Today we took our little girl to a birthday party. Towards the end of the party I was watching the little kids as the host parents handed out the "loot bags", which are little "take away" bags with small toys and snacks .
As parents we know there is ONE cardinal rule when it comes to receiving loot bags. For those of you who are parents to be, learn this rule well: DO NOT, under any circumstances, allow your child to see what's in other kid's loot bags. Grab it, say thank you, and head out to the car. Do not stop, do not linger, do not look back. (Look what happened to Lot's wife!)
You see, here is the problem. The world will be very simple if the host parents simply hand out identical loot bags to every child. "One lollipop for you, one lollipop for you, one for you..." BUT in an effort to demonstrate that "personal touch", parents these days often arrange for "personalized loot bags". That's fine, except that when the kids get to see and compare loot bags, human nature takes over:
"Why does he gets the cool Buzz Lightyear action figure when I only get a frisbee? I don't like frisbees!"
"How come she gets the pink bag?"
"Awww...I want that one instead..."
I was thinking about this in church on Sunday. It occured to me that the same "why-can't-I-have-what-he's-got" question has some serious global implications. For so long, we have lived in world of extreme economic injustice. With the internet and global communications technologies, we can now see with our own eyes on the TV's in our kitchens the devastation of poverty and hunger in the poor nations, where every second a child dies from hunger related illnesses.
Meanwhile half way around the world...
A father whose child is dying because he cannot get the most basic medical care looks on the TV in the hospital. He sees the abundance we enjoy in North America. And he asks, "why can't my child have what they've got?"
I wonder...as a Christian, what should our voice be?
How do we justify the hundreds of millions we spend on ourselves in the form of church buildings, staff, facilities, programming, etc when children are starving to death?
We enjoy low priced products manufactured in countries with cheap labor costs. Most of us don't even think about the labor practice of those countries until we start losing manufacturing jobs.
I wonder...when I hear Christians praying for "economic recovery"...what are we asking for? Are we really asking God to return us to a situation where we can continue to enjoy our own abundance built on the back of an economic system that is unjust and oppressive? A system where we can continue to enjoy the largest and best "loot bags", while the children from the rest of the world look to us and ask "why can't I have what they have?"
I wonder...why is it so difficult for us as Christians to develop a worldview that is global and holistic?
Just some thoughts from loot bagging....
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On loot bags, don't do them! I get the kids to bring a unisex gift as the "birthday present", and when they leave, each kid draws a number and takes home one of the gifts in lieu of a loot bag. That way, I don't have to make the bags, and parents don't have to deal with their kids fighting over cheap toys and candies. It's trickier explaining to my kid why she only gets one birthday present from the party(instead of all of them)....which is a good time to talk about "hey you have one, everyone else has one, that's fair right?"
On Christian and world views....bro, you've got to start branching out to other denominations. In fact, the mainline churches have been a solid force to fight against social justice for many years...from fighting against apartheid, to advocating for the Jubliee campaign (to cancel debt for poor countries) to raising issues about aboriginal rights, many NGOs and social movements have been partnering with churches (again, mostly mainline) because they are so good at mobilizing. When you think about it, there is a captive audience (ok, relatively so) every Sunday - what an opportunity to get people engaged in causes!
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