Missional Church 360

The Unfinished Script

2009-07-04T13:38:00.003-05:00

So here we are, with an unfinished script, at least some indication of the final Act and a promise that we have the Holy Spirit as our Director (though not a new writer!), and we have to improvise. If we are to faithfully live out the biblical drama, then we will need to develop the imaginative skills necessary to improvise on this cosmic stage of creational redemption. Indeed, it would be the height of infidelity and interpretive cowardice to simply repeat verbatim, over and over again, the earlier passages of the play. The task is not so much a matter of being able to quote the earlier script as it is to be able to continue it, to imaginatively discern what shape the story now must take in our changing cultural context.
- Colossians Remixed, Brain J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat

Renewed, Resourced, Reshaped . . .

2009-06-26T19:08:00.003-05:00

If today's, and tomorrow's, church is to engage in . . . mission, seeking both to implement the achievement of Jesus and his resurrection and thereby to anticipate the final renewal of all things, it must itself be renewed, resourced, and reshaped for this mission.
N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope

2009-04-20T18:43:00.002-05:00

When you get a moment, check out 'Shapevine' - an excellent missional resources site.

Rethinking Heaven and our Mission

2009-04-11T18:00:00.005-05:00

In "Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church," (HarperOne), Canon N.T. Wright claims that God is redeeming THIS creation. As Paul Marshall puts it in his book by this title), "heaven is not my home." Our bodies and all of nature are good and the resurrection of Jesus is a foretaste of Eternity's physicality. There is more continuity between this world and the next than is commonly assumed.

N.R. Wright claims that the Kingdom of God is that which restores (not destroys) creation. Other writers agree (cf. Al Wolters' "Creation Regained" or Michael Wittmer's "Heaven Is A Place on Earth") that Jesus-apprentices are not destined for an ethereal existence in some place beyond creation and history. We shall be with Jesus - and He is coming back to Earth (read the climax depicted in Revelation 21 and 22). The good but fallen Garden will be transformed into the City of God, where the very leaves of the trees are for the healing of the peoples (ethne).

With Tom Wright's help, we may rethink our assumptions and attitudes about life, death, and life after death. This will also influence how we think about what matters most in life, and the very mission of God. William Willimon writes on the jacket blurb: "This is, quite simply, the best book we have on the substance of Christian hope." Rob Bell says it challenges "the tired old theologies of escapism and evacuation to help a whole generation of us more clearly grasp the Jesus revolution, for here, now, today." Dallas Willard says it recovers "the original, radical understanding of resurrection, salvation, and the Good News of life now in the Kingdom of God."

Blessed = 'Wonderful News"

2009-04-11T16:35:00.001-05:00

"Matthew for Everyone, Part One:"

"Jesus is not suggesting that [the Beatitudes] are simply timeless truths about the way the world is, about human behavior. If he was saying that, he is wrong. Mourners often go uncomforted, the meek don't inherit the earth, those who long for justice often take that longing to the grave. This is an upside-down world, or perhaps a right-way-up world; and Jesus is saying that with his work its starting to come true. This is an announcement, not a philosophical analysis of the world. It's about something that's starting to happen, not about a general truth of life. It is gospel: good news, not good advice.

Follow me, Jesus said to the first disciples; because in him the living God was doing a new thing, and this list of 'wonderful news' is part of his invitation, part of his summons, part of his way of saying that God is at work in a fresh way and that this is what it looks like. Jesus is beginning a new era for God's people and God's world. From here on, all the controls people thought they knew about are going to work the other way round. In our world, still, most people think that wonderful news consists of success, wealth, long life, victory in battle. Jesus is offering wonderful news for the humble, the poor, the mourners, the peacemakers.

The world for 'wonderful news' is often translated 'blessed,' and part of the point is that this is God's wonderful news. God is acting in and through Jesus to turn the world upside down, to turn Israel upside down, to pour out lavish 'blessings' on all who now turn to him and accept the new thing that he is doing. But the point is not to offer a list of what sort of people God normally blesses. The point is to announce God's new covenant.

In Deuteronomy, the people came through the wilderness and arrived at the border of the promised land, and God gave them a solemn covenant. He listed the blessings and curses that would come if they were obedient or disobedient. Now Matthew has shown us Jesus, coming out of Egypt, through the water and the wilderness, and into the land of promise. Here, now, is his new covenant.

So when do these promises come true? There is a great temptation for Christians to answer: in heaven, after death. At first sight, verses 3, 10 and 11 seem to say this: 'the kingdom of heaven' belongs to the poor in spirit and the persecuted, and there's a great reward in heaven for those who suffer persecution for Jesus' sake. That, though, is a misunderstanding of the meaning of 'heaven.' Heaven is God's space, where full reality exists, close by our ordinary ('earthly') reality and interlocking with it. One day heaven and earth will be joined together forever, and the true state of affairs, at present out of sight, will be unveiled. After all, verse 5 says that the meek will inherit the earth, and that can hardly happen in a disembodied heaven after death.

No: the clue comes in the next chapter, in the prayer Jesus taught his followers. We are to pray that God's kingdom will come, and God's will be done, 'on earth as it is in heaven.' The life of heaven--the life of the realm where God is already king--is to become the life of the world, transforming the present 'earth' into a place of beauty and delight that God always intended. And those who follow Jesus are to begin to live by this rule here and now. That's the point of the Sermon on the Mount, and these 'beatitudes' in particular. They are a summons to live in the present in the way that will make sense in God's promised future; because that future has arrived in the present in Jesus of Nazareth. It may seem upside down, but we are called to believe, with great daring, that it it in fact the right way up. Try it and see."
--- N.T. Wright, "Matthew for Everyone, Part One:"

Into a Neighbourhood . . .

2009-04-09T14:15:00.002-05:00

Al Roxburgh writes: "One of the serendipitous moments was a conversation with a woman who had just graduated from a program in church planting. She talked about what she and her husband wanted to do with the next twenty years of life since they are in that ‘retirement’ age bracket. I loved her response - they are planning to move into a neighborhood, settle down for the long haul and build their lives in to the ordinary spaces and rhythms of the community - out of that basic life commitment they will discover the kind of church God wants to call forth. What was so energizing about her description is that way it corresponds with a lot of conversations I’m having with people these days. There’s this undercurrent, not a movement yet, of people like this women who are ready to dwell in the ordinary and see what God will do. That’s the future of the church! She wanted to know if there were others who sensed the same kind of call to move back into the neighborhood. We need to start connecting and sharing stories with one another. Then she said - all I ever find are these church planters with big strategies (what I call the high testosterone approach to planting church) and big plans for people’s lives and I’m not interested in that! I think a lot of us are in that space."
-- Allelon: A Movement of Missional Leaders

The Whole World Welcome

2009-03-28T09:38:00.003-05:00

've been thinking about how, in John 12 - when the Greeks come and say: 'Sir, we would see Jesus' - that that starts the time-clock of our Saviour moving deliberately towards the Cross. 'Now is my hour come!' He says, when so many times earlier the text says - 'because His hour was not yet come.' And then he talks about 'except a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it abides alone, . .. ' etc. Hmm. I wonder why their search and query signaled that kairos beginning and the chronos-clock influence, too?

I think it means that when the (further) opening comes, through this query of the Gentiles, (these Greeks, the 'nations'), it moves the issue beyond the salvation of the Jews only - to the reality that He came for the whole world (which lets you and me, perhaps nonJews as we are, get in on this wonderful Reality of God's Grace, Forgiveness, Welcome and inclusion, and also our inclusion into the call to Mission with faithful Abraham (and with Jesus, the 'Seed' of Abraham) - in blessing all the ethne of the word). God is rescuing People, Places, and Things - from sheer grace, mercy and love. God knows, none of us deserve it.

