Do we care?

Recently I was hanging out in the campus center and, being the nasty little eavesdropper I am, overheard an interesting conversation which I will relate for you here:
“What’s Praxis week?”
“I dunno. I’m pretty sure it’s another one of those, ‘let’s pretend we care about an issue for a week’ things.”
Is that what Praxis week is, just a chance for us to make ourselves look good? A time when we “pretend” that we care? Well, that depends. There’s a difference between what it is, and what it’s supposed to be. I believe Praxis week will be what we make it. What it is intended to be is a week when we focus on the importance of hospitality. But it is what we make it. Quite often we are so stuck in our feeling of everything being all right that we don’t let ourselves be challenged. Since we believe everything is right with us we think that these are just times to pretend we care, because we don’t need to, so we think, but we should pretend we care so that we look good. But honestly everyone, as James 2:20 says, faith without works is dead. So let’s care, and really care. Because we have these times to focus on issues for a reason, and as followers of Christ it is our duty to act on this, if we really love God we should care about what he does.

I personally didn’t attend many of the Praxis week lectures, only a couple. But I did listen, and try to pay attention and take it to heart. When thinking back on listening to Marva Dawn’s wonderful speaking about caring for those who are, “differently abled” another big Houghton issue pops into my mind, the issue of a coed, or so called, “Shared lounge”, Lambein. The problem is that we need a men’s dorm that is accessible to those who are differently abled, and both Rothenbuhler and Shenawana have hills that, especially in winter, make them rather treacherous. Now, I’ll be completely honest with you, I am dead set against Lambein being half a guy’s dorm. I believe it will be bad in many different ways, but that’s a whole different post in itself. Just keep in mind that I am very much against a coed Lambein, but despite that Marva Dawn really made me think. Mrs. Dawn, in her wonderfully eloquent way, spoke about how we treat the differently abled, and pointed out the importance of caring for them. Ever since I first heard about the idea of Lambein becoming coed I have been almost militant in my opposition of it. “That’s crazy!” I say, “You’ll ruin Lambein!” I say. People would try to bring up the argument of the differently abled guys needing a place to live, and I would just dismiss it. I love Lambein, and I didn’t really care too much about my differently abled brothers. But listening to Marva Dawn I realized I need to care about them. I might not like the idea of Houghton having to change to accommodate them, but Houghton needs to be for everyone. If God doesn’t love them any less than anyone else, why should I be able to? I just felt convicted about this. I still am opposed to a coed dorm, but I now care about this. We need to be willing to change and care for our differently abled brothers, because they are just as much loved by God, and just as much his children as us.

Well, these were just some of my thoughts from Praxis week. Please comment and tell me what you thought. This blog is meant to cause dialogue about issues and life at Houghton, so please, share your thoughts and ideas.

Chris