No Crisis? No Problem!

You’ve probably seen that old favorite Christian bumper sticker slogan: “No Jesus, no peace.  Know Jesus, know peace!”  I recently came up with a new version: “Know crisis, know care.  No crisis, no care.”  

You see, my church is starting a teaching series on distinctively Christian care giving.  And as challenging as it can sometimes be, it’s still relatively straight-forward to care for people who have certain kinds of specific problems.  When someone: loses their job; is in a car crash; gets told they have cancer; loses a loved one; is divorced by their spouse; and things of this nature, they are experiencing acute crises and we KNOW they need help. 

Any Christian community (and even secular groups) will rally to the need for help, raising funds, providing meals, gathering resources, and otherwise rounding up and providing whatever sort of tangible assistance is needed by those in crisis.  “Know crisis, know care.”

More mature Christian communities will also work to provide intangible needs, like a sympathetic ear to listen, spiritual guidance, prayer, worship, and (perhaps most valuable of all) the simple presence of another.  Offering the compassion of Christ to those in need is important to distinctively Christian care.

But there is a dark side to this equation.  While those with overt crises receive care, those without apparent crisis are easily overlooked.  Since crisis-based care is necessarily REACTIVE, it isn’t engaged until some circumstance puts it into gear.  Only in crisis does the care machine start rolling.  Without crisis, care is easily overlooked.  “No crisis, no care.”

There is a better way, though: “No crisis? Know care anyway!” 

As Christians, we have a duty to be part of a small group for our mutual support, for fellowship and learning, for accountability and CARING.  We owe it to our small group to know them well enough to know when they need our care.  We also owe it to our small group (and to ourselves!) to allow ourselves to be known, so they can know when we need their care. 

That’s the best way to experience Christian care whenever it’s needed, and not just at times of crisis.  And wouldn’t we all benefit by frequent and on-going care giving and care receiving in the midst of a group of people we know and love?

But we also need to be alert for people without the relationships to supply this kind of non-crisis care.  There are many people – even WITHIN our Christian communities - who need care but are not in crisis, people living lives of quiet desperation, in dire need of loving attention, invisible to the “care machine” and not part of small group where they might be cared for.

We need to watch for these “outsiders,” these people on the fringe, people who need to be asked or invited into relationship.  We need to continually ask ourselves “Who can I care for today?”

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.  –Matthew 10:42