Nelson's blog

THE CHURCH AS A DISCIPLING COMMUNITY

2012-01-14T12:30:00.001-05:00

Presented at Vision Columbia, a church plant in Lancaster PA
January 14, 2012

One of the fundamental challenges the church faces in the United States today I believe, is faithfully carrying out the dual calling to be both a dispenser of God’s grace as well as to develop a community of disciples of Jesus whose lives tell and embody God’s Good News in the world.
The church is seen at its best in this context when it is perceived as a Compassionate and Caring community that demands nothing from the people it cares for. Caring compassionately while also demanding behavior that is consistent with the church’s story of redemption, a sort of “go and sin no more” approach that we find in Jesus is where the tension is located.
But from the popular perception in the larger culture, any attempt to demand certain conformity to the ethos of the community seem to contradict the very notion of church as a compassionate and caring community. As a result the care the church gives, while often excellent and compassionate, lacks the rationale to build the church as a community that tells and embodies the Good News of God’s kingdom, a community of character. This, I believe is the challenge of discipleship.
Given this reality, it is not surprising that by and large the church has adopted the consumer mentality of pandering to the needs of the people much more than helping to form them by challenging them to be a disciplined people. Therefore any suggestion that being a member of a church requires that people be transformed by opening their lives to some kinds of discipline is almost impossible. But this is the purpose the church exists in the world, to be an alternative community of disciples.
Studies show that churches that are characterized simply by compassion and care are no longer able to retain membership, especially that of their children or younger generations, whereas churches that demand moral conformity and/or discipline and consider them their primary focus continue to grow. Why is this the case?

It might help us to define the church at this point as we continue to reflect on discipleship. The church is a countercultural community of discipleship charged with corporate obedience to Christ’s commission. In it’s corporate life, the community embodies an alternative order that stands as a sign of God’s redemptive purposes in the world. Thus, the church should be considered as a social manifestation of God’s people mandated by God to embody God’s healing and redemptive purpose for the entire creation (Eph. 3:10; 1 Pet. 2:9)

Biblically speaking, Salvation is never simply a “me-and-Jesus solo-relationship”, rather it is an invitation into a discipleship community; not only is God saving individuals, but he also is forming a people. Author Greg Ogden writes, “Our identity as believers is found and shaped in community. In the church our individual identity is maintained, yet at the same time we don’t have an individual identity apart from the church…The Christian life is inherently communal. The church has allowed the trend toward privatized faith to undermine the tight-knit community that is needed if disciples are to be formed.”
The Apostle Paul presents it so well,
“Present your bodies (plural), as a living sacrifice (singular), holy and well pleasing to God.. And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” From this passage, we can say that the body of Christ, in its corporate life, is called to embody an alternative social order that stands as a sign of God’s redemption of God’s creation
Those who form this body must now no longer live in conformity to the old Adamic age (Gen. 3) but must walk in the newness of life by being transformed according to the pattern of Christ, the first born among many. Those who are in Christ must be conformed to his life having their minds renewed by the Holy Spirit so that they are able to discern God’s will, his good, acceptable and perfect will for them (Romans 12:1-2).

Implications for Discipleship:
When our minds are renewed, we are able to think straight, instead of the twisted thinking that the world forces upon us, and act accordingly. Through the gracious power of God, those whose minds Christ has captured and made new are changed in such a way that their lives conform not to the world in which they now live but to the will of God.
A renewed mind does not have an exaggerated sense of its own importance, but instead it assesses itself constantly and considers views itself in proportion to the faith or faithfulness that God has assigned. A renewed mind also does not see itself as an isolated individual around which the world revolves but rather as part of a larger community of disciples with needs that are mutually met by others.

Possible Ways to shape new disciples:
-Call and demonstrate for them a Christ-centered life (the greatest commandment- Matt. 22:37-40)
-Demonstrate and teach them what it means to live in the world as a resident-alien, not conforming to the world and its standards even if such a move means persecution and hardship.
-Lead them by serving them as Jesus demonstrated to the disciples (John 13)
-Show them that you take the bible seriously as God’s word and the authority in matters of faith and life
--Constantly talk about the church as a discipling community and live as such
-Create both invitational and practical paths of discipleship (small groups etc)
-Be hospitable communities that accept people as they are before demanding that they shape up first or even believe right first.
-Engage them in formational practices such as foot washing, breaking of bread, scripture reading, worship, prayer etc
-Be willing to be stretched beyond your comfort zone
-Be willing and vulnerable to share our stories with them as well
-Eat and fellowship with them
-Share the gospel message and provide opportunity to engage and respond to the message in non-intimidating format e.g. around the tables in smaller groups

Final Thoughts:
• The church must continue the dual role of both caring compassionately for people while at the same time calling people to live as a community of disciples that engages in practices, which helps them to develops their spiritual muscles to live as disciples of Jesus who are capable of living out their faith in this strange world.
• We must be willing to do ministry from the margins of society as a minority instead of from the center as our Anabaptist forbearers did. Our minority position ought to lead us to creativity rather than restrict our ministry. We must adapt and find ways to be relevant without watering down the Good News.
• We need to continue the practice of reading scripture together, “dwelling in the word.” This practice enables all of us to be encountered by the Scriptures in transformational ways with the gathered community.
• Our sense of superiority as Christians needs to be deconstructed because we are all sinners constantly needing God’s grace and the journey of discipleship never ends until the Lord comes to finally make all things right.
*Abide in the vine because apart from him we can do nothing (Jn. 15:4-5)
(Some of my thinking in this presentation was informed by
Richard B. Hayes's reflection on the church as well as
Stanley Hauerwas's reflection of the nature of the church)

Following with Passion: “Loving God and Neighbor” Matthew 22:34-46

2012-01-10T06:43:00.001-05:00

Mountville Mennonite Church Jan 8, 2012
by Nelson Okanya

This is my third time here at Mountville and I see some familiar faces as I look at you. I know your pastor well from my short-term involvement with EMM while he was serving as the director of EMM’s then, Discipleship Ministries, in fact it was him who called me in Nairobi fourteen years ago and invited me back to the States to co-lead a STAT team to Kenya after my YES outreach and things moved in the direction they have moved since then to where the Lord has led us to. I appreciate Keith’s love and passion for the Lord as well as the many teachings I received from him while in the YES and STAT programs as well as on staff at the Baltimore Discipleship Center particularly his teaching on “foundational building blocks of discipleship; Knowing, Being and Doing.”

I was deeply impacted by this teaching partly because I went through it at least more than three times but mainly because of the truth it imparted on my life as a disciple of Jesus. Today one of my passions is discipleship. I am grateful to the Lord for leaders like your pastor Keith who are sensitive to the Holy Spirit and seek to empower and release young people into ministry.

Our topic today is on a topic that your pastor already introduced this morning and will be talking about more this year, “Following with Passion.” We will look at Matthew 22:34-46. I believe that there is no better example of following with passion than Jesus our Lord. When I read Matthew 22 in preparation for this morning, I was perplexed by the hostility Jesus was experiencing in his ministry at that point. It sort of reminded me about the hostility that people who are serious about Jesus experience in our world today some worse than others depending on where you live, but I also found the text ironically ending on an upbeat note, Jesus had scored a home run to use today’s expression. He triumphed over his opponents by answering all their questions and left them speechless; on the contrary, his opponents were unable to answer his questions even though they were the elites of the day.

Our focus this morning will be on some few exchanges between Jesus and the Pharisees. From the previous section of this text, Jesus had just left the Sadducees speechless on the resurrection question since they did not believe in it (by the way that is why they are so sad you see), now the Pharisees who agreed with Jesus on the resurrection raised a different question.

A Law expert demanded to know from Jesus’ perspective which of the commandments was the greatest. In his response, Jesus pointed him to what he already knew; he pointed to the very heart of Judaism, to the Shema, the prayer that any devout Jew recited every morning and evening (Dt 6:4-5). The Shema was a sort of orientation for the Jews; it reminded them of their own story and called them to love God with unwavering loyalty, total abandonment which is the very foundation of the covenant people.

The shema reminded them that they were God’s people. They were reminded and still reminds them that their God is only one God, the creator and more importantly the Lord of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Sarah and Rebecca, who had delivered them from the Egyptian bondage by an outstretched arm and a strong right hand who also spoke to them at Sinai through Moses and gave them the Law that set them a part from other peoples. This God needs to be given all of one’s total allegiance.

The first half of Jesus’ response came from Dt 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel; The LORD is our God, the LORD alone, You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” And the second half from Lev. 19:18, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Biblical scholars tell us that the Hebrew word Shema means, “hear” but also means “obey.” This word rooted them in the firm conviction that they had heard God and they were to obey God. They were to be singularly committed to the LORD their God. But it confounds us that to the singular question, “which is the greatest commandment” Jesus added: “And a second is like it: In other loving God with all our being connects us with God’s missional purpose. As such, the first commandment and the second are distinct, loving neighbor does not equal loving God, but loving neighbor effectively happens when we fully love God.

We can deduce from this text that Jesus operated from a God centered foundation, a foundation that cannot be separated from who he really was. Love for God is the best place for believers to begin love for others. It is this love that casts out all fear, it cast out fear of the cross for Jesus and it ought to cast out the fear of fellow humans, the fear of the world around us and ultimately the fear of death. This powerful and transforming love is the catalyst for living and passionately following the one who loved us and gave his life for us. This first responsibility empowers believers as they constantly look to God’s love as the reason for living and loving others.

When the double command to love God and neighbor is taken seriously, not just the law, but, “the whole law” and the prophets is fulfilled Jesus said, this is because to whole heartedly give yourself to God and care for people is what it is all about.

Jesus’ reference to this deeply embedded practice made it very hard for his opponents to accuse him for proposing a new teaching. But one of the questions that came to my mind was whether they were actually practicing their prayer. Did their confession of faith translate into how they lived their lives? This question led me to wonder whether Jesus’ question was a question of renewal? Could this be similar to the story of our Anabaptist forbearers who observed a church that confessed faith in Jesus but lived no differently from the world? This is ought to be our question as well today.

Lets move to the question that Jesus posed to these opponents then to get the whole picture. “Is the Messiah David’s son or David’s master?” This question must have come as a surprise to the Pharisees. They knew that the Messiah was David’s son, but they could not explain how it was that Psalm 110 talks about the Messiah being David’s Lord. As such, they had no answer ironically the Messiah was right in front of them. If only they would have realized that fact and asked Jesus things might have developed differently perhaps.

The point I believe is, Jesus was about to fulfill in himself the greatest commandments through the horrific and shameful event of being hung on a cross. Through this event, Jesus believed that he would be exalted and enthroned as their true king and Lord and as such be David’s Lord and by extension ours as well. This is so key to our ability to follow Jesus with passion, failure to see the point in Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees’ question and Jesus’ question to the Pharisee’ is to miss a very important foundation for Christian discipleship.

Of course Jesus was the son of David (Matt. 1:1), but such a title and its understanding among the Jews of Jesus’ day would not necessarily have led to loving God with one’s whole heart and mind and love neighbor as one’s self. This is because their Messianic expectation was a military triumph and obviously such a triumph hardly leads to the double command that we have been reflecting on this morning.

Contrary to that expectation then, this Son of David embraced the cross not as a cosmetic symbol that we have made it to be today but as symbol of shame and death. The cross disarms opponents and points to a yieldedness, which the early Anabaptists called Galesenheit, Jesus yielded to the one he knew as Abba and entrusted himself to the father’s and through it, he defeated his enemies not through the weapons of war far but rather through submitting and yielding himself to God’s will, purpose and means. Through the cross then, Jesus reclaimed his rightful place in accordance with Psalm 110. It is that kind of love that leads to love of neighbor, a love that compels us to do God’s mission both in our neighborhoods but also across the street and around the world and particularly to places where the church is weak or non-existent.

It is that perfect love that casts out all fear, fear of other humans, fear of the world order, fear of the downturn economy, fear of others who do not look like us etc. Loving others according to the teachings of Jesus is founded in loving God with all we have. Boldly following Jesus requires a deep revelation of who Jesus was and is. Like Jesus, we can only follow with passion…while we remain centered firmly in Jesus our Lord and such following will lead to us living as God’s missional people in the world.

Personal Story……….
Amen!

