chasing the sun

I went to a conference this weekend. It was for college students from across the country to talk about AIDS, primarily in Africa, but other places like Russia and India were mentioned as areas where the disease is starting to gain momentum. Tragically, however, I began to see signs that these passionate and motivated students were being hindered by their own short-sightedness. They have a lot of passion and desire to make the world a better place and to rid the world of HIV and AIDS, yet they do not see that God has given the church this task and that they are a part of that church.

For better or for worse, as Christians, we belong to this body called the church…the body of Christ. It is not an institution or a corporate entity in a formal sense, but rather it is a living, breathing organism…capable (at times) of intelligent thought and aggressive action. And, as one of the speakers, a doctor from South Africa, so boldly stated,

“The body of Christ is HIV positive.”

There are over 300 million Christians in Africa, the speaker said. That’s more than the entire population of the United States. We can no longer ignore a part of our body that is infected and dying. We just can’t. Nor can we give up on the part of the body that only watches suffering and tragedy on the evening news and continues to do nothing. For reasons that sometimes are only known to God, we need every part.

Most discouraging of all was when I came back from the conference and spent the better part of a day looking on the internet at different organizations that are dealing with these problems. Bold faith and compassionate social justice don’t seem to find home where they can peacefully and effectively co-exist. Most organizations forsake one for the other, which is just unacceptable.

So, I ask you…what are we, the so-called “emerging church,” going to do? We’re trying to re-discover this ancient faith and to re-connect spirituality and theology. But we have to choose to honor God by remaining faithful to Christ, to his body, no matter how sick or poor or ignorant or stubborn it may be. As much as I long for a whole-life faith, I cannot help sever ties that make it possible for that faith to exist in the world. No, I must work, we must work to strengthen our ailing body, its physical condition, spirituality and heart need to be healed.