Beyond the Gates of Splendor

Last evening Deb and I watched Beyond the Gates of Splendor. Named after Elisabeth Elliot's book, Through Gates of Splendor, wife of Jim Elliot, one of the missionaries who risked his life that others in Jesus might find true life.

In 1956, five American missionaries to Ecuador were brutally speared to death by a savage Stone Age tribe of Indians known as the Aucas. Two years later, the wife and sister of two of the murdered missionaries walked into the jungle to live with the same people who had murdered the men they loved. Today, the Aucas (now known as the Waodani) are a changed people. This is their story.

from the website of the movie

This is a wonderful film, largely a documentary talking to the actual people with shots of scenes of that time, including those from the camera which was discovered when the five bodies of the men were found. It is indeed a most powerful testimony of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to transform individuals, societies and systems of evil.

It is I think wisely rated "PG-13 for some violent content and thematic elements."

I remember one of the killers of the missionaries coming to RBC Ministries for a very special chapel with Steve Saint, son of one of those who perished, Nate Saint. What a wonderful chapel. The grandchildren of the fallen missionaries call him Grandpa; there is a bond of genuine love that shows clearly the power of the gospel of Christ to save sinners and bring true reconciliation to humans in their/our relationship to God and to each other.

Have you seen the film, or read the book?

taking the rap

In seeking to follow Jesus and become like him, it is important to take others into consideration and be concerned for others' good, and not just our own. In any conflict we need to incorporate something of the African/American spiritual: "Standing in the Need of Prayer." But we also need to avoid the pitfall of condemnation, either from someone else or others, or from ourselves. That is not truth concerning us in Jesus.

I help others and arrive into true fellowship with them through Jesus, not directly but through him, and by prayer to God for them. And it's important to include ourselves when we're praying for someone with whom we may have an unresolved conflict or issue. In other words as I'm praying for them, I'm including myself in those prayers. "God, help so-and-so and I..."

Another important factor in this is to be open to taking the rap, and when I say that, all I mean is be willing to receive some hard words from Jesus, if he were present. I know Jesus is present by the Spirit, and I believe God can give us words today, even though I believe we have only Scripture as the written word of God, and all words are to be judged according to Scripture. But what if Jesus showed up in person, as he will at his return (second coming)? Many of us think he would take care of those opposed to us, but are not open to the truth that he would bring out into the open that which is not pleasing to God in our lives. He would make us all uncomfortable at first, or at least many of us- and I suspect this to be true of myself, before he would speak comforting words to us.

We often think negative thoughts of others. There can be truth in that, as well as sin. It ever needs to be tempered with love. And also with the realization that when we are in any conflict with someone, we are a part of that, and it's seldom if ever the case that we have no sin in such a matter, even if it's just our reaction to the wrong done to us.

I suspect there are some thoughts out there on this from your own lives and God's work in them. What might you like to share on this from that, or any thoughts?

what is this world coming to?

I grew up in a Christian setting influenced by the belief that the world would become worse and worse, then the Antichrist would come, God would judge- with the belief that the church is gone in all of this through the rapture (now I believe the church is present through that time of tribulation)- and then Jesus would return to set up the Millennial Kingdom.

I now hold to a more complicated view. The light in Jesus becomes brighter through the church, and this shows sin all the more for what it is. The Spirit of God being at work through the church, and perhaps in some way, in other ways throughout the world in reaching out to people. But God being at work in the new creation already present in Jesus, but not yet completed.

In that I see potential for the world to be better at certain times and places, maybe even overall with exceptions to that rule, but the need for final judgment against those opposed to God and God's will, as some in their quest for power continue to wreak havoc on people and on God's creation. As well, the need for both the redemption of Jesus accomplished at the cross and it fruit or result in the resurrection, to be completed in the reconciliation of all things to God and in that, the renewing, or new creation in Jesus.

This has to be worked out more in my theological thinking, but this is kind of where I'm at now, in a few as well as hurried words.

I wonder if any of you out there has any thoughts on this in reference to how you may have it worked out. Or anything to add.

the gospel and relationships

The gospel is more about relationships than it is about law. In other words at the heart of the gospel is the restoration of broken relationships between God and humans, and between humans with each other, as well as with God's creation. Sin breaks relationships, and the gospel restores them.

God in Christ did this by becoming one of us in the Incarnation. God became flesh or human to restore us humans into a relationship with himself. The heart of the law is love to God and love to our neighbor. When we break God's law by our sin, we're violating relationships. So it's more than just disobeying a command, but it's breaking or diminishing a relationship.

We as Christians should be known for our love for God, our love for each other, our love for all people including even our enemies, and our love for God's creation. We should be known for that, that is what should mark us.

