Are we a people in exile?

[Kelsey Linduff]

Question #32: Has being too comfortable caused me to not hear the cry of the oppressed?

I was thinking about this on Saturday as Joel, Quirky, Jackie and I all washed our cars.
No, it wasn't purified water that we were using, but by many standards it was clean water.
And there was plenty of it. And we were washing our cars with it. And we never worried that it would run out.
I know there are people who will die today because they don't have clean water to drink.
But honestly, its hard for me to really comprehend that.

From Rob Bell's "Jesus Wants to Save Christians"

The Hebrew Scriptures have a very simple and direct message:
God always hears the cry of the oppressed;
God cares about human suffering and the conditions that cause it.
God is searching for a body, a community of people to care for the things that God cares about.
God gives power and blessing so that justice and righteousness will be upheld for those who are denied them.
This is what God is like. This is what God is about. This is who God is.

To forget this, to fail to hear the cry, to preserve prosperity at the expense of the powerless, is to miss what God has in mind.

At the height of their power, Israel miscommunicated God's blessings as favoritism and entitlement. They became indifferent to God and to their priestly calling to bring liberation to others.

There's a word for this. A word for what happens when you still have the power and the wealth and the influence, and yet in some profound way you've blown it because you've forgotten why you were given it in the first place.

The word is exile.

Exile is when you forget your story.

Exile isn't just about location; exile is about the state of your soul.

Exile is when you fail to convert your blessings into blessings for others.

Exile is when you find yourself a stranger to the purposes of God.