Random thoughs

I have been thinking about alot of different things. I am wrestling with our culture's definiton of success. It seems for me to succeed someone else must fail or be pushed down. This seems contradictory to scripture. I would expect this is non-religious circles, but I am seeing it even within the church. One particular instance two people began as a respectful disagreement and it melted into name calling, subtle but name calling none the less. Rather than learning from each other it became about winning. It broke my heart. Instances like this make me want to run far from what Christianity has become in our multireligious culture. I believe in absolutes and will defend them, but through intelligent, rational discussion. As a group we are reading a book called Irresitible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. In the first two chapters he talks about he became disenchanted with the church. In hearing the word church most think of a building. Yet the building is irrelevant. The church is the body and no one wants to really admit that it is sick. At my agency I work with 3 other Christians and about 15 other faith traditions or areligious people. I enjoy the interaction and challenge that comes from my non-Christian colleauges, yet I feel something is wrong. In the US Christianity has become comfortable and really watered down. In talking with one client, "Mike" who is from India, he shared about how he was cast out because of his acceptance of Christianity. With large financial resources, it is easy to throw money at the problem and let other people "do the dirty work". Yet our reward is minimal at best. However, if I enter into conversation and relationship with a personal and then share from my abundance, it means more to us both. Rather than seeing the world as us and them (those people) we need to see the world as us, seeking to live out our call to provide for the least of these. One verse from this summer still challenges me. It comes from Matthew 25. "What ever you have done to the least of these my brothers you have done to me." In this verse I understand that how treat the downtrodden is how I am treating my savior.