I'm again rereading Scot McKnight's fine book, Embracing Grace: A Gospel for All of Us, and it's a good and (always) timely reminder of just how big the gospel is, and its aim. Its aim is nothing less than love, which of course is the heart of God in the gospel as we know in probably the most beloved Bible verse of all.

As we work on understanding and more importantly living out the gospel, we need to live out this love which Jesus carried out to the full, and by which God has reconciled the world to himself in Jesus, so that all sinners might find their true home and be at home with God and others and look forward to the completion of this beginning of the new creation in Jesus.

Seven Facts: A Meme

Diane at Emerging Quaker has tagged me along with six others. Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

5. Present an image of martial discord (as in "war," not as in "marriage") from whatever period or situation you’d like.

Thanks, Diane. Here goes:

1. I like to walk and read at the same time.

2. I used to like my hair- especially decades ago; now I enjoy having no, or very little hair!

3. My favorite seasons are Spring and Autumn, perhaps in that order. Summer and Winter are alright, as well- and if I lived further south, I'd miss the four seasons.

4. My favorite pie is cherry.

5. Most of the time, I prefer to read several books at a time, especially if I'm doing heavy reading. Unless I'm particularly interested in a subject, or run into a page turner.

6. I like to hear the Bible being read, did so for years, then quit for awhile. Back to listening to a more dramatized version, and quite well done through The Bible Experience, and my wife Deb likes it!

7. We recently became grandparents, and I had the most fun last Sunday morning, getting to hold Morgan.

I had included a painting, later providing the link for it, but have removed it, and will just skip this part, since I don't really want to work through permissions to use copyrights.

Seven I now tag in alphabetical order: Craver VII; Halfmom, AKA, Susan; Laure; L.L. Barkat; Mike; Nancy.

prayer for our enemies

For Our Enemies

God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

arm's length Christianity

There is a "Christianity" that holds others in Jesus at arm's length, not fully accepting them in practice. I see this, and I am saddened, and even at times, angered by it. But it's a part of life here, and one has to live with it somehow.

This phenomena doesn't mean you can't interact with them well, and I sense that part of the problem comes from me recoiling from such, so as to avoid controversy. That well could be.

The Christianity of Jesus welcomes and embraces all others who are in Jesus, regardless of what they believe in peripheral to the faith, issues. And this faith welcomes and receives all others, not as full fledged Christians, but as those whom God loves, and in his Son has reconciled to himself, so that they might be reconciled to God.

When I see others marginalized in this false practice, I identify with the marginalized, even when I can't entirely line up with those being marginalized, in their thinking. I end up keeping at arm's length those who do that to others.

This extends to all kinds of people in the world, as well as to all kinds of Christians. And since I choose to extend my hands to such, I'm identified as being on their side, and believing what they believe. I'm willing to be misunderstood, though, as I remember that Jesus was misunderstood routinely by the religious leaders of his day.

What would you like to add to these few thoughts on "arm's length Christianity"?

"Holding Pfaltzgraff - inclusion" from L.L. Barkat

Struggling to find a sense of belonging has long been a problem of mine from my childhood days of not quite fitting in with friends, or at school. And even left to myself I felt like an outsider or on the verge of it, much of the time. When I commited my life to God through Jesus, this opened up a new chapter in which I suddenly felt on the inside with God and other Christians. Though I've come to realize over the years that this can still be a struggle as a sort of exclusivism can wrap itself around us (some of that from the truth, but much of it from error), making it easy for us miss the point of why Jesus came, and why we in Jesus remain here in this world.

L.L. in this chapter helpfully unfolds for us this problem of exclusion which is part of sin and God's curse and scattering of humankind. And of God's answer for inclusion, back to his very heart. Continuing with her on her journey she recounts her days after college when she settled down in her own place and ate off her pfaltzgraff stone plates after which with delight she'd wash them in the suds in the sink. This was therapeutic for her in that she felt on the inside, contrary to what her stepfather had drummed into her that she was an outsider who couldn't do anything.

L.L. shares with us in a way I've never seen of God making his heart known to humankind through Israel in the form of the beautifully woven crimson, blue and purple of the tabernacle/tent pitched in the middle of the tribes of Israel as they traveled through the desert. Through the priestly sacrificial system God was making himself known, the high priest entering the Most Holy Place once a year in front of the ark of the covenant with the carved cherubim overshadowing it, the center of God's heart, to make atonement again and again, annually, for the people in forgiving their sins.

Jesus in the incarnation came as the Word became flesh and made his dwelling, or more literally pitched his tent or tabernacled among us. Jesus is the new tabernacle through whom access is given to God's very heart. No longer would the people of God just see it, but now through faith in Jesus they enter it for themselves, into the Most Holy Place through the blood of Jesus, meaning through his death.

