I am amazing/Incredible me/Celebrating the being/I choose to be

Single people can so focus on the absence of one relationship that we overlook the people who are already part of our lives. What's more, we can forget that most of anyone's relationships in life are not romantic; nor do people assess a single person in romantic terms.

For instance, I know an elderly lady who is gracious and wise. She does the Powerpoint for church each week, takes an interest in the people around her and is really involved in her children's lives. I don't think of her in romantic terms, yet she's an attractive person, someone for whom others have great respect. This lady is married, but if she were not, the absence of that one relationship would not make her any less in mine or anyone else's eyes.

Not only is this so, but as Christians, the most meaningful and lasting relationship we enjoy isn't a romantic one. It's being a brother or sister in Christ. This is the relationship that comes before any other and the one that will carry on after death. It's a role that brings great dignity. Though we did not earn it, in it we can be proud.


Title taken from the first stanza of "Hello World" by Dan Coppersmith http://www.spiritwire.com/kidsselfesteemposter.html accessed 30/12/10

The mind of Christ

I get the feeling that people expect missionaries to be on a higher spiritual plane. I never know what to say when I'm asked about my 'call'. I mean I'm certainly open to God speaking in that direct way, but I don't think we're promised that he will. And I don't see other people looking for a call to their secular job or even to other, home-based, ministry. My sense of being 'called' comes more from what has been directly spoken to us all in the Bible and from a sensitivity to God's providential ordering of life's details.

This extra-spiritual expectation also comes out when I'm making decisions about the details of where I'll go and what I'll do. I'm advised to 'pray about it' and I feel like it would be unacceptable to simply say, "Having thought about the position description you forwarded me . . .".

This helps:

. . . And don't just say, "I prayed about it". What's praying got to do with it? That's talking at God. That's just more you talking. Praying's not a form of guidance. Praying's a form of asking. . . . Think about it! You pray about it, ask for wisdom, to then use the wisdom to think!*

Thinking can be spiritual too :).


* Mikey Lynch, 'Sermon 3' from the Ministry Challenge conference Tasmania 2010

Actually helping

Many months ago I went to a SIM conference at which a lady spoke about the difference between 'relief', 'aid' and 'development'. If you do one when you should be doing another, what is meant to help ends up hurting.

Relief (eg the distribution of food and medical supplies after an earthquake) should be immediate, temporary and seldom. Rehabilitation is the middle way. It aims at getting a person or community back to normal (eg helping girls get out of prostitution). Development is intended for a community which is already functioning normally and aims to improve their lot. Because of this it should be participatory, empowering, holistic, and sustainable. Helpful categories I think.


H/T Juanita

Happy dependency

The major thing that stopped me becoming a Christian before I did was dread of giving up control. The thing I feared more than anything was having God decide how I should live my life. I would've hated the thought of this anyway, but it was made worse because my previous Christian experience seemed to be about restrictive, life-denying, socially-humiliating rules. I feared a return to all that.

God forced my hand by breaking my heart. Strange to say, I'm glad he did. I was never happy in my freedom. I gave myself over to him and realised that true Christianity is much more a yes to life; that Jesus' yoke is indeed easy and his burden light. I've found it inestimably better to live as I was made to, than to blindly order my own life.

The sovereignty of God actually

Another thing I realised in inviting my friends to the Cross of Christ was that my role was pretty limited. Aside from not actively putting them off, I had very little control over their response. I just had to give them the invitation and leave the rest up to God. It was pretty unsettling. I felt like there must be something that I could do to make them come. I felt like I wasn't being totally faithful unless I did something. So I had to remind myself that my friends' lives are in God's hands, not mine.

This sorry time

Not many Australian-born people become Christians. In my Hobart and Sydney churches - both around the 150 mark - I reckon it's about 2 each year. Significantly more international students come to faith, but there's still a vast number of people who haven't had the Christian message explained, who have refused to listen, or who have listened but disagreed.

We celebrate the salvation of these one or two, as we ought (Luke 15:7, 10). It's the next step that concerns me. When we speak of these people, we often add some vague comment about "others" who've also been saved. There is something right about this - for we don't always know what becomes of people who, say, come to church only once. It's good to think that God had mercy on them.

However I think this sort of comment is also motivated by a desire to protect God's reputation. Again, there's something good about this (Exodus 33:15-16). Yet God does not need us to blur the facts. He's perfectly able to look after his own reputation. The exile and the cross both brought great shame (Ezekiel 22:4-5; 36:20; Matthew 27:39-44), but he still has concern for his holy name and brings things to bear so that all might see his glory (Ez 36:21-23; 39:23, 27-28; Romans 14:10-12). He is still the same God in this - troubling - time when few are being saved. Perhaps we should rather mourn and beseech him to extend mercy, than speak as if things are better than they are.

Indifferent religion

On the weekend, a friend told me that she's quite happy with there being no God. She asked me what was wrong with that and I said nothing - if she's right. It's only if she's wrong that she's needs to worry. CS Lewis says it this way:

One must keep on pointing out that Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.

From God in the Dock (Eerdmans, 1994), 101.
H/T David

Shooting for the vibe

I'm crap at learning anything off by heart. My memory's never been great, but these days it's in a sorry way. Trying to learn Ancient Greek and Hebrew over the last three years was a torturous experience - and now I have to learn Spanish.

