Honduras Bound
 
This evening, 16 of our folks from CrossBridge will begin the trek to Tegucagalpa, Honduras for a week-long mission effort. Though I won't be making the trip to Central America, I am driving a portion of the group to Nashville. There, they will join another church group and fly to Tegucagalpa via Miami.
 
My heart will be in Honduras with them. The people in this region are desperately in need of the basics. This group, as many others do throughout the summer months, will build houses (really basic, one room structures), treat the sick (a number are medical personnel), work among the orphans (taking them clothes, shoes and toys), and basically love the children in that region.
 
This trip, and the images that remain forever etched in my heart, remind me of Jesus' statement: "inasmuch as you've done it unto one of the least of these, my brothers, you have done it unto me." Jurgen Moltmann, a German theologian, has written prolifically in the area of ecclesiology. In one of his monumental books, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, Moltmann elaborates on the concept he calls ubi Christus, ibi ecclesia. The basic meaning of this phrase is "Where Christ is, there is the church." Reflecting on the Matthew 25 text, Moltmann highlights the fact that Jesus uses familial language regarding the "least of these" when speaking to those who ministered to the disenfranchised. He called them "brothers." Contrarily, Jesus does not again use the familial modifier when speaking to those who refused help.
 
From this omission, Moltmann argues that Jesus was reminding the Matthean community--and all subsequent Christian communities--that in embracing the "least of these" they were unwittingly embracing Him. And, where he is, there is the church--the people of God. Moltmann, in the liberationist theological tradition, seems to be arguing that the real church, then, is found among the disenfranchised, not among good religious folk.
 
While Moltmann likely pushes the point too far, he does make an important statement. While we talk about "bringing Christ" to the poor in our mission efforts, this text reminds us that, in so doing, we paradoxically find him there. May we see in the aching eyes of everyone in need a reflection of Jesus...and may we embrace Him there.
 
Pray for all Christians everywhere who take mission trips this summer that they might experience Christ among the "least of these."