We again had a weekend of class in Christianity and the Problem of Racism at GCTS. I walked away with a few points of reflection. First, the interpretive grid that I (and I suspect most whites) hear things is more shaded by my perceptions of race than I want to admit. For instance, an African-American friend in the class related his experience in Greek at Gordon-Conwell. Greek I/II are two of the toughest classes at GCTS. The scale is unforgiving (96-100 is an A ... and anything below 75 is failure), the tests are notoriously picky, and most students struggle at some point. My buddy was relating that when he was taking Greek and expressed his struggles, people were quickly alarmed. Some offered extensive help and others raised questions if he felt that he could do it. My friend related that conversely, when a white student says this, nobody really responds other than "It's tough, keep after it and call me if you need help." He related this to perceptions of African-Americans not just in seminary but in law school, med-school, etc. He wasn't arguing that affirmative action should cease but that we need to be careful how we address others and start with a posture of listening that assumes little.
Second, I continue to find it problematic that some African-American leaders (Jeremiah Wright, etc.) decry the white suburban lifestyle while gravitating toward it in terms of materialism. They speak strongly against systems that are unjust but then participate full-force in them as they have opportunity. I think that the initial message is powerful and important, that we are neglecting the poor with both our individual lives and systems, but I also think that with regard to integrity, one must live that out in terms of purchases and location of home. This is not to say that whites do a better job, as we have left the cities and done very little in most cases. But I find the sharp speech of some to be difficult to stomach because they are not setting an example with their personal lives in terms of frugality, financial discipline, and incarnational living.
I think that the issue of global social justice is just as pressing a question as racism in the U.S.. This is not chucking out the importance of dealing with racism in the U.S. I think that moving to the cities, moving toward suffering and oppression and aiding those in economic need, and moving toward the fatherless and disoriented is extremely important. Our country has many people that have little future, little hope, and no one speaking love or truth into their lives. Our innercities are tearing themselves apart and too few are engaging in this issue. However, I think that those who would focus only on our innercities are still living in the American bubble. In the innercities, we have kids that are hungry and not being taught well, who have little opportunity for a good education, who are ensnared by violence and are abused. We should certainly address these issues, particularly as the sins of our nation contributed most directly to this problem. At the same time, we've got communities in sub-Saharan Africa that are starving and receive no educational opportunity at all, whose fathers sleep with prostitutes and give AIDS to their whole families and who abuse their wives and children. I'm not advocating an either/or mentality, as if you should do one and not the other. If anything, I hope that those in very difficult positions can find solidarity with those around the world in equally trying conditions.
Overall, I think the question for middle and upper class Americans needs to be a thoughtful and reflective, "How can I give myself to the Lord so that He can most use me?" or "What does it mean to follow Christ everyday by picking up my cross?" As a GCTS professor, Dr. McDonough, is fond of saying, "If you ask the wrong question, you'll always get the wrong answer." Too often as Protestants, we have asked, "What's the minimum thing that a person needs to do to be saved?" We move quickly to Eph. 2:8-9 and propose that a person is saved by faith, through grace, and this allows a quick mental assent to certain points to baptize a person into Christianity. Or, if we're more serious about our faith, we come to church, are involved in a few activities, and give 10%. Again, this is a step in the right direction, but I still wonder if such action is based on the right questions of how we can follow Christ. Even among those who give beyond 10% the question often becomes, "Can I justify this vacation or that? Can I justify living in this house or that, of making these purchases or those?" Obviously, there are some within the American church that are asking the right questions in terms of a desire for total, incarnational obedience, but based on statistics and anecdotal evidence, I struggle to think that this is more than a few percent of the church.
For us, a key issue is becoming consumption. We're uncertain how best to invest money in a way that honors the Lord. We'd like to invest in companies that operate on sound biblical principles, build the community and help the poor, and create a profit, but sometimes those are hard to find! To an extent, most companies are helping people through employment and are exhibiting some ethical standards just to stay afloat, but connecting the poor to markets and opportunities is a more difficult aspect if one hopes to make a profit. We feel that aiding the poor in investments is important, based on Deuteronomy 15. So, we're still working through the investment arena. But in terms of consumption, we feel like we're finding more solid ground here. The more that I consume, the less I have to contribute to others. Granted, consumption contributes to economic growth in some sense, but I believe that trying to help America by buying alot is ultimately counterproductive and unbiblical. As such, we're trying to figure out how we trim the budget and simplify our lifestyles without making this pursuit an idol. Everything from energy consumption, to food selection, to clothing purchases, to entertainment choices are back on the block. We're likewise trying to evaluate decisions based more on global norms and biblical expectations than on the American media. This has been interesting at times. Do we heat our apartment past 60? Do we eat meat more than a couple times a week? Do we buy anything in the next couple years outside of shoes? Again, these are some of the things that we are grappling with. On the non-economic side, do we buy only products that are easily recyclable? How much more will we pay for items that are reuseable?
At any rate, these are some of the questions that we continue to pose and to pray about. We don't claim to have answers and aren't trying to use the blog to project these questions on others :) Hopefully, you get a sense of where we are at in this time ...
S
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