faith rejuvenated

i'm sitting in a panera bread in st. louis and i'm freezing. why did i decide to move back to cincinnati again?

after five weeks in latin america, i'm finally back in the good ole' u s of a. (i'm not so sure how excited i am about that, but i'll be moving to spain in two short months.) it was a long, but amazing five weeks. a lot happened. i met a lot of incredible people. experienced a lot of incredible things. it may take me a few days to fully comprehend all of it. my next few entries may be about my journey. but for this first one i wanted to talk about what gave me rejuvenation from my trip in ecuador: faith.

i've had a lot of frustrations with faith and religion over the past few months. for about five months i've toyed with the idea of writing a blog titled "why the state of christianity sucks." the basic premise asks where did christianity go wrong? when did christianity become synonymous with white, middle-class, and republican? my frustrations stem from christianity becoming too politicized by politicians and hacks for political purposes, and the "christians" who are buying into it. "christians" are more worried about telling people what they can or can't do, than fighting for the rights of the oppressed and the poor. "christians" are more concerned with being an american, than being a christian. "christians" can't possibly be democrats. in the end, "christians" have me annoyed and frustrated with "christianity."

but hanging out with the second year vols in ecuador gave me a renewed sense of faith that there are christians out there who do more than just talk. christians who look beyond gay marriage and abortion, to the issues that plague us as a society from day to day (poverty, homelessness, hunger). christians who believe pro-life is more than a stance on abortion. christians who wholeheartedly believe in social justice and the trans-formative effect addressing it can have.

for the first time, rostro de cristo has second year volunteers, meaning four of the 12 volunteers who replaced me are serving a second year. those four volunteers (danny, tracy, amy, and carolyn) are amazing people and made my visit back to durán awesome. it was amazing to see them, a year later and see the change that's taken place since i first met them. a year can really change a person. but a year volunteering in ecuador can alter your life direction. the four of them invited me to partake in their weekly spirituality night, and it couldn't have come at a better time for me. tracy led us through a simple, yet powerful exercise. we read over a passage in matthew and discussed what stuck out to us. for me, what stuck out was how Christ continually looked and observed before he spoke. he wasn't chomping at the bit to rebuke people, or interrupting them and calling them liars. he listened, observed, and then spoke. i believe that's what a lot of christians, let alone people, lack today. that listening and observation piece. if you're always talking, how will you ever learn?

throughout my time in ecuador, i had many good conversations with tracy, amy, carolyn, and danny about christianity and living out the gospel and what that means. they aren't complete thoughts or ideas, but i feel rejuvenated moving forward knowing i'm not the only one out there feeling and thinking the way i do.