I have spent far less time keeping a running journal of my life than I planned--but I am not going to give up! I will be finished with my semester next Tuesday (Dec. 15th) and will be more faithful in my updates. Most recent news--
I'm engaged! I will post some pictures soon, but I just wanted to put it out there. Most of you know already, anyways. :)
I'm sitting in class right now, D.A. Carson's class, to be exact. I have just finished my last quiz for Dr. Carson and my self is having a hard time being motivated to pay attention, even though 40% of my grade remains to be completed (on the final next Monday).
Anyways, I should really at least try to pay attention. This is only an alert to stay tuned, because I will finish soon and begin more regularly recording my musings/reflections on this gift that God calls abundant life.
Peace to you, friends.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Biblical Womanhood?
I'm taking a plunge with this blog. I realize that maybe many or even most of the people who read this (all four? :)) are the choir and I'll be preaching to it. But yesterday, I started digging into the Driscolls (it's about time, eh?) and now I can not keep silent.
Mark Driscoll is the well-known founder and pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Membership at MHC numbers into the thousands now and both the church and Mark and his family have received a lot of press coverage (for example, check out the article from the NY Times this past January: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/magazine/11punk-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all). Among the evangelical community he is simultaneously applauded and reviled. The MHC website is a masterpiece of graphic design wedded with practical efficiency and links to a handful of outside websites/organizations, including the Acts 29 Network (http://www.acts29network.org/).
Having heard some...provocative statements about Mark and Grace (his wife) Driscoll and their views about women, I started poking around and it was on the Acts29 website that I found Grace Driscoll answering the question: "Is the Biblical view of women applicable in our culture today?" I will copy and paste her opening statements here:
"Does what the Bible say about women really apply to us today in this culture (submission, can't be a pastor, weaker vessel, more easily deceived, etc.)? Doesn't it make us too vulnerable to our husbands? Doesn't it limit our ability to demonstrate our gifts? Doesn't it make us less of a human to just stay at home with the kids or take care of our husband? These are the questions I hear over and over from women. They are wrestling with how a loving, all-knowing God could possibly think that such antiquated ideas would work today.
The answers to these questions are clear in the Word, yet so seemingly unclear when compared to the yearnings of the culture around us." (You can read the rest here: http://www.acts29network.org/article/is-the-biblical-view-of-women-applicable-in-our-culture-today/ )
I'm not gonna lie. I cried through the whole thing. Let me try to explain why.
1). Mrs. Driscoll went on to use Ruth as the paradigmatic example of a godly woman. She used basic Bible study methods to arrive at her conclusions: observation, context of the story, asking questions of the text, etc. Kudos for getting that far! However, she ended up concluding that a) Ruth's submission, b) God's sovereignty and c) Christ's redemption were the focal points of the story. I am not going to get on a soapbox about her conclusions as they were obviously personally meaningful and encouraging to her, but I do want to point out that they were reached with poor understanding of how to approach, understand and explain a Biblical text (i.e. Naomi is more of a focal point than Ruth; Boaz is not a type of Christ--He is never mentioned once in the New Testament in connection with Christ; etc.)
2). The "Biblical" view of women, according to Mrs. Driscoll is this: submission, can't be a pastor, weaker vessel, more easily deceived, etc. This then leads to her faulty understanding of Ruth. She does not explain where the "Biblical" view of women came from; indeed she assumes that no explanation is needed. She further expands a couple of these phrases at the end of her piece when she states: "God created us to submit, not because He hates us, rather because He loves us enough to protect us. Doesn't it make us too vulnerable to our husbands? As daughters of Eve we are more easily deceived, but like Ruth under the security of our husband and our God we are safe." a) The second half of the first sentence sounds more like an Americanism than an actual truth from the Bible. Please correct me if you know where to find this in Scripture. b) Women are then ontologically (i.e. inherently) inferior to men rather than co-strugglers under the Curse if what Driscoll says is true. c) What about women who do not have husbands? How do they define themselves in her schema? Where do they get their protection from? Who do they submit to?