Christian Living in a Hostile World 1 Peter

2012-01-03T09:17:00.002-05:00

New Year’s EMM chapel Address January 3, 2012
By Nelson Okanya, EMM President

Happy New Year to you all! We give thanks to the lord for the Lord is good and His love endures forever! The lord has given us yet another year. With the New Year comes new resolutions, new ways of living and new strategies for doing things. What would a mission leader such as myself say to a mission agency staff such as you on New Year? I sat with this question in December anticipating what to say. I read scripture and other books on missions, I prayed, and talked with you and with missionaries (both former and current), mission leaders, church leaders, pastors and friends. As I engaged in these activities and reflections, I continually invited the Holy Spirit to speak to me for without the guidance and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit all is in vein (Jn 15:4-5).

I took some time to reflect on some of the realities of the world in which we live and I was overwhelmed by the seeming challenges for the church and mission agencies of which we are one. Recently for example I have been learning through various studies conducted by National Study of Youth and Religion that has conducted studies on our youth’s attitude towards religion. Their conclusions are consequential to the church’s future I believe and we must not ignore them.

They have discovered for example that our teens profess and practice a kind of faith that although similar in appearance to orthodox Christianity but it could not be far from it. (You will hear more about this in the coming weeks and months). Our young adults embrace a kind of pluralism when it comes to faith and are known to be accepting of “spirituality” while rejecting religion. They are also described as seeking to belong but not willing to join etc.

All these realities the researchers conclude points squarely to the faith of their parents, a conclusion that left me with many questions that I look forward to asking pastors and church leaders as we partner together in God’s mission. In short, the Christian faith is a minority faith and as such stands to be bullied by the majority.

According to the Pew Research:
The number of Christians around the world has nearly quadrupled in the last 100 years, from about 600 million in 1910 to more than 2 billion in 2010. But the world’s overall population also has risen rapidly, from an estimated 1.8 billion in 1910 to 6.9 billion in 2010. As a result, Christians make up about the same portion of the world’s population today (32%) as they did a century ago (35%).

The current state of affairs in our world today, reminded me of the world the first Christians inhabited. Like us, they were a minority in a majority culture, a culture that was not particularly friendly to the gospel and to their way of life as followers of the Messiah. I believe that we can glean a lot from Peter’s epistle in this regard.

In 1 Peter we find a sort of “be ye separate but engaged” sort of reality. The situation in our western society is in some ways similar to the first Christians an in some ways worse because of the symbiotic nature of our teen’s understanding and practice of their Christian faith among many other factors. In addition, like the first Christians, we experience a kind of hostility to our faith as a minority group. For those of us from the Anabaptist tradition this is not new to us, our forebears were killed at the hands of people who regarded themselves, as Christians but were threatened by the Anabaptist’s understanding of the Christian faith and life.

As my former professor George Brunk III pointed out to us at a conference recently, suffering theme in Peter is a kind of sporadic suffering; social discrimination, ostracizing, social bullying, etc and more generally the attempts to undermine the rights of a minority by the majority. Therefore, Peter sought to encourage these Christians using a language such as a refiner’s fire to describe their experiences rather than the language of persecution fire to encourage them to live and tell their story with confidence amidst the hostilities of their day.

Contrary to some allusion that Peter was acculturating the Gospel and sort of softening its edges, such an allusion could not be far from the truth in fact Peter presents a rather vigorous response to the challenges these Christians were facing. But first, we must remember that our salvation is by grace. Peter says, “My main point is to urge and bear witness to you that this grace, in which you stand, is the true grace of God.” (1Pet. 5:12). God did all this! It was divine initiative (1 Pt. 1:1, 13,), God’s grace is a transforming grace; it is a pure gift that flows from God to us.

This understanding ought therefore to inform how we live in the world. When we respond with grace in our relationships to others, we receive favor before the Lord (1 pet. 2:12, 21-25). It is a grace in the presence of God that grows out of human action but receives the favor of God (an inter-change between God and us. Grace and ethics are not isolated from each other as Detrich Bonhoeffer ably reminds us in "The Cost of Discipleship", grace and discipleship must go hand in hand. This grace however is God’s free gift to us which we ought to reflect back to God in our action. When this happens, we are being missional and faithful disciples of Jesus.

As we seek to walk with the Lord, the Lord will empower us to do what he has called us to do. (1 Pet. 1:4-10). We ought therefore to speak and serve on behalf of God. If speaking do so as if speaking for God, if serving do so as unto God.

Peter develops some instructive values for Christians in a hostile world (George Brunk III helped name some of these for me):
• Honor-Not Shame Shaming is the instrument used by the majority to silence the minority. Jesus was subject to shaming but he did not return in kind. Here, Peter responded by reversing the strategy, honor belongs to the believer and shame to non-believer. Therefore, the honor belongs to you who believe while shame belongs to the non-believer who ostracizes you for believing the Gospel (4:16; 2:6; 1:7; 3:16).

• Imperishable-Not the Perishable: The imperishable quality of the gospel far surpasses the value of gold (1:3-4; 1:7; 1:18-19). Therefore, prepare to be refined as you live your faith in a hostile world.

• Hope-Not futility: Salvation is to be revealed, this is not an escapist view of the present circumstances of living in a hostile world. We are encouraged to make the future redemption our guiding truth in the present (1:5; 1:18-21; 1:14).

• You have an Identity: As God’s people saved by grace, you are now a people, and you belong to God! Both you as an individual staff member and as a member of the EMM community and of the church at large. You are a disciple in the community of the Messiah participating in God’s mission in the world (2:10; 2:5).

Conclusion:

-God’s purpose and our actions coincide to give God glory and to carry forward God’s mission.
-How will you engage in God’s mission this year?

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2011-12-22T15:44:00.000-05:00

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2011-12-22T15:27:00.000-05:00

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CREATED IN CHRIST FOR GOOD WORKS!

2011-11-30T06:56:00.005-05:00

(Ephesians 2:8-10, 17-22)
Millport Mennonite Church, Nov. 20, 2011

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:8-10)

Who is this God who supposedly created us for good works? Since we live in a pluralistic world where the term “God” does not automatically translate into the same thing or reality or person for everyone, we must seek first to establish who God is that Paul is referring to in this passage. Failure to answer this question I believe, is failure to understand who we are as Christians and hence failure to understand our purpose. Paul made sure that we were not left to our own discoveries as to who this God is. From Ephesians, the God Paul is referring to, is none other than the father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3).

This God is not like the other gods and idols that are the object of worship for many people today in our culture. This God is the creator of all that exists. This God is not hidden; this God has made self revelations in many ways but more fully in Jesus Christ. Any other revealed gods that do not have Jesus Christ as the full revelation deserves no worship from us! This is because through Jesus, God the creator has blessed us, chosen us, redeemed us and declared his plan to us (Eph. 1:3-14).

We are therefore, a people chosen by God because of God's grace and loved dearly by God; we are not our own, we are called for a purpose. This purpose is that we join the creator through Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit in redeeming the entire creation. This is because God loves the world and invites the world to love Him back.

As I read this passage I see apostle Paul retelling an old story in a new context while maintaining the purpose of the original story. In Genesis 12, God called Abram and Sarai from their pagan background. God blessed them and commissioned them to go forth and be a blessing to all peoples on earth (Gen. 12:1-3). This story continues in the Exodus, when the chosen people of God were a delivered people from the Egyptian slavery by an outstretched arm and a strong right hand in order for them to go forth and worship God and in their worship to witness to the world about the creator and redeemer God.

It follows that from that Exodus story, God is forever known as redeemer, protector, provider etc. Likewise, in Christ we as followers of Jesus have been redeemed through his shed blood and are therefore freed to worship and witness for Christ as the new people of God. This is in line with God’s plan to finally bring all things together in Christ; things in heaven and on earth (Eph. 1:10).

This mandate to worship and witness is quite a challenge to us in our seemingly disconnected lives characterized by the chasm between our faith convictions or profession and how we actually live our lives. The message I believe is that our lives ought to put on display our faith. Israel was called and redeemed in order to worship God and that through their worship the world would be led to join in the worship of the creator God. Therefore, Israel was to embody God’s vision that the redemption has already began and that the creator did not abandon the creation to its own devises. Like delivered Israelites in Exodus, as followers of Jesus we ought to embody that same message for our families, our neighbors and all the people around the world. After all the apostle reminds us in Ephesians that what we know about God and what we do for God must not be separated.

I believe that when there is such a chasm between belief and life, our capacity to be missional in the world gets greatly diminished because our witness gets skewed by how we live our lives. Don't just tell people about the Good News of Jesus live the Good News. As the Holy Spirit empowers us, we are to embody what Christ already did in himself; in him all things come together, the walls of hostility are broken. The point is you are created in Christ for good works (Eph.2: 10).

But just in case we are mistaken here, Paul makes it very clear that all the blessings we have in Christ as followers of Jesus comes not as a result of our works; it comes because we are saved by God's grace. Our mission is God’s mission not our own mission. We are co-creators with God charged with a mandate to remind the world that the creator has not given up on it, in fact the creator is redeeming the world through God’s son who loved the world and gave his life for the world and has commissioned the Church to carry the mission forward through the Holy Spirit.

Therefore with that view in mind, we can confidently say through the eyes of faith the world is God’s good creation even though the realities around us seem to say otherwise. Having said that, we also must remember that whenever God is at work, there will always be a cross to bear this is why Jesus invited his followers to deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow him. The question is, what does cross bearing mean for you as individuals, as families and even collectively as a congregation? Could it mean stepping out of your comfort zone and doing some uncomfortable things because the Lord has called you? For Paul, it meant being imprisoned for the sake of Christ. Take sometime and ponder this question.

Because we are God’s chosen and redeemed people, God is working through us his church to declare his vision for the entire creation. Through the Church (you) God’s manifold wisdom is declared to the principalities and powers, to the controlling forces of the world that attempts to make us subservient to them (Eph.3:10).

In Christ and through Christ, we are empowered and called forth to live out the life of the new creation as the Spirit empowers us. In the world we live in are controlling forces that use money, sex and power, as well as political influence and positions that tempt us to live in their own ways. These powers must know that Jesus Christ is Lord and they are not.

These powers must know that in Christ the dividing walls of hostility fall as people’s lives are transformed in him this transformation brings forth unity as the people of God unite and show the powers that be that they are not in charge of the world, Jesus alone is. Politicians and political allegiances must not dislodge Jesus as our Lord and savior and therefore the one to whom our first priority and allegiance in life rests. We are called to be instruments of God’s redemptive plan in Jesus. We must not live as if our faith does not matter and we must be prepared to carry the cross as we follow Jesus as his disciples. We are created in Christ for Good works! Amen!

TOM WRIGHT ROMANS INTRODUCTION 2011 ST ANDREWS

2011-11-22T05:42:00.000-05:00

EMM President's Inaugural Address

2011-11-19T13:58:00.010-05:00

November 18, 2011 at Lancaster Convention Center

Personal faith Journey:
Good evening! Let me also greet you in the way I grew up greeting people in church in East Africa, “Praise the Lord!” The Lord surely is worthy to be praised for his love endures forever. As I stand here before you tonight I am humbled by God’s call and the affirmation of that call by the church at different stages of my life. I am grateful for my parents who nurtured me in the ways of the Lord by living their lives in such away that clearly left an impression on me that they took their faith seriously and that their faith mattered in their daily living.

Tonight they are not here because of the difficulty in obtaining visa these days to come to the U.S. But they assured me of their love, prayers and support on this special day, they asked me to pass their greetings to you. Mom prayed for me this afternoon and dad reminded me that this night is about the Lord who is present with us and to the Lord be all the glory.
I am also grateful for my wife Jessica and our two lovely sons Barak and Izak who continue to inspire me as a husband and a father to seek to live my life faithfully by their unconditional love for me. Jessica and I are looking forward to celebrating our tenth anniversary next month. It has been a wonderful journey of love, affection, support, mission and growth in faith and service.

I am also thankful for the many mentors that the Lord brought into my life to help guide, speak into my life, correct me and encourage me to pursue God’s calling. There are a number of you in this room tonight and you know who you are. Thank you for embodying Christian leadership and faithfulness to the Lord for me.

Our family has been in Lancaster for almost two months and let me say that Lancaster County is one of the best-kept secrets. We have enjoyed the warm welcome we have received from EMM staff and local congregations as well as the community. We are enjoying life in Lancaster! Kudos to you for being here tonight for I hear that there is an exciting match tonight featuring our very own Lancaster Mennonite School in the AA finals. I believe you known which team is the best! And may the best team win!

