“What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: “Faith, hope, and love”? That sounds beautiful. But I would say – courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack today is not psychology or literature…what we lack is a holy rage – the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth…a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth, and the destruction of God’s world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and against the madness of militaries. To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God. And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish… but never the chameleon.” – Kaj Munk
This past week was full of some great ministry moments and a lot of team laughs. For me, it also included some rage. I’ve never really felt rage in my life, but I was feeling it this week.
I mentioned last week that one of the kids clubs we run is in a garbage dump. I’m not sure there are many things more heart-wrenching than watching little kids digging through piles of garbage. I watched one girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old, pull an avocado out of the trash pile and start eating it for lunch. There were families everywhere sorting through piles of trash covered in flies, hoping they could salvage something useful. This was the dirtiest, smelliest ministry location we’ve visited, but I think it’s one of the most important. Making these kids smile felt a little extra special to me after seeing what life looked like for them.
The second time we visited the Tank, I had an injured leg and wasn’t playing soccer. I sat on the sidelines with a girl named Sarah. Like many solvent users, Sarah was pretty difficult to engage in conversation. She told me that she wasn’t playing soccer because she was pregnant, though she didn’t know how far along she was. She had also told one of my teammates that she already had a daughter, a 2-year-old I believe. She’s around 20 years old, I believe. We sat for a bit and I prayed. What struck me the most was that as I sat there, with my hand on her stomach as I prayed for her unborn child, she never stopped inhaling the solvent. It occurred to me that if I’d seen someone at home so blatantly using drugs while they were pregnant I would be furious and quick to judge. Honestly though, all I felt was sadness for Sarah and her babies, and I was glad that I’d at least been able to pray blessings over the little one on the way. I could rage at the situation, but not at this young girl.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the dark things that are happening in the world, but It’s important to realize that God’s in the dark places, too. At tutoring this week I was reading a little boy a book about heroes. When we finished I asked him who he saw as a hero in his life. His answer? Jesus.
