Being Radical

Violence.  Killing.  Hatred.  Anger. Disillusionment.

This week seems to be filled with emotions following the killing of a soldier in Montreal, the killing of another soldier in Ottawa, the shootings in the Parliament building in Ottawa, the ax wielding man in New York, the killing of students in Marysville, and the killing of two policemen in California.

Some of these young men were attracted to radical Islam.  Radical beliefs expounded by a small group are not accepted by moderates but appear fascinating to alienated young people around the world.

Who are these young people and what is the attraction?  David From, in an article in Macleans (retrieved from http://www.macleans.ca/politics/washington/david-frum-on-the-allure-of-radical-islam-in-canada/), entitled The Allure of Radical Islam in Canada writes

Couture-Rouleau
photo: CBC website

“If you are alienated, angry, and attracted to violence, radical Islam provides a powerful ideology of justification. If you are lonely and purposeless, it offers redemptive self-sacrifice.

Yet the hunger for meaning is always a part of the human spirit. In a different time, Couture-Rouleau might have vanished into a monastery. In the 21st century, he found a different and deadlier path. The alleged would-be British Columbian bombers might likewise have gravitated to Maoism in the 1960s or Nazism in the 1930s. But those ideologies too have lost their hold on the modern mind, leaving radical Islam as the strongest competitor for the credence of those who seek self-fulfillment through mass destruction.”

The theological language is striking – justification, redemptive, sacrifice, hunger for meaning.  It makes me wonder where the churches and communities are when these young people are searching for something to fill the ache in their souls. 

Does the Christian community provide ‘the camaraderie and sense of purpose’ (Murtaza Hussain, CBC the Fifth Estate, retrieved from https://ca.news.yahoo.com/another-canadian-jihadi-slips-cracks-205929948.html)for which these people are searching? Hussain goes onto say 

"It's something you may get from a gang, but supercharged by the fact that your existential needs are met, too. It offers you a chance to be part of something greater than yourself and a way to expiate your past sins and be part of something that in your own mind seems to be righteous….It's a bit of a do-it-yourself kind of identity that occurs in these people. They learn the religion quickly — in an extremely superficial way.”

A number of years ago I listened to a conversation between a young man and a young lady about the appeal of bars.  The lady asked why the man felt so comfortable going into a bar where he knew no one whereas he had great difficulty going to church.  His comment was enlightening. “In the bar there is no judgement.  Everyone is accepted.  It is not that way in church.” 

Does your church ‘accept everybody’?  Are the churches and communities there for those who are left behind, not only the families of those killed but more so for those of these young people who have so senselessly killed? 

 Let it not be us who are posting negative and insulting messaged on Facebook.  Let our hearts, and our church doors, be radically open to those who suffer, to those who are searching for meaning, to the lonely, purposeless, alienated, and angry.  May the Holy Spirit help us to reflect just a bit of Jesus in our lives so that these people may see radical Christianity as an alternative to radical Islam.

Was does that mean?

Oh, so you are in Nicaragua to help the poor. 

So, what do you do to get these people out of poverty? 

And are these subsistence farmers getting anywhere? 

Are they actually producing crops?

What is it like to work with the poor?

When living in North America I had a conversation with a good friend who grew up ‘poor’.  “We had an addition just made of wood slabs cut from the bush and the walls were covered with newspaper.  We didn’t know we were poor.  That was just the way it was.  And we were OK.”  I often think of that conversation when groups come to visit the communities in which we live.  What does it mean to be poor?  Are we poor because someone tells us we are poor?  Is poverty or being poor a comparative measure?

Although the people with whom we work do not have much, they have a lot.  They have what they need for their basic needs, to share with their neighbours. Santa Gertrudis has been suffering from drought.  No one harvested a first crop of corn, except one lady who followed the conservation agriculture guidelines.  When I asked her if she had enough to last for her family until the next harvest she looked at me with a huge smile on her face. “Oh no, I gave it (literal translation would be gifted it) to my family and neighbours.  I have a little left and we are making tortillas today.  Do you want to see them?’ She proudly showed me the tortillas they were making for the family and the half a bag of corn that she kept for herself and her children.  I could not help but think that Jesus was smiling.  Sobelva produced enough to ‘get ahead’ and yet, in contrast to the economic system dominant in the world, she chooses to share her abundance.  I cannot call her poor.

We hear comments such as “I don’t believe it.  They are so poor and yet they are so happy”, insinuating that in order to be happy one must have material wealth.  There is also the implication that if one is poor one is not successful, that they have not reached an unspecified goal that would magically make them ‘not poor’.  When I share a cup of tea in Melva’s house she explains, “My house, it is humble.  But it is mine.  It is my home.  I have what I need. We have this piece of land for crops because there is water. Our other piece of land is for animals because there is only grass.”  I cannot call her poor but I would call her content and full of hope.

These two friends are subsistence farmers. These ladies, and others in their community, don’t have a lot of money and but have just enough food from the land to feed their families.  They live from crop to crop with the faith the God will provide.  They always have a cup of coffee and a rosquilla to share.  They remind me of my Auntie Tena, a wonderful faith-filled lady who lived with little by walked so close to God.

