Archive for July, 2009

If someone were to ask me that classic evangelical question, “What has God been teaching you lately?” my answer without a doubt would be “the meaning of the Kingdom of God on Earth.” I realize that comes across sounding a tad lofty and pretentious, but I assure you that I mean to be neither of those. Rather, I have simply taken to dwelling on what the Kingdom is practically intended to look like – perhaps because in this place, as never before, I am reminded of it daily. In his Gospel account, Luke records Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.” I had always understood this to mean that those in poverty are weak and powerless in this world, but God’s Kingdom inverses this – the last shall be first. I still believe this to be true; however, a fuller picture has been emerging.

A few weeks ago I was in an extremely rural area with a Ugandan colleague whom I regard as particularly sage. We were visiting a very poor woman who lived in a house made of mud, sticks, and straw. She ate only what she was able to grow herself, which was not much because she had just a tiny plot of land to farm. Further, this land was not even hers – it belonged to a neighbor, who had agreed that she could live there for a time. However, the neighbor had apparently changed her mind and was attempting to force this woman off of her land by casting curses upon her through witchcraft. The woman was frightened for herself and her children. She wanted to move, but had nowhere to go. Upon hearing her story, my colleague and I embarked upon a joint effort to help this woman buy her own plot of land. When we witnessed the immense excitement, joy, and thanksgiving on her face in response to our help, my colleague remarked, “They live lives of miracles.”

Perhaps inheriting the Kingdom of God has less to do with economic poverty itself than with the frame of mind and state of heart that economic poverty engenders. This woman lived fully expecting a miracle and was consequently attuned to God’s Kingdom on Earth because it was her only hope. I am thankful that God allowed me to be an instrument of His miracle that day. Even more so, however, I am grateful He reminded me, a comparatively rich mzungu, that I need His Kingdom just as fully as that woman does. In his Gospel account Matthew records Jesus’ words as “blessed are the poor in spirit.” Perhaps by adding the words “in spirit” Matthew sought to emphasize that it is less an economic than a spiritual poverty that is the key to inheriting the Kingdom – though for the economically rich maintaining spiritual poverty is just about as difficult as a camel entering through the eye of a needle.

I have barely scratched the surface in my understanding of Kingdom of God. However, I hope to continue to share my thoughts as I catch more glimpses of it in here in Uganda.

- sara

Out of the heart the mouth speaks, justified or condemned by the words we share. Depending on the tree, we produce either good or bad fruit. We are shown to be what we really are based on what we do and say. Would you grow within me the fuit that comes only from you, that which is for the healing of the nations?

We are desperate for that which will bring peace and joy and love. I am sick with the troubles of this world. Let me not be overwhelmed by the catastrophes of our struggles. Let me not be paralyzed in fear by what we have done to one another. Where do we go from here? What can we do when so much has gone wrong?

Yesterday I sat in an old holding cell for slaves as they awaited buyers in Zanzibar. I sat in the claustrophobic room where many had died and many more had not seen the sky or felt the wind or sun for months or years. I was in the same space but a different time. I couldn’t imagine such events taking place if it wasn’t for the headlines I read today. Dictators holding power, oppressing for their own benifit as they multiply the blood on their hands. Governments beating their citizens to death in Cambodia today. Young Somalian boys born into violence and poverty, their only hope for economic gain being piracy.

This is the world you stepped into and nothing was ever the same again. You stepped into oppression, totalitarian dictatorship, and a twisted religious system that only served the leadership and was sucked dry of mercy. This is your world. You healed a man’s hand and they sought to destoy you for it. I believe that your kingdom is growing Father, but I’m afraid that not much is different from then. What should I do? You know I am yours, let me never forget it. How should I confront it? How do I prepare myself? You want me to know you.