"God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy..." -Psalms 68"6
I have some friends in our church, who just returned from Africa and this video appears to capture some of the tough stuff they are processing. I see it in the stare, the slow talking, the anguish of two worlds crashing together.
I can feel the unstable emotional equilibrium. I can sense the rage, the powerlessness, the hopeless hope and the mustard seed faith...all kicking and screaming like a baby born...but unable to care for itself...like spiritual mother's who are so exhausted from the birthing, they have no strength...bleeding in heart and soul.
Idealism gets raped by reality in mission.
As a pastor with hands and heart engaged in mission; i've witnessed and experienced this re-entry malaise and mission fatigue. I know God uses it...but I've also seen the enemy use it too. I long to work at building better mission runways for take off and for landing within the local church context, especially the American cultural context. I think people process too much of these conflicting juxtapositions alone....here enters the power of love, community, prayer and journeying together.
I would love to hear more ideas, or helps from anyone else reading this, that could offer some wisdom on this work of aftercare. I plan to use this video in our future aftercare processing.
On another note...it was a beautiful thing, looking into the crowd Sunday and see "Sarah and LemLem" their Africa teenage daughters huge smiles, sitting there with us for the first time. Getting to embrace in love, the girls we all prayed for, helped our friends fight for and now get the chance to walk with.
God is good.
Love truly...bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things...Love never fails. (1 Cor. 13:7)
2 comments:
I think this line speaks volumes.
"Idealism gets raped by reality in mission. "
Reality is dirty, it stinks, it is unjust, It's poor, It's broken, It’s confusing, It's stomach wrenching in so many ways, Yet, Reality is also truth. When we look into its eyes we understand more about Jesus and the Reality of ours and the worlds need for him then when we choose to stay in our safe cocoons wrapped in all our mind numbing creature comforts blind to the needs of our neighbors both here across the yard and across the world. To those who have been given much, much will be required. I’m struggling with this more than anything. Father what does this mean for me?
This 'Decompression' is similar to PTSS, coming back to a country so blissfully unaware of the world and its problems, or reality. As Americans, we combine an ethnocentric attitude with our creature comforts to create a truly ignorant state of life. I remember the times I saw and experienced how vastly different other people's realities were and then think about Christ's ability to see and feel all the suffering going on. It was very hard for me to grasp the purpose of such suffering, especially when coming home to A/C, cell phones and Dr. Pepper ect...
What a world this is. Welcome home Dan, His grace is suficient.
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