After being in North America this summer and attending Justicecamp I wondered who are rich and who are poor: my friends in North America or my friends in Nicaragua.  Many in North America live pay cheque to pay cheque; those in Nicaragua live crop to crop.  Many Canadians are mired down with personal debt.  Our Nicaraguan friends are unable to get a loan but also do not live under the fear of losing their homes or their land.  Many North Americans live lonely lives far from family; our Nica communities are full of relatives who rely on each other.  North Americans are reluctant to talk about their faith and their reliance on God in their daily lives; Nicas love to tell you about the blessings they have received from God.

So, who is poor?  What does it mean to be poor?  And would my Nica friends comment when visiting North America. “And I don’t understand it.  They are so rich and they are so unhappy?’ as they watch us rush through life.

Recently I read an article in the digital copy of the Converge magazine, a magazine for which I am always thankful.  Daniel White writes in his article ‘Making a Career of Humanity’

“This is something that one of our team members said to me when we were facing setback after setback in the tea kitchen. I asked him if he was feeling discouraged or disappointed, and that was his response. But he also said, “We have not yet achieved our goals. But this does not mean we are not happy. We Kenyans are happy, and we will work hard to achieve our goals.” I explained to him that in North America, people are often unhappy because they are not where they wish to be in life. “Oh,” he said, shaking his head. “That is very sad.”  http://convergemagazine.com/social-enterprise-justea-14582/

Those we meet on our Journey

Walking with the Rich…….

We live in a very comfortable house in a safe gated community. I questioned why we would immediately find a house that met all our needs in this type of neighbourhood.  Wasn’t there something in a less affluent area?  The answer keeps on coming back – No, this is where you should be.  So instead of fighting I have learned to eat my words.  (A word of caution – May all the words you speak be sweet – you may have to eat them!)

After two years I still struggle with the opulence but I have learned that I still have to walk – with the rich.  For reasons unknown to us, God has given us this opportunity, this challenge, this blessing. 

After the revolution Nicaraguans moved north to United States and Canada, worked there for many years, and have now retired in their homeland.  Most are well educated, well read, politically astute and aware of what is happening in the world.  Because my Spanish is not the best, I am hesitant to talk with them but they are patient.  When I walk at night I often stop to talk to these neighbours about the weather or  about what is happening.  We are developing community.

I am privileged to attend the Bible study in the neighbourhood.  Both Evangelicals and Catholics join together to discuss the Bible, to learn what it says, and to delve into its application.  Their openness, their faith, and their vulnerability are humbling.  Some are willing to say that they don’t know the Bible and are eager to learn.  Others are very knowledgeable and are able to quote any Bible text.  Together we journey.

We also rub shoulders with other ‘rich’ – fellow missionaries and others who live in this beautiful country.  They are our support group and we are theirs.  We share worship services with them each Sunday and I attend Bible Study with a wonderful group of women. We have become the grandparent figures to some children. We have a place.

But that is not our whole life since we also walk with

Those with Less………

Many of our friends and acquaintances would never be classified as rich if one is talking about personal belongings.  They live in smaller, often multi-generational, homes.  Their children may or may not attend a private Christian school, depending on financial and/or geographical situations.

One of the leaders from Nehemiah Center related a bit of their life to some students when comparing their life here with the life of one of their family members living in USA.  The family in USA have a large, fancy house with a half million dollars mortgage, a car with a car loan, and credit cards. Their family in Nicaragua has a small house – but it is theirs; they have a car—and it is paid for.  They do not have credit cards.  The word that comes to mind is contentment.

Our friends do not have all the material things, but they are content.  I am sure that they would like different or better things  but they do not appear to ‘strive’ after them.  They are more willing to wait, whether it means waiting until the can afford a wedding or whether they can afford a new stove. 

They welcome you into their homes –‘Me casa es tu casa.’  They love to share their lives with others, whether family or friends.  They love to have fun.  They love parties.  They love loud music.  They love food.  There is always a time to celebrate, to share, to talk.

And those with still less

We have not been given the opportunity to work with those who have nothing but we know that they exist.  We see the old women walking down the middle of the highway with her belongings on her back.  We see the old man gathering up the bottles and plastic for recycling.  Will these people someday become part of our lives?

We know that each day God brings people into our lives.  Sometimes they are meant to be a blessing to us, other times we are a blessing to them, but most of the time we are mutually blessed.  Living in a transient culture brings so many people across our paths but we know that they will not stay forever.  Rather than building a wall around myself and protecting myself from the sadness of losing friends over and over, I have decided to embrace them, to become vulnerable, to open my life to them, to live life fully.  It has made my life so much richer.  So each day I will continue to live with the rich, those with less, and those with still less.  But that also means that I live with those who have some, those who have more and those who have still more.   And that is so true – especially when it comes to faith and reliance on God. Thank you, Lord, for all the people with whom I share this journey.