Not only Jewish boys on Judean hills come to worship (albeit a short distance geographically and culturally and religiously), but 'magi from the East' come too (these other signs in human form, of 'the nations' gathered), coming from afar (geographically, religiously, culturally . . .) all of us coming, all of us drawn by God's Word (the Gospel in Scripture), perhaps by the stars themselves (the Gospel revealed even in all nature and science itself, though more obscure and needing direction) - to the Saviour.

For God so loved the world (the 'cosmos') . . . He gave - that whosoever (not just Jews - but those Greek inquirers, too) might have Life (starting now and never ending). . . . Wonderful !!

Whew, a wee Easter (and Christmas) sermon, eh?

Jesus Encounters

2008-05-05T08:03:00.001-05:00

Recently, I met a man from Syria who had only a short time ago come to faith in Jesus Christ. In the brief time I had with him, he shared how he had encountered the Saviour.

But let me first ask: `Have you ever noticed that in most if not all of the Bible’s accounts of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, the Risen Lord, that his disciples failed to recognize Him?! They had spent hours, days, months with Him – sharing fully in His life, as companions and followers along the roads of Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and into Jerusalem. But they didn’t recognize Him as He appeared before them.

I think you could argue that He ‘came and went’ time again to the disciples (as St. Paul puts it - appearing to as many as 500 at one time, on occasion). The same Paul comments that ‘from now on, we do not know Him ‘according to the flesh.’ Somehow, Jesus’ new, resurrected Body remains the same and yet is somehow different. For Him, the seed has already flowered; He is in a resurrection, spiritual body – though one still corporeal (and we too shall one day be ‘like Him’ having bodies like `His glorious Body”).

Jesus appeared and disappeared in those days between his Resurrection and Ascension – seemingly moving through doors and walls without limitation – no doubt moving through and beyond various dimensions of space/time of the created order - and beyond and into whatever the ‘eternal’ means . . .

There follows the Ascension experience of Christ, before His disciples, as they see Him disappear into the clouds and into the eternal (which may very likely be not all that far away – just of another dimension and order of things). He had disappeared several times from their sight, but this time He would disappear for the most part or more fully from their natural and physical embrace and encounter, at least as they had previously been privileged to experience Him. But His presence was nonetheless real, now to be possible through a new communication of ‘spirit’ – to be theirs with and through His (Holy Spirit).

Paul Himself had a vision – a kind of appearing, of Jesus to him, on the Damascus Road (Damascus being then as now in Syria). I wonder if or how many others had a similar experience of which the Bible does not speak and of which we do not know. We do know that the early church at worship, in the height of both knowledge and passion, and in the liturgical expressions – some ancient and some new to Judaism and to this new ‘sect’ – looked forward to corporately ‘discerning the body’ in the tangible elements and expressions – the symbols of reality in the taking and eating and drinking of the Bread and of the Cup (of Communion), as Jesus had commanded them. And in that context they would cry – ‘Maranatha’ (Aramaic for: ‘Come Lord (Jesus)). They had a deep sense of His reality and of His Presence as they gathered and welcomed and worshiped. It was by faith they embraced Him, but it was a real encounter, nonetheless.

But again, I wonder if sometimes Jesus actually showed Himself to such as them at worship, as a vision of manifest and even corporal presence.

Back to my Syrian friend. An Islamic fundamentalist and an ex El Quaeda operative, his life would be forfeit now if he should return to his homeland – in danger of being killed by members of his own family and certainly by the hands of his former associates. He came to faith, he told me, because without thinking or solicitation or any other intermediary of which he was aware, Jesus had appeared to him. He was certain that it was Jesus and the encounter started him on a journey that led to Christian companionship, an introduction to the Scriptures and to a clear embrace and statement of faith, as he became a follower of this Jesus.

I wonder how many other times in our lives Jesus is near – to be apprehended by faith, or by sheer sight (though this is rare and not to be expected or sought). Other friends in that context have indicated to me that though the man’s vision was wonderful, it is also perhaps a rebuke to them and to all Christians that where we fail to do our task of showing and telling the Good News to others, Jesus does it for us, in spite of us, around us. Indeed, beyond arguing Islamic people into Christian understanding and faith, it may well be that such ‘signs and wonders’ will be used by the Lord, especially in areas we dare not go or even where we have friends and neighbours that we fail to reach.

For the Church?

2008-03-22T12:02:00.002-05:00

How is this new clan and community - called the Church, to be part of God's answer, in Christ?

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything FOR THE CHURCH, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

- Ephesians 1:17 - 23

Witness to Clan and Family

2008-03-22T11:49:00.006-05:00

How to share faith when one is among clans and tribes - and not mere 'individuals?'

It is vital to think deeply about these realities and to try to do Missiology - i.e. to missionally assess implications for Gospel witness. It is necessary to do Christology - to think through the reasons for which Jesus came, in fulfilment of the Missio Dei (the Mission of God) and how He will ultimately overcome (made possible by His Person and Work - His life, death and resurrection). It is essential too, to do Ecclessiology - to see how the Church, the Body of Christ-followers are part of God’s plan, the answer (cf. Ephesians 1) for how all of this is going to get done.

The following is true of rural communities, in the West still, for reflecting on tribalism in the recent political chaos and mess of Kenya, or in the upheaval and division that Lebanon reflects (as mirror for internal Arab conflict - with each other, with Israel, and with the West).

Can thinking about mission context(s) such as the following not help us understand our mission challenges and responsibilities in the West and in the whole world (?) - mandated as we are to preach the gospel to every creature under heaven and to make disciples throughout the whole of the cosmos.

As with most of our own fore-bearers in various times and places, with their own unique challenges, locales and hurtles to overcome for survival and establishment, “the overwhelming need for security led the Bedouin of centuries ago to gather in patrilineal families locked in steadfast fidelity and absolute obligation to one another.

In the brutal, open desert (one could put cold, Canadian winters in our context) where survival depended on numbers and cohesion, each tent represented a family, each encampment constituted a clan, and several clans linked together through descent from a common ancestor became a tribe. Within these protective walls of kinships, father and son, brother and brother, cousin and cousin searched for pasture, camped together, married first cousins to first cousins, and defended each other and their collective honour.

Within the group, cohesion held because overpowering cultural and social pressures instilled within each individual the supreme and unquestioned value of life - the commitment to family solidarity and the assumption of mutual responsibility. In these family in which every person knew every other person, in which all were related by blood, or at least by a fiction of common descent, the imperative of the collective good of the family passed from generation to generation. Near-absolute necessity guaranteed enforcement . . .

Each individual, in both emotional and practical terms, surrendered his or her identity to the family. And like the rest of the family, these individuals distrusted and largely disliked those outside the boundaries of kinship.

The definition of family in Arab culture is not nuclear or even extended. . . A first cousin is like a brother and a distant cousin is an integral part of the total family, regardless of gaps in wealth, education, and social status. This potent sense of family has cast societies into an amalgam of primordial allegiances governed by the most Arab of all utterances: “My brother and I against my cousin, and my cousin and I against the alien.” (cf. Sharon Mackey, "Mirror of the Arab World: Lebanon in Conflict")

Love and Hate

2008-03-22T11:22:00.005-05:00

Loving ourselves at the expense of loving others is contrary to the heart of the Gospel. Jesus calls us and enables us (only by His very Spirit living in and through us) to overcome such ego-centric, harsh and selfish attitudes and life-styles.

That's in direct challenge and opposition to clanish, tribal thinking that concludes that whether religion, class or culture - the more one loves one's own, the more one is entitled to hate another.'

For 'hate' put diss, laugh at, mock, scorn, ignore, fight against, scoff at . . . all of which happens between denominations (which are the un-happy product of nation-state times and critical, Cartesian/cognitive/modernistic times) and which also happens when emergents get thinking about liminals (former establishment and institutional 'christendom'), and vice versa.

Jesus is 'The Answer' - How So?

2008-03-22T11:17:00.004-05:00

What was it Jesus really came to do - to accomplish, if one thinks of individual needs (guilt and blame against God), and of family, clan, tribe and community alienation?

