they are not the ones engineering society

...where are the anawim whenever there is a social crisis like this? They are not the ones scrambling to hold things together. They are not the ones engineering society. They may well be the ones who suffer the most physically, but it's not the burden of responsibility that they suffer under. They are like the children in the family when there is a crisis. And they know who is truly the Father.

This is the part that I've been thinking on some more. Because I've been feeling pulled to "do something" to solve our pressing social problems, and because I'm trying to be more and more deeply one of the anawim.

I've dropped out of all official leadership positions, including "spiritual" ones (which are usually more organizational leadership than actual spiritual leadership—that doesn't require any official position). Instead, I've worked to meet actual material needs, fix things and solve logistical and physical problems that arise. But the problems of crumbling social structures are very different kinds of problems. They are not actual "needs," in my opinion. People certainly treat them that way, they want clear leaders and ordered hierarchies and duties, and if they are not there people get disturbed enough to perhaps even leave the community. That, then, seems like a real problem (since we lose their help). But the cause of it all is the perceived need for these structures, the perceived need of the group. The will of the (frightened) people.

Those who are in social positions of leadership must respond to these demands of the group (which are driven by their fears and perceived needs). They have to grapple with these and try to come up with structures and organizations that satisfy the group, and so hold the group together. But the anawim, the lowly people in society (or a community), do not have to respond to these demands. They don't have to hold the group together. That is not their burden.

The anawim who trust God for order and security and support in their need do not have to fear when the social structures tremble. Their structure, the structure of the body of Christ, is never in jeopardy. And their support, the care of their Father, is never threatened when others run away in fear. They can simply continue loving those around them, tending to their real needs. And show them there is no need to fear—and no need to set up another king.