EMM’S Story:
Six people have now served as EMM presidents over the course of a century and a quarter. I am grateful for their faithful service and particularly for the service of my predecessor Richard Showalter. I pray for him and Jewel as they take time to rest and reflect on decades of service with EMM and as they look to other ways to continue serving the Lord.
This evening we were treated to some glimpses of the past. As we know, past is prologue.

We heard from John H. Mellinger EMM’s first president through the acting of Roger Weaver. You heard the question he raised about “going and making disciples of all peoples.” John did not get an immediate answer to his question but it was precisely that lack of immediate answer that led to his own transformation and set him on a journey that marked the beginning of a new phase of ministry for Lancaster Conference. It was that journey that led to the eventual formation of Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (EMBMC), which was also referred to as simply the Eastern Board.

The Call of the Gospel:
EMM’s story did not start with the Sunday school movement of 1894, or with the in cooperation in 1914, or with the pioneering work in 1933 and 34 when the pioneer missionaries were escorted by nearly 500 Lancaster Mennonites on a chattered a train to New York to see them off to the world. This story started over two thousand years ago when Jesus of Nazareth walked the face of the earth and began his message thus;

“The time is fulfilled! God’s kingdom is arriving! Turn back, and believe the good news!” (Mk. 1:15)

Jesus lived out this kingdom message and taught his disciples to follow him and embody that kingdom message for all people. In accordance with God’s will, Jesus was put to death because his kingdom message was counter-cultural and was deemed dangerous by the powers that be. But the story did not end there. He was raised from the dead and defeated the power of sin and death and he commissioned his followers saying;

“All authority in heaven and on earth, has been given to me! So you must go and make all the nations into disciples. Baptize them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe everything I have commanded you. And look: I am with you, every single day, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20)

It was this story that compelled Lancaster Mennonites to respond to God’s vision given to the young Phoebe Yoder that EMM sent forth missionaries beyond the continental United States. This story compelled pioneer missionaries to leave the comfort of their homes and their precious farms to venture into the unknown world in Abrahamic fashion. They went young and old, and were not deterred by the unfavorable living conditions in the African continent or the tough economic times at home and some of them never returned. That story continued on through the ministry of subsequent missionaries whose lives touched my parents as well as me and many other lives in our inner cities, our communities and many other locations and places around the world. That is the story we are gathered here tonight to hear again. In partnership with you we will continue to tell this good news through your churches and through EMM as your mission agency.

My own life journey took a different turn when EMM missionary Carl Hansen spoke into my life when I told him about my intentions to attend a medical training college and he challenged me that I may be called to the healing ministry but that this healing is to happen through the church. I can affirm that he was right.
God’s healing story continues to be told and embodied both here at home and around the world through EMM workers and staff in partnership with congregations. As we continue to tell God’s story, there are both challenges as well as opportunities. Please allow me to name just a few:

The Challenges:
1. The negative effects of the Economic down turn which has had impact on people’s savings and investments
2. Job loss and continued joblessness
3. Numerous non-profit organizations that compete for support
4. The church’s story is no longer the only story and the church is struggling to make its message relevant
• The fast changing world of technology and 24hour cable news
• The strong power of sound bites and disregard for facts

5. The loss of institutional loyalty and denominational identity. Young people particularly are joining churches that are accepting of them and meeting their need not necessarily those that share their theological convictions. Because of this, there is substantial loss of financial and institutional support for the work of denominational agencies and churches are refocusing on local projects as they struggle to survive and help their members bond together into meaningful communities.
6. We just downsized and cut an equivalent of 9FTEs. For these people this was not simply a job, it was their calling.

The opportunities:
1. Relationship based giving and support
2. Limited resources compels us to make Strategic choices in terms of what we do as mission agencies and churches
3. Freed from the assumption to control history, we are free to live faithfully entrusting history to God.
4. We are free to creatively tell the Christian story in relevant and exciting terms that generates interest and commitment after all there is no better story than the church’s story.
5. It is exciting that local congregation no longer delegate mission work to mission agencies but rather seek to live as missionaries in their homes and communities.
6. Partnership and mutuality based on shared vision and conviction rather than denominational and institutional loyalties.
7. The opportunity to listen to each other and discern how God might be calling and sending us both as local congregations and your mission agency
8. The opportunity to establish mission centers in our neighborhoods and around the world.

Conclusion:
These are exciting times to live: We are on the cusp of a new era the ways of the past no longer effectively work and the future is yet to be shaped and defined. It is exciting because we are free to innovate, to think outside the box and experiment with new ways of doing church and missions. I believe that the gospel is the greatest story ever told and I am excited to explore relevant ways to tell it with passion and conviction in partnership with local congregations. We are charged with the responsibility to tell a better story than apple products or Google can tell. I believe that the Christian story is matchless in terms of its hope and life transformation. In the same way the fog horn sounded as pioneer missionaries left in 1930s, the fog horn tonight signals the beginning of a renewed mission vision, passion and partnership. Let us go forth and tell this good news and embody it for our families, our neighbors and for all the people around the world!

Life based on a promise- God’s Call to Mission

2011-10-24T15:40:00.000-04:00

Genesis 11:1-6; 12:1-3; Luke 10:2
Sermon preached at Willow Street Mennonite Church October 23, 2011

Genesis chapter 12 is the prime text for conversations about missions; it is also commonly referred to as “the call of Abraham.” I believe however that the power and meaning of that call emerges when it is placed against the story of the tower of Babel that precedes it in Genesis 11. This story is illustrated in various art forms showing people attempting to build a city with a tower that supposedly reaches to the heavens. For our modern view of the world such an effort is laughable and is easily dismissed as a fable.
But in the world of scripture, when we take such a dismissive position, we miss great opportunities to see the Scriptural truths in such stories and as a result fail to see opportunities for life transformation. When I read these stories as I have suggested above, I did not see some fable but rather an insight into God’s mission and human’s attempt at their own mission without God. From the very beginning of creation, God chose to involve human beings in creation. As I read a section of Genesis, a theme emerged indicating the creator’s vision that humans should multiply and scatter all over the face of the earth. This theme is repeated several times:
• “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Gen. 1:27-28)
• “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” (Gen. 8:15-17)
• “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” (Gen. 9:1)
• “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” (Gen, 9:7)
• “These are the families of Noah’s sons, according to their genealogies, in their nations; and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.”-(Gen. 10:32)

You get the point; God is interested in the scattering of humans all over the face of the earth and the cultural and linguistic diversity that results from such a scattering. It is easy to dismiss this as Old Testament stuff but a look at (Rev. 7:9-10) which depicts a vast crowd from every nation and tribe and people and language before the throne makes it very difficult to dismiss this insight. The tower of Babel project and its intended vision in Genesis 11 stands in a sharp contrast to God’s vision. Instead of carrying forth God’s vision to create cultures and languages, humans in this story resorted to their own vision, which they clearly articulated,

Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth (Gen. 11:4)

These people decided to do something that would make them a name and also would prevent them from being spread abroad as God had planned. Perhaps their nomadic lifestyle called for such a grand project because they were tired of moving from one place to another according to the dictates of political and natural forces as we still see in nomadic tribes today. Such a life breeds uncertainty, insecurity and insignificance and these people determined to change that. I believe we all enjoy the comfort and security of a nice home, a good steady job and a good supportive community and therefore in many ways we are similar to the people of Babel.

The people of Babel decided that they were going to settle down and make themselves a name and be secure and show that they amounted to something great! They intended to build a great monument that would outlast them a dream that came true since we are still talking about them this morning several millennia later although not for the same reason they might have envisioned. They perhaps thought that generation after them would look at the monument and regard them as “the greatest generation.” This sound so familiar doesn’t it? We know that such is the goal of great empires and ambitious kings as in the case of the ancient Roman emperors, but even now people continue to erect monuments that will leave their marks in history. We share in this goal in many ways; therefore, these Babelites are humans just like us, simply trying to have something to show for.
The bad news is that God was not impressed by the project and is still not impressed by our own efforts to determine our own destiny without God’s involvement. As such, God moved decisively to stop the project and thwarted their efforts. Such is still the case today when we decide on our own destiny without giving thought of God’s involvement in our lives I believe. It is against this backdrop that Genesis 12 becomes significant for it shows that while the Babelite’s mission was frustrated because among many things, it was self-focused, and failed because they sought to determine their future without God, in Genesis 12, God’s mission continues with the call of a couple that was ready to obey and be a blessing to others. In short, the Babel project failed because God was not the central focus and Abraham and Sarah succeeded in their mission because it was God centered.
The story of God’s mission is a story of a call to leave the security of kinship and the significance of property and family to follow after the insecurity of a promise.

Lancaster Mennonites understand this story. This is why over a century and a quarter ago they sent forth pioneer missionaries to Tanganyika through Eastern Board, which has since been named Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM). These missionaries left the comfort of their farms and families and ventured into the unknown areas of the world as in the same way Abaram and Sarai did simply because God called them to go. Some of them never returned and were buried in the African soil both young and old. Some of the like Glenn Brubaker and Nathan Hagi and their families who are members of your congregation left great legacies of faith in Tanzania and Ethiopia. As a matter of fact, I grew up in Kenya with Glenn Brubbakers! You Lancaster Mennonites took Genesis 12 seriously, and through EMM sent forth workers. I believe that your legacy speaks better words than the legacy left by the Babelites. You have been blessed and you have been a blessing and the story continues on.

We do not know Abram by how much theological and biblical knowledge he had, actually from the story we know nothing about that but what we do know is that their lives were characterized by obedience to God’s call. The couple did not want to hold on to what they knew or had; in fact they were to leave the familiar for the unfamiliar. This is the story of Missions. This is the call and vision of EMM. God offered security and significance to Abram and Sarai but it was not the same as the one the Babelites and sometimes we expect or seek. The purpose was that through this couple witness about God was to spread to the whole world (Gen.12: 2-3).

The call of Abram demonstrates clearly the life of faith. We see in this call that faith is not primarily religious belief or a set of propositional truths. Faith is expressed here as obedience to the call. Abram and his family did not have the option of staying put in their security system and simply saying, “yes I believe.” They showed they believed by going. Babel story is a story of humans attempting to secure a blessing (security, prosperity and peace) for themselves. In the call of Abram the focus of blessing shifts. God does intend to bless Abram and his family, but his real intention for them is to make of them a great nation, so that they will be a blessing (Gen 12: .2-4).

The nation of Israel was not to exist for its own sake; it was to be an instrument for God’s larger purpose for all humanity and creation. In its very inception Israel’s existence is priestly; to mediate God’s blessings to all the people.
Exodus 19:6 -- Israel was to be a "kingdom of priests"
Abraham’s descendants were to have a different view of the world; instead of a worldview shaped by settled lives that sees outsiders as threat, their worldview was to consider outsiders as objects of potential blessing. As Israel struggled in her own existence, she forgot and lost the sight of God’s vision of being a blessing to all nations, but was reminded over and again through their prophets to return to the vision. This family’s call indicates a parting of ways. They were called to live by faith in a promise.

How can we as followers of the Messiah really live a life that corresponds to the radical character of this calling? This is the challenge that is constantly set before us as we re-read this foundational story. The struggle of Israel to live up to this original story is one of the central dynamics of the remainder of the Biblical story of which we have become part. How is God Calling you both as a congregation and as individuals and families? How are you responding to God’s call? Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” We welcome you to explore that question with us after the service.
Amen!

LIVING A LIFE WORTHY OF OUR CALLING (Ephesians 4:1-16)

2011-10-04T14:34:00.003-04:00

First Chapel address as EMM president 10/4/11

When Richard called me last week and invited me to do the chapel address today the first thing that came to my mind was that today was to be my second day in the office which means that I barely know the place leave alone the people although I know quite a number of you from my previous involvement in different settings. I am still getting lost here when I leave my office especially when I go downstairs. So, it is quite a task to speak this morning here in this chapel although this is my second time to speak here my first was last year. I thought that it would be proper for my first message to center on the call of gospel which I believe is the reason we are here and the reason for which EMM exists.

No other place in the New Testament in my judgment is more fitting for such a reflection than the prison letters. In these four letters I believe we are challenged deeply to reflect on the meaning of our Christian call or the call of the gospel. Growing up in the church in East Africa, I kind of got this idea that being a Christian sort of made you special and set you apart form other people who were not Christians. This implied among other things that your life would be protected and nothing bad would happen to you. But one look at the prison letters calls such an assumption into question.

