Blue Water Bridge, Port Huron, MI
The post below comes from a friend of mine, Father Orthohippo. You may answer his question either here or there. We are long-time friends and read each other’s blogs.
Despair is becoming much more wide spread here in the north. In St. Clair county, Michigan (population 164,000) last week, we had two incidents of murder-suicide by out of work fathers shooting their families. In one case it included two 14 year old boys. In the county seat the same week on one night two people in separate incidents were wounded by gun fire, while a third youth was shot at in a drive by incident. This is not a normal rate of gunfire here in our self-proclaimed Maritime Capitol of the Great Lakes, and gateway to vacation and recreation enjoyment.
In the past three years in the St. Clair county seat of Port Huron, MI (32,000 population). the sheriff auction foreclosure rate is up over 400%. Almost one fifth of owner occupied homesteads were foreclosed. For the first time, in the past year foreclosures spread evenly to include all economic level neighborhoods. These numbers do not include homes where owners simply walked away. Its hard to pin down an accurate unemployment rate, but realistically, here, it is approaching 30% or more. This is occurring in southeastern Michigan, and we are usually put to shame by the realities of northern Michigan and the upper peninsula where times are even more difficult.
My question is for Christians: what are our proper concrete responses to such conditions? How do we express our faith where we live? It is hard for someone wrapped in desperate despair, or cold, or hungry, to hear a gospel message. SHARE THE GOSPEL. IF NECESSARY, USE WORDS. Any thoughts as to how you can do it?
There are some areas of our country that have been hard hit for years. In some areas of our country, hope of any meaningful recovery left years ago. The term “rust belt” speaks of those areas and has been around for well over 20 years. Population has been declining, industries have been closing, and–in Gary, Indiana–there are even some entire areas of cities that are actually closed. Despair began setting in years ago, but this last recession has been the last straw for many.
So, how would you answer Father Orthohippo’s question? Let me stretch it even farther. How would you speak to those who live where there is no prosperity gospel, where there is no reasonable–or unreasonable–hope for positive change? You are the pastor now. What would you say? Please avoid clichés.
I would tell people in dire straits like that, that in this world there is no justice, no peace and no victory.
And that the One who hung on the cross for their sakes, forgives them all their sins and promises them a future with Himself with no more tears, no more heartbreaks, no more suffering.
I like that emphsis on the tears being wiped away. Sometimes all we have to give people who are already following the Lord is the hope of the Lord and a shoulder to cry on. But, someday, someday, no more tears!
I would weep with them. I would mourn, and cry with them. One cannot know and share hope if one has not known and expierienced suffering.
And then I would say:
“All sufferings here are nothing compared to that which awaits us. Weep, but know this- you have not an indifferent god. He who has expierienced the filth of this world, and whom has died. But He is dead no longer- and in and through Him, all things are being made new. Weep also to your Lord, for He is a compassionate God. I am here for you now; He is there for you ALWAYS.”
Then, I would just be there for them. And, depending on the situation, I wouldn’t even mention the Gospel right off the block. Sometimes, people are so consumed by grief, nothing coherent can pass through the mind. Sometimes showing love is the closest proclamation of the Gospel you can do.
Question, Steve, Tim, Fr OrthoCuban:
How do you keep the statements in the above comments from sounding like “Pie in the Sky when you Die”?
In my experience, the Christian response to hardship (especially among Evangelicals) is to throw out pious proof-text platitudes, say “I’ll Pray For You (TM)”, and leave the guy bleeding at the side of the Samarian road.
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I have a contact in the Port Huron area (“Michigan Wildman”) who’s told me things are tough out there, but not that they were getting that tough. (He fills me in on the latest soap opera of Detroit politics — what’s left of that city sounds like Zimbabwe with a US zip code.) And never mind “Gary, Indiana” as the archetype of a rustbelt city — how about Allentown/Bethlehem, PA? I have another contact there (a talented but unpublishable writer whose stuff I’ve edited & polished) who’s been unemployed and living on family handouts for years.
I wish I had a good reply to how we avoid pie in the sky. On the one hand, we need to say as Christians that God is aware of us and cares for us. On the other hand, we run smack up against the problem of evil. That is, why do bad things happen to good people. No, there is no easy answer here.
I do believe that we need to say that God is aware of us, and cares for us. The words of Christ which affect me the most in these situations are “as you do unto the least of mine, so you do unto me.” A simple doing, and recognition, and acceptance of the individual along with what ever you might contribute to ease the immediate problem is proclaiming the Gospel.
One interesting item: In the FBI crime statistics, port Huron outdoes Detroit in a number of categories. I’m glad that for michigan wild man things are not that tough.
I think the reason things are “not that tough” for him is the same reason I call him “Michigan Wildman”. (If you ever ran across him in person, you’d know why I coined the name…)
I have no instant magic for poverty of material things or of heart and hope. I have lived and worked among the poor and fringe members of our society–In Washington DC I worked at the VA and volunteered at the Wall where I saw many homeless and hopeless vets and belonged to a storefront church in the ghetto and here in Florida I work at a detox center. I have worked on crisis hotlines and at Battered Women’s Shelters. The only thing I do is share love and caring and what little I myself have.
Sharing of resources is sometimes greater among the poor. What little people have is given so much more freely–someone’s son got killed in a driveby? Chicken dinners got sold to the neighborhood by church members for the money to bury him and reception etc all taken care of–not to mention enough casseroles for the family to eat for a month. Sometimes just knowing someone cares and crys with you helps. I do not have the money to care for all the poor of the world, so I share what little I have with those in need around me–not just money, but love. Or maybe love IS the miracle–after all God so loved the world…..The sharing and the love IS the Gospel.
Somehow when I cry at the feet of Jesus and turn myself over to the Father’s caring hands, I find myself walking in the Kingdom and the joy I feel is not dependent on new clothes or new cars or bling–not even on having enough food–having lived on grits and tomato soup made of hot water and free catsup packs at a time in my life, I KNOW that my happiness does not depend on material things. We in the West have grown accustomed too often to THINGS. In pain or in hunger or in despair, I go inward-not to my own intellect–but to the ONE who gave Himself for me. Surely He suffered in his humanity, pain and hunger and fear and despair, so He can walk with me through it–and then I can walk with the help of the Holy Spirit through it with someone else. That is what I have to share.
…having lived on … tomato soup made of hot water and free catsup packs at a time in my life…
When I was at CalPoly in the Seventies, one old-timer I ran into called that combination “Depression Soup” and claimed it kept him and a lot of others going during the Great Depression.
When you tell someone that you know it’s rough, and that Christ knows it’s rough but this is the kind of world that He died for and that they are the kind of person that He died for…Christ will be in that Word.
Romans 1:16
Every once in awhile the Lord will grab a hold of someone in that Word.
But that is His business.