3). Thousands of people listen to, watch and read what is coming out of MHC every day. And many of them, because of the way it is presented ("hellfire and brimstone" is one description, cf. the NY Times article) will not question the validity of what they are taking in. As a student of the Word of God, almost nothing could make me more sad--how many women (and men!) have read that piece since it was put online three years ago? How many of their questions were silenced? Or how many had their presuppositions reinforced? How many walked away from the Church as a result? Or stated in a different way, what if a person, a woman let's say, who did not have a relationship with Jesus, read that piece. Would she walk away thinking, Wow, no matter how many questions, how much sin and failure, how much disbelief I have, Christ took it all on Himself, was punished for me, died in my place and rose again to offer me a new and abundant life as His daughter! I can do nothing but fall on my face in trust and awe.
Probably not. Blanket judgments against culture and its "yearnings" (ironic given Acts 29's statement that they "won't attack the culture in the name of Christianity") and poor scholarship (Mrs. Driscoll blames disintegrating marriages, children and churches on the lack of teaching these biblical "truths" among women) would most likely alienate any thinking woman between the age of 18-40.
God has used and will use that article as He wills, and I thank Him for that! But I think Mrs. Driscoll's piece had a different affect on me than she was intending....
Mark Driscoll is the well-known founder and pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Membership at MHC numbers into the thousands now and both the church and Mark and his family have received a lot of press coverage (for example, check out the article from the NY Times this past January: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/magazine/11punk-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all). Among the evangelical community he is simultaneously applauded and reviled. The MHC website is a masterpiece of graphic design wedded with practical efficiency and links to a handful of outside websites/organizations, including the Acts 29 Network (http://www.acts29network.org/).
Having heard some...provocative statements about Mark and Grace (his wife) Driscoll and their views about women, I started poking around and it was on the Acts29 website that I found Grace Driscoll answering the question: "Is the Biblical view of women applicable in our culture today?" I will copy and paste her opening statements here:
"Does what the Bible say about women really apply to us today in this culture (submission, can't be a pastor, weaker vessel, more easily deceived, etc.)? Doesn't it make us too vulnerable to our husbands? Doesn't it limit our ability to demonstrate our gifts? Doesn't it make us less of a human to just stay at home with the kids or take care of our husband? These are the questions I hear over and over from women. They are wrestling with how a loving, all-knowing God could possibly think that such antiquated ideas would work today.
The answers to these questions are clear in the Word, yet so seemingly unclear when compared to the yearnings of the culture around us." (You can read the rest here: http://www.acts29network.org/article/is-the-biblical-view-of-women-applicable-in-our-culture-today/ )
I'm not gonna lie. I cried through the whole thing. Let me try to explain why.
1). Mrs. Driscoll went on to use Ruth as the paradigmatic example of a godly woman. She used basic Bible study methods to arrive at her conclusions: observation, context of the story, asking questions of the text, etc. Kudos for getting that far! However, she ended up concluding that a) Ruth's submission, b) God's sovereignty and c) Christ's redemption were the focal points of the story. I am not going to get on a soapbox about her conclusions as they were obviously personally meaningful and encouraging to her, but I do want to point out that they were reached with poor understanding of how to approach, understand and explain a Biblical text (i.e. Naomi is more of a focal point than Ruth; Boaz is not a type of Christ--He is never mentioned once in the New Testament in connection with Christ; etc.)
2). The "Biblical" view of women, according to Mrs. Driscoll is this: submission, can't be a pastor, weaker vessel, more easily deceived, etc. This then leads to her faulty understanding of Ruth. She does not explain where the "Biblical" view of women came from; indeed she assumes that no explanation is needed. She further expands a couple of these phrases at the end of her piece when she states: "God created us to submit, not because He hates us, rather because He loves us enough to protect us. Doesn't it make us too vulnerable to our husbands? As daughters of Eve we are more easily deceived, but like Ruth under the security of our husband and our God we are safe." a) The second half of the first sentence sounds more like an Americanism than an actual truth from the Bible. Please correct me if you know where to find this in Scripture. b) Women are then ontologically (i.e. inherently) inferior to men rather than co-strugglers under the Curse if what Driscoll says is true. c) What about women who do not have husbands? How do they define themselves in her schema? Where do they get their protection from? Who do they submit to?
3). Thousands of people listen to, watch and read what is coming out of MHC every day. And many of them, because of the way it is presented ("hellfire and brimstone" is one description, cf. the NY Times article) will not question the validity of what they are taking in. As a student of the Word of God, almost nothing could make me more sad--how many women (and men!) have read that piece since it was put online three years ago? How many of their questions were silenced? Or how many had their presuppositions reinforced? How many walked away from the Church as a result? Or stated in a different way, what if a person, a woman let's say, who did not have a relationship with Jesus, read that piece. Would she walk away thinking, Wow, no matter how many questions, how much sin and failure, how much disbelief I have, Christ took it all on Himself, was punished for me, died in my place and rose again to offer me a new and abundant life as His daughter! I can do nothing but fall on my face in trust and awe.