How does His life and death and resurrection bring Peace and Reconciliation? And why haven't we seen or experienced it much in the last two thousand years.

Why aren't we experiencing it, promoting, seeing it 'fleshed out' more in our day, in our communities, in our world?!

Family or Individual?

2008-03-22T11:14:00.001-05:00

Does negation of family, clan, tribe and community and pressing towards individual freedom, rights and wants lead to inevitable chaos?

I was raised with familiarity and responsibility due to close proximity to family members. Many rural communities in Ontario remain the same today. Local churches may still reflect this and new pastors need to know they are entering a community of family and relationship that is more than their coming together to build a church and to seek to follow Christ.

The new pastor has entered a tribe, a clan, a community just as cohesive and united as would be entrance into any clan or tribe or community in what you used to be called ‘the mission field,’ overseas.

Within each church there are tribal leaders and intricate relationships. Father, sons and brothers, mother, daughters-in-law, and cousins may still live within tight boundaries of kinship drawn by precise bloodlines.

In Arab or Bedouin cultures there remains deeply ingrained codes of personal honour, the dictates of vengeance, the obligation of hospitality, and the near-sacred dedication to family (see Sandra Mackey: ‘Mirror of the Arab World: Lebanon in Conflict.’

When does mission, evangelism, church life, community impact follow lines of family and clan and tribe, and when not? Does one leave one family and tribe (or is the former life in community trumped) by entrance into the new Family of God, the Church? Is this part of what Jesus is saying when he tells us that one’s enemies (when one comes to faith) may be those of his own household, and that if we don’t ‘hate’ father, mother, sister and brother (at least relatively speaking), in following Him, that we cannot be His disciple.

But does the individual faith, and seeker-driven service draw one into a new family in Christ, in new relationships, responsibilities, allegiances and loyalties? Or, has modern Western society simply replaced the old allegiances (rural values, family life and living in small town (even urban ‘pocket’s’) community - not for something better (at least as provided for and reinforced in new church community) but for individual tyranny and eventual societal chaos?

Does the Gospel Lead Inevitably to Democracy?

2008-03-22T10:54:00.006-05:00

Showing and telling the Gospel among people who celebrate tribe and clan (the Arab world, Africa, youth culture) challenges the way in which Christendom, latterly, entered into attempts at evangelism and mission. Having one's own personal relationship with Christ may seem very strange to those cultures where they will come to Christ as a group, if at all, or when the clan-leader embraces the claims of Jesus.

Does the Gospel lead inevitably to democracy (as it has been outlined and embraced in and by the West)? Is making a 'personal decision' for Jesus necessary to salvation (if you confess with your mouth: 'Jesus is Lord . . ' ? - but then become a problem if one doesn't see further how one is to then fit into the Christ's Body, the Church, or become part of God's reclamation-project that touches all people, all relationships, all aspects of life in the cosmos.

Sandra Mackey, writing in ‘Mirror of the Arab World,’ states that: “Unlike the West that glorifies the individual, Arabs define self in personal relationships with others. And it is mutual obligation of one to the other than knits Arab society together. Consequently institutions are inseparable from those who occupy them. In the realm of Arab politics, a person who holds a political or legal position is seldom if ever capable of separating himself from his relationships within his family, community, or web of indebtedness in order to exercise an impersonal, institutional role. To the officeholder as well as those he represents, any act of independence is the equivalent of splitting the social atom, risking the release of unknown and uncontrollable forces that threaten order. Therefore, to most Arabs, it is better to live in tyranny than risk chaos.”

Holy Week

2008-03-22T10:52:00.000-05:00

Holy Week reminds us of the death and resurrection of our Saviour. It’s like a long birth canal, this week, in that the Gospels reveal the story of the culturally contextualized, incarnational womb-like existence of Christ, embedded in the unique and particular ancient culture of Judaism - for thirty years, privately and then 3 years in public ministry.

As in childbirth, there is a period of excruciating pain (in the crux and crisis of the Cross) that soon gives birth to the new, resurrection life of the First of a whole new Race, the Second Adam, our Saviour, our Friend, the Firstborn, our Lord and Master - Jesus.

This is the One who overcomes the guilt and bondage of the world and its citizens, the One who took the place of sinners that they might be set free – to be the fully human Creatures once again, and to the restored hope of a fully restored Creation one Day. He became ‘sin’ for us that through Him we might receive - indeed might become, the righteous and the righteousness of God.

This is the One who overcomes shame and blame. When reviled, accused, scorned, abused and spit upon (in the midst of a shame-culture, where blessing and cursing and ‘tit for tat’ was the norm), even then He opened not His mouth. Even though He was not to blame, He took the blame. He for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame . . .

This is the One who overcame fear. His perfect Love (for His Father, for the elect citizens of earth, for the world – ie. cosmos, itself) overcame fear. He came to that point in his ministry when, his time - his hour having come, He set His face like flint towards Jerusalem and toward all that would await Him there.

Thanks be to God for His incredible Gift !

The Fall and the Resulting Effects of Sin

2008-03-12T14:19:00.007-05:00

A Place to Start in Missional Focus? (cf Genesis 3)

1. The Issue of Guilt –In the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die . . .
The West has stressed the issue of guilt, especially in the substitutionary atonement understanding of the finished work of Christ, as taught by St. Anselm. Thus has been stressed the issue of the Righteous judge dealing with the guilty, or turning aside the just judgment and penalty due law-breakers, through the advocacy of the Son of God Who has Himself fully paid the penalty for sin, having experienced the curse of death, becoming ‘sin for us’ that we might be set fully at liberty. This is the Gospel but not the whole of the Good News.

2. The Issue of Shame – Their eyes were opened, that they were naked . . .
There are many shame-based cultures in the world where in the context of being together – as a couple, a family, tribe, clan or people-group, shame is a (pre)dominant theme. In such cultures, ‘tit-for-tat’ and balancing of revenge and justice is deeply engrained. This attitude and resultant actions happen in rival gangs in Toronto or New York, or in the reciprocal knee-capping of opposite sides in Northern Ireland’s ‘troubles,’ and in the eye-for-eye theory and practice prevalent still in Jewish and Islamic cultures (and indeed also to be found in the West, too, where token or nominal Christianity is acknowledged without taking seriously Jesus teachings with regard to the seemingly foolish, vulnerable and peace-at-any price ‘turning the other cheek’ motif He advocated for His followers.

It may well be that the West has stressed too greatly the issue of ‘guilt’ in seeking to win many in the world (for example, Africans) to faith in Christ. And perhaps the same may be said in all places in the West – for many such may claim to have had a ‘born-again’ experience, to have had that transaction they believe to have been completed in their life wherein they have passed from death to life due to their ‘acceptance of Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.’ But in many (f not most) instances, globally today, many of those who claim to have ‘found Jesus’ do not bear deep fruit and show many evidences of lives that have been transformed.

One of the rationales of Baptist beginnings was that ‘all of Europe had been baptized’ (and was thus part of Christendom, members of the visible Church), but in such professors there was little or no evidence of an inner, transforming work of the Holy Spirit into the saving death and life of Christ. Hence, Baptists, uniquely, sought to wait until there was ample fruit and more evidence of a changed life (of at least the beginnings of sanctification that would be evidence of justification having actually happened) – and then, and them only, would they baptize such ‘believers.’ (Of course this came down through revivalism, in many cases, as leading to prohibitions re: dancing, smoking, playing cards, spitting and chewing, etc. in that, as one stopped these behaviours, one was giving clear testimony to the work of God within the heart and life.)

