Connectedness

Eve Ensler spoke at Ted last year. I will admit I don't know that much about Ensler but found her talk fascinating. Best known for her book Vagina Monologues, Ensler speaks about connectedness. Connectedness to each other, our planet and to the devastation around us.

At one point she says, "Then I went somewhere else. I went outside what I thought I knew. I went to the Democratic Republic of Congo. And I heard stories that shattered all the other stories. I heard stories that got inside my body…” Stories of horrific rape, of girls forever scarred and wounded from what happened to them.

“There are thousands of these stories, and many of the women had holes in their bodies -- holes, fistula -- that were the violation of war -- holes in the fabric of their souls. These stories saturated my cells and nerves, and to be honest, I stopped sleeping for three years. All the stories began to bleed together. The raping of the Earth, the pillaging of minerals, the destruction of vaginas -- none of these were separate anymore from each other or me. Militias were raping six-month-old babies so that countries far away could get access to gold and coltan for their iPhones and computers. My body had not only become a driven machine, but it was responsible now for destroying other women's bodies in its mad quest to make more machines to support the speed and efficiency of my machine.”

Connectedness. The stories of sisters suffering around the world, in part because of the goods we buy, left Ensler scarred. It leaves me grappling and wounded too. I wish I didn't know what I do, but we cannot escape the reality around us. So, Ensler started V-Day, an organization that demands the end of violence against women and children.

If we are connected to the earth. If we are connected to the tragedies around the world. If we are connected to and take responsibility for our greed that breeds destruction in other places. If we realize our common movement within humanity - then what is our response? What do we do for the women in The Congo, crying out from the violation of their land and of their bodies? 

No easy answers come, but then again nothing worth doing is easy. 

There are no easy answers.
Anyone who tells you differently is selling something. 

Connected - joined or fastened together. Our actions, our decisions, our words, our action (or inaction) affect each other. 

Awareness - We are connected to each other. 

Education - How we spend our revenue affects women worlds away,

it can bring destruction or it can bring restoration. 

Advocacy - Use your influence to tell others. 

How can you bring connectedness to your world; to those around you in your family, community, society and to the larger universe in general?

 

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The Poor

"The poor are the center of the Church.  But who are the poor?  At first we might think of people who are not like us:  people who live in slums, people who go to soup kitchens, people who sleep on the streets, people in prisons, mental hospitals, and nursing homes.  But the poor can be very close.  They can be in our own families, churches or workplaces.  Even closer, the poor can be ourselves, who feel unloved, rejected, ignored, or abused.

It is precisely when we see and experience poverty - whether far away, close by, or in our own hearts - that we need to become the Church; that is, hold hands as brothers and sisters, confess our own brokenness and need, forgive one another, heal one another's wounds, and gather around the table of Jesus for the breaking of the bread.   Thus, as the poor we recognise Jesus, who became  poor for us." 

~ Henri Nouwen

Poverty has nothing to do with wealth. 

Let me say that again, POVERTY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WEALTH.

Wess Stafford the president of Compassion says that the opposite of poverty is not wealth, the opposite of poverty is enough. 

You can have all the money in the world and still be poor. You can have nothing and be wealthy beyond compare.

I have met some incredibly powerful people who are playing a role. They pretend to be outgoing, that life is wonderful, that things are amazing - but behind their eyes there is pain. I have sat with some people who seemingly only have what is on their back and they are full of joy and laughter and contentment. I have sat by myself and felt peace and joy, I have sat with those who love me and felt totally alone. 

It is not until we can get beyond this idea that wealth is somehow associated with stuff or success or marriage or children - that we can begin to see that poverty and wealth lies in relationships between each other, in worship of God, in living a life outside of yourself. If we could get beyond the superficial and the external, if the Church could move beyond the need to play "perfect" and therefore shun whoever does not "conform" to this idea, then we could actually make strides to being the Church.

Until we can admit and sit with our own poverty, we will be ineffective to truly helping others or being open to how God would use us.

It is not a destination, but a continued journey. One we must make together, one we can only make when it stops being about us and starts being about Him. 

What did this quote bring to your mind?