The Gospel Experiment

Well friends, the Sara McLachlan video World on Fire in the previous post has really whacked me over the head.

I called the post "The Gospel", because that's what I believe has transpired. (Bad grammar, but you get my drift.) I don't know what Sarah believes, but the spiritual element of her lyrics is impossible to ignore; they reach out and grab me.

Check out this from Fallen:

Heaven Bend to take my hand
And lead me through the fire
Be the long awaited answer
To a long and painful fight
Truth be told I tried my best
But somewhere long the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer
But the cost was so much more than I could bear

Though I've tried I've fallen
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here and
Tell me I told you so

(Listen to the complete track here.)

Anyway, here's the word that comes to mind: Action. The cup of cold water, the widows and orphans - this is what we are to do. To paraphrase James, Sarah has put her money where her mouth is. I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that what I believe means less than nothing unless it translates into a corresponding change in behaviour.

In other words - Action.

Enough rambling - here's my proposal: You'll notice the Pay Pal "donate" button that has mysteriously apppeared over on the sidebar. No, I haven't resorted to begging... although it may come to that one day. I want to conduct "The Gospel Experiment". I would like everyone reading this to click that button and donate $10 in the currency of your choice to The Experiment. (Yes, you're welcome to send more if you wish.) When the experiment is over I'll send the money (all of it) to World Vision. (They're going to kill me at Global Action, but I think this should be "neutral", so the money can't go there.)

A couple of points - and allow me to be blunt:

+ Don't think about it - just click. ($10. That's the price of a couple of lattes and the cinnamon bun you shouldn't have had for breakfast.)

+ Don't pray about it - just click. (Have you read the paper? God has bigger issues to deal with today than your $10. "I'll pray about it" is a "holy cop-out", the Christian version of "I gave at the office".)

+ Please tell everyone you know to do the same. (Blogs, emails, word of mouth, graffiti, whatever.)

I don't want to be obnoxious about this, but I do want to see what we can accomplish as a group when we put our minds (and hearts) to it. Feel free to email me and let me know if you decide to participate.

Peace.