Pan Dulce

Christmas at Buckner

 

This past Friday I spent the day visiting several ministry sites in Dallas. I was amazed at the way we are impacting lives right here in Dallas.

 

First, I went to the Dallas Children’s Campus and visit with Henry Jackson. Children from Mi Escuelita School were presenting their Christmas program in the Maris Building. There was a buzz in the room with parents standing equipped with cameras and video recorders.

 

Henry gave me a brief tour of the Hoblitzelle Building and a room full of toys. He showed another room full of bicycles. Every child in all of our programs in the DFW area will receive a gift this year and extra toys will be used for their birthday gift. I was amazed to see so many volunteers at work. This is probably one of the best days of the year to volunteer at Buckner and one of the most exciting places. I thought for a moment I was in the North Pole.

 

My next stop was at the Humanitarian Aid Center working with Volunteers at the Crisis Relief Center. I was very impressed with the organization in place and the way in which we were serving clients. Over 200 families were presented a shoes, Christmas gifts, a bag full of groceries, a gift card to purchase a turkey, a bag of candy, eggs, bread, a Bible, and a stuffed animal. I was invited to greet clients and take them through the line. Jackie Belt, his team, and all the volunteers were beaming.  We have a system that ensures the folks coming through our center are in deep need and are not being served by any other agency. I could not have been in a better place that day.

 

I met one lady that asked if we had an extra bed. We checked and our warehouse was out of beds and sofas. The woman was a single mom with three girls. She had a job and was staying in a friend’s apartment but was sleeping on the floor with her girls. I took her number and said I would try to find something for her. Unfortunately, I was not able to locate a bed. Our staff said she could return in January to see if any beds were available. I called Pastor Jose Gamez of Iglesia Bautista Alfa and asked him to accompany me to visit this family that lived very closed to the church. I stopped at WalMart to purchase two queen sized air mattresses so this family would have a place to sleep over the holidays. Pastor Gamez and I had a wonderful visit on Sunday afternoon. I encouraged her to check back with us in January. This story is not over.

 

My final stop was at Wynnewood Community Center. Cheryl Jones and her staff were ready, excited, and prepared for the after school program. I had an opportunity to work puzzles with children, play sandlot touch football, and participate in some stomp with some of the girls. I caught the beat and was inducted into a Stomp Team. Awesome!

 

Buckner and its staff and volunteers do good work like this all year round. We exist to improve the lives of vulnerable children, orphans, and families. It does not get much better than this, especially at Christmas!

Perspective

 

I have asked Katie Kilpatrick to allow me to print her devotional presentation delivered here at our offices on Monday, November 30, 2009. Katie is Donor Development Coordinator with Buckner Foundation. Take a minute to read her vision and passion for ministry among the least of these:

 

I've been reflecting lately on perspective.

  

Over Thanksgiving break I attended a game at the new Cowboys Stadium. It is huge. I gazed around at the sea of over 70,000 humans, wondering if I'd ever seen more people in one place before. Then I had a sudden perspective shift. I remembered there are 5 million orphans in Ethiopia- 71 times as many orphans as people at that game. And that's just Ethiopia.

 

I had another big change in perspective this week. A friend told me about www.globalrichlist.com. You enter your income and the site calculates where you rank. Out of 6.8 billion people on earth, I am the 242,608,696^th richest. I was feeling poor. Then I saw the percentages. I rank in the wealthiest 4% of the entire planet. I am only 24 years old - most Americans would rank higher.

 

One last change in perspective rocked my world this week. We speak often at Buckner about the massive number of orphans in our world. It hurts our hearts to think of all those unloved children. Yet, there are 800 million people in our world who call themselves "born again Christians". If only 6% of those Christians adopted, there would be a home for every one of the 50-60 million orphans who are legally eligible for adoption.

 

The Lord has been teaching me all about perspective lately. I grew up dreaming of saving the world, but I am just a small fish in a very big pond. I am no Bono or Bill Gates. I cannot perform any surgeries or engineer any AIDS-curing drug. I have no Nobel prize or Harvard degree. I'm hardly special - there are 92 people with my name on Facebook alone! 

 

The Lord has been absolutely pouring perspective change into my life. The Lord tells me, "see things the way I see them, the way they really are- you are small, but you are called. You are called to action on behalf of those with nothing. More than called- you are responsible."

 

Brooke Fraser's song "Albertine" is haunting me lately. After traveling to Rwanda and meeting little Albertine amidst wretched poverty, Brooke sings "Now that I have seen/ I am responsible/ Faith without deeds is dead". Later, she is practically screaming "I will tell the world/ I will tell them where I've been/ I will tell them, Albertine".

 

I am responsible.

 

The Lord tells me: You think you have little, but I have given you MUCH, and for one purpose- not your luxury, but to bless others and build my Kingdom. You CAN give money, both to organizations and directly to those with needs. You CAN bring a child into your home through adoption or foster care- even siblings, older kids, or one with special needs! You CAN be a mentor. You DO have the time.

 

I am responsible for my real money, my real weekly schedule- not just abstractly saying "oh yes, I support the children". I am responsible for every tool I have been given. Now.

 

Not only CAN I, but I MUST if I am really a follower of Jesus, because that is what Jesus is all about. See in Luke 4:

 

While in Nazareth, Jesus goes to worship, unrolls the scroll from Isaiah, and reads: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor". The eyes of everyone were fastened on him, and he began by saying, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

 

THAT is what kind of God we have.