Jesus' heart was broken in the process of making this true and open for all. He was treated in the most inhumane ways and even felt like his Father had turned his face away in excluding him as well. But he suffered this that we might be included again, back to God and with all peoples, in Jesus. In Jesus we become the place where God wants to bring other outsiders in.

L.L. reminds us that God gives to his people in the new covenant, a new heart, his very heart. It's a heart that is inclusive, that wants to bring all people in through Jesus and the message of the gospel. The question for us is how do we see this? Is this just for ourselves, or does it include others? This was a major issue Jesus had with the Pharisees and religious leaders of his day. Yet Jesus' example was just the opposite, reaching out to the outcasts in his day: the lepers, tax-collectors and sinners, and really to all, including those who excluded others. We in Jesus are to do the same, knowing that this inclusion we have found in Jesus is not just for ourselves, but for others.

It has taken me years to have a settled sense of inclusion in spite of all the ways I can feel excluded at times. God's heart for us in Jesus revealed to us by his Spirit and his word makes it clear that we are included and that God is inviting and welcoming home in Jesus, all who are outside. We are to live as those in Jesus before the world to help others find this same inclusion in Jesus.

Read this chapter (and book) slowly and enjoy.

What would you like to share in your thinking or from your life about what this means to you?

1. Stepping Stones - conversion
2. Christmas Coal - shame
3. Tossed Treasures - messiness
4. Heron Road - suffering
5. Sword in the Stone - resistance
6. Howe's Cave - baptism
7. Palisade Cliffs - doubt

Next week: Indiana Jones - fear

not only about me and God

Yes, the faith in Jesus is about us, each of us individually and our God in Jesus. God's love is intensely personal, beyond what is stamped in us as human beings made in God's image. So God cares about us to the most minute details of life.

But God's salvation in Jesus involves more than just "me and God." It involves the world. In Jesus, God has reconciled the world to himself, not counting people's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5) and has reconciled all things to himself in Jesus, in heaven and on earth (Colossians 1). In other words the great salvation in Jesus is cosmic in scope.

This is why I think it's so important that we care about what is going on in the world: among the inhabitants of the world as well as all of creation itself. Yes, including the spotted owl as we try to arrive to solutions in being good stewards of all of God's creation while helping people retain or have a livelihood- sufficient work (Genesis 1-3; Psalm 8).

We need more hymns and Christian songs that reflect this reality of the scope of God's great and good salvation in Jesus which begins even now, in this fallen world, destined someday to take over the world completely in shalom.

What thought might you like to share here?

Tomorrow: chapter 5: "Sword in the Stone: resistance" from L.L. Barkat's book, Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places.

friendship

I'm kind of excited today, and trying to fight off a cold at the same time. This evening Deb and I are going to meet our blogging friend and writer, L.L. Barkat. She is in town for the festival of faith and writing at Calvin College. It's a wonderful annual event, and I'm so glad she can be a part of it! And I can't wait to read her book, Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places. All other books will be interrupted, put on stop, put on hold, as I read this book. I know I will be blessed in my own life, and I plan to give it to others. And I will blog on it.

Friendship is my favorite aspect of blogging. An important part of friendship is sharing something of our lives with each other in words. Our words, according to Eugene Peterson, can communicate our hearts and true selves to each other.

To know that we are friends, and to look at everyone as a potential friend is a good thing. This is in large part why Jesus came: to reconcile us to God to be friends of God, and because of that to be reconciled to each other as friends who in many cases were enemies. This is why Jesus had to come, becoming one of us, and had to die, and then be resurrected, to bring this new potential for true and lasting friendship into this old world.

We know that we'll be friends in Jesus, with L.L. forever. What a wonderful thought! And friends with each other in our Lord.

Anyone with a thought or line to chime in here?

how do we look at others?

Yesterday in our "devotions", as we were considering "enemies" from Psalm 23, I made a rather half-baked statement to the effect that Scripture distinguishes certain ones as wicked or (I meant, special) enemies of God's people (seen in the psalms and prophets, and elsewhere). This brought about a debate, as a brother made the point that all outside of Christ are enemies of God, and therefore enemies of God's people. I then tried to get some discussion going as to how we are to look at those who are not in Jesus. Without going into the details of it, my brother and I ended up disagreeing.

Jesus teaches us to look at those not in him as valuable, in his stories or parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. Enemies in Scripture are usually those who are hostile to the faith and actively oppose it. If we say that the theological truth that we are all enemies of God outside of Christ applies to Jesus' sayings in Matthew 5 and Luke 6 as to how we're to look at our enemies as in loving and praying for them, turning the other cheek, etc., then we water down Jesus' teaching.

Yes, apart from grace we are enemies of God. But in Christ and in the Cross or death of Christ, God has reconciled the world to himself, so that in a true sense, because of this, we can say, "God has nothing against you. Therefore, because of Jesus and what he has done for you, be reconciled to God."