Today, when so many in North America claim to be ‘born again’ and have even received ‘believers baptism’ subsequent to a personal response of repentance and faith, it is more than passingly strange that society as a whole does not reflect the same realities of the inner life, the inner world of the Spirit, the inner values supposed espoused by Bible-believing churches comprised of born-again, baptized confessors of Jesus. Why is there this disparity between the claims of having ‘received Christ’ and so little evidence in Western society as a whole of personal and corporate holiness, justice, forgiveness, mercy, proper care of God’s world (ie. the environment), and so many other positive, redemptive, constructive change in such matters as personal and societal health and blessing. And if there is little real peace in the heart, or the home, or the nation what really (as a society of Jesus’ apprentice followers) has the Church to expound and export to the rest of the world?

Is stressing the issues of guilt and grace the right approach in cultures where lives are so largely dominated by issues of shame? Where clans, cultures and families spend so much time trying to ‘save face’ or avenge wrongs – real or imagined (often in vendettas lasting generations and centuries), is it wise or effective, in terms of seeking response to the Gospel, to stress only or predominantly this one (albeit vital and necessary) aspect of Gospel truth.

Even in the West, in a supposed ‘postmodern’ world, the idea of the cognitive (Cartesian, thinking, rational) model – to the exclusion or minimizing of other aspects of life (the heart, the passions, emotions, feelings; the body, action, praxis, doing it) is losing ground. An over-emphasis, in modernity (‘I think therefore I am – thanks Descartes) is seen now as ‘wanting’ – as unbalanced, as less than the whole or of what it means to live a holistic life.

There is, of course too, the opposite danger of dumbing-down the Gospel; of elevating experience over the gift of good and pure Reason; mindless actions without thoughts. This is also a foolish and futile response for believers who think they must now negate or minimize biblical study and apologia as a means of sharing and understanding what it means to follow Jesus, in a day when people want to see it, touch it, feel it, taste it, do it, and not merely theorize about it. Indeed, people want not merely the pictures and the words on the menu – they want to experience the meal. And that is a good thing.

The danger of course is a kind of gnosis where people claim to have a kind of experience (in worship, alone with God, while hearing their favorite meditative or almost erotic love-songs –to-Jesus worship songs). ‘I’ve found it; I’ve got it’ I’ve experienced it’ – often leads to a kind of contemporary Gnostic or Essene community that tries to escape from most of life – from where normal people live and breathe and have their being – trying to create a pseudo (or virtual) or escapist kind of world and community. If the ‘world’ has a dance for youth – we provide a youth group and hay-rides (or some other supposedly safe entertainment and fellowship experiences) because the other is ‘worldly.’

We may create churches that are cocoons that never show forth or break-forth in new life that might actually transform whole communities. Too often, we become defeatist and, again, escapist – not believing in the power of the Gospel to rescue and save, transform and to set people on a new path.

That God is reclaiming through Christ and the Gospel people and places and things – is largely lost to many. They believe nothing will happen really till Jesus comes again, and until then we must snatch souls from the wrath to come. But the idea of changing the atmosphere, the environment, the city structures, the power and influential bases of the larger society is little known or embraced as a Kingdom goal or part of good news for modern (or postmodern) mankind.

The ‘apologia’ (apologetic) form of faith-sharing is essential as still part of the wider Christian missional enterprise. We do have a reason for the hope that is in us – not merely a blind hope or a mere whistling in the dark. The danger is, however, that we will come across, as it were, hauling someone into court and accusing them of being wrong (and sinful and bad) – for not knowing either the Law or the Gospel, for not hearing, agreeing – and thus inherently doing many things that displease God) – a kind of ‘setting forth our case’ in parading an impressive (at least to us) array of arguments that we hope may somehow convince them how wrong they are (and conversely how right we are) and how they should admit it, confess, repent, believe our explanation and embrace the Gospel. And if they will not, then ‘go to jail, go directly to jail.’
This legal, often intentional (or even when unintentional) accusatory approach simply turns people off – though of course the Spirit may bring conviction and convincing through all means and even our most bumbling attempts to share faith.

But, is it enough or even a wise ‘strategy’ to lob canon shots of verses and theology from our Bibles as they reciprocate with the same with their Holy Book (Koran, Sacred Vedas) or in the cerebral exchanges and the opinions of our own heart (sometimes based on or mixed with thoughts from secular media, education, maxims, truisms or even New Age idiocy)? Will we win people when we try primarily to convince them at the head level when their hearts are broken or hard or indifferent? . . .or, when their hands are itching to do something good for their world and for their neighbour?

Indeed, there will be times when we have (or should create) opportunity to share our sacred scriptures, our apologia, the reason for our inner hope lived out in faith in practice – but to start there may simply result in mutual intransigence, failure to listen, to more dissension, misunderstanding – even to fighting, with both sides failing to appreciate, receive and be changed positively, in such situations and with such approaches.
Either we say nothing or, too often, we come across as – it’s our way or the highway. Failure to listen and to be empathetic so that we may wisely shape and tailor our responses does not lead to the gentle and wise entry of truth and models of love that will enter into and effect places of their heart where God’s Spirit is already pressing in.

3. The Issue of Blame – The woman you gave me, she gave it to me . . .
The theology and practice of ‘passing the buck’ is one which we know all about and in which we often eagerly participate. We may know our guilt and feel our shame but the tendency is that unless aided and turned by grace infusions of the Spirit, we will try to shift our responsibility to others, seeking to bring shame and guilt upon them. Much effort goes into this as individuals, families – indeed, whole nations, see clearly (they think) the obvious sins and short-comings of others (real or imagined) and use this to justify their own condemnation and even retribution. Jesus’ words of the mote in the eye of others versus the beam in our own eye are to be remembered.

The fact that it usually takes two to tangle (or tango) is conveniently set aside at times, when in order to prove a point, justify our own aggression or other improper action/response, we move into the ‘territory’ of others - to attack, build our case, neutralize the defenses or arguments of others, or to justify our own righteous cause and indignation.

4. The Issue of Fear – They hid themselves . . .
Knowing ourselves to have failed and to be less than perfect, people try to hide from God, from others and from themselves. Whole cultures live in fear. Gated communities are arising in the West. Globally people live beyond walls (some topped with razor wire and glass shards, surrounded by guard dogs and security forces. Such fear begets fear and even further causes for alarm.

Indeed, alarm and security systems percolate through the advertizing of the days of our lives. The fear that we have lost something, or that we might lose something causes us to hide, build walls and to strike first lest we be struck later, justifying as we do, our aggression rather than spurring our efforts towards peace-making. All of this is contemporarily and globally evident.

Societies and families have always lived in fear. Nothing is new in this reality. And yet we can fear too much or fear things that may well never be (as Mark Twain acknowledged: he had known a great many troubles – most of which had never happened). The fear of what might be, could be, what we may think is likely to be, sets whole and negative directions for individuals, families and nations. We fear the threat of nuclear disaster, the capacity of others to do us harm in many ways – whether justified or not, which leads to trillion dollar armament industries. Again, fear begets fear. The Gospel and the perfect Love of which it speaks and which in Christ it may bring, casts out (expels) fear so that Christians can live freely, despite the realities and potentialities of evil that dominate and day and prevail in any society. Christians living risky, faith-full yet fearless lives would be a powerful testimony to their neighbour and in their world.

There is a proper and sane realization of potential harm of what may happen in life – and that very often does happen, for which we should be properly and adequately prepared. Bad things happen to innocent, good people who are just trying to get on with life as best they can. It is not wrong to buy life-insurance or to lock the doors of our homes, nor to be prudent and circumspect when allowing our children to meet strangers – or, when we first seek to assess or measure situations, potentially brewing storms, or clear and inevitable threats. But living in fear that creates too many unnecessary adrenalin rushes or that results draining and debilitating inner anxieties – well, we were never created to live this way.

‘You can’t threaten a Christian with Heaven.’ Ultimately, the believer knows that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are wise; we look after ourselves; we rightly preserve body and soul, daily seeking to make wise, prudent decisions about the stewardship of all of life: our resources (the planet’s resources), our health, our very lives. Yet, also we may dare and risk, simply living fully our lives as unto Christ in the Adventure to which we have been called, with Him and through Him to ‘bless all the nations of the earth.’ For indeed, in Him we experience the promises and fulfillment that are to come to (and through) Him Who is the ‘Seed’ of Abraham.

