This week I turn 56 years old, and I finally know what I want to be when I grow up!
Well, maybe it's more accurate to say that "I now know better who I am," as I'm not planning on changing anything with this realization.
And the funny thing is that apparently, I have come full circle.
When I was young, I wanted to be a social worker. That is what my first degree was in, and that is what I did for the first sixteen years of my working life. But then I moved to Liberia and got involved in business development, while still doing community development. I then dropped the community development and moved fulltime into business development. Felt a bit like a fish out of water.
In 2013, I began to bring the message of business development into the church and found myself teaching at seminaries and mostly speaking to pastors and denominational leaders. I usually would start my self-introduction by saying that "I'm not a pastor." Felt even more like a fish out of water.
Over the years, I often struggled with the fact that I was working primarily with three groups of people (pastors/church leaders, businesspersons, and missionaries) and I didn't identify with any of them! [While many missionaries say they wanted to be a missionary since they were a child, it wasn't even on my radar until I was 36 years old!]
But this last year confirmed to me that I am, and always have been, a social worker. The goal of this social worker is to see people flourish and poverty alleviated. That passion is driven by my faith which says that ALL should flourish, regardless of race, tribe, or creed, for the glory of God...and that the need is urgent.
Why am I telling you this story? Good question. Give me another minute and I'll get there.
When I married Bob Reed, attending Madison Square Church in Grand Rapids, I was exposed to the challenges of racism. As a Canadian, it was not something I was aware of growing up. Bob and I decided to live a life that would seek to be good neighbors to those suffering under the weight of racism, and for me, also wrestling with the accompanying poverty that comes with racism. We moved into our church neighborhood and the community development organization, Restorers, was started in partnership with five neighborhood churches and a great team of neighbors linking arms to work together. We lived and worked there for seven years.
Then Bob had a burden for Africa. I resisted it for a number of years. But when Restorers was ready to be turned over to other leadership, I agreed to go on an exploratory trip to Liberia. Upon seeing the devastating poverty there, as a result of a 15-year civil war, Bob and I prayerfully decided to move there with Hannah and Noah. Through a path that is much too long to write here, I found that business was the best solution for long-term alleviation of poverty. I did that directly for the next seven years and furthered my education (MBA and PhD in sustainable development) in this regard. Then, DML was born out of the need for ongoing discipleship for the workplace, leading to the next twelve years.
And now the reason for this tome.
My husband Michael has been working with Christian theologians and authors for the past four years relating to the plight of the Palestinians. As he is an AMAZING supporter of my work with DML, I told him a few months ago that I would support him if he wanted to do something related to this passion of his. That led to us attending a conference last week in Southern California, put on by the Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East (NEME), entitled "How American Christians Should Respond to Palestine and Israel."
And my heart was broken again by what I heard and saw. I know I have a lot on my plate with DML, but as my heart broke and my anger was stoked, I again saw that the root of who I am as a social worker. I get angry at injustice and inhumane treatment of humanity. I learned about my own uninterrogated assumptions regarding Palestine and Israel.
[And of course, it made me realize that there are countless uninterrogated assumptions that I hold! In some ways, there is safety in that. If I truly knew the depth of human depravity relating to every issue, my heart couldn't hold it.]
So my question to God over this past week has been, why this issue at this time? Am I supposed to do something with it or is it just Michael's issue? In the past, Madison's issue became my issue. Bob's issue became my issue. What about now?
As I've started reading books written on the history of Palestine and Israel, I feel, at the very least, I need to share what I'm learning.
So I'm going to write a three-part blog on this particular issue. This is NOT a DML issue. This is a "Renita the social worker issue." I hope that makes sense.
Part one of this blog will look at the actual historical formation of the country of Israel and the interaction with Palestine. Part two will be to examine the role and beliefs of Christians in relation to the formation and the current situation. Part three will examine the current war between Israel and Palestine and how Christians should respond.
I hope you will join me on this journey. I'm not an expert by any means. I will provide some book recommendations, articles, and links for you to do your own exploration should your curiosity be piqued. I would welcome your feedback as well as we journey together!
