The Great Flood & Great Coffee

Last week our church building had a terrible, no good, very bad day.  A 4' inch water line froze in the wake of record-setting temperatures of negative double digit air temperature with wind chills of -40F.  Thankfully it set off the alarm at the church and one of our church's leaders found water gushing into our fellowship hall.  Because of the location of the burst pipe and a comedy of other errors, the pipe ran for 5-6 hours dumping an estimated 300,000 gallons of water into our church building.  Needless to say, the damage was extensive with a water line on the walls a foot off the floor. 

Water in auditorium

 

We don't know the extent of the damage as all of that continues to be worked out.  In the meantime, our church called an audible and moved a few hundred yards west to the campus of Rochester College where we met in their theater. It was much tighter, required much more patience in order to get in and out of the building, and at least in my opinion was an absolutely wonderful morning.

Too often our routines dictate our lives and to be honest, they make lousy masters.  Our dayplanners and calendars are a myriad of appointments that boss us around often robbing us of the creativity, spontaneity, and energy that give our lives purpose and meaning.  Church is no exception. Often times we sit in the same places, have the same conversations with the same people, and go through the motions. Today was not one of those days. People were forced out of their comfort zones and into a place where new possibilities and opportunities are possible.  In fact, God seems to do some of his best work when his people are away from their preferred locations - wandering in the desert, exiled as captives to a hostile nation, etc. For those willing to listen, God may just show up with reminder that His work - proclaiming his kingdom, loving your neighbor, offering a cup of cold water - is no more tied to a building than he is. His mission and his calling remain.

One of the ways we were reminded of his mission today (and one of the huge perks of meeting on a college campus) was that next door to the meeting hall is Kibo Corner, a coffee shop with outstanding coffee staffed by some of our church members whose profits support Kibo Group International, a nonprofit based in Uganda that works in community development and drilling of wells to provide much needed water. Today, all proceeds from Kibo Corner and from a bake sale (with ridiculously good sweets) went to Kibo Group to help support a couple in our church who are moving to Uganda to lead this organization. And yet, a displaced church was able to raise $3,300 to help support this couple! :) Who knows what is possible when we allow God to interrupt our routines and remind us of his mission? And sometimes he seems to prefer using small things like coffee and cookies rather than large buildings and organizations.






** Of note, we do not typically offer our three boys cupcakes and cookies before church. Today was the exception! And yes the boys were wired! :)

Conversations ~ Liberation Theology & Medicine via "In the Company of the Poor" (Fr. Gutierrez & Paul Farmer)

 

Liberation theology and medicine may seem like strange partners (at least I thought so initially). The former, a movement begun among the poor of central and South America asserts that theology is best discussed from the perspective of the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed rather than the traditional perspective of theologians perched in ivory towers with textbooks. The latter, a well-respected profession devoted to caring for the sick and hurting with a rich history of scientific advancements that have improved the quality of life for literally billions of people.

My theological journey reflects very little exposure to liberation theology. To me, it is a relatively new and yet incredibly challenging theological voice concerned less with systematic organization of theological concepts and more with discerning what it means to serve a God who consistently chooses to act on behalf of the oppressed. As someone who has grown up in a Christian family in the United States, any time I have reflected on matters of spirituality or theology, I have always done so from a place of privilege. I have never once wondered where my next meal will come from or struggled to survive and for that I am incredibly thankful. However, that is not the case for hundreds of millions of others. Theology sounds different coming from a person in dire poverty on the margins of society than someone in a place of power and wealth. And yet both the poor, powerless Christian and the rich, powerful Christian sit in a place of equality before God and within his kingdom. To my discredit, I have never taken the time (until recently) to listen to the voices of my brothers and sisters whose perspectives on many issues - God, the church, the economy, justice, politics, etc - are very different from those I am most accustomed to hearing. The book pictured above is one of my first steps toward being a better listener to those who honestly and passionately work toward a world where the poor and powerless are seen and treated as people of great importance.      

The two authors could not be more different. Father Gustavo Gutierrez is Dominican priest in his late 80's from the hills of Peru who wrote one of the 'founding documents' of liberation theology - Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, & Salvation - over 40 years ago. This work would later be a pivotal text in the life of a young Duke college student named Paul Farmer as he struggled through how to respond to the staggering poverty around the world. Farmer would eventually obtain  a medical degree from Harvard, a PhD in anthropology, complete a residency in internal medicine/infectious disease, and found a NGO called Partners in Health (PIH). Dr Farmer has spent the majority of his career working in the most impoverished places on the planet including Haiti, Rwanda, Russia, and Mexico. The motto of PIH is offering a "preferential option for the poor," language taken directly from Gutierrez's work nearly a decade earlier. Gutierrez did not hold an academic position until he was recently offered a position at Notre Dame University. These two men from diverse backgrounds and disciplines forged a friendship that has lasted several decades and in this book offer a dialogue on a topic near and dear to both of them.

Books like this challenge me to ask better questions and to live more faithfully my calling as an orthopedic surgeon. What does the story of the kingdom of God say to the practice of medicine, both stateside and in developing countries? What place do the poor have in both the story of God and how does that decision impact people's attitudes, healthcare policies, and the response of the church? The answers given in the book are their opinions, many of which are incredibly controversial. However, these two men's lives are evidence of their commitment and concern for the 'least of these' in our world. As I read their words, I hear a calling to a life of far more discipline and faithfulness than I have been willing to commit to.  Hint: You may see several subsequent posts on thoughts from this book in the not too distant future as I wrestle with what this means for me. :)