After I wrote the blog below, I turned to my homework. I was reading the biography of Dorothy Day (she's awesome; look her up) for my Lifestyles of Nonviolence class and the second page I read, about two minutes after having wrote that last post contained this quote of her, speaking of the young students that came to volunteer with her ministry:
"Many left the work because they could see no use in this gesture of feeding the poor, and because of their own shame." The biographer continues, "The shame to which she refers is an angry shame that such misery continues to exist."
That is exactly what I have been feeling: shame. I am ashamed that millions of people die for lack of the things that I take for granted. I am ashamed that I trow away food I don't want to eat when people are starving to death, and I am ashamed that I live in a culture of such disgusting affluence when people are suffering and dying for lack of even the minimal requirements for survival. But most of all I am ashamed that I am doing nothing about it.
i totally understand the magnitude of what you are feeling right now, but just wanted to remind you that we are not a people held by shame. our God does not shame us, does not love us any less because of the brokenness in this world. he sees us as blameless.
ReplyDeleteand God is so big. he will redeem us completely although i understand that it feels like sometimes redemption isn't coming fast enough.