This morning I was praying a prayer of presence: "Dear Jesus, I come to you today longing for your presence." It made me think, how much do I truly long for Jesus' presence?
At lunch yesterday I met with some pastors and a couple of them mentioned that they had a deep desire for revival. I haven't heard that term for a while. I've always associated it with outward phenomena such as big meetings, people weeping, dramatic manifestations of the work of the Holy Spirit. But today I realized that there's little difference between longing for Jesus' presence and desiring revival.
I suppose that my fixation on outward signs got in the way of my noticing the relationship to the inward signs. The outward signs of revival are accompanied by the inward signs of the work of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, etc. And who doesn't want those for themselves? But the work of the Spirit isn't just in individuals. What does it look like when God's people pray and God heals their land (2 Chron 7:14) and love, joy, and peace characterize a whole culture?
We don't usually associate Jesuits with the work of the Holy Spirit. But the prayer of presence I was praying comes from a Jesuit website. And I'm sure that it's that longing for Jesus' presence that motivates many Jesuits to work for love, joy, and peace in our world. Jesuits don't hold revival meetings. But they long for Jesus' presence in their lives and in our world. And so should I.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
fighting evil
(I posted the thoughts below on Tuesday to Grace Announcements.)
Yesterday I was confronted with two kinds of evil. First, there was the horrendous news of the bombing in Boston. Then last night, I saw the insidious world of human trafficking exposed in the movie, "Not Today". My heart responded to both with the same question: what can I do?
Much of the damage and injury inflicted by the bombing were easily seen in the news footage and photos that have been coming out of Boston. People's lives were forever changed by losing loved ones or being physically harmed. And the movie helped to bring to light a world of suffering that could go unnoticed because of a lack of media attention. But the suffering is there and is affecting 23 million people in our world. We naturally want to do something to alleviate the suffering once it's brought to our attention.
The first responders in Boston were able to do something that at times could be recorded on video. Their actions were often heroic and life-saving. But what can the rest of us do? And the movie followed the fictionalized response of a college student who travels to India on a whim. But what if we're not in India?
As I'm writing this, construction workers are making a racket as they repair the church buildings. Earlier today, we started our staff meeting as usual with a time of contemplative prayer and reflection on God's Word. But our time of prayer was punctuated by the whine of power saws and sanders. It seemed an apt metaphor to me for the times that we live in: we are trying to do "God's work" but it keeps butting up against the chaos of the world we live in.
Christians are called to live in the chaotic place between God's kingdom and the current kingdom of this world. The places that need God's grace the most are the ones that are the most annoying, bothersome or even dangerous because they are so broken. But those are the places where we, as messengers of grace, are most needed. What are we supposed to do there?
We are enamored of heroic, life-saving actions and may even secretly envy those who are applauded for such actions, partly because they get to actually DO something. But most of us are called to do things that may never get the limelight.
When we were in Thailand, Joe told us that there are three ways to fight human trafficking. The work that ZOE does is mostly the rehabilitation of kids that have been rescued out of trafficking. It's courageous work that requires perseverance but it's not as glamorous as the intervention work done by the rescue teams that actually pluck kids out of trafficking situations. Still, there are the rewards of seeing a child who was brainwashed by traffickers begin to live in freedom and joy, in the knowledge that s/he is loved unconditionally.
But the work that receives the least acknowledgement is the work of prevention. This is the work that Bob Shim is directly involved in as he serves with the Sustainable Development Research Foundation. By raising the standard of living in villages that have relied on subsistence farming, people are brought out of desperate poverty and are less likely to listen to the lies of traffickers who tell them that their child will have a better life if the parent gives the child to the trafficker. This preventive work is hard. It can mean years of trying to figure out how to get a whole village to change its ways of farming, ways that have been handed down generation to generation for centuries. And those years are often frustrating and unheralded.
And that is the kind of work that most of us are called to do. We are not "first responders" to crisis but prevention workers who are called to fight covert and everyday evil. We are called to live lives that counter the gospel of wealth, or achievement, or education, or anything else that offers salvation without God. Our work is the daily grind of living out the life of God's kingdom in this world, without appreciation or even with opposition as we try to figure out ways to bring the needed message and live our own lives amid the chaos, lives that may be chaotic enough with all the pressures of school and work and extended family, not to mention life in the church community.