Probably not. Blanket judgments against culture and its "yearnings" (ironic given Acts 29's statement that they "won't attack the culture in the name of Christianity") and poor scholarship (Mrs. Driscoll blames disintegrating marriages, children and churches on the lack of teaching these biblical "truths" among women) would most likely alienate any thinking woman between the age of 18-40.
God has used and will use that article as He wills, and I thank Him for that! But I think Mrs. Driscoll's piece had a different affect on me than she was intending....
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
So much, So little
Well, I meant to write a post about sensitivity and discernment, but I have several other things I'd rather write about right now so I'll just leave it at this: sensitivity and discernment are both essential parts of wisdom. Wisdom does not just mean knowing and speaking truth; it means knowing truth and being able to respond appropriately (i.e. with sensitivity and discernment). Okay, moving on.
Yesterday was a double whammy: first, Andy Stanley, then Janni.
Installment 1: Yesterday was Tuesday, and because it was Tuesday I exercised in the afternoon after Greek class, chapel and Greek homework, but before Hebrew class. Normally, I use this time to walk and talk with my dear friend, Jennifer, but yesterday she was swamped with homework so I rode the exercise bike by myself instead. I took the opportunity to listen to Andy Stanley's podcast "Be Rich: Do More. Give More." The passage of Scripture he used was Luke 6:27-36 and he unpacked the teaching of Jesus in a way I'd never heard before.
Jesus basically begins this part of His sermon with a series of extreme statements to totally deconstruct the attitudes and knowledge of His hearers: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back." Think about it--this is crazy talk! These commands, coming from Jesus' lips, are completely contrary to normal patterns of human behavior, attitudes and belief. Immediately when we read or hear His words, our response is excuse (e.g. "I don't really have any enemies," or "Surely He didn't mean everyone who begs...") and our behavior is largely unchanged. This, Andy says, is because we are focused entirely on the people we are supposed to be serving/loving/giving to. Of course, if we measure them based on our own standards for how much mercy they deserve, we won't give them very much.
Then Jesus takes it up a notch: "And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount." Jesus has just begun to move our focus from those we are called to love and serve; in this first reframing thought He moves it to us. Me, you, we, us. If we were the ones who needed a cloak, or who cursed or abused others or needed anything, surely we would want others to give us a cloak, love and forgivness and other needs, trusting us that our need was real. But Jesus does not stop there, even though a refocus on our own (possible) need(s) is helpful. It is not the ultimate foundation for our love or service.
The climax of Jesus' exhortation and reframing deconstruction is this: we do not love or serve others because we have more than them, nor do we give to or serve others because we ought to--we love, give and serve because our heavenly Father has loved, served and given to us. The Most High God has bestowed His mercy on us and so we, in gratitude for that mercy, show it to others. He is the ultimate grounding for love and service and as such removes all our excuses, all our self-centered behavior and all our stingy tendencies. No longer does it matter if people express gratitude to us for our service, no longer does it matter if people's lives are changed (although we still hope and pray for that!); what matters is that God Himself has bestowed and bestows infinite mercy--and as His grateful children we are to thank Him by being like Him.
"He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."
Installment 2: Yesterday evening, being Tuesday evening, I spent time with another dear friend, Janni. As we chatted, Janni said something like, "Sometimes I just want to be able to see myself through God's eyes; how He sees all of the mess but somehow over that He sees the beauty, too....God's mercy is such a mystery." Yes, it is.
It is a glorious benevolence that I do not fully understand; but as I pictured myself, a slimy shadow, full of stench and rot yet somehow bright, beautiful and completely delightful in my Father's eyes, mercy became a little bit easier to give away.
Yesterday was a double whammy: first, Andy Stanley, then Janni.
Installment 1: Yesterday was Tuesday, and because it was Tuesday I exercised in the afternoon after Greek class, chapel and Greek homework, but before Hebrew class. Normally, I use this time to walk and talk with my dear friend, Jennifer, but yesterday she was swamped with homework so I rode the exercise bike by myself instead. I took the opportunity to listen to Andy Stanley's podcast "Be Rich: Do More. Give More." The passage of Scripture he used was Luke 6:27-36 and he unpacked the teaching of Jesus in a way I'd never heard before.