The witness of trusting, obeying, and ultimately fearless Christians is a powerful, attractive perhaps the Spirit may use to winsomely and compellingly ‘draw’ to faith in Christ those He seeks to be part of the Way, the Truth and the Life that is found in Him.

Ichabod

2008-03-06T15:53:00.003-05:00

In the Old Testament, the experience of 'ichabod' meant that the 'glory' or Presence of God had departed from the former Reality of His being known as among His People.

In the old New England fable, Ichabod is the unfortunate name of the school teacher in the story of the headless horseman. Ichabod Crane is a fictional character in Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", first published in 1820.

Today, it may be that a church has lost contact with Christ, Who is the Head of the Church. The Body has lost the ability to commune with the Head.

Alan Hirsch (author of Forgotten Things), challenges us unto the recovery of the centrality of Jesus Christ 'in His own Movement.' He asserts that we need to recover a Christology first (that leads to renewal) - then Missiology - then Ecclessiology.

He asks: "Do we see His words as just ‘good advice?’" - for we see today the subversion of Christianity today into being just another religion. We have made Jesus just like us - to fit into our plans and do our thing. We do not listen, nor follow.

But Jesus wants to make us like Him.

Guilt and Shame and Fear

2008-03-06T13:48:00.010-05:00

The effects of the Fall are reflected in the way people sin or show the ‘curse’ in their lives. This is reflected in at least three ways (cf. Genesis 3):

You shall surely die. (resulting guilt)
Their eyes were open – they were naked (resulting shame)
They were afraid and hid themselves (resulting fear)

The European (and Western ‘Gospel’) has been primarily focused upon preaching a ‘guilt’ gospel. This relates to the need for dealing with the problem of sin and leads to transactional conversion (the rightous Judge forgives the criminal based on the payment of another; substitutionary atonement, etc.) Too often, however, when people get their sin dealt with (forgiven, etc.) they think they can just move on and live their life how they want – without fearing being barred from Paradise when they die.

Many world cultures are based more on ‘shame’ and ‘fear’ rather than on 'guilt.' These reflect the ongoing realities of life in a world community (or local family, clan and people-group) and lived among the dangers and terrors of a hostile world.

It’s not wrong to only present the first aspect i.e. related to guilt and the need for propritiation and atonement; indeed, it is vital and necessary. But we must also attack the issues of shame and fear – or the result will be whole regions and nations where Christianity (so-called) is a mile wide but only an inch thick – with similar results in N. America but for different reasons, as per our presentations. Fear is so prominent in many parts of the world (now also in the West, since post 9/11 terrorism has begun to be such a factor in Western life).

In one sense, people don’t need more guilt or shame or fear. Many won’t attend churches where they know they’ll get emotionally brow-beaten by a preacher any more than some overweight people want to get onto a scale. (They already know the problem and the scale just reminds them of it, unless, that is, they are seeing progress in a more positive direction). Beyond (or as well as dealing with the 'guilt factor,' people need to know how they can be released from the tit-for-tat balance needs of whatever or whoever shames them - and from what they fear.

Put another way, indeed (in some cultures and settings) they may need more clarity in how or why they are guilty, in how or why they are still producing or consumed by shame, or how and why it is that fear so dominates and constrains their lives. And then the Good News may be also shared of Who it is that sets them free from all of that, or goes through it with them - giving courage and hope, making sense of it all.

Shame in cultures relates to people as individuals, members of family, clan and people-groups (ethne) and in some ways also to ‘the nation.’ Saving face, avenging wrongs and slights, and actual harm done to them, are very much to the fore.

They need to be helped to see that they have shamed God (through sin and rebellion and falling short of His demands and purposes for them – individually, in their relationships with others and with this planet -- and that in one sense it may be necessary sometimes even to ‘shame’ family and clan and people-group in order that no longer will they bring shame to God. (In a similar way, Jesus (albeit using hyperbole) indicated that in following (loving, serving, obeying) Him it would sometimes seem (in contrast or relatively speaking) as if they ‘hated’ father or mother or children, etc. Just so, in all lives and cultures it is important to point out how one may not be following God but rather allowing lesser loves and loyalties to dictate thinking and behavior and thus bringing shame upon His honour and right to rule, and abusing the ways He has planned for this world.

In shame-based cultures, the eldest brother is avenger of blood (in some respects like the Kinsman Redeemer – the goel, in Old Testament Israel). There is obligation to restore honour whenever it has been damaged. One must restore the balance even if by blood (or die trying). In such cultures, guilt (say, over divorcing several wives) is as nothing compared to what it would be like to shame family or clan by not avenging perceived or actual wrongs against the family or clan.

Perhaps, therefore, one aspect of sharing or explaining an aspect of the Gospel within such cultures and contexts, may be in helping people to see how they have 'shamed God' and, futher, how Christ through the shedding of His own blood has righted the wrong. God's Son - the elder brother of the new family and clan thus set free - has paid fully the blood money.

Transforming Encounter

2008-01-20T11:15:00.001-05:00

When, in Isaiah 6, in ancient Israel in that dramatic year that King Uzziah died, the prophet was given to see the awe-full revelation of a greater King, Isaiah thought he was a dead man. It occurred in the temple and the event was attended by angels and such Glory of God that human eyes could scarcely comprehend nor shaking hands, later, barely convey on parchment. The place trembled and shook, the vision at once compelling and overwhelming.

In that moment’s flash of Isaiah’s seeing the Lord, in X-ray-like exposure he also saw himself. He saw too the city and nation in which he was embedded, whose life and lifestyle too did not bode well for survival within the hands of a holy God. He believed he was a dead man walking - or crouching; that they all were.

But there came an act of mercy through one of God’s ministering beings that in itself declared, in effect: ‘Not to worry, Isaiah!’ For with God’s revelation also came God’s redemption. The angel took a live coal from the temple-altar of sacrifice and with it purged the lips of the prophet - an objective act of purification, related to the sacrifice of another, cleansed all that was past and brought clarity of preparation for all that was ahead for him.

The great and holy One of Israel had come down to his people, initially to Isaiah, that day to be with him, to converse with him and to convey his purposes for the nation and of Isaiah’s role in the revelation of those plans. The God - whom Isaiah would further reveal as Immanuel (God with us) and Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace - had not given up on His people, nor His world. But there was a lot of work yet to be done.

Unworthy Isaiah was made worthy so that God might have a conference with him as to His plans to make worthy the nation once more so that He through them might touch the world.

I used to think that God’s question was more rhetorical - and only from the perspective of heavenly beings: ‘Whom shall I send - and who will go for us?’ . . . that the ‘us’ was more about the counsels of the Trinity, or about God with angels wondering, seeking an earthly messenger. And that may well be. But perhaps it’s more intimate than that. God asks Isaiah in effect: ‘Now, between the two of us, whom shall I send; who will go for us?’ There is a stratagem of relationship where God and his commissioned ones (human: prophets, priests, kings, the church, a mission board or team) talk together about the who and how of reaching out to lost people in broken, desperate places.

A loving, purpose-full God sends human messengers forth to declare his truth and reveal his plans - and to model His loving, righteous ways. As with Abraham, the father and founder of the by-then idolotrous, wandering-at-heart nation, Israel, God reveals that He wants to bring all of the world's peoples (and all places and things) back in line with God's original creation purposes - that He wants to bless all the peoples of the earth; and that He wants to do it through His People, all of them His servants - individuals, a nation, a Church that unique reveal and bridge His mercy and grace to all.

This calling and sending of individuals, a nation, pre-eminently in a Son and His Church, reveals the mission-heart of God, who through such frail instruments is re-creating all that has been distorted, marred or thwarted, vis a vis original Creation purposes. Isaiah is to speak for God - and so today are we as His Church, Christ’s Body on earth. Like him, we too are to go and (by the total witness of our lives and our lips) to call out to those who will hear, who will see their own need for cleansing and restoration for (and to) the purposes God has uniquely called them.