So what can we do? We can ground ourselves in God's Word and live in the Spirit. We can live as though people are more important than things. We can greet everyone we meet with peace. We can talk to God about people and then take the opportunities he gives us to talk to people about God. We can look for the ways that God is active around us and then cooperate with that work. It may not be the flashiest or most photogenic work. It may be mundane and unrecognized work. But if we are following Christ then that work is good enough because it is what God has given us to do.
Yesterday I was confronted with two kinds of evil. First, there was the horrendous news of the bombing in Boston. Then last night, I saw the insidious world of human trafficking exposed in the movie, "Not Today". My heart responded to both with the same question: what can I do?
Much of the damage and injury inflicted by the bombing were easily seen in the news footage and photos that have been coming out of Boston. People's lives were forever changed by losing loved ones or being physically harmed. And the movie helped to bring to light a world of suffering that could go unnoticed because of a lack of media attention. But the suffering is there and is affecting 23 million people in our world. We naturally want to do something to alleviate the suffering once it's brought to our attention.
The first responders in Boston were able to do something that at times could be recorded on video. Their actions were often heroic and life-saving. But what can the rest of us do? And the movie followed the fictionalized response of a college student who travels to India on a whim. But what if we're not in India?
As I'm writing this, construction workers are making a racket as they repair the church buildings. Earlier today, we started our staff meeting as usual with a time of contemplative prayer and reflection on God's Word. But our time of prayer was punctuated by the whine of power saws and sanders. It seemed an apt metaphor to me for the times that we live in: we are trying to do "God's work" but it keeps butting up against the chaos of the world we live in.
Christians are called to live in the chaotic place between God's kingdom and the current kingdom of this world. The places that need God's grace the most are the ones that are the most annoying, bothersome or even dangerous because they are so broken. But those are the places where we, as messengers of grace, are most needed. What are we supposed to do there?
We are enamored of heroic, life-saving actions and may even secretly envy those who are applauded for such actions, partly because they get to actually DO something. But most of us are called to do things that may never get the limelight.
When we were in Thailand, Joe told us that there are three ways to fight human trafficking. The work that ZOE does is mostly the rehabilitation of kids that have been rescued out of trafficking. It's courageous work that requires perseverance but it's not as glamorous as the intervention work done by the rescue teams that actually pluck kids out of trafficking situations. Still, there are the rewards of seeing a child who was brainwashed by traffickers begin to live in freedom and joy, in the knowledge that s/he is loved unconditionally.
But the work that receives the least acknowledgement is the work of prevention. This is the work that Bob Shim is directly involved in as he serves with the Sustainable Development Research Foundation. By raising the standard of living in villages that have relied on subsistence farming, people are brought out of desperate poverty and are less likely to listen to the lies of traffickers who tell them that their child will have a better life if the parent gives the child to the trafficker. This preventive work is hard. It can mean years of trying to figure out how to get a whole village to change its ways of farming, ways that have been handed down generation to generation for centuries. And those years are often frustrating and unheralded.
And that is the kind of work that most of us are called to do. We are not "first responders" to crisis but prevention workers who are called to fight covert and everyday evil. We are called to live lives that counter the gospel of wealth, or achievement, or education, or anything else that offers salvation without God. Our work is the daily grind of living out the life of God's kingdom in this world, without appreciation or even with opposition as we try to figure out ways to bring the needed message and live our own lives amid the chaos, lives that may be chaotic enough with all the pressures of school and work and extended family, not to mention life in the church community.
So what can we do? We can ground ourselves in God's Word and live in the Spirit. We can live as though people are more important than things. We can greet everyone we meet with peace. We can talk to God about people and then take the opportunities he gives us to talk to people about God. We can look for the ways that God is active around us and then cooperate with that work. It may not be the flashiest or most photogenic work. It may be mundane and unrecognized work. But if we are following Christ then that work is good enough because it is what God has given us to do.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
lessons from Thailand
I was in Thailand on a mission/vision trip from Mar 22-Apr 2. I got to share the experience with my oldest daughter. It's impossible to sum the trip up briefly, but here are three things that stick in my heart:
1. "I am not in a hurry". The team learned "The Pilgrim's Creed" together: "I am not in a hurry. I am not in control. I will take only what God gives me. I will greet everyone I meet with peace." On the way to Chiang Mai we had a 45 minute layover in Seoul, during which we had to go from one terminal to another, including the security check. Needless to say, we had to move fast. On the plane, I read this:
2. What can we offer kids in villages in Thailand? We brought a large suitcase full of arts and crafts. We found that Thai kids like Rice Krispies treats (made with coconut oil instead of butter) but weren't so taken with finger Jello ("It's pretty good if I don't have to eat much of it." They're very polite.) But the most important thing we brought was love and attention and a sense of hope for a future beyond subsistence farming. We were the first group to include teens, members who were close in age to the kids we worked with. And we were the first group to spend entire days with them, even eating lunches with them and lunch and dinner on our final day. As a result, this was the first time that the Thai kids cried when they had to say good-bye… and we were crying, too.