Caste India: Journey into the Unseen

Delhi is like any major mega city in the world numbering about 27 million, that is, until you see the city through the Caste system. The Caste system in India is a socio-cultural system born out of the Hindu worldview.  According to Dr. Thom Wolf of University Institute , “a caste is a group assignment, social standing. A caste birth is a life assignment, a life career. In the USA, life is like an arrow moving from creation to consummation. In India, life is like a circle, a Karma. A caste birth is a Karma birth.” Here is how it works:

Forward Castes represent about 15% of the 1.2 Billon population in India, about 180 million people. These Castes are called “Forward” because on a scale of purity and pollution, these castes face the purity side of the scale. People in the Forward Castes represent Brahmins: the priests; the Kshatriyas: the princes or those in government; and the Vaishyas: the proprietors, those in business.

Backward Castes, those facing the polluted or unclean part of the scale, represent about 50% of India’s population numbering about 600 million people. The more you work with your hands, the lower your caste group ranks as backward and therefore, unclean. A carpenter’s son, for example, would be a member of a backward caste in India. This group would be called the Sudras or manual workers and servants. The good news is that to be in a caste is to be human. Females in all castes are seen as second-class caste members. There is no concept of being created in the image of God and no concept of personal dignity.

So, in India, you have four chances to be human if you are a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Sudra.

If you are not born into one of these castes, you are an outcaste, a person without a caste, inhuman. This group is called Dalit, “talking animals.” About 20% of India’s population is Dalit, numbering about 240 million. 70% of all Christians in India are Dalit.

If you are following my math, we are missing about 180 million people or 20% of the population. These folks are referred to as “Pop Outs” according to Wolf. They “pop-out” of the Caste system through conversion to other religions, primarily Islam, Roman Catholicism, and Evangelical Christianity.

Dr. Thom provided a very helpful orientation for our team on our first day in India. He reminded us of the often quoted “It is self-evident, that all men are created equal,” and said in India, you say it this way: “It is self-evident, that all men are created unequal.”

Jeff Jones, Susan Williams, and I found ourselves immersed in a world much different than we are accustomed to. A city roughly the size of Mexico City but very different. Different from anything else I have ever been exposed to. Yet, the calling of the Spirit of God never seemed more clear to me. We must find a way to serve the least of these in India.

The Temple: Part II

In my last blog I wrote about our visitation to the Hindu Temple in New Delhi, India. This was an immersion experience for our group that was visiting India. It was a highly effective way to get an introduction into the worldview of the majority of people that we were learning about and those we hope to eventually serve.

I have been exposed to other world religions from a distance but have never had this kind of experience. That is, to see it up close and personal. I was first amazed by the number of people that had to wait in line to work their way into the temple to worship. They had to take time out of their work-day to stand in line for hours to present gifts of flowers, money, and food to idols that do not speak, breathe, see, or hear.

I was also struck by the statue of the Hindu goddess and the swastika on her right hand. The symbol is said to have been the uniting symbol for the Arian Race. This symbol tied Arian peoples together from Europe to India and was seen as a sign of superiority. Hitler is said to have borrowed the symbol for his movement and appealed to the spirits for help, for advantage, and for success.

According to worshippers, the idols in the temple did not come alive until spirits embodied them. This would not happen until they were summoned to come to the temple and inhabit the idols by the ringing of the bell on the part of worshipers. The symbol clearly posted outside the temple in Hindi spells the sound of meditation = Hhmmm. This meditation is said to clear one’s mind to think on “nothing” as preparation for the spirits to indwell the idols and interact with the worshippers.

The worship area was an unclean place. The idea of cleaning is not practiced by people of the forward looking castes. Only the OBCs (Other Backward Castes) or Dalits (People with no caste or outcastes) are associated with cleaning. Drawing near to God, and in this case, the gods, does not produce an identity of cleanliness in this setting. This context stands over against the familiar saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” It also stands in contrast to the Holy Spirit, the clean spirit. People coming out of this tradition tend to be filled with joy at the prospect of being clean when the Holy Spirit enters a person’s life.

Now, imagine that you are a child belonging to an OBC or a Dalit family living on less than $2 per day. Imagine that you are without parents, on the streets, abandoned and in need of a loving family. You have little to no standing in society as a child, but as an OBC or Dalit (Talking Animals), you are seen as nothing, not even human. Yet, the majority of population of India fits in these categories. This puts a new spin on the phrase “the least of these” Jesus says we are to serve. I walked away from the temple that day with a heavy heart and wondering what a Jesus response would be.

The Temple Visit

Dr. Thom Wolf led us on a visit to the local Hindi Temple where a statue of the mother god was displayed. He provided some commentary for us with biblical references along the way. 1 Corinthians 10 came alive to us as we walked by the long lines of people bringing flowers, candy, food, and other offerings to present to the mother goddess.

We had to remove our shoes to enter the holy place, yet the area was strikingly un-kept. Worshippers, by the 100’s circled into the temple, rang the bell to invoke the spirit of the goddess to meet them in worship as they presented their gifts and burned incense.

The Apostle Paul says that food and offerings offered to pagan idols are actually offered to demons. I was reminded of Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 6, that we “wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and evil powers in high places.” I was moved at the widespread sense of alienation from the one true living God in that place.

This kind of worship offers no hope of a personal relationship with God, no hope of redemption, and no freedom to live out the purpose God has designed for us. People are restricted to their own caste, their assigned lot in life with no hope of the life that Jesus offers.

We came to discover how we can serve children and families in India. We are in a place where children need the hope that Jesus offers. Needs are immeasurable. More on what our next step will be next week.