God comes still to us - as individuals, as His People, the Church today. We worship His holiness and power. We bow before Him. We acknowledge again our unworthiness to be near Him, let alone to serve Him. We are in awe that in fresh and powerful, still compelling ways, He reveals Himself and ourselves anew to us. And we remember that He comes near that (such privilege !) He might again release us to the tasks of showing and telling His purposes - His love, mercy and grace - everywhere, in all of life, to all people.

Of Shepherds and Magi - Further Reflections . . .

2007-12-27T13:44:00.000-05:00

What can I/we bring Him? . . . What might I/we bring Him? . . . What should I/we bring Him . . . What must I/we bring Him . . . ?

1. Each one of us must (can now as made possible through our new freedom in Christ, by His Spirit) reflect and bring forward the ‘gifts’ that we uniquely have to bring. This (reflection, search, finding, bringing, offering) has immediate blessing and is the ongoing happy task of the believer that extends through life and indeed into eternity. It involves passion, vocation, calling; it takes commitment and resolve, willing sacrifice (ie. leaving aside lesser things, lesser pursuits, valuable and valued as they may be).

2. One may, on behalf of one’s family, clan, or people-group, to reflect on the uniqueness of the gift(s) one is privileged to bring in the service of the King and as sign of the presense of God’s Kingdom (which is His rule - the reclamation of Creation-purposes to be yet fully realized in the New Creation). The gifts offered will be as varied and diverse as were the gifts of the magi – as complex, beautiful, stirring, challenging, mysterious as they. They will cost us everything. They will reflect who we are, what is of value to us – what we know to be of ultimate worth in our lives.

3. One may be privileged as called upon to assist other individuals, families and whole cultures as they reflect upon their own uniqueness, as created in God’s image for God’s purposes. This reflection and Holy Spirited enablement may indeed be the deepest part of the 'mission’ to which we are called. Thereby we may shine the Light that has been revealed to us so that others also are drawn to it, for further revelation and illumination of what is evil and needs to be rooted from our lives. In that light we and others may determine also the good that is to be embraced, developed, refined and used for God’s salvitic ‘new creation’ purposes in the Kingdom that has come and is yet coming.

4. While the revelation came individually (at least initially, and as promised) to Simeon, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna (though there are ‘family’ implications for the first four), the story of the shepherds and of the magi reflects a group-experience in coming as a group. The sense of individual conversion (as divorced or distinguished from family, clan or people-group) is a fairly recent, ‘modern’ development in the world’s history. The responsibility of each one to believe does not abrogate the need to see that we must also come as a whole, as a community faith in solidarity with family, friends, culture-groups. Certainly the reality of family and clans (particularly in Islamic as in other world cultures and relgions) continue to dictate to the values and responses of their lives. Family and clan solidarity must be understood if we are to shine the light deeply and widely into these cultures. Indeed, it is to be regretted that this sense of solidarity (replaced often by an individuality that is narcissistic and self-centred) has been largely lost (though not yet entirely) in the West, or where ‘Western’ values are espoused. Whole people-groups may well come to Christ still, bringing their gifts as whole families and clans. Is there a ‘least’ clan or a most ‘prominent’ clan that will come first and lead others; is there a ‘strategy’ here to consider and related aspects to ponder?

5. Particularizing this thinking to any one people group, family or clan (or a particular cultural grouping in the West), what might be entire people-groups' gifts that are to be brought to worship the King and then used for His redemptive, new-creation purposes? What by way of the following might be brought? - in its history, tradition, skills, perspective, insight, science, aspirations, commitment, values, gifts (equivalents, if not literally of, gold and frankincense and myrrh)? What resources of Kingdom-come and Kingdom-coming that reflect God’s new creation purposes may be found and yet offered by people who have not yet responded in faith to Christ (ie. how will they uniquely bring gifts as signs of restoration and of the new heavens and earth.)?

6. Certainly caring for livestock, as a necessity, as a way of life, with great affection and esteem, is characteristic of many agrarian, rural, even nomad peoples of whom we may be aware and near to.

7. How are the following Kingdom and ‘New Creation’ pursuits valid in themselves whether or not God uses them as means of grace and conduits of eternal salvation (and how may/must followers of Jesus strategically follow them? (ie. in areas of healthwelfare (clinics, hospitals, medicines and medical supplies), water (wells), justice issues, agrarian pursuits (feeding the hungry), livestock (camels), literacy (basic, ESL), poverty (micro-enterprises))?

8. Relational, befriending is how one comes alongside (i.e. offering Kingdom-hospitality and ‘communitas’ along the Journey) and not necessarily as merely an end in itself – though it too points to ‘friendship’ and society such as is experienced in knowing and being known of God (as individuals, families, and peoples), the society of the Trinity, the friendship of the Church (ideally) that respects differences but sees them as unique conduits of grace. “Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know.”

If I Were a Wiseman . . .

2007-12-27T09:27:00.000-05:00

If I were a wiseman, I would do my part . . .

1. The Magi are remembered as ‘wise-men’ or kings, as reflected in their gifts (gold, frankincense, myrrh. )

• Gifts of gold – symbolizes wealth, economy, beauty, stability, weight, power, regal, supreme; that which keeps coming back when all else is deflated; something that is a basic standard; rare, exclusive; not generally or readily available; it is a 'fruit' from the earth.

• Gifts of frankincense – prophetic (burial), art, smell, permeating, spreading, exotic, erotic; beauty out of suffering and adversity; surprising beauty considering the source (not what’s expected – cf. Isa 51). Frankincense is tapped from the very scraggly but hardy Boswellia tree through slashing the bark and allowing the exuded resins to bleed out and harden. These hardened resins are called tears. These trees are also considered unusual for their ability to grow in environments so unforgiving that the trees sometimes grow directly out of solid stone, which the tree attaches to by means of a sucker-like appendage. The deep roots and its sucker like appendage prevent the tree from being torn away from the stone during the violent storms that frequent this region; the tears from these hardy survivors are considered superior due to their more fragrant aroma.

• Gifts of myrrh – from the living; bitter perfume, expense and sacrifice, medical: antiseptic, linement, healing oils; embalming; connected to wine in Communion and to water in baptism. Myrrh is a red-brown resinous material, the dried sap of the tree Commiphora myrrha, native to Somalia and the eastern parts of Ethiopia. The sap of a number of other Commiphora and Balsamodendron species are also known as myrrh, including that from C. erythraea (sometimes called East Indian myrrh), C. opobalsamum and Balsamodendron kua. Its name entered English via the Ancient Greek, μύρρα, which is probably of Semitic origin. Myrrh is also applied to the potherb Myrrhis odorata otherwise known as "Cicely" or "Sweet Cicely". High quality myrrh can be identified through the darkness and clarity of the resin. However, the best method of judging the resin's quality is by feeling the stickiness of freshly broken fragments directly to determine the fragrant-oil content of the myrrh resin. The scent of raw myrrh resin and its essential oil is sharp, pleasant, somewhat bitter and can be roughly described as being "stereotypically resinous". When burned, it produces a smoke that is heavy, bitter and somewhat phenolic in scent, which may be tinged with a slight vanillic sweetness. Unlike most other resins, myrrh expands and "blooms" when burned instead of melting or liquefying. The scent can also be used in mixtures of incense, to provide an earthy element to the overall smell, and as an additive to wine, a practice alluded to by ancient authorities such as Fabius Dorsennus. It is also used in various perfumes, toothpastes, lotions, and other modern toiletries.

