July 16

Isaiah 58

“Why have we fasted,” they say,

“and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled ourselves,

and you have not noticed?”

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please

and exploit all your workers.

Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife

and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today

and expect your voice to be heard on high.

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,

only a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed

and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?

Is that what you call a fast,

a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is no this the the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food wit the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say;

Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a

sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

I was reflecting on this verse this morning and felt convicted of my own hypocrisy. So often I ask God why there is so much injustice in the world; I plead with him in my prayers to right the wrongs of the world. Yet I do nothing. I don't “loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free.” Instead, I am content with talking.

Unfortunately, talking does little to truly carry out God's work. I'm not saying that prayers are unimportant or lack power. Sometimes prayers are our greatest weapons, but I can't help but wonder. How much more could the church accomplish if we spent less time in our prayers for the congregation pleading with God to provide and more time being the hands that provide? What if we instead of praying that God help those who are lonely and depressed took action to be the ones to visit and encourage those who are lonely and depressed? What if we
lived out God's calling instead of spoke God's calling?

We as a church do many of these things in different ways. We have Calling Pastors who visit the sick; we bring food in for the poor on Third Sunday for Hunger; we seek shelter for refugees. Yet, so many of us personally do nothing. I ignore the needs of my neighbor, and I turn my cheek to the homeless in the park. My question is how do I personally live it out and not rely only on my passive involvement?

Yesterday as I stared into the eyes of those in unjust situations and saw the pain in their eyes, I thought about how our little acts of mercy can be powerful. We only cleaned a little around their homes, a little that won't go a long way in the end, but the fact that people showed that they cared, brought the love of Christ, carried so much power. I think of the lady I mentioned in my previous post. By asking us to pray for her husband's drinking problem, she was reaching out to us in an act of desperation. She no longer cared what her husband would do to her for speaking out against his drinking problems. She only saw in us her last hope, and yet we brought that glimmer of hope—a hope far bigger and more important than the little acts we did around her home. My encouragement, therefore, to you is to put off the thoughts of, “What can I really do? The problem is too big for me.” Every little act of mercy is important because it carries with it the hope of Christ.

Today we have laid pretty low, doing mostly Bible study and debriefing. The students leave tonight around 6:00pm for their home stays. They will go to five different homes in pairs, except one home where four will go (after one host home fell through). Nate, Lydia, and I will miss them here, but I am excited for them to get to experience new people, hear their stories, and get to know one of the Ugandans on a one-on-one level.

On Monday, we will leave for Rwanda and will stay in the capital city of Kigali for two nights. We will have the opportunity to visit some of the museums from the genocide that took place in the 90s. The trip will be exciting, powerful, moving, and fun. I personally am very excited.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers, especially as we travel around the country and Rwanda. Pray that we will continue to sense God moving amongst us. Pray that more cultural walls are removed. We've experienced hurt feelings on both sides, but we are grateful that God has given us the grace to talk through our differences and move beyond them. Pray also that we will be able to continue to fulfill the goals of this trip and be able to identify when they are being met.

Blessings to you all! We look forward to seeing you all in only a matter of weeks.