A Plea to the Church in America

This is well-phrased, Cheri. Thank you for these pointed reminders.
I sincerely appreciate Sarah’s comment, though, and your response to it, too, because that internal struggle you two have experienced, and I have as well, is one to which we need to pay attention.
Here is a reality: war, dictatorships, civil unrest, and other forms of persistent violence and/or civil suppression tend to galvanize a person’s or people group’s faith, as do extreme famine, extreme poverty, & breakouts of fatal diseases. We can be ever-so-grateful that we have not experienced war, Famine, that kind of poverty, or something like an actual Ebola a breakout on our soil in many, many decades. Acts of terrorism, yes; Heinous, senseless crimes and killing, yes; pain, suffering, abuse, hunger, poverty, grave illnesses, and death, yes.
I think we can all agree that these experiences also have their galvanizing, crucible effects. And when they happen to us personally or to a person we love, we experience that crucible effect, the kind that galvanizes our own face and challenges all of our presuppositions about what Christianity, along with God himself, has meant to us up to that point and what exactly we intend to do about it.
War, and all those other violences and sufferings, are not God’s ideal for his creation. The lion laying down with the lamb is the ideal. Eden is the ideal. Reconciliation is the ideal. Restoration is the ideal.
Although Americanism does not equal Christianity, and we should never confuse the two, it is all right, and even desirable, for us to be extremely grateful to be living in a peaceful country that is blessed, *at present*, with basic civil order, democratic ways and governance, and peace on a basic level. We are biblically urged to pray for our civil leaders, That they may do their job well, so that we may experience peace.
I don’t believe that feeling of guilt we have each experienced is intended to weigh us down. I believe it’s an active work of the Spirit, prompting us to pray, to move, to act, and to place our trust in the God who sees, who hears, and who cares about all those experiencing all those effects–the alien, the fatherless, the widow, and all vulnerable people and victims of such violences. To place our trust in him–AND to act.
Action includes consistent, committed prayer for these things that happen beyond our walls and borders, whether our prayer comes with an emotional attachment or not.
Action includes involvement in other people’s lives, and our community, as well as interest in our politics.
Action includes giving to Christian social justice efforts (and sometimes even non-Christian social justice efforts, when they are achieving something that Christians are not).
Action includes listening to that prompting of the Holy Spirit to hear what he is bothering you about!
What issues are bothering you? That is the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart. Listen. And then step forward with whatever baby steps you can muster to simply say to God, “I am listening. I want to help. Help me do something for Jesus’ name and sake.” He will make the way plain, Whether quickly or slowly, according to his will and according to what he knows about you.
And then you will become a woman with a mission, whether you have babies to feed, a Bible study to lead, diapers to change, teenagers to drive to youth group, a worship team practice on Thursday night, a message to prep for Sunday morning, or a meeting with a molasses-filled, slow-moving, seemingly-visionless church mission board, you will be on a mission. You will become God’s mouthpiece, God’s prophetic voice in the world today, a voice crying out in the wilderness, that one bringing that salt and light into the world, that one shining like the stars in the heavens, that one doing God’s work that he prepared in advance for you to do.
So the next time those feelings emerge, listen to them, but don’t own them. Ask God, “what do these feelings mean?”
Here is my own story of stepping into those feelings and asking God what they mean: http://natalieeastman.com/on-natalies-heart/
Also, my friend and writing colleague, Shayne Moore, has written two books you might find interesting: Global Soccer Mom and Refuse to Do Nothing (co-written with Kimberly Yim).
What I’m really grateful for right now is that you women are thinking. You’re thinking outside yourself. You are wrestling. You are emerging as someone who is listening to God, as someone who is willing and open to being God’s mouthpiece, hands, and feet in the world. And to that I say, “Hallelujah!!!!!”

Soooooo right on the mark! Amen!