I am back in the States now. Have been for just a little over a week, wondering if my few months in Bangkok have left any impression more permanent than the fading flip-flop tan lines on the tops of my feet. The hope is always to have been changed, to have grown in that capacity of living we call theology. God knowing. Not merely to be a self-subsisting top spinning on its own axis of knowing and conceiving, but to be taken more and more up into that union where we are Christians before we are personalities. It is the progress of subtraction; the desperate wanting to be a less-ness in the largeness of Christ. What follows are the few conclusions I have retained with any clarity, both as relating to this messy pursuit of Christ and a few more practical thoughts.
Gospel to the Poor
Our brief mission in Bangkok was intended to be framed by an identification with poverty in the context of the gospel. Chris Heuertz, more or less co-founder of Word Made Flesh (WMF), says that we have for too long over-spiritualized "the poor" in Scripture. There is a knee jerk reaction to that statement, and I had it. That reaction would be, if you do not read "the poor" spiritually, we must scrap the gospel as we know it and a good deal of us would be damned. I do not think this is what he's after. What I think Heuertz means is that, particularly in America, we use the reality of spiritual poverty to defend our apathy toward the poor in our own midst. It's a little like casting out demons in the name of Satan and the Church cannot stand in that contradiction. Here even I defer to the Papists, who say, "It is a fatal error to separate these two--[daily bread and evangelization]--and even worse to oppose the one to the other." The truth is more encompassing: the gospel in which we believe wraps itself in poverty.
I have a very un-academic approach to examining this gospel to the poor. In my limited view of history, and of Scripture, I see two paths. One is toward unilateral liberation theology which has all the gloss of perfect Christian charity, but which I feel is an angel of light preaching a different gospel. The good news is not that the hungry are fed and the prisoners freed. I believe now that these outpourings of God's grace are indeed a dimension of the gospel, but they do not fully describe the fruition of redemption and peace with God.
The second path I see is the gospel of hope in eternity. This path often reminds me of the spiritual songs of American slaves. In their poverty and oppression, what I think many American slaves understood was the greater scope, the eternal grace, their ultimate home. It is not that we do not see people healed and the oppressed delivered in this life. We see this in manifold ways and means. We are not left with nothing to do but live in an evil world until we die and go to heaven. Scripture refutes this directly. It is merely a clarification of scope. Redemption and peace with God concerns a scope of nothing less than the fullness of eternity. Time stands within that fullness and, as such, we will see people healed and delivered through the ministry of the church, which has in its sights the eternal, unshakable kingdom.
What we can hope to learn of God's gospel of redemption is still to be found among those same poor, who we always have among us. Christ came in poverty, died in poverty. He willed Himself to be revealed in shame and humiliation. There is no reason to leave this gospel of the Cross and turn toward the "weak and beggarly" elements of our fictitious human wealth. There is no Christ there.
The question I often posed to myself during the last four months, and still do today, is "Did you commune with the poor; did you meet Christ there?" And I cannot answer myself satisfactorily. I simply do not know. I sat with the poor, but perhaps too distantly. I spoke to them, but often while clinging to selfish discontent. "Communion," then, seems a stretch. But where we are weak, there is God strong. And I have to believe that sharing twice-a-week awkward silences with those meek souls on Sukhumvit Rd. were a grace to me, a grace to them. I have to believe that the weakness of those moments will preach strength to my soul for the ages to come, according to God's will.
Meeting People is Easy
WMF's vision is primarily relational and a lot of our ministry consisted of the simplicity of presence and the simple beauty of trust that came from communication over time. As I struggled through my limited Thai with those I now know on the streets of Bangkok, I wondered that I had not tried to know the poor that have been around me my whole life. I can attest that our efforts bore, if nothing else, the fruit of trust. Though the vast majority of our spoken words were lost in translation, over time many folks who formerly received us with cautious eyes greeted us with eager smiles. It is not that a shared first language necessarily makes knowing and loving easier, but knowing I can meet folks on a dark thoroughfare in Bangkok armed with nothing more than a month's worth of Thai makes me suspect that the only thing between me and the poor in America is my faithlessness. It makes me a little bolder.
Visit Old People
I picked this up from our visit to the facilities operated by the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India. The two houses we worked in were mostly for the elderly. Their loneliness and alienation from what was going on outside their walled-off home was striking. Bethany and I talked about the universality of this situation and each vowed to visit the elderly wherever we lived.
Slavery is Real, Albeit Grey
I suppose one could dismiss the truth of modern slavery outright, but I've yet to meet someone who doesn't accept the idea. The problem is actually when one confronts this ugly reality with an elementary textbook idea of slavery.
There are people, especially women, who today match our romantic idea of a slave: brought to a foreign country against their will and held in captivity to do things against their will. Others know the nature of the work they will do and, under the duress of poverty, make the choice to sell themselves for money only to be held in a deceitful system of debt repayment that they cannot possibly escape, enduring threats of violence to their family and themselves should they renege on their "deal." The common element is that both of these people are treated as property and none of them can leave when they want. That satisfies my definition of a slave. What we as Christians need to be careful of is not to be scrupulous about the circumstances of one's slavery and to confront this evil with the gospel and with the same fervor as our abolitionist forebears.
Conversion is the Miracle
There is little I can think to say about this except to reaffirm orthodoxy. In Thailand, I was witness to the conversion of two souls. In a world fascinated with the exaggerated and lusting after the ecstatic, I was amazed that this most supreme miracle, of God's enemies becoming children, comes so quietly. And I tried not to miss it.
The Needs
Many people want to know what they can do. Having done so little in Bangkok, basing so much of our work around deliberately avoiding the practice of "doing" at the expense of "being," it is hard to come up with a very convincing "to do" list, but I do have a couple things to recommend.
Pray. This is not preached enough. We, as Christians, on the whole, do not believe in the power of prayer. I do not think our negligience of it is any sort of harmless laziness, but a real and terrifying faithlessness. I often justify this frailty in myself by using reason. And it is true that prayer is most unreasonable, which is why it ought to be practiced all the more with energetic faith. Our team talked a lot about how all great revivals were preceded by committed prayer. Do not neglect this grace. Pray for the coming of God's kingdom and simply trust.
$100. It costs roughly $100 to send a kid to school in Bangkok for one year. Many of the begging families we know are Cambodian and, thankfully, their children are legally entitled to attend public school in spite of their family's illegal status. There is even a small organization in Bangkok, with whom WMF has recently partnered, that tries to steer disadvantaged children towards enrolling in school. This costs $100. If you have $100 or know someone who does, you could ensure a child goes to school for that year. It's rare that you can be promised this level of causality, but I can assure you it's that direct. Contact me if this interests you.
People need to know about the degree to which the sex industry dominates tourism to Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, and even Chiang Mai, not to mention other destinations in Thailand. The response to this is up to you, but being informed and informing are the first step to seeing an end to the selling of human life in Thailand. If you know someone who's going on a business trip or vacation to Thailand, let them be warned. As I've been telling friends: just have your business retreat at Dave & Busters.
Thanks
There is more to be said about more than I have mentioned. A good face-to-face can probably sort out any questions you have. For any of you that have been supporting me through prayer, as well as anybody who contributed financially, I want to thank you. Your support has produced fruit. Prior to our team arriving in Bangkok, many of the dimensions of WMF's ministry were as yet unrealized. As a team, along with the Hupes, we helped shape the work for teams who will go in the future. You have, through your support, brought the gospel to the poor. Thanks be to God for you and for your help.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Richie