Jesus basically begins this part of His sermon with a series of extreme statements to totally deconstruct the attitudes and knowledge of His hearers: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back." Think about it--this is crazy talk! These commands, coming from Jesus' lips, are completely contrary to normal patterns of human behavior, attitudes and belief. Immediately when we read or hear His words, our response is excuse (e.g. "I don't really have any enemies," or "Surely He didn't mean everyone who begs...") and our behavior is largely unchanged. This, Andy says, is because we are focused entirely on the people we are supposed to be serving/loving/giving to. Of course, if we measure them based on our own standards for how much mercy they deserve, we won't give them very much.
Then Jesus takes it up a notch: "And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount." Jesus has just begun to move our focus from those we are called to love and serve; in this first reframing thought He moves it to us. Me, you, we, us. If we were the ones who needed a cloak, or who cursed or abused others or needed anything, surely we would want others to give us a cloak, love and forgivness and other needs, trusting us that our need was real. But Jesus does not stop there, even though a refocus on our own (possible) need(s) is helpful. It is not the ultimate foundation for our love or service.
The climax of Jesus' exhortation and reframing deconstruction is this: we do not love or serve others because we have more than them, nor do we give to or serve others because we ought to--we love, give and serve because our heavenly Father has loved, served and given to us. The Most High God has bestowed His mercy on us and so we, in gratitude for that mercy, show it to others. He is the ultimate grounding for love and service and as such removes all our excuses, all our self-centered behavior and all our stingy tendencies. No longer does it matter if people express gratitude to us for our service, no longer does it matter if people's lives are changed (although we still hope and pray for that!); what matters is that God Himself has bestowed and bestows infinite mercy--and as His grateful children we are to thank Him by being like Him.
"He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."
Installment 2: Yesterday evening, being Tuesday evening, I spent time with another dear friend, Janni. As we chatted, Janni said something like, "Sometimes I just want to be able to see myself through God's eyes; how He sees all of the mess but somehow over that He sees the beauty, too....God's mercy is such a mystery." Yes, it is.
It is a glorious benevolence that I do not fully understand; but as I pictured myself, a slimy shadow, full of stench and rot yet somehow bright, beautiful and completely delightful in my Father's eyes, mercy became a little bit easier to give away.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Fall in(to) Change
What a week! I took this picture last weekend (on the only day of sun we had for a period of about two weeks and that is not an exaggeration). This is the street I live on in Chicago:
Most of these beautiful golden leaves are gone now, as it rained most of the past week--but today the sun came back, accompanied by friends Wind and Blue Sky.
In addition to turning in a couple of papers (one large, one small), I also participated in our campus Day of Prayer on Tuesday and led my spiritual formation group's discussion on Thursday. Work has been pretty crazy the past couple of weeks--the admission office has been getting dozens of new applications and it is all I can do just to enter them, much less keep up with the other data entry work! All of that was capped off by a costume birthday party for one of my best friends up here (Janni). She is a graduate of Trinity and works there full-time--so she is one of the most popular people around! This of course meant that there were tons of people at her party. It was a wonderful, fun way to end a crazy week.
So today, I have blown off homework in favor of taking it easy, catching up on editing for The Scrawl (http://www.tiu.edu/scrawl), going to the grocery store/bank/cleaners, drinking hot beverages (i.e. cider and tea) and staring at my Greek commentaries, hoping that they will write my paper for me. As nothing seems to be happening, I have put them aside to sort through some thoughts with you here.
Some (but by no means all) of you know that I will be taking next semester off from Trinity with the possibility of having to transfer to a different seminary next Fall; if you want to hear the whole back story let me know and I'll be happy to fill you in. Suffice it to say, I will be moving back in with my parents and working for several months. In many ways, I am very excited about this--I haven't really been with my family for any significant amount of time since I graduated from high school and I have an opportunity to hone a skill-set that (potentially) has potential. There are many reasons I know this is the right decision but admittedly there are days when I have a hard time with it; yesterday = case in point.
Yesterday was hard because it was glorious. That is, Janni's party was rich: filled with laughter and conversation, food and drink, music and banter... in short, it was filled with community. So much so, in fact, that I found myself aching with the beauty of it and asking for the dozenth time in the past couple of months why God would ask me to leave these people and this place when it seems that it is--that they are--home.
