Exploding a "Love-mine" Amidst Oppression In Burma (Rachel Ryon)

Last updated on: July 13, 2011 at 12:21 am by Kurt Willems

Exploding a "Love-mine" Amidst Oppression In Burma (Rachel Ryon) 2011-07-13T00:21:59-07:00 Kurt Willems

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As I sat in the bed of the mud-splattered truck driven by a Burmese man who called himself “James Bond,” I made the last part of the journey to a refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border with a very palpable nervous anticipation. This was a last-minute, only semi-planned trip – and I quickly realized I was in way over my head. I suppose I expected a small city made up of tents with international aid workers running around like you see in magazines.

As we curved around the road alongside the camp, I realized this place was nothing like I expected. This was not a news-worthy scene: there were no aid workers I could see, no frantic people lined up to receive their food rations, no hurried sense of panic. This was no chaotic temporary disaster-relief site. This fenced-in stretch of huts had been home to these refugees for literally decades. Young adults my own age were born and raised inside this cage. I did not expect that.

As I quickly learned during those five days, the Burmese military junta systematically targets the ethnic peoples, engaging in murder, rape, displacement, and forced labor, and they have been doing so for 60 years. I heard stories of legs blown off by landmines and of families separated and forced to hide in the jungle for years, covering the babies’ mouths when they cried for fear of the army finding them. When I asked what I could do, I heard a unanimous, “Tell our story.”

So, by God’s divine plan, I found myself in the middle of the story of Burma. I feel more than unqualified, but I ended up the co-founder of a small non-profit (www.lovemine.org) with the privilege and responsibility of sharing this very heartbreaking and inspiring story with others who may not know or even care. We call ourselves “Lovemine” because we believe in the transformative power of love. A landmine explodes pain and destruction; a lovemine explodes- well, love.

As a Christian and a social justice-minded person, I am constantly challenged to evaluate my expectations. I’ve recently realized that I’m fighting a battle I know I will lose on the only terms I can understand, which are those of this earth. Concerning this type of “peace seeking” work, Christians tend to fall along an attitude continuum that stretches from “We can fix it if we work hard enough” to the apathetic “Everything won’t be made right until heaven, so why try?”

I find myself the beholder of the “fix it” fallacy, and I believe it’s a common trap for social justice-minded Christians. We are all trying to find our “head” apart from Christ. We have a soul longing for a king – our head – to make things right, to be the ultimate answer. For those involved in social justice, we tend to try to find our head in organizations, international bodies and governments. I’m not saying these aren’t good things that can’t be instruments in bringing peace and justice, but they will never be the end-all-be-all. They are not our perfect head. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are those who recognize this world is utterly sinful and won’t be made right until the second coming, and use this to rationalize non-interference in the affairs of this world. It’s a losing battle, so why fight it?

The assumption at the heart of both attitudes is that our actions can and should be motivated by the level of productivity we expect. However counter-intuitive, we must kill this. We are called to “seek peace and pursue it” on this earth, and we must do it with the mindset that that the only one who can bring true and lasting peace is Christ. We know that no matter how hard we work, we will not redeem the world. But we are still called to preach Christ in word and deed, to the glory of God.

That’s not to say Christ is not actively redeeming people, situations, or even whole communities. The Kingdom of God is upon us, and He is at work. But if we are more focused on fixing things than being faithful, we will likely miss what He’s doing. The challenge for us is to fight a battle that we know will probably lose on earthly terms. And that’s hard to stomach. To be quite frank, I don’t know if the people of Burma will experience freedom from oppression. I hope they do. But I gained an interesting perspective on this from a very wise Karen man (The Karen are one of the many ethnic groups being oppressed in Burma). As we sat and talked in the refugee camp, he told me:

This whole situation is a blessing in disguise. Many of the Karen are Christians, and we are called to spread the good news. Since becoming refugees, we have been spread all across the world into many countries, and now we are able to be missionaries in a way we were unable to before.

I don’t know about you, but I’m humbled by that. It may not be our calling to fix the world, but if we pursue faithfulness, God will do some “fixing” of His own, maybe even through us.

———————————————

Rachel Ryon is an international activist and co-founder of Lovemine, an organization committed to telling the story of oppression taking place in Burma. To learn more, please visit the Lovemine website.

Guest Contributors

Social Justice

Previous Post

June 15, 2011

When Sucking at Spiritual Habits Sucks the Life Outta Ya

Next Post

June 20, 2011 I’m Quitting Facebook to Join Faithbook Because My WWJD Bracelet Told Me To

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category (Series) All Out War-Spiritual Warfare (Series) Church Plant Journal (Series) Dear Reader... (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times? (Series) Entering the... Conversation (Series) Evangelical Culture Myths (Series) Everything is Meaningless [Pete Enns] (Series) Evolving Evangelicalism (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares? (Series) Hidden Worldviews (Series) If Evolution is Right, what about Adam? (Series) in less than 300 words (Series) Jesus and Nationalism (Series) Liberating Women for Ministry? (Series) Life-Changing Books (Series) Markers of Church Plant Movement (Series) Nonviolence 101 (Series) Philemon - Reconciliation (Series) Quote to Ponder (Series) Red Letter Dialogues (Series) Resource of the Week (SERIES) Revelation Sermons (Series) Share Something Sundays (Series) Simplicity in the Burbs: $2 a day (Series) The Binding of God [Open Theism] (Series) The Creed: Anabaptist Reflections (Series) Values for Church Leadership (Series) Video to Ponder Anabaptism Animal Advocacy Books Church Ministry Church Planting Community Culture Eschatology Eucharist Evangelical Reject Evolution Fundamentalism Greek Greg Boyd Guest Contributors Hell Holy Spirit Israel/Palestine Kingdom of God Lent Missional N. T. Wright Nationalism New Creation Nonviolence Open Mic Open Theism Parenting Passover Paul Philemon Podcast Politics Restorative Justice Revelation (the book of) Rob Bell Ron Martoia Sermon Shane Claiborne Social Justice Speaking Engagement Spiritual Warfare Spirituality Temple Theology Tim Geddert Tribulation Uncategorized universalism Video Blog Women in Ministry Worship Music Youth Ministry

Select a Month August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 December 2016 October 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Shiloh" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

God’s dwelling He whose it is The chosen one Prince of peace

Support this
Column