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Kodie Warnell

Gender & Global Health

Dr. Page & Dr. Reynolds

4 May 2020

Final Exam

“S​ uppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you tells him, ‘Go in
peace; stay warm and well fed,’ but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that?
So too, faith by itself, if it is not complemented by action, is dead.”
James 2:15-17

Scripture has always been alive. For centuries, God has used it to encourage, correct, and

equip His people. Therefore, if I were to say that this verse has come alive for me, it would be a

lie. However, I believe it would be accurate to say that for the first time I have been able to ​see

my brother and sister as James 2 describes. I no longer just get the morals behind this passage; I

see and feel the weight of it. Truly, simply saying that I care about people who are suffering

means nothing.

This revelation really hit me in chapter two of ​In the Company of the Poor​ when Father

Gutiérrez says, “what does it mean to take seriously the question of how to say and show to

persons living in the structure of violence, living in social injustice and seeming insignificance,

that ‘God loves you?’” (p. 27). Revisiting this quote, I think back to all of those times I walked

by the homeless, tried to not make eye contact, thought to myself of how sad their situation was,

and secretly felt good about myself that my heart was moved. I also think about the many times

in my middle school, preacher days when I would share the gospel to people’s souls, looking

right past their physical bodies when both are intimately connected. And now, as I’m writing a
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research paper on the new film rendition of ​Little Women, I​ think of how the March family gave

their Christmas breakfast and some extra blankets to a poor family who was practically freezing

and starving to death in their un-insulated, shack-like home, when they had enough space to

invite them into their own home. In other words, I think of how often I’ve seen and personally

said, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed” while denying the violence that caused people’s

suffering, choosing to ignore it, or just trusting that somebody else will fix it (James 2:16;

O’Brien, 2017). It has been through this class that I have understood for the first time how often I

have not said or shown to the marginalized that God truly does love them.

Going back to the idea of preaching to individuals who are more than just souls, this class

has also taught me that social action is evangelism (Maggay, 2011). For many reasons, including

hurt caused by the church in the past and blatant hypocrisy, many people don’t want to hear the

gospel verbally described to them. Even at hearing the words Christian, Christianity, or Jesus,

people turn away and I don’t really blame them. Personally speaking, I’ve become so afraid of

opening up a conversation about Christ to the strangers I meet and even to my unbelieving sister.

I’m terrified that they will ask questions that I don’t have the answers to, that I’ll sound fake, or

that I’ll mess up the words and somehow ruin things forever. And though I definitely believe that

gospel must be spoken, I’ve found so much encouragement in this class that I can preach the

gospel through social work--that I can be a part of ​showing​ people that God loves them and cares

about them as ​whole​ individuals with souls, minds, and bodies (​Tizon, 2018). And if God really

does love us as embodied creatures, then our lives on earth ​must​ matter to Him; Jesus’ prayer

that His kingdom would come ​must e​ ncapsulate more than just eternity; the gospel ​must​ be about

redeeming our bodies as well as our souls. Therefore, to only preach the gospel verbally may be
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to only preach half of the gospel. Perhaps the Apostle James and Father Gutiérrez were saying

the same thing: faith without action is dead just as saying God loves you without showing it

makes it dead.

In a similar vein, what we’ve learned about gender and global health has helped me to

live with one foot in my context and the other foot in another’s. What I mean by this is that I

haave been able to hold the suffering of the majority world without losing sight of the same

suffering (though it might look different) in developed countries. HIV/AIDS may be taking the

lives of many Africans, for example, but it also may be doing the same to victims in my

neighborhood. Domestic violence may be occurring in Iran, but it also may be happening right

next door to me. Through studying global health and its many gendered components, I can able

to see and fight for ​all​ of my neighbors. As Brenda Salter​ McNeil aptly put it, “Many of us may

already be aware of the need for reconciliation in our own backyards. . . . We cannot ignore the

plight of the people around us and as globalization continues its relentless march onward, we

cannot turn a blind eye to the world at large either. We have to face the realities here at home and

we must also embrace the stories of people all around the world” (2015, p. 15). Therefore,

sharing the gospel may look different in separate contexts but the entirety of it still needs to be

shared. In the U.S., this might be done through voting, through contributing to scholarship funds

for minority groups, through sharing a meal with people that can’t pay me back, etc. But for

other nations, this may be aiding the work of non-profits, setting up free health clinics, paying 30

cents a day to provide nourishing food, etc. Yet in all, sharing the gospel is verbally and

physically (through actions) bringing His kingdom to earth in specific ways to specific contexts

and living in such a way to make this world better for ​all.​
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References

Griffin, M. P., & Block, J. W. (2013). ​In the company of the poor: conversations between Dr.

Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez.​ Orbis Books.

Maggay, M. P. (2010). ​Transforming society.​ Wipf & Stock.

McNeil, B. S. (2015). ​Roadmap to reconciliation: moving communities into unity, wholeness,

and justice.​ IVP Books.

O'Brien, K. J. (2017). ​The violence of climate change: lessons of resistance from nonviolent

activists​. Georgetown University Press.

Tizon, A. (2018). ​Whole and reconciled: gospel, church, and mission in a fractured world​. Baker

Academic.