may God bless you with discomfort

I have this amazing friend I met at training when I worked for a missions organization in Queens the summer of 2008. She'll be in Jordan until May, working with refugees. She sent me an incredible e-mail about her time there so far (it's been a week).

Prior to reading her e-mail, my roommate and I were having a great discussion about outreach and comfort. We were discussing how most Christians are okay with reaching out to those who have similar backgrounds. Reaching out to the other friendly, polite, middle-class American Christians is safe and comfortable for us. (Now, it is human nature and everyone seeks to be comfortable. I'm not trying to deride anyone.)

If we don't go to the "broken places," then we don't have to deal with the reality of evil in the world and we can pretend that everything isn't that bad. Accepting the suffering and pain in the world, not just being aware of it, requires us to cry out to God. We have to cry out to God because the problems are so big that he has to give us the courage to do something about it. I am NOT saying this means that every Christian should move to Jordan or Peru or another country to help others. There is plenty of hurt in America. There is plenty of hurt in our middle-class neighborhoods too. What I'm saying is that Christians were not called to lead safe lives. We worship a God who is in love with prostitutes and criminals. We are called to more than "nice" and "moral" lives.

My friend in Jordan wrote something in her e-mail that related to my feelings.

"Sometimes I ask Jesus why I am here. Because to be honest it sounded much cooler to say,'Oh hey, I'm going to Jordan,' than the reality of actually living here. It's awesome, but really hard. I've never done this move-to-another-country-alone type of thing so to a degree my confidence of always having friends or knowing what's going on has been shot down---I like being in charge and pretending I got it goin' on. BUT, currently, I have three friends and know about three roads in the city. Yet, who cares? I want my confidence to only be because of who Jesus is...so I want to grow to become more about Jesus than my status in the world."

My daily life in Peru will be different from what I imagine as I prepare. But I know the Lord is going to show me things about the broken places that I've only begun to learn. I hope that he'll continue to help me lose my concern with worldly status, and be concerned about Him alone.

I got this from the leader of a tutoring program I worked with my junior year of college. I've had it posted in my bedroom for the past two years. It is my pray for myself and all of us.

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in this world.
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Traditional Franciscan Benediction
(original source unknown)

COUNTDOWN: 6 months!