Starting with "Why?"

Last year at the beginning of our school year at THMS our administrators encouraged us to begin our work by considering why we do our work.  This reminder was inspired in part by a recent book and Ted Talk by Simon Sinek. The gist of his message is that a clear sense of vision and purpose leads to quality decisions, products, projects, efforts, etc.

Being raised so closely to the work of Mennonite Central Committee, it is easy for me to take for granted the "why" of this work.  My family hosted international exchange volunteers, filled countless health care kits and school kits, went to relief sales and thrift shops, and so on. In some ways, the "why" could easily be: This is just what we do.  But as Rebekah and I take on a new role, working in for MCC in Managua, Nicaragua, I think it seems like a worthy moment to try to name why we are doing what we are doing.

MCC has identified areas of focus: Relief, Development, and Peace.  These interconnected efforts emerge from MCC's work around the globe since it began nearly a century ago in 1920.  What began as a relief effort to support hungry Mennonites and others in Ukraine and Russia has come to be an organization that responds to needs at various levels.  After disaster relief or violence, we must ask how can we "build back better" and prevent future disasters or conflicts? With MCC staff around the globe, how can we share those stories through advocacy offices in Washington, D.C., Winnipeg, or at the UN? Rather than beginning MCC programs that may inadvertently have a neocolonialist nature, how can we support partner organizations as local initiatives pursuing their dreams for the health and welfare of their communities? How can MCC support the life and fellowship of Anabaptist-related churches around the world through this shared journey?  

These questions and many more stem from a theological tradition that takes seriously the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth:

He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:17-19)

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:44-45)

Out of the diversity of the Anabaptist movement in the 1500s comes this often-quoted writing from Menno Simons (whose name the Mennonite Church uses):

"For true evangelical faith is of such a nature that it cannot lie dormant; but manifests itself in all righteousness and works of love; it dies unto flesh and blood; destroys all forbidden lusts and desires; cordially seeks, serves, and fears God; clothes the naked; feeds the hungry; consoles the afflicted; shelters the miserable; aids and consoles all the oppressed; returns good for evil; serves those that injure it; prays for those that persecute it; teaches, admonishes and reproves with the Word of the Lord; seeks that which is lost; binds up that which is wounded; heals that which is diseased and saves that which is sound."

What does that action look like in a world that is maligned by oppressive systems?  How can we work in a world bound by crippling capitalism, power imbalances, theologies rooted in the myth of redemptive violence, racist and discriminatory structures, and environmental degradation?  Another quote comes to mind, suggesting that we (in both a North American and a global sense) cannot break free alone.  This comes from an Aboriginal activist from Australia named Lilla Watson:

If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time.
But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.

I'm excited to work alongside MCC's partners and to hear their needs and dreams and to work together in that direction.  I'm excited to be part of a global organization that not only sends service workers from North America, but from many different countries to many other countries.  I'm excited to be in a position to share the stories of new friends in Nicaragua to friends in the United States, bringing our world closer together in a small way. And I'm excited to step into this next chapter together with my family. I am hopeful that this journey will be a healthy (not always easy) learning experience that stretches us in our love for each other and our neighbors.