Have you ever thought about what you might say if you drafted your own version of Martin Luther King Jr.’s, I Have a Dream speech? What dreams do you have? What hopes do you have for yourself and for your community?

 

Prince lives in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Four years ago, Prince, who is one of many street kids born in a war zone and living on the streets, asked my friend Esther if she could help him go to school. Now 13 years old, Prince and his classmates recently studied the life of Martin Luther King Jr. This past November, Prince stood in front of his class and recited MLKJ’s I Have a Dream speech. As he finished, his classmates applauded and Esther told him he did a great job and that he could take a seat again.

 

Prince stood there in front of the class. He hesitated for only a moment and then said, “But that was MLKJ’s dream for America. I have a dream for Congo.”

 

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It happened again. This time it was 33 women.  While people around the world celebrated the beginning of a new year and the hope of change in 2011, 33 women in Eastern Congo went through hell on earth as armed men took their turns raping and brutalizing their bodies, some in front of their children. Chaos erupted and sent residents of the village attacked on a running spree.

In Eastern Congo, in the surrounding areas of the city Goma, which sits along Lake Kivu on the boarder of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, rape is used as a weapon of war. This war has been raging in this area for 15 years. The result? Over 5 million violent deaths, countless rapes, a nonexistent education system and a lack of trusted, secure government officials. This is the worst humanitarian crisis since WWII.

Fortunately, Jesus is alive and on the move in the midst of the devil’s playground in Congo. Fortunately God has eyes and sees what’s taking place. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit is blowing through the land and working hard to bring the Kingdom of Heaven down on top of the evil that exists.

I know this because last night I had the honor and privilege of spending some time listening to dear friends of mine, Camille* and Esther Ntoto share stories of reconciliation, surrender, forgiveness, love, unity, resilience and modern day miracles all taking place right now in this land. The Ntoto’s live in Goma and see the struggles of their own people day in and day out. The devil never takes a day off unfortunately. But neither does God and he has the last word.

I sat and listened to Esther and Camille go on and on about stories of the Kingdom come to Earth and people transformed by the Word of God and by the power of the risen Christ. I felt a host of emotions as I soaked it all in. I was saddened by the reality of life for so many in Eastern Congo it made me physically hurt. At the same time, I was in awe of hearing of the ways God’s glory is shining through the darkness. It’s a weird concept to be hurt, angry and confused knowing that other people are experiencing such pain, despair and hell at it’s worst while also knowing and believing God’s kingdom work being done regardless.

The idea that the kingdom of God has come to Earth, even now before the return of Christ, is incomprehensible to me. Sure I believe it because I see evidence of it in my life as well as in others such as with the Ntoto’s. But the significance of that is humbling, overwhelming and in the words of the rainbow guy, intense!

So tonight I’m still heartbroken and a little tore up about the pure ugliness happening to the beautiful Congolese people. And I’m also praising God for his compassion, his caring acts of mercy and restoration and for friends like Esther and Camille who live out the hope they have received in Jesus and who are witnesses to Christ in a broken place in much need of healing.

I’m stripping the academics from the kingdom of heaven and reveling in its reality tonight. I’m longing to have both feet in the kingdom opposed to one in and one out in this world in this moment. I’m believing that God has already called Congo his nation and the Congolese his people and he will continue to usher in his will, his goodness and his plans of greatness into that land.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours.
Now and for ever. Amen

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In June of this year I highlighted NY Times jounalist Nicholas D. Kristof’s article Death by Gadget in this post.  Kristof did a great job of speaking the truth about the war in Eastern Congo and the driving force behind it. Yes that force is the demand for Congo’s minerals which are used to manufacture most electronics, Apple products included.

Since that post I’ve also posted a bit about an organization I am hearing more and more from called Falling Whistles.

Falling Whistles began because an American young man visiting Eastern Congo, ran into a few boys who had just ran away from the army they had been forced to join and who were now in hiding. This young American man listened to their stories of their kidnapping and the brutality they were forced to endure themselves and inflict on others. And then he heard something he could hardly believe was true.

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-Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism....

My son was born on the very day that George W. Bush decided it was prudent to invade Iraq. I remember being distraught at the lack of evidence revealing weapons of mass destruction and I remember feeling a bit, well, cynical that my son would know anything but a violent world. Who is going to teach him peace? That was one of my journal entry questions that night. At the end of the day, his mother and I would have to teach him peace, but one day he will need to learn that global peace is difficult and my prayer is that he won't become jaded or cynical in his quest to simply live out his faith in a fractured world. Let's be honest, cynicism can be a drug at times. It feels good for a while, but after all is said and done, it's a let down. 

