Do You See What I See?

   We anticipate, we celebrate, we rejoice...the promise fulfilled, the long awaited Savior come, God in flesh appearing ....even as we remember that the first Advent is not the entire story. The best is yet to come...the One born a helpless babe in a stable will someday return in clouds of glory! And it is this someday that causes us to live, even in the midst of the advent season, in a tension between the "now" and the "not yet," between the first and the second Advent.

     Because even as we sing, "Peace on earth" we see that earth is not even close to being at peace. Even as we carol, "Let earth receive her King" we see that only a few of the multitudes on earth acknowledge their king, while most remain oblivious to the reason for the season.  We read that this baby was born to "proclaim liberty to the captive, recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the downtrodden and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19), but we see the "not yet" of this announcement....
      we see the captives and downtrodden are not yet free---
          we see little boys stolen away to work as slaves in cocoa plantations
               we see little girls with delicate hands working in third world factories, assembling tiny parts
                     we see desperate women chained to their sewing tables in sweatshops. forced to work
                             seven days a week for long hours in inhumane conditions for less than living wages
                                  we see hopeless men deep in the diamond mines straining in darkness,
                                            in danger, risking their lives and sanity for less than the cost of a meal...

the unseen workers who produce the very gifts we buy to celebrate the birth of the One who proclaimed liberty to the captive.
    
      And in this season of celebration of the first Advent, are we, who bear His name, who gather in our churches to watch Nativity plays and sing carols, are we not the ones who are blind? 
Are we not the ones who are blind to the heart of God toward those treated unjustly?
Toward God's multiple commands throughout His word to speak up for the poor and oppressed?
To our responibility to bring about the reality of liberty for the captive and freedom for the downtrodden?

As we live in the "not yet" between Advent's, is it not our responsibilty to speak up for fair trade, for a living wage for the workers whose goods we consume, for decent working conditions , for no more slavery in the marketplace? 
        Is our discipleship divorced from justice?
        Does righteousness not demand that we be responsible for where we spend our money?
        Does "keeping Christ in Christmas"not mean loving our neighbor as ourselves....
                    even if our neighbor is a third world worker whose face we will never see?

       I have come late to this conviction.  For years I just didn't know...I didn't think...I was blind.  I ate my Hershey bars without thinking about who harvested my chocolate. I bought my clothes without considering the women who sewed them. I drank my coffee completely clueless as to the conditions of those who grew them. I spent my money without any consideration  of the impact of my choices on the people affected by my purchases.

       But then, my eyes were opened. The one who came to "proclaim sight to the blind" showed me the truth about sweatshops, and slavery and oppression, and the need for fair trade. He opened my eyes to the need to "do justly and to love mercy" and to "speak up for the rights of the poor and oppressed", and I couldn't pretend that I didn't know.

      And so I take stumbling, baby steps toward being responsible, toward acting justly, toward making hard choices in my spending. I leave the Hershey bar on the shelf, I change my brand of coffee, I research companies on the web, I sell Trades of Hope to give women a living wage, I try to increase my purchases of fair trade items in exchange for  what I used to buy. My efforts are small, my understanding is limited, my awareness is still in its infancy, but I am haltingly trying to pursue righteousness in this area of my life. Because if how I spend my money isn't part of being a disciple, then what is?  And because now I can see, I must speak as well as act.
"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend that we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act."  Proverbs 24:12

 And now you know, also.

So what do you think?  I would love to hear your response. To encourage you, I will give away a beautiful Fair Trade item from Trades of Hope to one person who comments and/or shares this post on facebook.  If you both comment and share, I will enter your name twice!  Contest closes a week from today (Dec. 20)

Little is Much

     It can seem overwhelming....too big to even think about, much less attempt to change...

        147 million orphans, lacking even basic food and shelter
           young girls being trafficked into the sex trade...
              little boys sold into slavery to work on cocoa farms for our chocolate...
                women abandoned and abused by the men who should protect them,...
                    families trying to survive on less than $2.00 a day...
                        mothers dying in childbirth for lack of maternity care...
                             30,000 children dying today from preventable diseases

outside of our safe, comfortable American Dream lives are hurting faces, crying voices, hopeless hearts. It isn't that we don't care....it isn't that we lack compassion....it isn't that we are too busy or too selfish to act.  It's more of a paralysis of not knowing what to do...of feeling helpless to make a difference...confused as to how one person can change anything so huge.  But the good news is that one person matters! 
            One person can make a difference!
                  One person who cares enough
                                              to take just one step
                                                                 can impact someone else's world!

      Catherine Booth, the cofounder with her husband of the Salvation Army, is said to have told her children every night when she tucked them in bed,
                              "You were born to change the world." 

                               And so were we, each and every one of us.
 
God has put us here at this time and place to impact a hurting world and He takes our small, puny efforts and makes them count!  A line from an old hymn goes,
                                          "Little is much when God is in it." 

What little will you do to allow God to make much of?  Will you join an anti-trafficking organization?  Will you sponsor a child?  Will you buy Fair Trade products so people are not exploited to produce the goods you use?  Will you become an advocate for children in poverty? Will you speak up for the rights of the oppressed?  
 Not sure where to begin?  
Check out the links to the right on my blog, as well as these:
http://www.theexodusroad.com   Fighting sex trafficking
http://www.freedomcommons.ijm.org    Fighting all human trafficking/slavery
http://www.shoptostopslavery.com     Ethical shopping

Please comment if this has impacted your thinking, or better yet, if you are taking a new step to change the world for one.  Let me know what "little" you are giving for God to make much.





         

Come Dream With Me...

Several months ago I began to hear a call to "dream a new dream" for my life....to re-imagine how I was spending my time and resources....to question my assumptions about my walk with the Lord....a dawning awareness that I have lived out a Christian version of the American dream instead of taking seriously the global purpose of God to use my blessings for His glory....my heart was stirred to obey God's command to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute...speak up and defend the rights of the poor and needy." (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The call to do something new came from many directions....from a Beth Moore Bible study on James, from several books I was reading, such as Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis and  Radical by David Platt, and sermons, songs, and conversations all added to the sense that God was at work to do something more in me than life as usual. Through a blog posting I discovered an opportunity to become an advocate for women in poverty, and through prayer and seeking and the support of my husband, God has opened other doors to impact the lives of children in poverty around the world.

 One quote that was especially motivating for me was from Katie, "I know that I cannot change the world, but I can change the world for one person."  That is my dream, my call....and I advocate for other women to hear and respond to that call.

This blog is part of that continued journey, as I hear the word, "advocate" resounding within me more and more. Yes, to advocate for children in need, for women in desperate situations, but also to  advocate for other women to join with me....to question their lives, to dare to ask God to show them a new dream, to be willing to follow a new path, to be "just one" who will change the world for someone else!   I invite you to come with me.