One such letter is the book of Ephesians. I believe that the very notion that Paul wrote this book while in prison ought to cause us to pause and reflect deeper on what it means to be called into God’s ministry. To be in prison in Paul’s time was much more like being in prison in the developing world in which I was born and grew up; it is not like being in our prisons here in America today. If you have any doubts about that read Philippians and discover Paul’s thankfulness for the care he received from the Philippians while he was in prison no wonder in Philippians Paul expresses a warm and special relationship with the community that he had come to love as they cared for him in prison and partnered with him in the Gospel.

In the book of Ephesians Paul reflects on his imprisoned state but still espouses a sense of commitment to the calling of the Gospel on his life and insists on the difference such a calling makes in terms of how we live our lives. Therefore, he reminds the Ephesians and us to look back and refresh our memory of the calling we received for while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
This morning allow me to highlight two things in verses 1-6:
1. The meaning of “our calling”
2. Guarding and protecting our unity

1. Our Calling (Eph. 4:1)
What Paul meant by “our calling” here is not a specific ministry calling to an area of gifting or a specific role but rather the basic calling of the gospel which compelled you and I to believe in Jesus as the risen Lord and king and to give him complete and undivided allegiance for the rest of your life and mine. Paul had done exactly that and where did such a commitment land him? It landed him in prison. Sometime our idea of God’s call does not come close to Paul’s experience here or the experiences of other biblical characters. Think again as you look at Paul’s situation and that of the prophets not to mention Jesus himself. Obedience to God’s calling does not always translates to easy life it might actually make your life more challenging. Our Anabaptist forebears discovered that and Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “When the Lord bids you come, he bids you come and die.”

From my perspective as I read the prison letters and I don’t think I am alone on this, I wonder whether Paul might have realized that he made a wrong career choice when he abandoned his position in the Pharisaic school and followed the self-proclaimed Lord who was a no show in his time of need. After all he was doing the Lord's work and the least the Lord could do for him would have been to show up and break some chains in a dramatic red-sea fashion and show the authorities who really was in charge. Perhaps that would have convinced Paul that he made an excellent career move; God was acting on his behalf now!

But that was not the case at least from what we can see. However, in spite of that not being the case, Paul still wrote this letter to the Ephesians, which I believe, tells us that he had a different understanding of his calling. He saw no contradiction in his calling by being in prison. He actually was even more convinced that faithfulness to his calling would lead to him being in prison therefore he wrote this letter instructing the church on how to live a life worthy of their calling. Because their calling meant that they lived differently regardless of the curve balls life threw on their way. He was fully committed to Jesus and he wanted the church to succeed and be faithful to her lord.

For Paul and I believe for us as well, our ministry calling invites us to a life lived in complete abandonment to our Lord Jesus Christ. A key part of this calling is the Christian hope. Hope in the risen Lord does not disappoint us. We believe that since Jesus conquered death itself, all who give him their faithful allegiance are assured that same victory. No wonder Paul calls Jesus the "first born among many siblings" and Jesus’ resurrection as the “first fruits” implying a plentiful harvest yet to follow. This is the ‘calling’ to which the Ephesians and you and I ought to live up to. At every moment, in every decision, in all word and action, you and I are to remember that the call that we received to follow Jesus trumps everything else in our lives. For some of us here at EMM, the restructuring process has brought deep pain and we are saddened that some of our colleagues are leaving us. This is sad, it is painful and we must accept that. However, let this situation not bring doubt in your mind and heart in regards to God's calling on your life. For those of us that will continue to work here, this calling must lead us back always to celebrate our unity as Christians and guard and protect that unity.

How then shall we relate as we do God's work at EMM? (2-3)

• Humility (lowliness of mind)
As Paul brings out the implications of how we are to live, we see why he begins as he does. Paul draws on his own life situation as a prisoner and invites us to live our lives likewise. What could be more humbling than being in chains? It is natural to strive for upward mobility and being in prison hardly gets you there in fact it does the opposite. We all instinctively try to get the best for ourselves. It is easy for this natural tendency to be nourished in such a way that people become selfish, concentrating on what will be to their own advantage. When we consider our calling, humility not pride is the value we ought to embody. Jesus showed us this by becoming like one of us (Phil. 4:5-11).

• Gentleness
Jesus combined these two terms together in Matthew 11 when he says of himself as gentle and humble in heart. To be gentle is not to be easily ruffled, or easily stirred up by daily irritations with co-workers, parents, or children. Gentleness is the powerful ability to be composed when everyone around you is losing it. Gentleness is not timidity, or lack of courage; it is a consideration that comes from the Spirit’s work in us. See the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.

• Patience (to be long tempered)
We have the word 'short-tempered;" we do not usually speak of the opposite virtue as "long-tempered,' but this is the literal meaning of the word Paul uses here. It points to the state that resists provocation. When a wrong is done to us our natural tendency is to resist strongly, perhaps even to pay back the wrongdoer for the wrong that has been done. The Christian is one who through rigorous practices such as prayer, worship, etc develops a resistance to the temptation to strike back.
Endurance (to hold up; to bear with, forbearance)

Christians are not always easy to get along with contrary to the assumption that we are like Christ, and fellow Christians sometimes irritate us, so the temptation comes to be short with one another. But this, Paul says, is not the Christian way. Just as we’ve been forgiven, we must also bear with others, put up with their shortcomings and at times even their sins against us.

Our struggles with others are best reflected in that familiar saying:
To dwell above with saints we love, / O that will be glory
But to dwell below with saints we know, / Well, that's another story.

• Perseverance
"Make every effort..."This should be your aim; this should your goal. The focus of your life should be here. The words, "to keep", literally mean to guard, to hold fast, or to preserve. The point is that even though we do not create unity, we are to stand on guard to make every effort to ensure that this unity is not disrupted. Frankly, at times, you may have to work diligently to keep the unity at work; it isn't always easy. The verb "to keep" indicates that it is fragile and needs to be guarded, kept carefully. The fact that we are told to bear with one another, to be patient, gentle and humble is an admission that we will not always see eye-to-eye; we will at times be in error; we will annoy and even irritate those around us.

2. Protect the unity we already have by his grace (4-6)
We are members of the same body and sharers in the same spirit. We possess the same hope. Above all, we have the same Lord, the same faith, the same baptism, and the same God, the true God, the sovereign one, who stands over against all other gods and goddesses. Unity is something we long for; we cherish it. But unfortunately, unity is tremendously lacking in our world. What is worse is that it is often lacking where it should exist most clearly, in our churches.
Paul stressed unity in chapter 2, where the emphasis was on the astonishing coming-together of Jew and Gentile in God’s new family in Christ. Paul now looks to instruct these believers to guard and protect that unity. As sovereign and triune God, He has chosen us, redeemed us and sealed us with his unity by placing us together as the body of Christ, with the Lord Jesus as our head; we are united to one another. The old lines of division are done away with. In Paul’s day, it was the Jew-Gentile distinction. We must work diligently to maintain, nurture and develop the unity we already enjoy, and to overcome, demolish and put behind us the disunity we still find ourselves in. Our lives are to reflect that which God has done and God's calling.

Return to us and Save Us Oh Lord! (Ps. 80:7-15; Isa. 5:1-7; Matt. 21:33-46)

2011-10-03T06:39:00.002-04:00

This Sermon was preached at East Chestnut Street Mennonite church on October 2, 2011
by Nelson Okanya

The title of the message today came from reading and reflecting on the three texts listed in the bulletin this morning; Psalm 80:7-15; Isaiah 5:1-7 and Matthew 21:33-46. Immediately I began reading Psalm 80, I was captured by the community's cry to God. They were in a desolate situation with no relief in sight. Their only hope was in God's rescue. Their cry for restoration reminded me of our own status as a world community. Today on this world communion day as we gather around the table in remembrance of our Lord Jesus who gave his life for the salvation of the world we also cry out to God, joining our voices with this worshipping community in Psalm 80 saying, "Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.”

We live in a troubled world. Recent events have reminded us that in spite of all the impressive progress we have made as humans, we are still vulnerable. For example, a slight movement of the earth left us all scared and scarring for shelter. Last year's devastation from the earthquake in Haiti was a stark reminder of our vulnerability. A similar event occurred in many other countries as well. In addition to natural disasters, there are human made suffering from injustice, war, selfishness and greed here at home and around the world. People in our own communities are still recovering from the recent floods that destroyed their homes, took lives and left them without hope. These and many other devastations in the world ought to lead us to join with the community in this psalm and cry for God's salvation. But as I read the psalm and reflected on the life of tthat community especially as I read the next text, it was clear that things weren't always that desperate for God's people.

Isaiah 5:1-2 describes a wonderful relationship between God and his beloved vineyard, the prophet speaking on behalf of God wrote, "My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it, and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, he hewed out a wine in it." This farmer did all the right things for the vineyard. But as we read further, things begins took a turn in the opposite direction.

The farmer came to harvest the grapes but instead of getting what he expected after hard labor, found fruit but was not pleased by the fruit the vineyard had produced. The pleasant description of the vineyard in the first two verses was replaced by negative description; disappointment, rejection and judgment became the new descriptive words.
At the end of the text, the situation got worse. Not only was the owner of the vineyard frustrated, he became harsh in tone, decided to withdraw his protection and abandoned the vineyard. The text tells us that the resulting situation was caused by the vineyard's failure not to produce fruit, but to produce or yield the kind of fruit the owner expected. The text then explains in clear terms that the vineyard is Israel and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting. God was disappointed with the fruit that Israel had brought forth; God expected justice and righteousness but found injustice and un-righteousness.
Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann brings this poem home to us by naming the expected fruit and what God actually found in away that ought to cause us to reflect on our ministry as local churches and as mission agencies.

He writes, "The two terms together (justice and righteousness) concern Yahweh's command to Israel, that Israel should be a community that practiced generative, positive social relationships without abuse or exploitation. That command and expectation of Yahweh, however, are profoundly disappointed by the course of Israel's life. Israel has not produced justice but bloodshed. The term bloodshed...means the "outpouring," thus the outpouring of lifeblood through exploitative social practice; that is the kinds of economic transactions that abuse, injure and slowly bleed the poor to death.... Yahweh expected righteousness, that is equitable to, generative social relations; but instead Israel produced "outcry", that is, the feeble social protests of those who are victimized by rapacious social policy. The prophet is not content to speak generally of injustice and unrighteousness, but takes up terms that are brutally concrete in asserting that Israel has completely reneged on the most elementary social relations between the powerful and the powerless that Yahweh "expects" from this beloved people. It is no wonder that the vineyard is abandoned to destruction." (Walter Bruegemann, Isaiah 1-39: Westminster John Knox Press 1989 pg. 48)

This text ought to remind us of our work as the body of Christ. It is not just enough that we are bearing fruit, but rather whether the fruit we are bearing pleases the Lord. In the ministry of Jesus the parable of the tenants and the Son reflects this same theme. The focus here now is not on the vineyard but rather on the owner's son who is murdered by the tenants after the killing of the previously sent slaves. When Israel failed to produce the kinds of fruit God expected, God kept his word and still sent forth the prophets to remind them to return to the covenant faithfulness and therefore produce the kinds of fruit the Lord expected but they grabbed them and killed them one after another.

It was now Jesus' turn to claim his father’s rightful property; and the rebellious tenants were ready once again to kill him. This was Jesus' point in the parable and the religious authorities got what he was saying and attempted to arrest him there and then but refrained for fear of the people that had regarded him as a prophet. In Isaiah, God planted Israel like a vineyard, watched over her with hopes that good grapes would come forth but in the end the grapes that came forth were wild; Israel had gone bad like wild grapes despite the care given by God. All that was abandonment and judgment; the vineyard was broken down, and wild animals came and took over, heathen people exiled the community. But, these people remembered their God amidst distress and cried out for salvation. In the same way, as God's people in mission, we ought to cry for God's salvation that we may be transformed and be ready to bear acceptable fruit to our Lord. We must remember that although the Lord may be frustrated by us, God will not abandon us all together and hence the need for messengers to go forth to our communities and around the world with the Good news of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the stone that was rejected but has become the corners stone. God’s anointed one was sent forth to rescue the world and hence bear the fruit that are acceptable to God. He is the one who commissioned us to go forth and produce the fruit of the kingdom, which includes, justice and righteousness, what kinds of fruit are we producing? Are we ready to turn over the ministry to the Son or are we holding on to our kind of fruit and therefore reject him? Let us draw near this morning in our remembrance of him who died for us and left us this table to remember his whole story until he returns. As we do that, ask yourself what way God is sending you as messenger of the kingdom in your community and around the world.
Amen!