Myrrh was used as an embalming ointment and was used, up until about the 15th century, as a penitential incense in funerals and cremations. The "holy oil" traditionally used by the Eastern Orthodox Church for performing the sacraments of chrismation and unction is traditionally scented with myrrh, and receiving either of these sacraments is commonly referred to as "receiving the Myrrh". Note: All of the above gifts were known in depth and breadth (and wealth) in ancient Africa – particularly the latter in the Horn of Africa. Myrrh is a constituent of perfumes and incense, was highly prized in ancient times, and was often worth more than its weight in gold. The Greek word for myrrh, μύρον, came to be synonymous with the word for "perfume". In Ancient Rome myrrh was priced at five times as much as frankincense, though the latter was far more popular. In the east it was often combined in decoctions, liniments and incense. Myrrh is said to be blood-moving (to the Chinese).

2. In contrast to the shepherds (keepers of the flocks and keep-on-going, thereby, of the Jewish sacrificial system), travel was necessitated to the wise-men: it was necessary that they journey far. Distant from Israel, they had to journey there, just as all other ancient ‘Gentile’ peoples, apart from Israel as God's chosen people, were spiritually distant from the covenants, promises and privileges of God, given first to His ancient People. (See T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Gift of the Magi’ which includes depictions of the coarse ways 'gentiles' thought, felt, acted, expected (complete with their attitudes to women, wine, and so on. Their ways were unlike the ways in which God's People, though earthy in many ways, were expected to conduct themselves.)

3. From ‘the east’ came the wise-men– from the orient as opposed to the West (the occident). Some feel the text could refer to travelers from east Africa and not necessarily to east of Israel or to the ancient ‘near’ or ‘far’ east. There is a tradition that they were Zorastrians; another, that relates to a ‘missing’ wise astrologer in China at the approximate time who may have been one of the journeyers. The word translated ‘magi’ or wisemen has the same derivitive as that relating to Simon Magnus (or Simon the magician) in the Book of Acts, whom Peter opposed. Certainly (as shown above) gifts of frankincense and myrrh would be most readily available from the Horn of Africa (though the universal appreciation of these ‘gifts) would not preclude their being also available anywhere throughout the ancient world. The West is ‘symbolized’ in the Old Testament (cf. Isaiah) as ‘the isles of the sea (as is trade by ‘ships of Tarshish’ and building by ‘cedars ‘and other wood ‘of Lebanon’).

4. Unlike the uninterrupted nature of the shepherd’s short journey to Bethlehem, the magi were ‘opposed’ in the sense that their mission was threatened, its results perverted, for Herod wanted to frustrate their getting to the place of Jesus’ birth. They were warned by an angel not to return home via Jerusalem (so as to be safe themselves and so as not to risk the child’s life by telling of his actual location to the paranoid king. The humanity of the magi is depicted (including their knowledge - their 'science.' Arduous travel and commitment is part of their providential leading, as they journey to find the Christ child. (God's aid is mixed with their own understanding, resolve and efforts, in balance and blend, just as it may be with ours in the pursuits and journeys of life). The humanity and purposes of Herod, though also somewhat controlled though not caused, reveal his ill-will rather than goodwill, which is itself thwarted and directed by God.

5. While the humble shepherds came to a rude stable and found the child wrapped (as any peasant baby, in swaddling cloths) and lying in a manger, the wisemen (more sophisticated, knowledge-able, used to pomp, power and prestige, found him in a ‘house.’ Thus, in one sense, the child is ‘revealed’ in the normal circumstances (and as per the expectations) of one’s life in ways; that is, in ways in which one is most normally likely to ‘see’ and accept. Yet, in an other sense, all is (or soon will be) - for them and for the whole world - different, mysterious and full of wonder.

6. Not only were the shepherds more proximate in terms of travel (space) they came more quickly (in terms of ‘time’), i.e. that very night. The wisemen had farther to journey and it took more time to actually arrive to the place of their goal, at the place of seeing and worshiping. Thus, both space and time realities (access, barriers, limitations, ease) are different for different people. Some can and do hear, come quickly, draw near readily, expectantly, see, receive, return eager to share. For others, the journey is more complex, takes longer, is fraught with dangers, involves journey ‘from afar’ (in all kinds of ways – space, in attitude, in the overcoming of cultural differences and difficulties, in various ways of spiritual journeying and seeking, perhaps in having to overcome ignorance of language, feelings of prejudice, differing thoughts and expectations as to the whys and hows of life). So today, people ‘come to faith’ in all kinds of ways, through different kinds of stages and life-experiences. Sadly, too often we expect others can only come to find Christ in the way(s) we have experienced Him. We expect them to arrive on the same horse and enter by the same door as we. (If we don’t have an ‘evangelistic message,’ sing ‘Just as I Am’ and have an altar call, can anyone be saved?!)

7. Though the wisemen knew, drew conclusions and acted, based on the exact time (month? Year?) that they had seen the newborn king’s star-rise (astronomy and astrology), they still needed more precise information as to the whereabouts of his birth. There is both precision and imprecision in the story.

8. Herod, like Cyrus before him who helped return the remnant of Israel from exile in Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple, helped (albeit unwittingly and against his soon clear intentions) to ‘shepherd’ the Magi to where they would find the ‘Shepherd of Israel.’ The shepherds came as shepherds; the wisemen in this sense came as those too who need to be guided by another – if even by a paranoid king. In another sense, Herod becomes also a ‘messenger of God’ – an ‘angel’ who facilitates God’s purposes. His alarm regarding the news they bring and his subsequent searching for answers matching the magi’s queries, leads him to seek the assistance of the historians and priests of Israel (the wisemen of Israel), and to the direction given by the Hebrew Scriptures. He does not doubt the honesty of their queries nor the veracity of their conclusions (whether Scripture or priest/historian), and neither does he reject that there has been born, indeed one who is (or may be seen to be) greater than He, by the Jews over whom he reigns. He accepts the truth or at least the assertions of the new king’s birth and its locale (in Bethlehem of Judea - as per Michah 5:2 prophecy); yet he refuses (for his own selfish and paranoid reasons) to come to bow before this new (and greater) King.

9. The wisemen had entrance and were welcome (to some degree, at least) in the courts of Herod's palace. As respected ones (and in one sense in the same social strata with him), they had expectation of at least an audience, in a way that the shepherds of Bethlehem never would. Their station in life (mutually so) giving such expectation of relational, class and vocational contact would serve as normal conduits for information, influence and decision-making. Thus, each one in his or her station in life, and with his or her own unique opportunities and contacts, may understand and convey the message and meaning of God come-in-Christ. The people one meets, the questions one asks, the opportunities of contact and influence are providentially ordained. They may be followed daily, as opportunity is sought or arises, as missional conduits.

10. Ironically, though he was so close to where Jesus was born, Herod remained dis-inclined actually to go himself, nor bow in submission to this greater One. To acknowledge that the wiseman thought the Child worth seeking out was one thing; that one day soon so might all Israel was another, for they might turn to Him as their Saviour and Messiah (thus threatening Herod’s right to rule). The eastern magi (again, noting all that was represented by their gifts - power, influence, regality, etc.) had chosen to come from even so far away while Herod who had access and similar opportunities as they, in his station in life, never desires nor dares come to worship. The preparation of one's heart is what makes one spiritually ‘near’ or ‘far’ - ready and/or able to receive the news and the new possibilities and realities that Advent brings.

11. Revelation came to the ‘magi’ at first through ‘a Star’ and then in a dream (including – though the record is silent, by angels(?). It is as if they were rewarded for first sincerely, faithfully, sacrificially and committed-ly following the ‘light’ they had (as did the Roman soldier, Cornelius, later, albeit in a different way), and then as they move ‘closer’ to the 'realm' of the historic and first designated ‘People of God (i.e. the Jews)’ they too receive more clear instruction in the ways of revelation more ‘normally’ known by God's People.

The light of the star may also reflect ‘the gospel in the stars’ that some believe is written there, as huge, eternal markers or pointers, created by the Hand of God and revealed to the ancient patriarchs (of all the world’s ethne) - thus, in a more precise way, affirming with the Psalmist: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God . . .”.

