More on BUILD

Okay, so we're in our, um, 6th week or so of BUILD. I regret I missed the past two weeks b.c. the group visited some cool places -- CURE and Bethel New Life, I think. This past week we went to the local precinct and learned about the average crimes that are committed and the rise in juvenile and female offenders. The officer who gave us a guided tour was very knowledgeable about the police and justice system, as well as about human and social problems. 'Speaking for himself' and not the dept., he had wonderful words of wisdom about the tendency of legal system to harshly penalize all drug-related crimes and the dearth of social services to help addicts get clean and ex-cons to get jobs and get back on the right track. Even exposing such institutional ills that make city life tough for all, this officer also gently berated residents for letting our families and educational system and spiritual base erode. These structures and forces used to be stronger and now they are sorely suffering. So there was some talk of personal responsibility, though it wasn't worded as such.

What left me thinking from the meeting were a couple of things:

1) The main thing was whether or not there is really hope to change the status quo. At times when you take a tough, 'realistic' look, you end up depressed and hopeless, which I don't think is what God wants and I don't think is very useful. How do you really change people's lives holistically (spiritually and naturally, both their hearts and their circumstances), let alone whole communities of folks or whole institutional structures that are so oppressive, racist, and even classist? I know the cliches that talk about making change one person at a time, but, as one sister in the group mentioned, when change is so slow, it's easy to get discouraged. I can honestly see why some folks turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the plight of those in the inner city. On one level, it's like what I did with the Tsunami tragedy and others like it that are so catastrophic: closed my eyes, turned the TV off, and tried to put it out of mind b.c. it was so overwhelming. But Lord, that's not what our Savior did. The masses, who were like sheep w.o a shepherd, caused Jesus to be moved w. compassion. He didn't draw away from them, like so many people do when they look at TT, my daughter who has an unusual disability. No, Jesus was drawn TO them -- even to the dreaded outcast lepers. Lord, I pray that you make my heart tender again and that you soften me w.in so that my reaction is not to run and put my head in the sand but to FEEL, b.c. feeling leads to action....

2) How do you measure progress? How do you know that you are really making a difference? Yeah, yeah, we can say all the things we're supposed to say, like God just requires that we are faithful, and that our Western society has programmed us to think that if we're not seeing 'results', then the endeavor isn't worthwhile. I am certainly the first person to decry the mindset that measures success by numbers of people or other superficial things. However, I have also seen Christian groups that operate so loosely and seriously reflect (objectively, w. an outside view) so lamely that a healthy dose of "Are you carrying out your mission?" is needed. Steve, I think you're right. The answer is in re-defining success, but I think success has to be defined. Even if we concede that some of it will be undefinable. Okay, I'm starting to not make sense, so I must be tired...

The third and last thing I'm thinking about as a result of the last (and every) BUILD mtg is the whole personal responsibility vs. institiutional blame thing. No easy answer there. Just a caution to include both and not to swing to either extreme. I think conservatives foolishly over-emphasize personal responsibility, which keeps them from seeing (and therefore dismantling) institutional racism. On the other hand, I think liberals just as foolishly over-emphasize institutional factors, which keeps them from seeing (and therefore dismantling) factors within the culture and mindset of the poor and others that contribute to the problem. Need to say a quick prayer for balance....


Peace.