I started attending this Community Roundtable to become more informed and connected in the community. This month a number of the partners (including myself) gave presentations about their organization and some of the new happenings and needs. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot.
A disclaimer for the rest of this post- I am not the most politically aware person in the world. Yes, I was a political science major. However I have no desire to work in politics, nor do I particularly enjoy discussing such things. I have been yelled at by various people for my lack of being informed on political issues.
That being said, one of the things I learned was about how the economic situation and budget cuts are going to affect some of these non-profit organizations that currently receive government funding. The woman from Carlisle CARES spoke about how they are overcrowded, receiving new clients every day, understaffed, low on funds, and that government funding was going to be completely cut. Some of her clients are people who are chronically homeless, while an increasing number are those who are finding themselves in this situation for the first time due to economic constraints and major businesses that provided several jobs folding or moving out of the area. On of the things this woman said was that they were going to really have to rely on the local churches to provide support.
The pastors present agreed and expressed their desire to be a part of making sure such organizations continued. During all of this, I thought, this is how it's supposed to be. There have been a lot of negative repercussions from the economic crisis, but a part of me wonders if there is a hidden blessing. At least from what I am beginning to observe in Carlisle, the repercussions are forcing people to join together and support each other in the way that we are commanded to do in the Bible. Not that the people present wouldn't have thought this way before, but the circumstances are causing everyone's eyes and hearts to open even wider and respond to the increasing needs they see around them.
You may think, "as we are commanded to do- that sounds a bit strong." Well, Philippians 2:3,4 says,
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.I think is is pretty clear that this is a command. Not a suggestion, not a request, but a command. [I recently looked at these verses with some students as part of a Christian leadership workshop. I encourage you to look at the entire passage that we did- Philippians 2:1-11- to get a better picture of the context. It's pretty powerful.] The community partners present at the Community Roundtable are seeking to live this out in a personal and direct way. One of the men from an organization that teaches people life skills said that 90% of their clients have no connection to their community, no support. It is not a faith based organization, but this man tells his clients to start attending a church even if they are atheists. It is the one place in the community where he trusts that people will be taken in and loved regardless of their background. The pastors present responded, Yes, please tell them that and send them to us. We will.
The church should be stepping up to address such issues. And by church I don't just mean churches- many churches have historically sought to serve- but every single person who makes up the church, the body of Christ. If we all truly lived as we are commanded to, putting others interests above our own and seeking to serve them, the world around us would look very differently. This is something I definitely need to improve in. Do you?
Interestingly, yesterday I spoke with a couple students who had attended an event called "Can We Talk" the night before. It was about sexual violence & harassment on campus, sort of a continuation of the student interest & protests from earlier this year. One of the things that was talked about was how this issue was not unique to Dickinson, but on all college campuses. What was also mentioned was that this generation seems to be particularly narcissistic and feel a sense of entitlement, much more so than past generations. Apparently there was a study done of music from the 60s & 70s versus now, and how the words "we" and "us" were often present in music back then while now "I" and "me" are the most prevalent- just to give one example.
ReplyDeleteI find this interesting in light of what I shared in the post, and the obvious contrast.