This morning, He answered through His words, as recorded by His beloved friend John: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." (12:24-26)
Jesus is not being masochistic here. He is being real with the people who would follow Him. It boils down to the fact that to bear fruit, I have to 'die'; to keep my life, I have to 'lose' it; to serve Him, I have to 'follow' Him; and the result of it all is that the Father will honor me. What a hard-core paradox--but the analogy holds. In nature, as Jesus explained here, something must die for new life to come forth. So it is with the human soul, which has been twisted and blackened by self-centered rebellion for thousands of years now--to bring forth new life, to bear fruit, that self-centered rebellion must die. The time of death becomes the time of life, and the servant is enabled to serve someone other than herself. Indeed, she is able to follow the one that she serves!
But I am not only able to follow, I am required to follow. Serving and following are so intimately linked that it is practically impossible to disentangle them in the words Jesus spoke here. Where He goes, His servant goes and serves; where He goes, His servant serves and goes. It sounds so mercenary when I say it like that--but the foundational reality behind the service and the discipleship remains as poignant as the day God first created us in His image, as heart-wrenching as the day He promised salvation would spring from the curse and as passionate as the day He made that salvation possible by giving up His life to redeem us.
He is with us.
The point of following Him is not just to serve Him, not just to keep my life or not even to bear fruit or receive the Father's honor; the point is to be with Him: "And where I am, there my servant will be also."
So, when the questions come (as I know they will), Jesus' promise will still hold true, and I will still follow because dying for Him is infinitely more rich than living for myself.
Most of these beautiful golden leaves are gone now, as it rained most of the past week--but today the sun came back, accompanied by friends Wind and Blue Sky.
In addition to turning in a couple of papers (one large, one small), I also participated in our campus Day of Prayer on Tuesday and led my spiritual formation group's discussion on Thursday. Work has been pretty crazy the past couple of weeks--the admission office has been getting dozens of new applications and it is all I can do just to enter them, much less keep up with the other data entry work! All of that was capped off by a costume birthday party for one of my best friends up here (Janni). She is a graduate of Trinity and works there full-time--so she is one of the most popular people around! This of course meant that there were tons of people at her party. It was a wonderful, fun way to end a crazy week.
So today, I have blown off homework in favor of taking it easy, catching up on editing for The Scrawl (http://www.tiu.edu/scrawl), going to the grocery store/bank/cleaners, drinking hot beverages (i.e. cider and tea) and staring at my Greek commentaries, hoping that they will write my paper for me. As nothing seems to be happening, I have put them aside to sort through some thoughts with you here.
Some (but by no means all) of you know that I will be taking next semester off from Trinity with the possibility of having to transfer to a different seminary next Fall; if you want to hear the whole back story let me know and I'll be happy to fill you in. Suffice it to say, I will be moving back in with my parents and working for several months. In many ways, I am very excited about this--I haven't really been with my family for any significant amount of time since I graduated from high school and I have an opportunity to hone a skill-set that (potentially) has potential. There are many reasons I know this is the right decision but admittedly there are days when I have a hard time with it; yesterday = case in point.
Yesterday was hard because it was glorious. That is, Janni's party was rich: filled with laughter and conversation, food and drink, music and banter... in short, it was filled with community. So much so, in fact, that I found myself aching with the beauty of it and asking for the dozenth time in the past couple of months why God would ask me to leave these people and this place when it seems that it is--that they are--home.
This morning, He answered through His words, as recorded by His beloved friend John: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." (12:24-26)
Jesus is not being masochistic here. He is being real with the people who would follow Him. It boils down to the fact that to bear fruit, I have to 'die'; to keep my life, I have to 'lose' it; to serve Him, I have to 'follow' Him; and the result of it all is that the Father will honor me. What a hard-core paradox--but the analogy holds. In nature, as Jesus explained here, something must die for new life to come forth. So it is with the human soul, which has been twisted and blackened by self-centered rebellion for thousands of years now--to bring forth new life, to bear fruit, that self-centered rebellion must die. The time of death becomes the time of life, and the servant is enabled to serve someone other than herself. Indeed, she is able to follow the one that she serves!