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NY Times journalist, Nicholas D. Kristof, wrote an article published in today’s paper he titled Death by Gadget. It’s a timely article in light of the release of the latest iPhone. Would you believe that by purchasing the iPhone and most electronics, for that matter,  you might be funding one of the deadliest wars in history?

Kristof has this to say about the conflict in Congo:

I’ve never reported on a war more barbaric than Congo’s, and it haunts me. In Congo, I’ve seen women who have been mutilated, children who have been forced to eat their parents’ flesh, girls who have been subjected to rapes that destroyed their insides. Warlords finance their predations in part through the sale of mineral ore containing tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold. For example, tantalum from Congo is used to make electrical capacitors that go into phones, computers and gaming devices.

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What has always been striking to me is the fact that the first children (Cain and Abel) mentioned in the Bible resulted in the first recorded murder. Cain kills Abel in cold blood. It's clear, unmistakable, evil, and violent. What is also clear is that in recent decades, we have argued and debated not simply our rights to have firearms, but also the rights to go to war. Violence seems to be something naturally a part of fallen humanity and something that seems to be here to stay.

Despite the increased violence found in public schools, the 'right to bear arms' is defended to an almost fever pitch. And more than this, let's simply reflect a bit behind the headlines. Since September 2001, terrorism has been in the news almost daily, the threat of nuclear war seems to also be creeping back into the mainstream mindset with the recent summit meetings with Russia and sanctions against Iran. And yet, there has been a rise in violent video games and horror films the likes of which we haven't seen in quite some time. Either the world is indeed becoming more violent or violence is simply surfacing as an integral part of what it means to be worldly.

A recent story about violent crime on the streets of Chicago had some amazing and alarming stats. The direct quote is as follows: 

So far this year, 113 people have been killed — matching the death toll of U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan during the same period.

The Chicago Sun Times - Daley: National Guard only a 'Band-Aid' solution to crime

This article actually challenges me to wonder if pacifism and non-violence really is the Christian or most Biblical way to counter the violence wrought by our own collective hearts. To have more murders in a calendar year than two wars says something striking about our own sense of community. Many of us aren't really living life with a vision of something new or better or different, many of us are simply surviving life, hoping the next paycheck will come in and hoping we'll be alive to spend it on something more than our food, lodging, and transportation. Yet, the conservative crowd is clamoring not for gun control, but for gun rights. This doesn't seem right. Shouldn't we have a deeper, broader, and more comprehensive vision of life? Shouldn't we invite people to a better life and not just a life of survival?

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Over the weekend I tweeted and updated my facebook status with the simple statement: Muslims killing Christians in Nigeria followed by a simple question: Will we respond like Christ or like humans? It’s always interesting what captures people’s imaginations and provokes response.

After a year of conversations on facebook, I was still amazed at the response the simple status update received. Feel free to check it out here: http://bit.ly/auO0bH

Reflecting on responses, the following points are worth of mentioning:

1) There is no emotion like religious emotion.

Wars over the centuries have demonstrated that religions are frequently front and center in every war. Religious emotion is a product of two things as I see it. First, it is an indicator that people genuinely care. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t get so upset.

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For a while I have been thinking about the answer to this question.  What does it really mean to live in such a way that I am truly promoting the welfare, or well-being, of humanity? What does it involve?  What attributes of Christ can we learn from to enlarge our understanding of this idea?  At its core, my question is this – Can we understand humanitarianism as “being” rather than “doing.”  Is it really about who we are?

Along the way, I have been looking for examples of “being” that might be considered humanitarian.  I found a great one in an article entitled “Sharpshooters – The Distant Executioner” in the February 2010 Vanity Fair (a moderately guilty pleasure of mine in the realm of reading).

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I remember the sniper attacks.  It was only a year after 9-11 and everyone was still a little on edge.  I was in college and the war was just getting started.  I bought my shirt with a flag on it and wore it proudly.  I was and am proud to be an American, most of the time.  Last week, I was getting ready to speak at a retreat and missed the news when a man killed his fellow soldiers and the nation was on edge again. 

This evening John Allen Muhammad was put to death.  He was a soldier too.  His ex-wife claims he came home from Dessert Storm a changed man.  His lawyer decried that statement and said he wasn’t… how could you not be though?  Battles change people whether they are in the army or in a living room.  They stir dark parts of your soul and voices emerge that we didn’t even know existed; voices that haunt and prey on our esteem and our will to live in a healthy way.