Call and Response

Call and Response-

This weekend I was invited to lead a panel discussion on a film titled “call and response,” a documentary film shedding light on the issue of human trafficking, and its pervasiveness in the world today. It was a sobering and convicting film to say the least, shining a glaring spotlight on this issue and it’s need to be addressed.

As my mind was inundated with the images, sounds, and truth concerning the reality that there are “more slaves in the world today than any other point in human history,” and that people, and in particular children, are daily being reduced (further de-humanization) to a commodity to be sold for labor or sexual means, I oddly found my mind being led to consider not just how I was going to necessarily “respond” to this tragedy, but how I was likely to be partially responsible for this ever occurring in the first place. That is to say that, is it possible, that through some of my seemingly “disconnected” daily decisions, that appear on the surface to not have such grave consequences, when “looked at” through a broader lens, and put in the context of the naively denied reality of the “connectedness” of all things (which is denied only because if faced, the gravity of our actions would be to great to ignore), that I may be just as much apart of the problem as the man who is pimping out kids in on the streets of Bangkok.

Cornell West suggests that the gospel affords us, in the prophetic tradition, to “humbly direct your strongest criticism at yourself, and then speak self-critically your mind to others with painful candor and genuine compassion.” With this in mind, lets take the deeper more painful journey to look into our own culpability in this issue of human trafficking.

Galatians 5: - It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

A simple question that I can ask is this, how do I find myself, consciously, or more than likely, subconsciously, experientially “falling out” of the freedom that is afforded and secured for me in Christ, and consequently living “under the burden” once again of any yoke of slavery? That it to say, that I somehow forfeit the grace that has been given me (Jonah 2:8), though not loosing it in actuality, only neutering it in it’s pervasiveness, to be the grounds by which, and the place from which, all of my “life”, and consequently my actions flow.

How this looks on the street is that although I “appear” and claim to be free, I find that my actions, which flow from decisions that are informed and motivated by values, which are rooted undoubtedly in my beliefs (what I hold to be truth), do not reflect the freedom that I claim to “live in.” It is this disparity between belief (truth claim) and action, between “held belief” and “displayed fruit” (Matthew 12:33) that is at the root of how I see the “connectedness” of this issue, and how I can be found culpable, in some form or fashion, about an issue such a human trafficking, that only days ago I was totally unaware of.

The most practical way I see this fleshing out in my own life and in the life of others is the slavery to consumerism and materialism that is inbred and woven tightly into the mindset of most western Americans. As a result of the globalization of economies and information, and the syncretism of systems of belief, the resultant has cultivated now a pervasive “entitlement”, or at the least “desire”, in most all humanity and people groups that the “goal of life” is to gather enough materials (money) to ensure happiness and comfort, which might as well be deities of modernity. As it appears in culture today, the American dream has been reduced to a “free for all, dog eat dog” playground for hedonism, narcissism, and materialism.

But what happens when my “entitlement” or desire, for a consumable product, is being realized by someone else’s freedom being taken from them? That is to say that, when does my sense of being “entitled” to having shoes, at a price that I think is right for me to pay, (even though that “price” requires someone in the chain of supply for that product, to be forced to produce that product, against their will and without pay), breakdown, and be found exposed for what it truly is, namely “selfish ambition.” How can I say as a Christ follower I deserve anything at the expense of the freedom of anther human?

This is where I find us all to be culpable for this issue. To ignore the “connectedness“ of all humanity, and the effects of one cultures prosperity, built upon the backs of another cultures depravity (enslavement), is only possible in a culture such as America, where we satiate our minds and minutes of every day with ample distractions, keeping us from fixating long enough to feel convicted about anything. This inability to have “sustained attention”(Gary Haugen), keeps us from ever making sizable, and lasting progress in such areas as human trafficking. We simply don’t have the attention span, and often the only thing that sustains attention, in our growing global “values”, are in their root forms purely narcissist, limiting therefore the willingness that is unquestionably required in the “dying to self” that leads to liberation of others.

Philippians 2 -Imitating Christ's Humility If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 
 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

The mark of the gospel taking root in out lives, and beginning to bear fruit, is humility that takes on the form of sacrifice. Cornell West stated in the film, “justice is what love looks like in public.” The kingdom ethic that Jesus lived and imparted to us through the Holy Spirit is one of downward movement, of service to others, of laying down our lives. This is far beyond the “go green”, sexy semi-philanthropic displays of our secular culture, as good as they mean and are.

This call is a call to literally consider others better than yourself, to love others at least as much as you love yourself. For this to even be remotely possible, requires living in the reality of what has been done for us in Christ, which is constantly under “contest” in the attention spans of us all, but when experienced, affords us the capacity, fueled solely by grace, to suffer and lay down our lives (entitlement) for others. It requires a dying that is only possible when a hope experientially begins to be firmly fixed in our hearts and minds.

Romans 5: 3-5 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.