Conversation Point

Wait Lifting

Are you aware that the United Nations is voting this week on sending peacekeeping forces to Eastern Chad? Refugees spilling over the border from Sudan have increased from 30,000 in May 2006 to the present120,000. Above the need to physically care for people who have literally escaped their homeland with only their lives is the greater need to protect them from the persecutors who chase them across the border to continue their killing spree.

Have you heard that heavy flooding has all but disabled areas of Mozambique? Those who already live a fragile existence teetering on the edge of destruction have been nudged past the balancing point. They now cling to the hope of international aid arriving in time to keep them and their families alive. Did you know there are many children in developing nations whose nutritional intake is so limited that their hair turns orange?

Have you heard on our own national news here in the United States that fully twenty-five percent of our population does not have health care insurance? You have heard of Hurricane Katrina. Eighteen months have passed since the Gulf Coast collapsed under the weight of wind, water and government stagnation that still leaves the city of New Orleans at half its pre-storm population levels. What was to be a temporary displacement has turned into a permanent relocation for many people.

These are a few of the realities with which the world is coping today.

Overwhelming doesn't begin to describe the sense of futility any sane person feels as these tragedies unfold and lay themselves open for judgment and scrutiny. Each picture of need begs the questions and choices that brought them into being. But eventually we must move past the how to deal with the now, before it becomes too late. But where do we start? What is our task" Where does our responsibility lie? What can we do from our corner of the world to change the whole world?

I think God likes these kinds of questions. They lead to more questions and a dialogue among us that encourages us to think beyond ourselves to the larger community of God's grace. The Biblical Church of Galatia appears to have been full of questions too, as indicated by the abundance of information Paul shares in his letter to them, talking about community relationships, fruits of the Spirit and baptism. Paul was used to hearing and responding to practical questions of faith in action, so we can head there now with our questions and be reminded of a simple truth: "Carry each other's burdens , and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2)."

Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. The first image that comes into my mind is one of women and men crossing the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic to sell their products at an open air market in the village I visited last spring. They carried everything they were selling because that is all they were allowed to bring with them by government regulation. Human beings piled high with clothes, shoes, housewares, food and linens, moving in steady, rapid succession to attend to the business that would sustain them until the next market day. There would be no staff meetings, register training or motivational exercises. Each merchant possessed all the resources they would need to accomplish their task. They carried product, merchandising, sales and service departments with them and used their tools well.

Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Sometimes we can carry our own weight. There is a basic assumption that we all will who can. When those who can't are made known to us it is time to pick up some of what our fellow human beings cannot do for themselves. We may feel as if we don't know what to do or where to start, but that is why we have libraries, the internet, community service organizations and faith communities. All of these places can offer direction on what to do.

Deciding to use all the tools God has given us, as did the itinerant shopkeepers, is what Paul is telling the Galatians and us to do. Carrying each other's burdens isn't solely helping out in times of need, but is a moral choice to unite with another person in giving them respite from their pain, suffering or anguish in whatever way we can. Carrying another's burden is the motivation that sparks the call to the United Way, urges us to volunteer our time to Habitat for Humanity or inspires us to pray and march and speak out so others will be able to help carry the burdens too.

Lest we become overwhelmed thinking about all the places and people for whom we can ease a burden, it is important to remember we are called to what we can do. The wait of confusion, frustration and stagnation is over. It is time to pick ourselves up and help shoulder the burden.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 3:15 PM