But I am not only able to follow, I am required to follow. Serving and following are so intimately linked that it is practically impossible to disentangle them in the words Jesus spoke here. Where He goes, His servant goes and serves; where He goes, His servant serves and goes. It sounds so mercenary when I say it like that--but the foundational reality behind the service and the discipleship remains as poignant as the day God first created us in His image, as heart-wrenching as the day He promised salvation would spring from the curse and as passionate as the day He made that salvation possible by giving up His life to redeem us.
He is with us.
The point of following Him is not just to serve Him, not just to keep my life or not even to bear fruit or receive the Father's honor; the point is to be with Him: "And where I am, there my servant will be also."
So, when the questions come (as I know they will), Jesus' promise will still hold true, and I will still follow because dying for Him is infinitely more rich than living for myself.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Beginning, and Bishop John
Once again, my younger siblings have inspired me--this time to pick up yet again the virtual pen and record the thoughts and musings, circumstances and states that are always left simmering on the crowded burners of my brain and never cooked fully enough for anyone's satisfaction. Many of you have perhaps followed my blogs before, when I was living in Mongolia; if so, welcome back! Many of you did not know me when I lived in Mongolia, or before that--if that's the case, I highly recommend that you take a look at that old online journal because it will probably give you a better background of who I am than I could ever actually explain to you now (http://mongoliaminutes.xanga.com/).
In order to explain why I've been reinspired to publicize what really amounts, paradoxically, to a currently-in-progress memoir, I need to explain a little of this past week. This past week I turned 25. After being reminded several times of my quarter-century status, as well as falling prey to my own admittedly-low threshold of turning dreams into expectations, I could (nor can) not easily forget that life is really but a breath and that its significance can be cheapened by my pride more easily than I would like to acknowledge.
But yesterday, after I cleaned my apartment and set my birthday cards prominently on display I took a step back and caught my breath. Dozens of cards came over the course of the week. It was so gradual I hadn't even noticed! There were cards from the people who have always been in my life and loved me before I was born: parents, grandparents, and other family. There were cards from the people who knew me when I was a painfully awkward junior-high/less painfully awkward high-school nerd. There were cards from those who knew me in college, the place where I started delving into the questions of faith and eternity. There were cards from those who ministered with me in Mongolia, who taught me what it means to lay down your life for your friend (and your enemy). And there were cards from those who have journeyed with me in seminary, a time more tumultous, rich and transformative than any of us had expected.
Even when I deplore the transience that is my life; even when I rage in my heart against having to say good-bye, again; even when I do not understand my calling, or why God is asking me to do something, He has repeatedly given me something more precious than predictibility or security. He has given me community and He has given me love. For heavens' sake--! My life is literally overgrown with people that He has planted from my birth until now, this 25th year of life. These people, many of whom I do not see or talk to regularly, have shown or are showing me who God is and who I am in God. And because their impact on me has been and is becoming a breathtaking landscape of kindness, honesty, humility, devotion and sacrifice for the glory of Jesus Christ, it is the very least I can do to use this space as a tool to proclaim His Word and dedicate this blog to them--to you--and to the One who wrote my life into existence. It is my hope and prayer that this blog will be a space to share with all those who have journeyed with me on the way, and a cord that unites the strands of our lives.
So, that's the Beginning.
Now, on to Bishop John.
This past Thursday, my spiritual formation group (which meets weekly) had the privilege of hosting Bishop John Rucyahana, of the Shyira Diocese, Rwandan Anglican Church. This man, though soft-spoken and unassuming in his carriage, spoke words of wisdom and truth that were like a trumpet, calling for action; or maybe more like a sledgehammer, breaking down the walls of my hard and oft-impenetrable heart. Bishop John, originally from Uganda, answered the call to preside over the Shyira Diocese in 1997, just a few short years after the Rwandan genocide. Shyira Diocese is in an area of Rwanda that was particularly devasted; in fact, it was still suffering violence after the Bishop moved there until 1998 when insurgents were routed away from the area. You can read more about Bishop John and his ministry here: http://www.mustardseedproject.org/section.asp?secID=4.
Although I was impressed by all that he has done (just a scan of his ministry website will impress anyone!), and by the opportunities that God has given him for service AND his faithfulness to God in the midst of those opportunities, I was particularly moved by four issues that he highlighted.