The ancient (and modern) scam of astrology may be this revelation simply and profoundly gone wrong, becoming perverted and ultimately pagan, mere superstition. (It is worth remembering that the twelve stones comprising the breastplate of Israel’s High Priest symbolized the 12 signs of the zodiac).

The magi may have followed a Star to 'the house,' where the new Child was to be found - an actual, supernaturally and specifically-created Star (for-this-event-only). They may have ‘interpreted’ the matter from the star in constellations of the heavenlies (moving into its heavenly ‘house’) as a not-to-be-ignored, never-before symbol poingitn to the new king's birth, this new king of the Jews.

This fact appears to have been to them of world-wide and universal import or they would not have been convincingly enough moved to even begin the dangerous, perhaps impossible-to-complete Journey. To both ‘lights’ of revelation (Star and dream – and perhaps Angel), the wise-men gave attention and obedience, in journeying to and from the birth town of the Child-King.

The light of reason and the light of supernatural intervention comes together in the story. Study and science are servants of God; dreams and angels too. All may be messengers of God, to reveal His ways and His will to us, in His world.

If I Were a Shepherd . . .

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If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb . . .

For the Shepherds (if one may speculate and think of groups representatively), there is to be brought unique gift and purpose, as in the following:

1. A lamb – as they were ‘keepers’ or providers of the basic offerings of sacrifice of ancient Israel (representing the whole of the redemptive-sacrificial system and economy of ancient Israel), summed up in the impossibility of ‘the task’ and the need of a Saviour, a Lamb that would take away the sin of the world. Indeed, the biblical texts do not indicate explicitly that they took lambs or sheep with them in their quick journey to Bethlehem. Though they likely did not literally bring such offerings, there is a sense in which they (and we all too), bring with us at any time to worship all ‘that we are and have – and ever hope to be . . .’

2. Kingdom purpose and fulfillment for them and all like them is portrayed in the image and reality of any of God's shepherd-people (images of Psalm 23 and throughout the Scriptures come to mind). Pastoral images, thoughts and realities can be appreciated by any or all of God’s people, whether living in rural or urban settings, as a way of depicting important aspects of life in God’s Kingdom and the embracing of ‘new creation’ purposes and realities.

Notwithstanding comments that follow about ‘agrarian’ vs. ‘shepherding’ motifs (that is, in the story of Abel versus Cain in terms of God’s ‘acceptance’ of their offerings), there is a restored creation-aspect in this story of the shepherds from the Judean hillsides, in their offering of those gifts that are of God’s earth (livestock and other symbols of the miracle and mystery of life (zoe) on this planet, with ecological and environmental realities and responsibilities of all humans in the created order).

Looking after animals in the present (and perhaps coming) ages are part of God’s purposes for His people. Caring for, appreciating, even esteeming greatly any kind of created being is part of God’s gifts to humanity, serving in our intent as guardians, stewards and developers of all creation. (See the proverb: ‘A good man cares for the life of his beast . . .’)

3. Poor herdsman are introduced in the Christmas narrative, symbols of God’s identity with the lowest of society, as we remember that all of us are creaturely, frail and mortal. (He remembers that we are (but) dust.)

4. The Shepherds' visit and offering of themselves as gift also draws us back to the Genesis account of brothers, Abel and Cain - in God’s ‘acceptance’ of the former’s offering (a sacrifice of an animal from his flock) and the the rejection of Cain’s offering, as he, a tiller of the field, brings an offering ‘from his garden.’ The first Man, Adam, a tiller of the field was not up to the job, did not keep his stewardly assignment pure. He was, rather, seduced by desire to try out one of the plants – the forbidden fruit of the plant God had given him to manage; but its fruit he was not to eat.

Redemption does not come through our trying to get right, by ourselves, what we’ve succeeded in doing wrong, but in the provision of and from another – biblically, by an innocent victim, a sacrifice that is provided (ultimately by God). It comes by the shedding of blood not the offerings of wine. Blood must first be shed before the wine can be drunk to depict its worth – either as pure symbol of that accomplishment or, as the Catholics claim, in also mysteriously and symbolically and eternally becoming the blood of sacrifice.

5. The shepherds on the Judean hills were quite ‘near’ and proximate to Bethlehem (bet lehem = the house of bread) – just as Israel (by God’s gracious, historical choice) was very ‘near’ the ways, means and salvation of God.

6. Revelation came to these herdsmen by an angel and an attending, praising throng of those heavenly beings. The message came through ‘God’s messengers’ (cf Malachi = 'angel or messenger, given as the last Old Testament book and messenger of God) – came in the way in which God traditionally (or very often) revealed Himself to Israel when there was an important matter about to happen or that had happened. They shepherdswere expecting neither the message nor the messenger, certainly not in this way – this clear promise of God’s intervention (in sending One to deliver them from the nation's enemies and of the promised ‘shalom’ (peace on earth in every way and every agrea imaginable) to Israel and the world's peoples. However, the shepherds' words of response reflect, generally at least, their awareness of the meaning and wonder of such a message and of its fulfillment (finally) to Israel.

7. There was nothing hindering their hastening and going to Bethlehem. (See later, in contrast to the magi’s situation and response.)

8. Upon arrival in Bethlehem, they told those gathered around the newborn about the celestial/earthly visit and message of the angels; whereas Mary quietly and inwardly pondered these things, as was her habit. Then, full of what they had seen and heard, they returned to tell the Good News more widely to others (perhaps to those shepherds, initially, who had stayed behind to guard the sheep and then, no doubt, to family and friends).

The Gifts We May Bring

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What can I bring Him – poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a Lamb,
If I were a wise-man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I bring Him – bring my heart.

Each person, family, clan or caste, people-group (ethne), tongue and tribe brings something unique in coming to worship, surrender, bow down and serve. It may be unique for the time, setting and occasion; it may be representative of some aspect of that person or people’s nature, culture, uniqueness, past, present, or future opportunity or challenge.

The Book of Revelation ultimately depicts the final and eternal gathering of all the people of the earth in ways that continue their uniqueness, including perhaps (as at Pentecost) still distinguishing characteristics of language, culture, creative-contributions and gifts. God is not colour blind; the Kingdom of God is not a homogenizer that smooths away culture, language, differences and distinctions. God does not make the new Flower Garden (to speak metaphorically) one big, same-coloured Flower, nor the new Orchestra one huge, shiny brass instrument (or where would the strings and woodwinds be?).

The Christmas Story makes possible a new beginning for all kinds of people from all cultures and places of the earth to bring their gifts - as symbols of worship, obeisance, adoration, useful service and complex, creative wonder - to the newborn King.

What can I bring Him? . . .

A Great Light !

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The People that walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon them that live in the shadow of the valley of death, upon them has the light shone . . . Isaiah 9:2.

That was true for Israel (particularly and locally) and it may yet be true for all people, groups, tribes, nations broken by the Fall, who may in many ways lie ruined, with so much unreached potential, lacking fulfillment, that have not yet found ultimate, creative purpose in living.

Our mission is, with the Spirit's enabling, to shine: to seek to focus the lens of God’s Light and Love to specific persons, families, clans and people-group through proximity, relational understanding, friendship, and by showing and telling the Good News.

Free infringements . . .

2007-12-02T12:15:00.000-05:00

"Meghann Marco, author of Field Guide to the Apocalypse is someone who recognizes that obscurity is a much greater threat to the livelihood of a writer than piracy. Much of her day is spent trying to drum up attention for her book, and she was excited by the possibility of it being included in Google Book Search. Marco's publisher, Simon & Schuster, on the other hand, told her that would not be happening. They're part of the Association of American Publishers, which is suing Google for copyright infringement.
Marco sent a letter of support to Google, which quickly made its way around the internet. In it, she tells a story of being challenged by someone about giving away her work for free. "What if someone Xeroxed your book and was handing it out for free on street corners?" the person asked her.
Marco's reply: "Well, it seems to be working for Jesus.""

- from TQ Magazine