Thursday 8 August 2013

Loving Fearlessly


Dan Muthui

 In my previous entry, I highlighted the many issues our society and in particular the youth face. It appears darkness is on the increase by the day and that our places of habitation have become so treacherous. Men, women and children live in perpetual fear from daily threats and possibility of harm. Hoping for flourishing communities seems a vain venture.

Not even government machinery has the capacity to promise and realize safe communities. Here in Honduras (so is the case in other jurisdictions), murders and other forms of violence happens on a daily basis under the very gaze of government apparatus. I heard several references to the city of Tegucigalpa as the ‘murder capital of the world.’ The dysfunctionality of security, education, economic and social system is so pronounced that turning to the government to address the systemic causes appears unfeasible.

The frail social conditions are worsened by the fact that the church has been apathetic to the suffering of the vulnerable. Much of it is faulted for its cold and removed attitude towards social justice, or where justice is pursued, it is confined to the walls of the church in ministries such as prayer and individual spiritual experience.

I must note that such a critique is not only limited to Honduras or the countries of Latin America, but it is my guess that each jurisdiction (including North America) in one way or another locates the church’s lack of bold plunge into the messy world of justice. But, the scenario is not a hopeless one. Christ has called us into the broken world to bear the burdens of others in love. Here in Honduras, i have seen this fearless love expressed by some believers who have boldly stepped out of their comfort zones to confront injustices head on.  Such action is visible in the works of Association for a More Just Society (AJS).

Yesterday, we visited ASJ offices to hear the accounts of the staff and more about their work. The organization works for justice at an individual and systemic level. They carry the cases of victims of crime through the legal and the criminal justice system but also work to effect policy at a national level- a very difficult work given the context. One of their lawyers was murdered a while back for taking up a sensitive and prominent case. Employees receive threats of harm on a regular basis but this has only served to fuel their passion and pursuit for justice.

I could not help but think deeply about the expression of faith in North American context. In our environment, we do not have to walk in the constant and gripping fear of being harmed, neither do we have to stretch our faith for things that others struggle to have on a daily basis: food, safe neighbourhoods, health care, functional public service system among others. Our faith and trust can lack the stretching that makes us strong bearers of the burdens of others. Yet, this visit to Honduras has served to awaken me to the harsh realities of our neighbours even if they’re thousands miles away from my residence.

Our world is filled with brutality and we have no excuse for escaping or turning our backs towards the plight of our fellow men. To love one another and our neighbor in days of gross darkness calls for a bold faith. We at least ought to pray for the capacity to be brave and to be able to leap off the safety of our spaces and by trust plunge into the broken world that God seeks to heal and restore even if this may come at a huge cost. The one who has called us will be with us to the end.

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