Discipling in the Anabaptist Stream

2011-09-23T23:32:00.004-04:00

Allentown PA,
September 23, 2011

Discipling Focus Questions:
• In what ways do we disciple new believers in an Anabaptist stream?
• What challenges, assets, issues of being a peace church arise as we do church planting?
• What is the relationship of membership with Discipling?
• In what ways is Anabaptism infused with the way we shape new disciples?
• In what ways do we create both invitational and practical paths of discipleship?
• What are the ways we can see discipleship in our current contexts? In what ways is it shaped by our realities of being
Mennonite, migrant, millennial?

I am an Anabaptist. This introduction is rather interesting because Anabaptism dates back to 16th century Church Reformation in Europe. But I am an African who was born on the African soil and raised up there. I speak Luo, Swahili and English but not German or Dutch. So, how is it possible for me to be an Anabaptist? Such a question of course assumes a definition of Anabaptism, which needs revisiting. Anabaptism is not a period of time, a geographical location or even an ethnicity. As John H. Yoder once said, 'Anabaptist' is not a century but a hermeneutic (a way of reading scripture). It represented certain types of discussion by the 16th century movement, but it can be valid a part from a particular period." Yoder continues, “To be Anabaptist meant, in the 16th century, to claim. …the Scripture as an authoritative guide for church renewal, to be applied not only to certain evident abuses but even to the basic structure and identity of Christendom which had been inherited from the centuries before. (From the Aspen essay entitled, "Anabaptist Vision and Mennonite Reality").

This understanding of Anabaptism makes it possible for me an African to be an Anabaptist. I am a second generation Mennonite who was born in Mennonite family in Kenya. I did my seminary studies at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg VA and together with my wife Jessica we taught at a Mennonite Theological college in Tanzania and have been a pastor at a multi-nations/multi-culture/multi-denomination Mennonite church outside of Washington D.C. known as Capital Christian Fellowship for almost six years. I have continued to pay attention to people from various backgrounds as they get to learn about Anabaptism. My topic today is to talk about discipling in an Anabaptist stream. Let me begin by talking about discipleship briefly.

Making disciples is a direct mandate from our Lord Jesus Christ who upon his resurrection commissioned his disciples to the whole world to make disciples of all peoples baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:18-20). A disciple is a student and discipling is the craft of making disciples. In Christian terms, to become a disciple is to become part of the Christian community and as such be involved with the community’s formative practices.

Recently missiologist and church planter Stewart Maury of the Anabaptist network in the U.K wrote a book with a rather controversial title, The naked Anabaptist. We all know that there is no such a thing as “the naked Anabaptist” as Stewart himself admits in the book conceding that context matters for any movement. He writes, “Anabaptist values were embodied differently in the Mennonite, Amish, and Hutterite cultures of subsequent generations in Europe and later in North America. These values are worked out in fresh ways in parts of the world where Mennonite missionaries have shared their faith and planted churches. Anabaptism looks different again in post-Christendom societies in which Christians today are re-appropriating its values and practices (Maury 43).

The implication here is that Anabaptism in today's North American context might not look like the 16th century. That said, we must ask ourselves first what constituted Anabaptism? And how best might we live and embody those same convictions in the 21st century in a way that makes sense and compels others to want to join the community.

The term “Anabaptist stream” comes to us as a correction from Bender’s discovery of the Swiss origins of the movement. It has been largely argued now that Anabaptism had many different streams, which I believe, makes it even more difficult to speak of Anabaptist values succinctly. This seminar seeks to name or identify ways to make disciples within the Anabaptist stream. Before we proceed, we must first make it clear that we are making disciples for Jesus according to his command (Matt. 28:18-20). This is important because we live in a society that uses the word “values” in a manner that seem to loose the very meaning of Christian discipleship and hence evangelism and church planting.

Bishop Lesslie Newbigin writes, “If the Church is a ‘good cause’ standing for certain ‘values,’ then the important thing is to increase the number of people who support these ‘values.’ Evangelism, against a background of declining numbers, begins to look like a rather desperate effort to support this ‘good cause.’ It becomes tinged with anxiety. It loses its character as the announcement of good news, as the proclamation of truth, saving truth, truth that is true and decisive even if those who acknowledge it are a small minority.”
(Lesslie Newbigin, “Mission in a Pluralist Society,” in A Word in Season (Eerdmans, 1994), 162.z

The Challenge

We live in a time of transition from modernity to post-modernity, 20th century to 21st century etc. This means that the former ways of doing things much less doing church is changing and if we are to proclaim God’s good news to all people we must find relevant ways to do so while maintaining the fundamentals of discipleship namely calling people to the transforming message of Jesus. The church in North America is situated in a consumer society where things are presented to entice participation. This translates into doing projects or setting up programs that people want rather than what God’s vision of redemption and transformation is. Not that being relevant is wrong, but rather at what expense is the church being relevant. For example most churches cater to the desires of the already converted to keep them comfortable. If you want to test this just look at the church budgets and see how much is allocated to outreach as compared to what is allocated to various programs for members.

This situation makes discipling almost an impossible task because discipleship entails transformation, which means that disciples adhere to certain disciplines and lifestyle and are accountable to the church. Stanley Hauerwas comments on this situation thus, “The called church has become the voluntary church, whose primary characteristic is that the congregation is friendly.” And here in lies the challenge to both be a disciplined community as well as a community that cares and dispenses the grace of God. Having said that, it is of paramount importance that as Anabaptists we remember that Anabaptism emerged at a time of transition when religious status quo no longer sufficed. The post -Constantinian Church seemed to toe the societal line and these disciples of Jesus decided that what was going on was hardly reconcilable with the teachings of Jesus.

Today we talk of our many differences and conflicts as Mennonites, let us not forget that the early Anabaptists were not a perfect community with one voice as we were earlier led to believe, we now know of other sources and hence the term “Anabaptist stream” but they still made a difference in their society by taking their call to discipleship seriously. They disagreed on community practices and embraced realities of their day such as technology to disseminate their convictions and connect with each other. They were open to doing church differently. Their focus on personal and social transformation is exemplary. Like us, they were convinced that the church was not changing society (Maury).

In what ways do we disciple new believers in an Anabaptist stream?
We do so by embodying the teachings of Jesus in the way we live our lives. The story that impacted our community deeply was the response of the Amish community in the wake of Nickel Mines shootings that took young Amish lives. That community's response I would say spoke loudly to Anabaptist values and convictions than any book I had read on the same.

Challenges of being a peace church:
-The threat of terrorism
-The political hot potato of the second amendment, which has become a rallying cry for American civil religion
-Many have confused the Sermon on the Mount with being a doormat to be walked over which goes against the age-old concept of human preservation not to mention the American concept of self-defense
-The tendency to be dismissed as hypocrites who enjoy the protections provided by the military while rejecting the means of such protections
-Misunderstanding of the just war tradition
-Extreme Individualism

Some Assets
-Taking Jesus seriously means being consistent with his way of kingdom living, which rejects violence as a means to peace and instead embracing love as the ultimate solution to the problem of evil and violence
-The realization that we are mortal and vulnerable like other people following the shock of 911, which removed the blanket of security from our eyes.
-The human longing for peace
-The high price of conflict and war

Discipling and church Membership

Jesus commissioned the church not simply to make members but to make disciples. Discipleship must not be confused with church membership. Church membership is meant to draw the line of who is in and who is out so to speak. Disciples are students of Jesus who continue to learn and be transformed by the Holy Spirit.

In Ways Anabaptism is infused with the way we shape new disciples

-Reclaiming Jesus as the center of our lives
-Living in non-conformity to the world even if such a move means
persecution and hardship.
-By embracing the biblical model of servant hood in Leadership
-Taking the bible seriously as God’s word and the authority in matters of
faith and life
-Placing emphasis on conversion and new birth and embracing
faithfulness to Jesus Christ and his church.
-The church as a disciplined community
-Worship and practices such as foot washing

Creating both invitational and practical paths of discipleship

-By being hospitable communities that accepts people as they are before
demanding that they shape us first or even believe right first.
-Embodying practices such as foot washing, breaking bread and worship
-Being willing to be stretched beyond your comfort zone
-Being vulnerable to share our stories without the fear of being judged
-Eat with people!

What are the ways we can see discipleship in our current contexts? In what ways is it shaped by our realities of being Mennonite, migrant, millenial?

• Learning the craft of both caring for people while also being a disciplined community of disciples by engaging in practices, which helps us develop virtues that enable us to live out our faith in the midst of a strange world.
• We must be willing to do ministry from the margins of society instead of from the center as the Anabaptists did. Our minority position ought to lead us to creativity rather than restrict our ministry in the same way the Jewish exiles developed the synagogues as their places of worship when the temple was no longer an option.
• The practice of reading scripture together (hermeneutical community) whose form we have recently engaged in the practice of “dwelling in the word” brought to us by church innovations enables all of us to be encountered by the Scriptures in transformational ways with the gathered community.
-Christians are resident aliens
• Our sense of superiority as Christians needs to be deconstructed because we are all sinners constantly needing God’s grace and the journey of discipleship never ends until the Lord comes to finally make all things right.

My Prayer for you: Philippians 1:3-6,9-11

2011-09-04T14:37:00.003-04:00

(A final Message as CCF’S Lead Pastor September 4th, 2011 by Nelson Okanya)

It is hard to believe that this day has come for me to preach my final message to you as your lead pastor. Jessica and I came to CCF in March of 2006 when you called me to serve as your associate pastor. We have done life together; we have prayed together, sung together, cried and mourned together as we went through life experiences marked with deep grief and pain. I buried some of your loved ones and grieved their loss with you.

We have also celebrated the beginnings of life together. I visited some of you in hospital when your babies were born and held those precious babies and saw your smiley faces as you gazed on their new eyes. I have dedicated some of your children and baptized some of you into the faith. I married some of you, walked with some of you through difficult marital situation and parenting journey.

As a community you have further affirmed my calling and have allowed me to grow in my calling; I was licensed as a pastor here and then later ordained and installed as your lead pastor following your overwhelming affirmation of my calling and gifts. Together we have seen other people called into the pastoral ministry most recently Jaye Lindo as our youth pastor and Caleb Kaye as our pastor of worship and small groups. I have watched with amazement as people serve whole-heartedly here both on staff and as volunteers. Truly, we are a community that actively seeks to love God, love people and live as disciples.
During our time here, the lord blessed us with two handsome sons, Barak and Izak. We experienced your caring and support as a community during these life transitions. You brought meals and gifts to our newborn babies. You held them and cuddled them in your arms and babysat them.

Some of you Robert and Marie even braved the night to help us get to the birthing center in the dead of the night just forty minutes before Izak was born. Who can take such experiences lightly? We do not!
You supported my family and me when my sister Lillian passed away in childbirth two years ago. That is one of the most terrible experiences I have gone through in my life. You gathered around us and prayed for us and also gave of your resources to fly me to Kenya and helped with the funeral expenses and you watched over my wife and son while I was in Kenya for almost two weeks. When I had a huge dental bill some of you found out and anonymously helped us with that bill and we still don’t even know who you are. This list goes on….

It was upon reflecting on our life together that I thought of a letter written from a man who had come to appreciate a faith community. Paul’s’ letter to the Philippians is addressed to a people he regarded with great affection and longed deeply to see again. I see you in the same way as Paul saw the Philippian community. A similar affection with which Paul wrote this letter as he responded to the community’s care for him while he was imprisoned for the sake of the gospel has captured my heart. They prayed for him and also met his needs in practical ways as well.

Because of their generous response to Paul’s needs while he was in prison, he praised their repeated generosity. But while praising their action towards him, he also made sure to assign credit where credit was due. What had happened had nothing to do with Paul or the Philippians but rather with God who made all things possible. Therefore, Paul expressed confidence in God whom he described as the ‘starter’ and the ‘finisher’, the ‘beginner’ and the ‘ender’ of all things. Paul was convinced that the repeated generosity of the Philippian community had the marks of God written all over it.

