Dear God, please send missionaries to Washington, DC

By BroKen

I heard a story years ago about missionaries working with tribal peoples in, I think it was, Papua New Guinea. There was a time when missionaries sought to bring, not only the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also the culture and customs of Western Civilization. For several decades now, missionaries seek to avoid that kind of cultural influence. They work hard to avoid the imposition of western styles of dress, or language, or political systems.

So, the story goes, that the converts in a jungle village decided that they should have a meeting house, a church building, a large hut in which they could gather to sing and pray and worship. But the people were poor and didn't have the resources to build such a structure. The missionaries were supportive and could have perhaps raised the money themselves to build what was wanted. Yet both the missionaries and the people thought it best if the people could find a way to do it themselves.

The people decided to take up an offering among themselves each week for the purpose of building a building. They appointed a treasurer who would hold the money for the church until they had enough to build. Even though the first offering was not nearly enough to build what they wanted, it was still much more than the treasurer had ever had in his possession. At the next meeting when the church asked for an accounting from the treasurer, he apologized because he had spent all the money on gifts for his family and friends. No one condemned the treasurer. Generosity was a value deeply embedded in their hearts. They all understood why he had done what he had done. They all felt they would have done the same thing. Still, they wanted a church building and now they had to start all over again.

They appointed another treasurer and took up another collection for the building. Once again the new treasurer, with access to more money than he had ever had, spent it all on gifts for his family and friends. And again, no one accused the treasurer of stealing because they knew they would have done the same thing if they had had access to such a large sum of money. But now they had to start again with nothing.

After the third treasurer spent all the money on gifts for his family and friends, the people came to the missionaries. They asked if the missionaries would hold the money for them because they couldn't find anyone who, with access to so much money, could resist the urge to be generous to their family and friends.

I think about that story when I read how Congress spends the people's money. I wonder where we could find some missionaries in Washington who would hold the money for us instead of blowing it all on their friends. If we ever did find those missionaries, would the people be wise enough to ask for their help?

Comments

[Katherine]

Can we please make this required reading for every law maker, at every level? It would solve so many problems.

http://www.101bananas.com/library2/crockett.html

Not theirs to give.

[chuck aka xtnyoda]

Raw intelligence can only be measured by the ability to create and understand analogy. You done good on this one Ken!