The Pharisees made a big deal out of those who were in and out. But Jesus refused to live by their code, eating and drinking openly with the outsiders. We can't look at such as enemies, since we don't know people's hearts and what God may be doing there. And besides, we know we all stand on the same level; grace alone, that is the gift of God in Jesus, is only what brings us back to God, taking care of our sins and the fact that we are sinners, and bringing us to relationship with God and with all that this reconciliation brings.

Much to say here, and not an easy subject. What input might you like to give us on this?

coming to

We read of the prodigal son that when he came to himself, or his senses, then he realized, or at least had enough sense to leave his dilapidated life behind, and return to his home.

Coming to. It's an important part of the work of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives, in Jesus. We need that grace at work in our hearts and lives, so that we can have that strong sense that we want to continue on in our Lord.

What happens before that? When we're lost, as all of us Christians are sometimes. Faith then can do many things. Faith presses on in seeking God diligently and expecting to be rewarded in doing so. But, as you recall in Jesus' story of the prodigal or lost son, at the heart of this coming to is relationship. The lost son humbly acknowledges that he is not worthy to be a son, but hopes to be received as a servant. But deep down inside, he must have had hope that his father would receive him back with love. Little did he know.

How great is the Father's love for us! It is so wonderful, and we must ever remember that. In Jesus, we must hold out for that love, always and ever, no matter what. May that love in Jesus fill each and everyone of us. That we might keep "coming to", knowing that God in Christ is ever there for us, with a heart of love far greater than we can conceive or take in.

What have you learned about this, or would like to add here?

community (and blogging)

Community is inherent in us being made in God's image. God is a relational being: Father, Son and Spirit. So humankind wants community, because this is inherent in our makeup as Eikons (meaning, image-bearers) of God.

God knew it was not good for Adam to be alone; the animals weren't sufficient. From one of Adam's ribs, God made Eve. At last he was complete. We indeed are made for the Lord, and for each other.

Sin has messed up, or probably better- disrupts true community. Adam and Eve did not know how good they had it, until they lost it, in their shame and alienation from God and from each other. But this part of our humanity, this longing for relationship won't let us go, unless we're too far gone in our sin and living as less than human.

Sin is inherenly "me-centered" and therefore not relational since it's anti-God and therefore anti-human. Jesus came to bring us back to God and to each other. This is what the gospel is all about: God in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and breaking down the walls that divide humanity. Bringing us to himself and to each other. Christ having becoming sin (or made a sin offering) for us, that in him (by simple faith) we might be made the righteousness of God (or made right with God in every way, ultimately).

We're to proclaim this good news, and implore others to so be reconciled. First in how we live, but part of that is words we say, after listening well- first to God, and then to the other.

I realize blogging has its limitations in that none of us have really met. We've met through words, sometimes through pictures, but we've neither seen each other or heard each other, face to face. Yet when we read Paul, we see his heart went out to believers he hadn't met, in the love of Jesus.

For me blogging is about sharing with each other God's work in our lives, and about helping others who may not know, by faith, this God for themselves. For me blogging is not only about dispensing truth, but about fellowship and community in the truth. In the Truth himself, who is Jesus. And in Jesus, finding our way back to the relationship with God and with each other in God, that can begin even now, as we await its completion and perfection to be realized when Jesus returns. What a wonderful day that will be!

What are your thoughts on community (and blogging)?

when wronged

When we think we've been wronged, or are being wronged, what do we do? Well, of course we ought to pray. This should be our first response. And we need to guard against making haste, or being hasty in spirit, and wanting to resolve an issue quickly. We need to ask the Lord to search our own hearts to find that which needs to be repented of in ourselves.

Of course we need to go to Matthew 18 and follow through according to the words of Jesus. That's in the context of the community of faith. To sidestep that is to cut ourselves off from the grace and truth of our Lord, which can impact a troubling situation for good. Not to say that God can't work when people don't follow this. Only to say it makes matters even more difficult.

Tell another of your problem in generic terms that do not expose the names of the people involved. A godly, knowledgeable friend. They often can help us see what's going on since they're bystanders, trying to look into the complete picture. And we need counselors who lisen well, are encouraging in spirit, but who gently will tell the truth about ourselves, in ways that identify with us. So that one has the sense they are fellow strugglers with us, and there for us, before God.

When wronged in the world, it's our opportunity to live out the gospel. Where we've failed that means openly acknowledging that. And where we've simply been mistreated, that means showing them the spirit of Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life.

Again, let's get back to Scripture, to God's word when we are wronged. Back to Matthew 18. This is for the good of all who are involved, an expression of faith in our God, who has given us this word.

What might you add to these scattered thoughts?