He therefore expressed confidence in God whom he believed was responsible through grace and mercy for what the action of generosity among the Philippians. When God’s act of mercy and grace transforms people, their whole look on life changes and they do things that display their changed lives. This is the essential mark of discipleship. For Paul, the generosity that he had received from the Philippians was a clear evidence of their changed lives in God. The fact that they were generously giving to meet the needs of a stranger (Paul was Jewish while Philippians were Europeans) from an entirely different culture and country was a clear indication that God’s transforming grace had taken root among them and Paul was even more convinced of this and hence his prayer that, “The God who began a good work in you will complete it by the day of king Jesus (v. 6).

You have done the same for us CCF and I say with Paul, the God who began a good work in you will complete the work, you only need to be faithful and remain committed. As Paul reflected on his relationship with the Philippians, he saw them as “partners” in the gospel (v.5), partners in grace (v.7); together with Paul they were in the gospel's call, the call of grace, and their prayers and gifts proved their partnership. The experience convinced Paul that God was indeed at work among the Philippians and he kept them in his prayers always as he believed that God was at work among them changing lives. I look at you in the same way CCF, when I look back on the last almost six years of doing life together. It was precisely such a confidence that led him to pray this very passionate prayer,

“This is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians. 1:9-11)

Paul prayed that the Philippians love would flow in knowledge and wisdom. True love for God leads to true love for others and that love is characterized with knowledge and wisdom. According to Paul, the wise love leads and guides people in moral discernment. Such discernment is crucial as we contemplate the coming day. Such discernment helps us to look to such a day with confidence and with joy. This joy this joy overflows with the fruit of right living.
I leave you with this prayer because like Paul, I believe that the one who began a good work is capable of completing it. So keep up the faith!
Amen!

Summary:
1. I will continue to thank God in all my remembrance of you
2. You will always be in my prayers
3. I am thankful for your partnership in ministry and look forward to the many ways this partnership will continue as God continues to work in and through us
4. I am convinced that the God who began the work of grace will complete the work
5. May your love flow in knowledge and wisdom in order to be able to discern what is right living; a life that is pure and blameless able to distinguish what is good from what is evil in a complex world.

APPROPRIATING ANABAPTISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY USA

2011-08-10T09:57:00.010-04:00

Recently missiologist and church planter Stewart Maury of the Anabaptist network in the U.K wrote a book with a rather controversial title, “The naked Anabaptist.” We all know that there is no such a thing as “the naked Anabaptist” as Stewart himself admits in the book conceding that context matters for any movement. He writes, “Anabaptist values were embodied differently in the Mennonite, Amish, and Hutterite cultures of subsequent generations in Europe and later in North America. These values are worked out in fresh ways in parts of the world where Mennonite missionaries have shared their faith and planted churches. Anabaptism looks different again in post-Christendom societies in which Christians today are reappropriating its values and practices. (Maurey 43). The implication here is that anabaptism in today's North American context might not look like the 16th century. That said, we must ask ourselves first what constitutes Anabaptism? and how best might it be lived out in the 21st century in a way that makes sense and compels others to want to join the community?

I believe that answers to these questions could be found in a careful reexamining of the convictions that inspired the movement in the 16th century in the first place as well as the shape the movement took in subsequent contexts in the past in order to reapproriate the same in our 21st century USA context. But, before I proceed, in full disclosure, Although I have lived in the United States since 1998, I was not born in the USA. I was born and raised in Kenya East Africa. I am a second generation mennonite whose parents became Mennonites as a result of the hospitality of a Mennonite couple serving with Eastern Mennonite Missions in the 1970s in Kenya. I grew up in the Kenya Mennonite church but I was also shaped to a lesser extent by my one grandmother's Catholic beliefs and the other grandmother's Pentecostal/Charismatic beliefs. I was also shaped in high school by the effects of the East African Revival that are still significant in the region.

Having served on a number of cross-cultural mission teams and discipleship training programs with EMM in Baltimore MD and Harrisburg PA as well as various outreach locations in Kenya, I did my seminary studies at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg VA and together with my wife Jessica we taught at a Mennonite college on Tanzania and have been a pastor at a multi-nations/multi-culture/multi-denomination Mennonite church outside of Washington D.C. known as Capital Christian Fellowship for almost six years. In my pastoral work I have continued to pay attention to people from various backgrounds in our congregation as they get to learn about Anabaptist convictions and values. Most recently, the story that impacted our community deeply was the response of the Amish community in the wake of the West Nickel Mines shootings that took young Amish lives in 2006. That community's response I would say spoke loudly to Anabaptist values and convictions than any book I had read. Mennonite historian John D. Roth in his book "Practices"(Mennonite worship and witness) writes on the Amish story, "In that gesture of forgiveness, the world came face- to- face with the good news of the gospel. This was a powerful form of witness, clearly rooted in Christian faith, but a witness demonstrated rather than argued. To a culture deeply suspicious of the claims of Christianity, the simple clarity and specificity of the Amish response testified to the redemptive power of love, even in the face of violent death." (pg. 81).

That incident and the Amish community's response reminded me and our community in Washington D.C suburbs of the truth starkly stated by Stanley Hauerwas that, "Christian ethics would be unintelligible if it did not presuppose the existence and recognizability of communities and corresponding institutions capable of carrying the story of God. The most general name we give that community is Church." Like Hauerwas, I believe that the church is the community charged with the responsibility of fully embodying the story of God in the world. This is the story of anabaptism. A group of disciples of Jesus in Europe in 16th century concluded that the church as they knew it then was failing to fully carry the story of God in the world. Through their study of scripture and prayer, they decided on a new beginning marked by baptism and their detractor named them derogatorily as "anabaptists" meaning re-baptizers. What might set today's anabaptists a part that might earn them an unpopular name as their forebears in the 16th century? It is my belief that today's anabaptists ought to once again look at the church as servant community that fully embodies the story of God in the world through those same convictions and values. How does this look like in our time? I will continue to reflect on this in subsequent posts.

EMM APPOINTS A NEW PRESIDENT

2011-07-25T11:52:00.001-04:00

SALUNGA, Pa. – The EMM Board of Directors has appointed Nelson Okanya as the next President of Eastern Mennonite Missions, beginning October 1, 2011. Okanya succeeds Richard Showalter, who is retiring after 17 years of service as EMM president.

Okanya brings a unique blend of experiences – including theological education, pastoral leadership, and cross-cultural missions – that makes him especially suited for serving EMM and its partners in this leadership role.

“The Board of Eastern Mennonite Missions is delighted and grateful to God for bringing Nelson Okanya to serve as our next president,” said Joe Sherer, chair of the EMM Board of Directors. “Nelson’s strong love for Jesus, his humility, passion for missions, and his cross-cultural experiences, particularly as one who came to faith indirectly through the ministry of EMM, uniquely qualify him for this significant role.”

Okanya said, “I am looking forward to participating in the re-envisioning mission for the next generation. The 21st century mission context brings unique opportunities and challenges; we are ‘going where the church is not . . . yet’ and equipping local churches for serious discipleship. The Anabaptist witness and mission, which comes from a marginalized position rather than from the center, continues to be a model for world mission.”

Keith Weaver, moderator of Lancaster Mennonite Conference, said, “Nelson's exceptional leadership gifts, combined with his passion for God’s mission through the church and his understanding of the church stateside and globally, make him an excellent fit for the role of leading EMM into the future.” He said, “I look forward to working closely with Nelson to continue building a strong LMC/EMM partnership for missional faithfulness and effectiveness at all levels of the church.”
Born and raised in Kenya, Okanya’s childhood included moving back and forth between the rural village of Migori and the city of Nairobi. From a young age, Okanya interacted with the Kenya Mennonite Church and the EMM mission community in Nairobi. He is fluent in English, Kiswahili, and Luo.

Okanya attended Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya, where he graduated with a diploma in Christian Ministries and won the University Evangelism Award in 1997. He holds a master’s of Divinity degree from Eastern Mennonite Seminary (Harrisonburg, Va.) and is taking doctoral classes at Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.). In 2005 he was a member of the adjunct faculty at Eastern Mennonite University in the Bible and Religion Department. He has been awarded the Jennie Calhoun Baker Memorial award for excellence in sermons.

From 1996 to 1999, Okanya served with EMM in short-term assignments: as a Kenya YES team participant (1996), a STAT team co-leader (1997), a Kenya YES team leader (1997-98), and as the Baltimore YES Training Center assistant director and director (1998-99). Okanya also led a cross-cultural team with Virginia Mennonite Board of Missions in 2000. In 2004, Okanya and his wife Jessica served on a one-year GO! assignment with Eastern Mennonite Missions at the Mennonite Theological College of Eastern Africa, where he served as academic dean and Jessica served as the college accountant.

From 2006 to 2010, Okanya served as associate pastor at Capital Christian Fellowship in Maryland, and earlier this year he became the lead pastor. He will conclude his service there in September 2011. Okanya, his wife Jessica, and sons Barak (age 4) and Izak (age 2) live in Bowie, Maryland. They plan to move to Lancaster in the fall 2011.

Transformed to Transform the World (Acts 2:43-47)

2011-06-26T21:15:00.010-04:00

Acts chapter 2 is the story about the coming of the Holy Spirit commonly known as Pentecost. It is an event that was marked by strange events such as; tongues of fire, speakers speaking in different tongues yet understanding what was being said by other speakers in their own tongues. The event was strange and confusing prompting accusation of drunkenness on the part of the speakers by onlookers. These accusations prompted along speech from Peter as he tried to explain the strange occurrences. The author of Acts says that, with many other words Peter warned his audience and pleaded with them saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” The author then concludes, “Those who believed what Peter said, were baptized and added to the church-about three thousand in all” (Acts 2:40 TNIV).

What an experience! What a sermon! As the Holy Spirit descended on this community in a fresh way, it grew from 120 people previously recoded to a record 3,120 what a church growth strategy! My response to all this is a simple wow! As the Holy Spirit took charge of the community, the community was transformed and empowered to become an authentic Christian community that ministered to others. It became a community that continually experienced the Lord’s hand at work, God's Spirit continued to shape and act in powerful ways. It is no wonder that the author reports, “And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47). This christian community experienced this phenomenal growth as a result of the overwhelming visitation by the Holy Sprit but also by the community taking seriously their new identity and mission.

As I read this text again I asked, "if we worship the same God, proclaim the same Lord and the same Holy Spirit because God is the same yesterday, today and forever more (Heb. 13:8), how come we do not have the same experiences"? But even more importantly I asked myself, "is such an experience possible"? I believe the answer is a resounding “Yes”! and if this is true, then let us imagine what Capital Christian Fellowship could look like if we were living in this Spirit filled environment? What kind of impact would we have in our community and around the world as we become an authentic community of disciples? I do not need to imagine this because here at CCF I see glimpses of such a community as we strive to become an authentic community of believers. We have not arrived yet and we are not perfect and we never will be perfect before the Lord returns but I have seen glimpses of the Acts 2 Community of disciples here as we see people being transformed and those of us who are being transformed are in turn reaching out through the power of the Holy Spirit to transform and hold hope for each other in the midst of life’s sometimes-cruel realities.

I believe that the church in Acts 2 was not a perfect church by any stretch of imagination and if you doubt, just read a little further and you will find complains of favoritism, prejudice and the resultant church leadership structure that came about in Acts 6. But in spite of their imperfection, we see what happens when the Holy Spirit makes a special visitation. The community grew from 120 members to about 3,120 in one event. I wonder what the baptismal experience might have been! We talk of plans, who might have planned for that? And even more crucial, how did they actually conduct it? I would have liked to be there to see for myself as 3000 people got baptized! When God shows up, our plans go out of the window! Now, this does not mean we don’t plan, planning is good and I believe you all are glad that we plan our services but we must always be open for the interruption by the Spirit of God because lest we forget, we are really not in charge if we claim Jesus to be Lord.

We believe that the Lord is firmly in charge and we must continue to trust him and give our lives to him. As the bible says, when Jesus is lifted up, he draws people to himself (John 13:12). Our church is not a perfect church and if anybody told you that we are, I hate to break this news to you! we are not! But having said that let me also say that we are a community of imperfect believers who continue to strive through the guidance and the power of the Holy Spirit to live out our Christian calling. Our individual life stories provide glimpses of hope of a community that seeks to be formed and transformed in order to be a transforming community. Looking at Peter’s address in Acts 2, we see him calling this community not simply a to private individual salvation experience, but also to a new allegiance and to a new transformed community. When you accept Jesus Christ as Lord, you also accept the new community of Jesus’ followers that community is the church and for us here today that church is CCF.

