Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
“The bodily self that offers spiritual worship is the self given over to the well-being of the neighbor. Thus the mature body is in contrast to the former self that lives only for the self… The mature materiality of the body, however, will transcend self-preoccupation to identify itself to be a part of the body politic. The notion of “body politic” sees that the corporate life, the life of the public economy, and the reality of law and policy together constitute an arena in which the mature body participates as a responsible citizen. Unfortunately too much Christian spirituality is highly privatized, whereas healthy spirituality propels one into active engagement in the public domain.”
Walter Brueggemann in Materiality As Resistance: Five Elements for Moral Action in the Real World (Louisville: WJKP, 2020), 44-45.
Stateside many Christians mourn the news linked to the shooting of Charlie Kirk. What a tragedy!
Meanwhile, I am still in Nepal where society has collapsed but I am soon on my way home. I found that God wanted me here 4 extra days to rally the church to serve as the “body politic” and show their faith with accountability and generosity.
In every society, Christians who want to exhibit mature materiality of the body must act neighborly and not privately.
Faith must be lived out with consistency in public. And in places like Nepal where identifying with Christ can endanger your life and mark you for persecution, it is even more important that you demonstrate accountability and generosity. Let me explain.
When you live out your faith with love and neighborliness, it attracts to onlookers.
For example, Good Neighbor (Asal Chhimekee Nepal) is one of the networks GTP engaged on this trip. They do so much good with transparency that even the Hindu nationalist government works with them! What’s my point?
When our service is coupled with transparency rather than secrecy, our faith is welcomed and positioned to transform the public.
Even government officials antagonistic to Christian beliefs show an eagerness to work with Good Neighbor because they know they can count on them. That’s what I see. In Nepal the Hindus are not the enemy, they are future believers.
Consider Prakash Chandra Giri, GTP Curriculum Developer and Global Training Coordinator. He was born Hindu and knew no English until he moved to Kathmandu in class 1o to learn.
Someone who lived out their faith with love and neighborliness drew him to Christ. He then evangelized his entire village.
I love his zeal. It’s a joy to mentor him. But now I am headed home. Please pray with me that all my connection go well as I travel with many layovers over the next two days from Pokhara to Kathmandu to Delhi to Newark to Denver. Thanks.