I don’t have much of a story, here, just a quick thing.
My church is partnered with a church in Mali. We pray for each other, and my church sends material items over there to help out. Today, in fact, a medical missions group is going over to help with building a clinic. This includes four women from my church.
The pastor of the church in Mali has apparently made a request for one particular kind of material item.
He asked if we could save the used cups from Communion and send them over with the women. They would be happy to wash them, but those cups are almost-impossible to come by in Mali.
We’re talking about those little plastic cups that you know all too well if you’ve taken Communion at just about any Baptist, Methodist, or similar-denominationally-affiliated congregation in the US. As my pastor said, those cups are “about a dime a million” over here.
They wanted our used cups. The same cups that we, as good Americans, casually throw away.
We, of course, are sending a case of (unused) cups. But it has to make you think about who we are as people. Just where is our contentment? What do we, as Americans, demand that life just give us?
As Christians, where should our hearts be?
Would we be so content with Canadians’ leftover cups?
If not, then we have serious problems with our sense of entitlement.
February 7, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Wow… that does put a lot of things in perspective! What a wonderful thing your church is doing.
February 11, 2008 at 9:50 am
It is amazing how much we take for granted. Even those who are (relatively) poor in America often develop a sense of entitlement you don’t find in other nations where people struggle with much more desparate poverty.
February 11, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Listening to some of the people who have visited our congregation from Uganda or other parts of Africa, it is amazing what they put up with and yet they keep on going.
There are people who have to walk 6 or so hours each way to get water … we really have no idea what hardship is like.
February 14, 2008 at 11:57 am
My father does missionary work in South America. One of the most striking things he has noticed is how happy the people are while living in poverty. We take so many things for granted every day.
February 14, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Thanks for the perspective. That’s a great work your church is doing over there!
I was just thinking, though, about the communion cups. What has the church in Mali been using for communion up til now? If there was something already workable, do they feel the need to simply take communion like the West? Because that would not be a desirable outcome.
February 20, 2008 at 5:47 pm
offtopic: good template of the blog