In Acts 2:47; we are told that the church had the good will of all the people. The church was respected and esteemed. The Pentecost event had a profound effect on the community. This formerly timid community that clamed allegiance to an alleged rebel who had been crucified now found new life as they became a spirit-filled body of believers.

Luke describes their life together thus,,
"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Observations from the Acts 2 Church:
. They became Students of scripture taught by the apostles:
They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. There are people who have argued that all we need is the Holy Spirit, nothing else. The experience of this church rejects that position. These people had experienced an overwhelming visitation by the Holy Spirit but they still devoted themselves to the teaching of the word. I would like to remind and encourage us to commit ourselves not only to the reading of the Bible but also to the teaching done in our bible study classes on Wednesdays and other settings, which rightly divide the word for us.
As followers of Jesus we must devote ourselves to the entire life of Jesus; his teachings, death, resurrection and living in the hope that he will come again to complete the work of redemption that he already began when he walked the face of this earth over 2000 years ago. We should note, however that even the apostles still had a lot of learning to do. It is apparent from Acts 10 and 11 that Peter did not quite understand that God had set aside the old Jewish food laws (as per Mark 7:19). They had not yet grasped that the church would be composed of Jewish and Gentile believers, now “one new man” (Ephesians 2-3). The issue of circumcision and law keeping for Gentiles was to be tackled in chapter 15 (the Jerusalem Council). Many points of theology were yet to be defined and refined in the centuries to come. But, the Spirit of God leads God’s people to submit to the word of God.

. They became a worshiping church Breaking Bread together:
Their caring was not only expressed in fellowship but also in worship together. They ate meals both in their homes and in the temple courts. Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts (Acts 20:46). The sharing of a meal was perhaps the most intimate form of fellowship one could have with fellow believers.

I remember personally how I was ministered to when we had our first-born son Barak. We had no idea what we were doing and no parents around us to ask questions or to lean on for support, it was this community that reached out to us and shared with us in meals, in stories of encouragement and affirmed us as we adjusted to living in a new reality either of us had ever realized. It was this community that embodied for me love and hope when my sister passed away suddenly from childbirth. You gathered around me literally and laid hands on me and prayed for peace, bought me a ticket to fly home to Kenya and collected funds to help take care of the funeral expenses and also provided community and support for Jessica and Barak while I was gone form two weeks. It is this community that I have seen gather around people who have likewise lost loved ones.

. They became an Evangelizing Community:
The activity was not all concentrated inwardly. They were not only studying for themselves, worshiping alone and fellowshipping with each other, they apparently were reaching out to their neighbors as well. The Holy Spirit is a missionary Spirit and created a missionary church. The Lord added to their number through the preaching of the apostles, through the love that was shared in the community and the joy and the praise of God, which was perhaps contagious.

. They became a loving church (Fellowship, koinonia):
“Fellowship” means, “joint participation,” communion or “sharing in common.” It is a kind of partnership. The most common expression of “fellowship” in the New Testament is that of sharing financial resources:
Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality
Contributing to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality (Romans 12:13).
Paul uses this word to describe the generosity of the Macedonian church;

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.” (2 cor. 8:1-4). Note, the apostle's words here, "they gave beyond their ability." What an inspiration!

In Acts 4 we read,
For there was no one needy among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds from the sales and placing them at the apostles’ feet. The proceeds were distributed to each, as anyone had need. So Joseph, a Levite who was a native of Cyprus, called by the apostles Barnabas (which is translated “son of encouragement”), sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and placed it at the apostles’ feet (Acts 4:34-37).
Even though we each need to discern what we ought to give, we are all called to live generously especially towards the poor and needy. John challenges us thus, “if we have material possessions and see a brother or sister in need, but do not share what we have with him or her, how can we claim that God’s love dwells in us?” (1 John 3:17).

As a Christian fellowship, we are a caring, and a sharing community of disciples. We have an opportunity this morning to meet the needs of our missionaries in South Africa…(We beamed our missionaries live on the screen via Skype and after hearing them tell us their needs live, the congregation gathered around the T.V Screen which was quite a scene and a reminder of the age in which we live and its incredible opportunities and we participated in a collection that went towards their need. Our community today lived out our name in a practical way.)

Ambassadors of Forgiveness and Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:14-20)

2011-06-12T12:41:00.003-04:00

While on vacation I read two books entitled, “Forgiving As We’ve Been Forgiven” and “Living Gently in a Violent World” by Gregory Jones and Celestine Musekura and Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier respectively. These books were written by a pair of authors one an academic and the other a practitioner. I will share some insights from “Forgiving As We’ve Been Forgiven” by Gregory Jones and Celestin Musekura towards the end of my message. Musekura is Rwandese whose family members and members of a congregation he had pastored were killed in the Rwandan Genocide. He tells stories of horror as well as the hope and the healing that happens when people and communities embrace the call of forgiveness.

At a philosophical level, Christians know that the Scriptures command us to forgive. But when the term forgiveness is mentioned, like all human beings memories of unkind, horrible things that were done either to us or to our loved ones flood our minds. We remember the abuse, the insult, the false accusations or testimonies that ruined our chances of a better career, the betrayal in a relationship that ended a marriage, the loss we incurred at the hand of someone etc. Gregory Jones put it even better, “We are ambassadors for Christ. This is our gift and our task. But it is also an incredible challenge in a world of Genocide, chair-tossing and hidden bitterness. How do we live into God’s vision of “all things reconciled”? How do we embody forgiveness in our lives and in the world”? (pg. 38).

To begin, let us hear two voices from the New Testament. Jesus taught his disciples to pray thus, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors…. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:12,14-15).

Dr. Tom Wright puts it this way, “Forgiveness is more like the air in your lungs. There’s only room for you to inhale the next lungful when you’ve just breathed out the previous one. If you insist on withholding it, refusing to give someone else the kiss of life they may desperately need, you won’t be able to take any more in yourself, and you will suffocate very quickly. Whatever the spiritual, moral and emotional equivalent of the lungs may be, it’s either open or closed. If it’s open, able and willing to forgive others, it will also be open to receive God’s love and forgiveness. But if it’s locked up to the one, it will be locked up to the other” (Wright p. 39-40).

And now let us listen to Apostle Paul. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:17-20).

Before we understand fully Paul’s admonition to the Corinthian community and by extension us to live as ambassadors of reconciliation, let us look at verse 14 and 15. According to Paul, Christian believers are united with Christ; his love controls us, and it leaves us no choice and nothing can separate us from that love (Rom. 8:35). We therefore no longer live for our selves, relating with others on the basis of how they have wounded us, but rather we must allow Christ’s love to flow in those wounds. Isaiah tells us, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,  yet we considered him punished by God,  stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;  the punishment that brought us peace was on him,  and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:4-5).

This love engulfs us; it compels us to act, to give life and to choose life rather than despair, which leads to violence and destruction. This way of life is so foreign to the world of vindication and vendettas that we live in. When we walk in forgiveness we appear strange. Paul realized that and hence his admonition for the Corinthian believers to recognize that a brand new reality has come forth and with it a new way of life. With newness come a lot of new things. We have to learn to speak differently, see differently, and operate from a new set of values and ideals. We must now see through the transformed eyes of the good news of the gospel. The old corruptible ways of living must be abandoned and a new way of living empowered by Christ’s love embraced.

However, the steps towards forgiveness are not always easy to take because of the obstacles on the path that we have mentioned already. We live in a world of vindication. Gregory Jones says that in the spirit of our age, “we have both cheapened forgiveness to a therapeutic absolution of guilt and made forgiveness too little and too much.” This stands in contrast to the biblical call for transformed lives and restored relationships. The steps towards forgiveness require an ongoing willingness to embrace the new claim that has been made on us, to speak with a new truthfulness and to live in a new way with one another. It is the opposite of cheap grace and costly despair. Therefore this new life in Christ and the way of seeing other people leads us to being ambassadors for Christ who embodies the new creation in the world.
Paul admonishes us that in light of our new life in Christ, we can no longer regard people or even Christ as we used to before, we are a new reconciled people who loves Christ and empowered by him, serves as his ambassadors of forgiveness and reconciliation. Let us look at the Six steps that Gregory Jones proposes to help us on the journey of forgiveness:

Six Steps Towards Forgiveness:
1. Truth Telling: Being willing to speak truthfully and patiently about the conflicts that have arisen. Take time to talk about the events that occurred. It takes courage to actually go to the other. When this happens, the one taking the step should do so prayerfully and with humility. The person taking this initiative should be prepared for a counter-accusation from the other person and be open to the fact that there might be more to the situation than previously thought that might need acknowledgement from him/her as well. We should however note that it is not always the case that both parties have equal responsibility in the conflict, but going to the situation with open mind might be helpful.

2. Acknowledge Anger: Acknowledge both the existence of anger and bitterness, and a desire to overcome them. I came from a culture where anger was allowed for some and not for others. It was acceptable for men to be openly angry and express their anger at times in unhealthy ways while women and children were not allowed to do the same. I continue to struggle over the effects of these cultural conditioning personally. Cultivate practices that transform hatred into love such as praying for the offender.

3. Concern for the Other: Consider the other a child of God and be concerned for his/her well being

4. Recognize, Remember, Repent: Recognize our own complicity in conflict, remember that we have been forgiven in the past and take the step of repentance. Repentance breaks the cycle of violence and creates space for God to do something new.

5. Commitment to Change: Make a commitment to struggle to change whatever caused and continues to perpetuate the conflict. Forgiveness looks forward to the restoration of community.

6. Hope for the Future: Confess your yarning for the possibility of reconciliation.

RECONCILIATION AMONG CHURCH MEMBERS (Matt. 18:15-20)

2011-06-11T17:00:00.003-04:00

In (Matthew 18; 15-20), Jesus gave very clear and specific instructions on how to proceed should conflict arise among members of the Christian community. These instructions are directed toward reconciliation. Even though church people often refer to Matthew 18 during conflicts, few of us actually practice Matthew 18 when in conflict with another member. This phenomena has bothered me a while and I sought to reflect on this passage with the help of other writers in an attempt to discover possible reasons for this non-practice of a very familiar and straightforward text.

The process in details: Four basic steps are to be followed:
1. The offended person takes the initiative to make the offending party aware of what happened and how they felt. This part involves only the two of them. I believe that this is the least followed instruction when members experience a conflict. It takes courage to actually go to the other. When this happens, the one taking the step should do so prayerfully and with humility.
The person taking this initiative should be prepared for a counter-accusation from the other person and be open to the fact that there might be more to the issue than previously thought that might need acknowledgement from him/her. We should however note that it is not always the case that both parties have equal responsibility in the conflict, but going to the situation with open mind might be helpful.

John Paul Lederach in his book “The Journey Toward Reconciliation” brings a sociological and psychological insight on this process. He argues that that approaching the other person requires a double movement. First, I must begin an internal process of awareness, dealing with my own feelings, anxieties, and perceptions. Second, I must also turn myself toward engagement with the other person. This is part of the dynamic, eternal, and intriguing nature of conflict: It always poses a journey, an encounter with self and with others. …..In conflict, we bump up against ourselves and we bump up against others. This is precisely what makes going directly such a complex process.” It makes sense then that in most cases when we are offended, we solicit other people to let them know what happened instead of going directly to the offending party because to do so is to force us to have an encounter with ourselves which might not be a pleasant experience.

2. If this step fails, the offended party is to take one or two other people along. The purpose here is to ensure that there are witnesses to what is said (Num. 35:30; Dt. 17:6; 19:15; Jn. 8:17). Lederach comments on this step thus, “The idea of witness carries an image of someone who is present with the people and experiencing the difficulty. In handling conflict and seeking reconciliation, presence involves a twofold stance. First, the previous discussion asserts that primary responsibility lies with those experiencing the conflict. In other words, witnesses help create the forum where reflection, listening, and understanding can emerge. This is different from assessing fault or judging. It points toward capacities for creating a setting where people can be transparent, engage each other, and seek God. By its very nature, such a place can be seen as a holy ground. ……Second, presence gives birth to accountability that can only be understood in community.”

