Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. T.S Eliot

I appreciate this.
I have been stabbed by a very sharp assortment of "swords" and am feeling a tad drained.
Kuyper's Cafe, Bible study, Stephen Lewis, pancake breakfast debrief, Church, Church in the box, personal devo's, blogs, and a lot of riveting conversations ALL of which have criss crossed eachother on the issue of social justice.

And the issue is not new, but horribly real. And when the veil of affluence and comfort is lifted and you catch a glimpse of our world as it is: murder, rape, child soldiers, sweatshops, poverty, earthquakes, death tolls exceeding 200,000--bad things happening somewhere out there---- it kind of gets you thinking.

What is the problem? Why can't we get it together? I feel drained because I KNOW there is a problem, and I am told I AM IT.
OK. That may be. Maybe my purchasing of mangoes is impoverishing someone, somewhere. Maybe drinking coffee is enslaving someone, somewhere.
Maybe I need to seriously examine where my clothes come from.
And if I discover that my living standards/habits are contributing to the greater problem, then by all means, I must adjust them.
In good conscious I will say this, knowing it will be next to impossible to thrive here as a monk, but willing to do whatever it takes to set things right.
But I need to know that that really is the problem. THEN I can start to get thinking on a good solution.

However, the problem, more accurately can't be just me. The problem has to do with the state of our world. Sin-filled. And, until Christ comes again, it is an impossible problem to eradicate. And with sin comes corruption-- a complete disregard for God, God's law, and a proper understanding of justice. So the world really is a miserable place and yet the entire world is rallying to "save" it.
So.. solutions?
The Green way? Compost, recycle, reduce electricity use, bike.. etc. etc.
Or what- give money to a hobo on the street? Send money to Haiti? Sign up for a mission trip?
Or boycott superstores, protest migrant workers? Stop global trade?
Move? Remove yourself from the structre/system you are living/dying in?

For a non-christian, (and a christian) this may sound feasible, possibly attractive.
But I think Christians need to offer more. I don't think we can blame the "toxins of north american consumerism" for all the world's evils. ( And I would like to argue this rampant idea of "toxic" consumerism further..but later.)

I also don't think we can't act in isolation. The emphasis on individualism in this culture is debilitating and counter intuitive to how we are meant to exist.
We need to live in community.
We need to work together to honour God first, then our neighbour. Our community.
Out of the Christian communities we have got to start seeing/making a bloody difference. So, perhaps we should start getting along so that we can start to shine as a light, and remember who we are giving glory to, and who we will have to give an answer to when we are asked just how we took care of our God's world.

I think recovering a firm foundation to stand on will get rid of the "rubric" of "some" "considerable" and "high degree of" care that we want to enforce or encourage others to follow and allow people to exceed the mandated expectations to REALLY make some change in this God-forsaken country.