3. God uses faithfulness in small things. A missionary family's life can be very ordinary. We spent time with three missionary families in Chiang Mai that Grace Community supports. A frequent topic of conversation was where to buy groceries. Yet the work that these missionaries are doing is life-changing for so many. And that reminded me that back here in the US, it's the same. God wants to change lives around us, yet he wants us to be faithful in the everyday stuff. A lot of life is about things like where to buy groceries. But that doesn't mean that there aren't greater purposes for why God has us living where we do. Treating a grocery clerk with respect can be as important as leading a Bible study.
At the same time, there are unique challenges faced by missionary families. The transitoriness is hard. Missionaries' kids (MKs) have to say good-bye too often, especially when they're on "home assignment" (and they often don't feel that the US is "home"). And the missionaries themselves feel pressure to have "successful" ministries on the field, just as Christians in the US want to participate in a "successful" church. And "success" is often interpreted to mean "big". The transitoriness and pressure can lead to a sense of isolation. So missionaries need emotional support just as much as Christians in the US. One suggestion we heard was to send out a missionary's best friend for a week: a small thing that supporting churches can do to provide emotional support on the field.
Even if you don't go to Thailand, God is active where you are. May we be able to see what God is doing in our own neighborhoods and may he give us the grace to cooperate with him.
1. "I am not in a hurry". The team learned "The Pilgrim's Creed" together: "I am not in a hurry. I am not in control. I will take only what God gives me. I will greet everyone I meet with peace." On the way to Chiang Mai we had a 45 minute layover in Seoul, during which we had to go from one terminal to another, including the security check. Needless to say, we had to move fast. On the plane, I read this:
Hurry is an inner condition that is fear-based... If I have only ten minutes to get from one end of the airport to another, I can move quickly without hurrying…when I walk in step with God I learn to say, "If I don't make that plane I'll be fine. God is with me. Things will work out. Meanwhile, I'll move my legs as fast as I can…"As we learned to walk in step with God, we were often tempted to hurry or to take control. But the Pilgrim's Creed made us more aware of how God was orchestrating things.
2. What can we offer kids in villages in Thailand? We brought a large suitcase full of arts and crafts. We found that Thai kids like Rice Krispies treats (made with coconut oil instead of butter) but weren't so taken with finger Jello ("It's pretty good if I don't have to eat much of it." They're very polite.) But the most important thing we brought was love and attention and a sense of hope for a future beyond subsistence farming. We were the first group to include teens, members who were close in age to the kids we worked with. And we were the first group to spend entire days with them, even eating lunches with them and lunch and dinner on our final day. As a result, this was the first time that the Thai kids cried when they had to say good-bye… and we were crying, too.
3. God uses faithfulness in small things. A missionary family's life can be very ordinary. We spent time with three missionary families in Chiang Mai that Grace Community supports. A frequent topic of conversation was where to buy groceries. Yet the work that these missionaries are doing is life-changing for so many. And that reminded me that back here in the US, it's the same. God wants to change lives around us, yet he wants us to be faithful in the everyday stuff. A lot of life is about things like where to buy groceries. But that doesn't mean that there aren't greater purposes for why God has us living where we do. Treating a grocery clerk with respect can be as important as leading a Bible study.
At the same time, there are unique challenges faced by missionary families. The transitoriness is hard. Missionaries' kids (MKs) have to say good-bye too often, especially when they're on "home assignment" (and they often don't feel that the US is "home"). And the missionaries themselves feel pressure to have "successful" ministries on the field, just as Christians in the US want to participate in a "successful" church. And "success" is often interpreted to mean "big". The transitoriness and pressure can lead to a sense of isolation. So missionaries need emotional support just as much as Christians in the US. One suggestion we heard was to send out a missionary's best friend for a week: a small thing that supporting churches can do to provide emotional support on the field.
Even if you don't go to Thailand, God is active where you are. May we be able to see what God is doing in our own neighborhoods and may he give us the grace to cooperate with him.
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