated that her belief was that spiritual warfare would probably become even larger and more difficult to work against when we begin to work in those structural levels and we need to always remember that prayer is powerful and necessary. i don't know that i have any reflection or comment on this because it seems pretty straight forward. whether or not i always follow through with or remember it, i need God in whatever i do... we all do.
for those who are unfamiliar with the term mercy ministry, it is meeting people's physical needs through the performing of tangible acts. when we serve as the samaritan did in jesus's parable, we are performing acts of mercy, or mercy ministry.
when i was doing my bachelor's work at eastern, i had to be part of a "service learning " project where i ended up working a few hours per week at a soup kitchen for folks with aids and other terminal illnesses, but mostly hiv/aids. though the experience was more about my own learning than it was about serving, the thing that i believe eastern wanted to teach us through the experience was the importance of these acts of mercy.
but, what k-lee said on friday was that these acts are not enough. it is important to note that these acts are NECESSARY, but not ENOUGH.
my bachelor's degree is in sociology, so studying social structures and social change is nothing new to me. in fact, since beginning my sociology coursework, it has been impossible for me to look at the world without trying to find the connections of society and the individual things i look at... from nature and how society impacts it, to faith and how it influences society, to the guy who lives down the street and his interaction with the world he lives in... but i love to hear others declare the necessity of addressing root causes rather than just symptoms.
in america, and perhaps beyond (though i am not as well-informed about the beyond since i live here specifically), we tend to never get to those root causes. our response to disasters, attacks, or whatever else happens on the national level, tend to only put bandaids on the wounds and forget about where the wounds come from. when we were attacked on that fateful morn of september 11th, we went on the offensive and so many of us were so focused on getting the bastards that we didn't look at why the bastards got us in the first place. true, their fundamental beliefs were a part of it, and true they were trained to attack us... but WHY? why did someone go through teaching them them that we were the enemy? i don't have the whole answer, but for the sake of this particular post, i don't need any answer. the point is that people didn't ask the question.
bringing this back to the topic of acts of mercy, this is the fundamental flaw with mercy ministries... we often stop at helping people and don't go further. we don't seek out the root causes of why the man on the corner is poor. we don't try to find what social systems were are part of placing him there. we just hand him a sandwich, maybe give him a hug, and go on our way. we use a reactive model to address symptoms, but we need to also be employing a proactive approach to address the roots of these symptoms.
ron sider, who teaches at eastern's seminary, palmer tehological seminary in wynnewood, started a group years back called evangelicals for social action. his model for impacting the world has four basic levels: relief (give a man a fish), individual development (teach him to fish), community development (give him fishing equipment), and structural change (assure that everyone gets fair access to the fish pond). i love this model because it addresses needs at every level. the structural level is the level i feel like so many average folks don't even begin to think about and where i feel like i am being called towards educating people about. it excites me when i begin to make connections about social policies/systems and individual events/situations. one may label me a "sociology dork", but i feel such a tug on my heart to open the eyes of others the way that my eyes have been opened. i also feel that i need to continue to learn everyday so that my focus can broaden and i can better understand this world, my life, my God, my wife, and... everything.
the final piece of k-lee's lecture was on spiritual systems. she stated that she felt that spiritual systems were the most neglected element in any model of change she presented or has encountered. she indicated that prayer was always necessary, whether performing acts of mercy or challenging power of unjust systems (and everywhere in between). she indicated that her belief was that spiritual warfare would probably become even larger and more difficult to work against when we begin to work in those structural levels and we need to always remember that prayer is powerful and necessary. i don't know that i have any reflection or comment on this because it seems pretty straight forward. whether or not i always follow through with or remember it, i need God in whatever i do... we all do.
posted by justincharlesharlan at 11:10 AM
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