I'm actually feeling fairly positive about this - I can already understand a fair bit of French and a little German and Italian, and I've listened to a heap of salsa music over the years. However I think that it will make things harder if I go about trying to connect each Spanish word to its English equivalent. That works if you can actually remember your vocabulary, but it's not much good for the likes of me. A friend suggested another way. Rather than giving each new word an English translation, you learn its definition in Spanish, using words you already know. That way the Spanish language holds together in your mind as an integrated whole, rather than a run of memorised words.

So I've ordered a primary school Spanish dictionary to help me in my quest. I've also got a book of short passages that will help me to skim-read and use the context to determine meaning. And I plan on watching lots of Spanish language films. I'll let you know how it goes.


H/T Ceanne

Don't ask and don't tell

It's pretty easy to tell when I'm about to do something sinful or unwise - I don't tell anyone and I sure don't ask their advice. The other day the better part of me found that other part swimming in this sort of blind rebellion. I was determined not to seek anyone's counsel, but in the end I made myself. My friends only gently hinted at the choice I should make, but the way they spoke was enough for me to regain my dignity. I'm glad of it now.

A different kind of evangelism

We run events. We walk up to people in the mall and ask to talk to them about Jesus. We start attending Zumba classes so we can meet new people. We sacrifice and we put ourselves out there so that many might hear and some be saved. And so we should.

But sometimes people come to us. They drop into church one Sunday - and never come back. Hopefully we make them feel welcome; but then we watch them go, these people who by their coming show that they are open to considering faith. I've begun to think that, if we are to spend our time and effort anywhere, it should be with these people. We could invite them out for a coffee after church, or help make up their team at the local pub quiz. Maybe then they'll feel comfortable coming back to church.


H/T Sarah

Rejoice with those who rejoice

Apparently the Psalms were written to be sung. Not just by an individual in the shower, but jointly by the community of believers. Sounds fair enough. But what about all those sad, sad black laments? Are we meant to stand together in church and sing "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? . . . . How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?" (Psalm 13:1-2)? If we are to mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15), then yes we must. If we neglect this use of the Psalter, then some in our midst will be forced to keep their mourning lonely and private.


H/T Kit

So anyway at work we had to...

Missionaries usually go to great efforts to help people understand what they've been doing - slide shows, visual props, memory aids. I saw it done differently the other day. My friend Jill came to my Bible study group and just told us a bit about what she's going to do. Then she answered our questions. The simplicity of her presentation actually helped me to understand what it will be like where she's going. I think that a more glitzy presentation can draw attention to cultural differences and make listeners doubt their ability to comprehend. But the way Jill did it was just like listening to someone talk about something that happened at work.

Another homage to my hometown

Hobart is like a beautiful, aged little town in Europe. The sort of town you wander around wondering what it would be like to live there; watching the locals to see if the beauty of their surroundings has somehow made them glow. Certainly, they are more intelligent, creative and vibrant than your suburban Joe. That's Hobart. But now you have to place the town under a mountain and beside a river and litter it with trees and well-tended gardens. So now the people are also earthy, ample, generous souls atuned to the seasons and the growing of things. They're sophisticated, but they dress down. That's my folks. It's swell being home.

The aroma of life

I've know about The Cross of Christ event for a long while and always planned to do a ring-round of my non-Christian friends in the days leading up to it. For as long as I've know about it I've been scared about this, being all too aware that, "To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life." (2 Corinthians 2:16). Actively inviting conflict and disapproval is not how I normally go about things. But in thinking it through this morning, I realised that, while the aroma of death response is a real possibility, it's not my responsibility. The news is good news and I should present it as such, with sincere excitement and joy. Suddenly the phonecalls got a whole heap easier.

Stocktake

That checklist folder also had a list from three years ago of things I wanted to get better at. Some had Bible college in mind; others were more to do with ministry or life. I'm really pleased to say that I now feel confident in my ability to preach and discern false teaching, and in my knowledge and understanding of the Old Testament. There's still a way to go when it comes to: discipling/training people, biblical theology, figuring out how telling strangers about Jesus should fit into my routine, being vulnerable with people when I'm weak, and being aware of other peoples' body language and its significance. If you'd like to pray for me about these, that would be fantastic.

The rubber and the road

In packing up my stuff to head back to Tas, I came across a 'Monthly Goals/Checklists' folder. Let's make that yearly. Here's some wise counsel that I'm still trying to remember and put into practice:

• Don't just say 'I'll pray for you' - do something to help.
• Get better at noticing when people don't like me or react badly to me - change my behaviour, ask less of them, or be more apologetic.
• When delegating: take my time, assume the person doesn't know about the thing and they're not on board, explain the situation and tell them that I need their help (making the request more vulnerable and less demanding) and why I thought of them. Be more forthright and apologetic if I really need help.
• Make sure the things I'm involved in will continue once I move on.
  
• Harness negative energy - use complaints as an opportunity for them (/me) to serve.
  
• Change only one (significant) thing in the first year of working under someone.
• Show my life/methods/thinking/progress to those I'm training - don't hold off until I've got it all sussed.
• Treat people so that they will become the people I want them to be. Don't just think of them as they currently are.

Here we go folks - back into ministry. It's been a while.


H/T Mikey, Dan, David

A fit goodbye

I just bid a Bible college friend farewell. He said, "May many people be saved through your ministry." And instead of goodbye, he called out, "See you in Paradise!"

Amen brother.