If anyone watched the news this morning or in the past day or so, you may have heard that the British newspaper The Observer has uncovered that the Gap has been utilizing chld labor in a sweatshop in New Delhi. Apparently children as young as ten (or perhaps even younger) have been hand-stitching the items we so arrogantly wear every day for no compensation whatsoever. Now, I knew that the Gap had used sweatshop labor for years, and was considered by some to be one of the worst offenders. According to the article, the Gap has severed ties to this sweatshop, but one can only wonder how long it will be until another scandal is uncovered?
Out of curiosity, I went to their website after seeing the newscast, and I found their opening page and their claims to be so ironic. Photos of attractive little kids and models, smiling, because since it's debut last year, their Project/Product(Red) has contributed $45 million to fund AIDS relief in Africa. It's a twisted Robin Hood story - steal from the poor and give to the poorer, because obviously, unless they have their garments made for free, or less than $1 an item, there would be no way a corporation like the Gap could contribute $45 million to AIDS relief. I shouldn't even say $1 an item, because for all I know, some of these employees could be earning $1 a week. It wouldn't take a lot of $49.50 sweaters to meet that $45 million dollar goal, would it? I mean, if these sweaters are supposedly made so inexpensively.
I just feel that it is a very bold statement for them to make, urging their shoppers to do the "(Red) Thing" by donating their money, when they've admittedly been in effect stealing money, and childhoods from their overseas employees.
There's more to the story than I've been able to mention here, so I recommend that you read it. I will readily admit that I own several shirts from the Gap and stores like it, and I'm not proud of it, but I think it would do us well to be more aware of these things that happen every single day in the world around us.
But that's just my opinion.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Grace Must Wound
"Grace must wound before it heals."
That's a quote from the author Flannery O'Connor. I first heard it, however, from one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Justin McRoberts. I loved it the first time I heard it, and I still continue to love it now. Not because it is happy and optimistic, indeed, it is not. I love it because of its truth.
Grace must wound before it heals.
Any who have experienced the Grace of God may know the truth found in this phrase. The grace of God is a gift that is profoundly difficult to understand, partially because it is just that: a gift. In Ephesians, Paul describes this grace, which God has "freely given us in the One he love" (1:6). That grace is a free gift to all, offered to us through Jesus' death on the cross so many years ago. We are forgiven - completely forgiven. So what is this about grace wounding so much?
Well, think about it. If you're a parent, imagine that your child is playing outside on this bright, warm autumn day. Now, he knows that the rule is to stay in the back yard if you're not around to go with him where he'd like. Today, however, he's feeling a little like pushing the limits. You look out the front door for one reason or another and see him playing dangerously close to the street. Perhaps even going in the street every now and again, chasing after the ball he's been playing with. Would you run outside to your little boy (or girl, of course) and accept his heart-tugging apologies with absolutely no consequences? Of course not! Most parents would follow up behavior like this with some measure of discipline other than "Oh honey, it's okay, just promise you won't do it again." Most likely, some time in time-out or some other such reasonable punishment would be considered.
To me, that is a little bit like what the grace of God is like. He is always forgiving us, never turning one away, but we cannot sin without expecting some form of consequences. Sometimes, those consequences, that discipline, really hurts. Nobody likes to be disciplined, do they? Now, some who have come from a home where discipline was not really discipline, but abuse. Please understand that God's discipline should not be seen like that. God's discipline is his way of lovingly guiding us in the right direction. That grace is free to us, but sometimes, it is going to hurt a little in our hearts. We have to understand that God is not "sending us to our room" because he's angry with us, but because he would like us to think about what it is that we have done. Perhaps this example is a bit too pre-school for some, but it makes sense to me, because as grown up as we all think we are, we all have our times where we act like spoiled children. God, our father, acts accordingly, and only wants the best for us.
So while sometimes graces hurts as it reminds us what the right thing to do is, it always goes the extra mile to heal our hurts and bring us closer to God. While this is still impossible to understand - why would God choose to forgive sinners such as we? - but it is nonetheless free and real, and offered to us by God at this very moment.
Surely Justin McRoberts or Ms. O'Connor could wax far more theologically on this subject, but these are just my thoughts on the subject, for now. For now.
That's a quote from the author Flannery O'Connor. I first heard it, however, from one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Justin McRoberts. I loved it the first time I heard it, and I still continue to love it now. Not because it is happy and optimistic, indeed, it is not. I love it because of its truth.
Grace must wound before it heals.
Any who have experienced the Grace of God may know the truth found in this phrase. The grace of God is a gift that is profoundly difficult to understand, partially because it is just that: a gift. In Ephesians, Paul describes this grace, which God has "freely given us in the One he love" (1:6). That grace is a free gift to all, offered to us through Jesus' death on the cross so many years ago. We are forgiven - completely forgiven. So what is this about grace wounding so much?
Well, think about it. If you're a parent, imagine that your child is playing outside on this bright, warm autumn day. Now, he knows that the rule is to stay in the back yard if you're not around to go with him where he'd like. Today, however, he's feeling a little like pushing the limits. You look out the front door for one reason or another and see him playing dangerously close to the street. Perhaps even going in the street every now and again, chasing after the ball he's been playing with. Would you run outside to your little boy (or girl, of course) and accept his heart-tugging apologies with absolutely no consequences? Of course not! Most parents would follow up behavior like this with some measure of discipline other than "Oh honey, it's okay, just promise you won't do it again." Most likely, some time in time-out or some other such reasonable punishment would be considered.
To me, that is a little bit like what the grace of God is like. He is always forgiving us, never turning one away, but we cannot sin without expecting some form of consequences. Sometimes, those consequences, that discipline, really hurts. Nobody likes to be disciplined, do they? Now, some who have come from a home where discipline was not really discipline, but abuse. Please understand that God's discipline should not be seen like that. God's discipline is his way of lovingly guiding us in the right direction. That grace is free to us, but sometimes, it is going to hurt a little in our hearts. We have to understand that God is not "sending us to our room" because he's angry with us, but because he would like us to think about what it is that we have done. Perhaps this example is a bit too pre-school for some, but it makes sense to me, because as grown up as we all think we are, we all have our times where we act like spoiled children. God, our father, acts accordingly, and only wants the best for us.
So while sometimes graces hurts as it reminds us what the right thing to do is, it always goes the extra mile to heal our hurts and bring us closer to God. While this is still impossible to understand - why would God choose to forgive sinners such as we? - but it is nonetheless free and real, and offered to us by God at this very moment.
Surely Justin McRoberts or Ms. O'Connor could wax far more theologically on this subject, but these are just my thoughts on the subject, for now. For now.
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