Kingdom Health Cares

This morning Kristof has me so upset I think I could cry.

Unfortunately, the New York Times now charges for it's premium op-ed stuff. Here's a link to the piece if you're a subscriber. (I have a generous benefactor who has hooked me up.) Basically he is talking about what Katrina has revealed about the health care system in America. Here's his opening line:

In the richest country in the world, a man named Eugene Johnson is going blind in a homeless shelter, because his eye medicine washed away in Hurricane Katrina and he can't afford to buy more.

Of course, all this is going on in a region that has long showed the effects of poverty:

In both Mississippi and Louisiana, infant mortality is worse (for every 1,000 babies born, 10 die in their first year of life) than in Costa Rica (8 die per 1,000). For black babies in either state, the picture is still more horrifying: 15 die per 1,000. In poor, war-torn Sri Lanka, where per capita medical spending is only $131, babies have better odds, with 13 dying per 1,000.

If my blog history is any indicator, there will be some who read this and get embarrassed and angry at what is going on. Other will be embarrassed and angry at me for talking about it, and point out my obvious political motives for doing so... all the while not addressing the actual issue.

I've been giving this a lot of thought lately. Why do I talk about this stuff? A couple of weeks ago I hooked up with Dave Diewert, and in the course of our conversation he said something that has allowed me to firm up why I do this.

First, some scripture for you. I think you'll recognize it:

Your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

Yes, that's Matthew 6:10, from a little something known as The Lord's Prayer. Like many good Christians, I believe I spent a good chunk of my life waiting for that verse to come to fruition. Every morning we open our curtains with great anticipation, hoping to see if His Kingdom did indeed come while we slept. Instead, we see the same old world, with the same old problems, so we slowly close our curtains again and hope for better things tomorrow.

(Here's where Dave's thoughts and my thoughts are mixed together, as he was able to articulate wonderfully what I've been feeling for a while.)

Now I recognize that the verse above is a call to action. We are at least partly responsible to help bring this about. We need to make conscious choices to live within this Kingdom that is all around us. Now, when I consider options, whether personal, communal, or even political/national, the question becomes "Does this help bring about the Kingdom?"

Now, here's the challenging part. What if the answer to that question is no?

In my mind now, after a lot of years of inaction... if the answer is "No", then I must stand against that course of action. Period. (Then we need to address the question of what we do about it, but that's better left for another day, or perhaps your own conscience.)

So, if you must apply labels, here's a suggestion: It's not left/right, liberal/conservative, or any others you care to apply. It's Kingdom/World. I realize this sounds simplistic; that's partly because I'm not taking the time to write it out with much thought, but also because, well, it is.

I want to His Kingdom to come. So, I find myself supporting actions that help it to do so, and opposing those that seem to be taking us in the wrong direction. This is a participatory Gospel we are living out.

Carry on.

Comments

[wilsonian]

No comment... just want to thank you for loving us enough to keep the Kingdom in front of our faces :)

[robert]

I can't remember what I said. But I bet it was good.

[matt]

Having been away for a few days, it sounds like I missed out on all the fun. Having been there (and here) before, I can only guess.

A great book: Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living. And a quote from that book that makes me think of your post:

"Let's call a person who accepts Jesus' commission a good citizen of the kingdom of God, and let's call a person who accepts this commission with enthusiasm a "prime" citizen of the kingdom. A good citizen likes the kingdom of God just fine, but a prime citizen passionately yearns for the kingdom. A prime citizen has been redeemed far down in her spirit, way downtown in her heart, so that she deeply loves God and the things of God. She relishes God's Word. She rejoices in God her Savior. She finds that the things of faith-repentance, forgiveness, hope in God--seem sweet to her. Her pulse quickens at the prospect of blessedness such and "no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor human heart conceived." In her best moods she longs not just for happiness, but for joy; not just for joy, but for God; not just for God, but also for the kingdom of God. Because of her enthusiasm for the kingdom, she doens't merely endorse justice in the world; she hungers and works for it. She doesn't reject cruelty; she hates and fights it. She wants God to make things right in the world, and she wants to enroll in God's project as if it were her own. She "strives first for the kingdom" in order to act on her passion. In short, she is a person with a calling."

Um, I think Plantinga just called you a "she". Nice post, Mike. Nice post.

[David]

Been thinking about this much too, Mike. North Americans in particular - those of us who call ourselves Christians - are so prone to putting stock first and foremost in our eathly citizenship. In the mean time we allow our birthright to be traded away - not a birthright of privelege and moral policing, but a birthright of humility, sacrifice, service, feeding the poor, touching the lepers, turning the cheek, going the extra mile. It has been too long since many of us mourned that loss with tears. Perhaps we've been too busy waving flags or chasing the dream or hoping for some kind of "trickle down" evangelism to occur. I'm pretty sure, however, that Jesus has done his own share of weeping over us.

thanks for the reminders.