Delhi Update!

Namaste!

It's already been over a month since i've been gone!  Woweee!

It seems like nothing has happened and a lot at the same time.

1.) Nothing has happened in the sense that it is holiday season in India, and when it's holiday no one goes to school, and when no one goes to school we can't see the kids.  There have been a few times that i've been able to help out at the school, and even teach, but not enough to where I feel like i'm able to make relationships yet.  It's a little frustrating, but the major holidays are coming to an end.  And it really feels like the ball is starting to roll, then once it does, it will only accelerate from there.
2.) A lot has happened, in that my Christian worldview has been completely rocked.  In America we often times we go to church, have our daily devotionals to spend time with God, develop friendships, mostly with other Christians, but sometimes with those who don't know Christ.  When it comes to helping those in poverty, we may volunteer at a soup kitchen, or on holidays give them a turkey and a care package.  A lot of these so far are good, and things that Christians must do.

But Christians here in Delhi are the only hope that so many of these people have,  not just for eternal life, but to be able to eat, have an education, and be rescued from oppressors waiting for the prime opportunity to exploit them.

When it comes to taking care of the practical needs of people, the American church tends to get lazy and leave things to the state.  The welfare system will take care of the poor, the foster care system will take care of the orphan, and social security will take care of the widow.  These systems in put in place can be very good, and this is in no way a call to revoke them, but I believe the church has used these systems as an excuse to not get down in the trenches.  Christ took us out of our broken relationship with the Father and made us a new creation, restoring our brokenness.  Similarly, we are called to go down to the fringes of society; the lowest end of the totem pole, and lead them away from the broken relationships that have only lead to their abuse and exploitation, and replace them with a reflection of how Christ relates to us.

The state can give people money, but it can't rescue us from our true poverty, our relationships that were broken with each other and with God when we made that infamous decision at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Remember what happened when Adam and Eve first sinned?  We hid from each other, then hid from God himself.  But in the New Testament, God gives us His Church, the Body of Christ, the ministry of reconciliation.  Reconciliation is more than forgiveness.  It's restoring those relationships with our fellow man and with God we lost in the fall.  So let's do more than evangelize the world, let us, as the church, be a vehicle for transformation!