Questions of Tension

Modern, industrialized nations, primarily of the northern hemisphere, are using the most resources and using them in a way that is creating most of the human-caused damage to the ecosystem. However, that damage most affects those parts of the world which are less industrialized. In other words, on a global scale, the rich are becoming richer (using that term in far more than the monetary sense alone) at the expense of the poor, who are directly suffering as a result. The discussion amongst those who don't have their heads buried in the sand is not over whether humans are causing such global change, but rather how much change we are causing and how soon it will become catastrophic.

Knowing this, what am I to do about it? I don't think there is a single answer for all people. While we will need to address some big issues as a community/nation/global population, there is also a question of individual response. For those of us who follow Christ, it will be one integral piece of our calling.

More and more, I am burdened to take drastic steps - possibly so far as to trade all my clothes for a brown robe or to give up my car and be limited geographically by my ability to walk or cycle. Part of me would be quite content to let it all go and move to a village somewhere south of the equator, fully understanding what that entails. Yet, another part of me wonders if such a move would only be an abandoning of responsibility. And, I must confess wariness of any change so significant as to require relinquishment of my shiny MacBook Pro. Is that a heavenly nudge reminding me part of my vocation is to be carried out on said equipment or a perversion of the flesh unwilling to let go of a worldly pleasure?

I am being led to let go of more and more. I am uncomfortable with the amount of water I use for bathing, yet don't think it's right to stop bathing and make everyone around me uncomfortable. While the glory of God is not found in comfort, it is not my place to decide for others that they must suffer discomfort. What, then, do I do? Do I cut off the curly hair I enjoy so much so that my daily 15-minute shower can be decreased to an every-other-day 6-minute shower? Do I accept that I live among a culture with certain standards, inconsequential as they may be, and choose not to fight this battle?

I have given away half of my clothing, but still have a closet that surpasses the overwhelming majority of people on this earth. Can I give away more, even if it means wearing the same clothes day-to-day? Am I willing to accept the comments that will inevitably come from a severely limited wardrobe? Am I willing to do the work of washing my clothes twice a week instead of every other?

I have mostly given up eating meat, but I remain quite generous with myself in determining which situations call for a "missional relaxing" of the rule. I still buy my produce from the supermarket and rely on processed or packaged ingredients. I could buy all the food I need from local markets stocking regional, in-season goods, but I'm lazy. I don't want to do the work. Am I willing to give up my singleness (and the freedoms and flexibilities that come with a less-attached life) in order to share the load with another? Or relinquish my independence to join a religious order?

Where is the balance between living the counter-cultural life established by the kingdom of God and accepting that even that counter-cultural life is lived in a particular time and place. Can I be faithful to calling and vocation if I drop off the grid? 

I understand these are complex questions that can only be worked out over time, but they are the questions I struggle with. Hopefully, we all struggle at some level with these issues. What are the questions of tension you are asking today? How are you living with them?