1. To be an effective minister of God and of His good news, that good news must be contextualized.
2. In answer to a question about women in Rwanda's government, he first said that Rwandans are required constitutionally to work for their nation. This of course includes women, who hold 55% of the seats in Rwanda's parliament. The story is the same in the church, he said; "we don't like to waste talent."
3. Illiteracy feeds into the (inevitable) cycle of exploitation.
4. Reconciliation is made up of forgiveness that is necessary for the well-being of individuals within themselves, within their communal relationships and within their relationship to God.
Bishop John will be retiring next Fall. But with fire in his eyes and years of experiencing the pains and joys of being God's minister under his belt, he told us that we, as missioners of the Body of Jesus, are responsible to continue the work of sowing grace and reconciliation wherever we go.
Let it be so.
In order to explain why I've been reinspired to publicize what really amounts, paradoxically, to a currently-in-progress memoir, I need to explain a little of this past week. This past week I turned 25. After being reminded several times of my quarter-century status, as well as falling prey to my own admittedly-low threshold of turning dreams into expectations, I could (nor can) not easily forget that life is really but a breath and that its significance can be cheapened by my pride more easily than I would like to acknowledge.
But yesterday, after I cleaned my apartment and set my birthday cards prominently on display I took a step back and caught my breath. Dozens of cards came over the course of the week. It was so gradual I hadn't even noticed! There were cards from the people who have always been in my life and loved me before I was born: parents, grandparents, and other family. There were cards from the people who knew me when I was a painfully awkward junior-high/less painfully awkward high-school nerd. There were cards from those who knew me in college, the place where I started delving into the questions of faith and eternity. There were cards from those who ministered with me in Mongolia, who taught me what it means to lay down your life for your friend (and your enemy). And there were cards from those who have journeyed with me in seminary, a time more tumultous, rich and transformative than any of us had expected.
Even when I deplore the transience that is my life; even when I rage in my heart against having to say good-bye, again; even when I do not understand my calling, or why God is asking me to do something, He has repeatedly given me something more precious than predictibility or security. He has given me community and He has given me love. For heavens' sake--! My life is literally overgrown with people that He has planted from my birth until now, this 25th year of life. These people, many of whom I do not see or talk to regularly, have shown or are showing me who God is and who I am in God. And because their impact on me has been and is becoming a breathtaking landscape of kindness, honesty, humility, devotion and sacrifice for the glory of Jesus Christ, it is the very least I can do to use this space as a tool to proclaim His Word and dedicate this blog to them--to you--and to the One who wrote my life into existence. It is my hope and prayer that this blog will be a space to share with all those who have journeyed with me on the way, and a cord that unites the strands of our lives.
So, that's the Beginning.
Now, on to Bishop John.
This past Thursday, my spiritual formation group (which meets weekly) had the privilege of hosting Bishop John Rucyahana, of the Shyira Diocese, Rwandan Anglican Church. This man, though soft-spoken and unassuming in his carriage, spoke words of wisdom and truth that were like a trumpet, calling for action; or maybe more like a sledgehammer, breaking down the walls of my hard and oft-impenetrable heart. Bishop John, originally from Uganda, answered the call to preside over the Shyira Diocese in 1997, just a few short years after the Rwandan genocide. Shyira Diocese is in an area of Rwanda that was particularly devasted; in fact, it was still suffering violence after the Bishop moved there until 1998 when insurgents were routed away from the area. You can read more about Bishop John and his ministry here: http://www.mustardseedproject.org/section.asp?secID=4.
Although I was impressed by all that he has done (just a scan of his ministry website will impress anyone!), and by the opportunities that God has given him for service AND his faithfulness to God in the midst of those opportunities, I was particularly moved by four issues that he highlighted.
1. To be an effective minister of God and of His good news, that good news must be contextualized.
2. In answer to a question about women in Rwanda's government, he first said that Rwandans are required constitutionally to work for their nation. This of course includes women, who hold 55% of the seats in Rwanda's parliament. The story is the same in the church, he said; "we don't like to waste talent."
3. Illiteracy feeds into the (inevitable) cycle of exploitation.
4. Reconciliation is made up of forgiveness that is necessary for the well-being of individuals within themselves, within their communal relationships and within their relationship to God.
Bishop John will be retiring next Fall. But with fire in his eyes and years of experiencing the pains and joys of being God's minister under his belt, he told us that we, as missioners of the Body of Jesus, are responsible to continue the work of sowing grace and reconciliation wherever we go.
Let it be so.
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