3. If all this fails to achieve reconciliation, the matter is to be brought to the church. This third step indicates that the church ought to have a process to handle conflicts. Lederach writes thus on this step, “First, conflict and church are connected. How we recognize ourselves, as churches will affect how we deal with conflict. And how we deal with conflict is reflected in our structures. Second, working on conflict is spiritual work. Take the problem to the church assumes a view of the church as a place to process and work with conflict, not a place that is free from conflict. “Tell it to the church,” offers a model to follow. Reconciliation is the mission of the church. Working on conflict is spiritual. It involves an encounter with ourselves, others, and God. Thus we begin to understand that reconciliation is about the transformation of people and their relationships. It means change, moving from isolation, distance, pain, and fear toward restoration, understanding, and growth….. In summary, the spiritual dimension of “telling it to the church, lies in a basic understanding. The people who make up the church and its very structure are living testimonies of working out the mission of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5: 18-19). The church is a place of encounter. It is a place of Truth discerning and Truth-telling. It is a place for vulnerable transparency. It is a place for interactive engagement. It is a place, of accountability. It is, after all, a place where we journey toward each other and toward God. ”

4. If this fails to win the offending party, he/she should be regarded as a gentile and a tax collector. This is one of the most fascinating and misunderstood steps so far. What does it mean to treat the un-reconciled member of the community like a gentile and a tax collector? To answer this question, we must look at how Jesus interacted with Gentiles and Tax collectors. Failure to do so is to accuse Jesus for giving the church permission to disown un-reconciled members. Lest we stray too far from the first three steps by asking these questions, we must first remember that the first three process we have looked at so far were intended to bring about reconciliation. Jesus ate with tax collectors (Matt. 9:10). Therefore, try to have a meal together with the person; eating together symbolizes recognition of our human connection and acceptance. When we come to the table we are ourselves, barriers fall and we define ourselves in relation to the other.

The authority to Bind and Loose:
What you bind on earth is bound in heaven and what you loose on earth is loosed in heaven.” This implies that the act of the Christian community is an act of God. The church has the power to obligate and to set free from obligation (bind and loose). Finally, if two of Jesus’ disciples agree on earth about anything they ask, Jesus’ Father in heaven will do it for them. This is because, where two or three gather in Jesus’ name, Jesus is among them. God through Christ is reconciling the world to himself and the church is mandated to carry that message of reconciliation. We have a mission as the church of Jesus to function as the community of reconciliation. We are Christ’s ambassadors charged with the responsibility to carry forth God’s mission of reconciliation.

FOUR STEPS:
1. Go to the other:
Double movement:
I. Encounter with self: awareness, deal with my own feelings, anxieties, and perceptions.
II. Encounter with the other person.
2. Witnesses:
I. Forum where reflection, listening, and understanding can emerge. This is different from assessing fault or judging. It points toward capacities for creating a setting where people can be transparent, engage each other, and seek God. By its very nature, such a place can be seen as a holy ground.
II. Forum for accountability that can only be understood in community
3. Take it the church:
I. Reconciliation is the mission of the church (2 Cor. 5:18-19)
II. It is a place for vulnerable transparency. It is a place for interactive engagement. It is a place, of accountability. It is a place where we journey toward self, each other and God

4. Treat as a tax-collector
I. Eat with the other who has refused to be reconciled through the three processes. Jesus ate with the tax collectors (Matt.9).

Sunday Service - 10/10/2010 - NT Wright - Duke on Demand -

2011-06-03T20:32:00.000-04:00

Sunday Service - 10/10/2010 - NT Wright - Duke on Demand -

N.T. Wright: Working on a building | Faith & Leadership

2011-05-31T11:31:00.000-04:00

N.T. Wright: Working on a building | Faith & Leadership

ODD BODIES – a SERMON

2011-05-23T10:45:00.002-04:00

By Emmanuel Katongole

May 22, 2011
International Sunday
Capital Christian Fellowship
Washington, DC

I knew there was something odd about this congregation when I got a call from your pastor, Rev. Nelson Okanya inviting me to speak on your international day. As a Catholic priest it is not every day that I receive a call from a Mennonite pastor inviting me to speak to a Mennonite congregation. This was a first. However, when I realized that Harold Camping had predicted that the end of the world would be May 21, I thought oh perhaps this was some kind of joke? Pastor Nelson knew that we were all going to be whisked away at 6 pm May 21 – so as a final joke on an unsuspecting Catholic priest was to invite him to an event the day after the end of the world! Part apparently the end of the world did not come (or let me put it this: you and I were not whisked away together with the elect – we still have a lot to work on!); and we are here this morning. Still, it still feels odd to me. Being here just outside the U.S. Capitol makes it even more odd! I am never sure when I come to DC – whether to celebrate the moment as a pilgrimage (to a shrine), or to dread it! At any rate, I find myself – at a Mennonite congregation outside DC – over my head - and you my dear friends are way over your heads, for having invited me. This is odd. But of course that is what the church ought to be - the Body of Christ. What an odd body! This is the oddness that Paul is speaking about in the text of scripture this morning, Romans 1: 1-13. In the text, Paul speaks about the different members that make up this body. However, the fact that the Body of Christ has many members, which are all different, and yet all belong together as one body – that does not make Christ’s body an odd body. All bodies are like that. That is not what makes the Body of Christ an odd body. What makes it odd is its location and mission in the world. That is why Paul frames the discussion of the different parts of the Body of Christ with the crucial verse: “Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you make discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.”

That is what makes the Body of Christ unique and odd. It does not fit within the categories (the standards of this age) – that is what makes it odd. And yet, for Paul that is the only way that this body is able to seek what the will of God is - what is good and pleasing and perfect.

There is something about being a community of immigrants that places us in a unique place where we might be able to understand what Paul is talking about. For the full force of Paul’s exhortation to the Romans is to call the Christians to a kind of “immigrant” existence. To be the Body of Christ is to be an immigrant community. That is why for CCF to have members representing more than 40 countries is particularly significant. And so, when I think about what Paul is saying in relation to your mission at CCF – and your location here in the nation’s capital, I see CCF as uniquely positioned to live out Paul’s exhortation. The celebration of this your International day provides a good opportunity to reflect on and remember what an odd body CCF is – but even more significantly, the church of Christ is called to be in the world. I would like to share four stories, which help me personally to make sense of – and thus real – this sense or Christ’s body as an odd presence in the world.

The first story is about my own experience of growing up – and how that taught me that to be the body of Christ in the world is to learn to speak with an accent. Since many of you have been reading my book, Mirror to the Church, you know my story. I was born and raised in Uganda. So, I consider myself a Ugandan. I grew up eating Matooke and speaking Luganda. But my parents were born and grew up in Rwanda. In the late 40s they migrated and settled in Uganda. Even though my parents learnt Luganda, they always spoke it with an accent. It was not only the accent, in a conversation, especially when they were animated, they would even at times go back and forth between Luganda and Kinyarwanda; or throw in one word of Kinyarwanda here and there… Quite often the one they were talking to would only get a sense of what they were talking about, and not the full meaning.

As kids, my siblings and I always felt embarrassed by our parents’ accent. This was particularly true when our friends from school would come over. But also, my father, a very outgoing, dynamic and engaging person, had decided to run, and actually was elected, the PTA president, even though he himself never went to school. So, in his role, he would regularly come to school for meetings- and occasionally even address the whole assembly. It was so embarrassing!

So, my brothers and I undertook the challenge to try to get our parents speak proper. My father would not even give us the time. But with mother we tried. We would have her repeat a sentence or a word. She would try. We would correct her, and she would turn to us surprised and say, ‘that is exactly what or how I just said it.’ I guess she did not even know that she spoke Luganda with an accent. Unknowingly, that was a key lesson about Christian faith; and the Body of Christ. I read Paul’s statement in Rom 12:2 and immediately say: that is about learning to speak with an accent. Otherwise the Body of Christ just conforms to the patterns of the place it is located, and becomes just ‘American’, Republican or Democratic – which makes it uninteresting.

Secondly, I think about the story of a young man, Melance Ntahompagaze, whom I meant on my first visit (my first pilgrimage to Burundi in Aug 2009.), and how that how taught me that to be the body of Christ in the world is to learn to live in the in - between.
Burundi is a very small country – south of Rwanda. It is a very beautiful county; and also a predominantly Christian country. However, with the long history of ethnic hatred between Hutu and Tutsi, the blood of tribalism tends to run deeper than the waters of baptism. The social history of Burundi is a history of ethnic massacres and counter massacres. In 1993 there was a massacre at Kibimbi, not too far from Giteega: a hutu mob rounded up tutsi students and teachers from the Friends (Quaker school), along with some neighbors, and crammed them into a gas station, and set the gas station on fire. Over 120 people were killed. Melance together with a few others survived the smoke, and heat and crawled out of the smoldering ruins. At first Melance did not what to do. Most of his friends were dead. With time he got together with a few other young people, some Hutu and some Tutsi, and they organized themselves into a peace-team – committed to live as friends, and to go into the communities and invite Hutu and Tutsi to form ‘peace-teams’. An organization, MiParec (ministry of reconciliation under the cross) supports their work. They peace teams –small teams of hutu-tutsi together, work together in fields, celebrate weddings and other events, and go into the villages and on hillsides, inviting both Hutu and Tutsi to a new life of friendship and fellowship. It has not been easy, Melance admitted to me, “most of the times we are suspected by both communities. But the peace teams have also been a source of friendships.”

Melance Ntahompagaze (middle) in front of the Kibimba memorial (see on the left picture above)

When I read Paul’s words, “Do not be conformed to the standards of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, I think about Melance and the peace teams, and the unique space; the space of in- between, a kind of wild space that the peace teams are. But more specifically I think about that young man, Melance. His name “Ntahompagaze” in Kirundi means “no where to stand”. He is living true to his name. It is something like this, I think that Paul is talking about. For to be a Christian – to not confirm to the patterns of this world’ is to be “Ntahompagaze” (no where to stand). That is what the story of Antioch confirms. Jews, Greeks, Gentiles came together for the first time, as a new community. It is in Antioch that the followers were first called Christian (Acts 11:26). They did not know what else to call them. They were neither Greek nor Jew. They called them ‘Ntahompagaze’ – followers of a strange way…

Being an immigrant already somehow prepares one for the life of Christian Ntahompagaze. For the gift that comes with being an immigrant is the gift of often having more than one home. The challenge of course is that in itself makes one ‘homeless’ – as one never fully belongs to any one of them. I am particularly aware of this gift and challenge. I remember my own experience growing up. My parents would constantly talk about going home, and plan for a visit to Rwanda, but as soon as we were in Rwanda, they would immediately talk about going back home. This constant going back – this in between – meant that we never fully belonged to any one particular group – but to both. If it meant that we never full fit in the politics of any one group. The story was made even more complex when we were in Rwanda by the fact that my parents were Hutu and Tutsi. It is this ‘Ntahompagaze’ experience that creates a deep identity crisis. I continue to feel this same ‘confusion’ as Hutu-Tutsi, Rwanda – Uganda; African – American; A catholic priest – at a Methodist university: so, “who am I”? Who are “my people”? I think it is this kind of confused, Mestizo identity – that the Christian calling points to as it prepares for a new sense of belonging – a “new we” – beyond tribe, race, nation, denomination. Something about Paul’s words, “Do not conform yourselves to the patterns of this world” seem to confirm this expeience, which many immigrants can relate to.

That is why, in reading this text, I also think about the story of Abram and Sarai and how that has confirmed to me that that God creates this odd body the church, through re-location. In real estate it is all about ‘location, location, location’. In Christian life it is about re-location, relocation, and relocation! Ask abram and Sarai. They were both advanced in years. They had lived a full life and were almost ready for retirement. Their call to “leave your father’s land to a new land I will show you” (Gen 12:1-3) could not have been but a total and unwelcome surprise. Even though it had promises of blessings attached, I could almost hear Abram saying: “Who?” “Me?” – “ Thank you, but no thank you. You have already given us a lot (well, Sarai and I do not have any children, but see what else you have given us….). We are just fine.” But I could also hear God pressings on: “Abram, you do not understand: In a way it is about you and Sarai, but it is really not about you. “I will make you a great nation; and I will bless you. I will make your name great – so that others may find a blessing in you.”

I do not know what brought you to America in the first place. I hope CCF provides an opportunity for people to tell the stories of their coming to America. Each one, I am sure has more than an interesting story. I suspect there must have been a dream – to make it in life; to make a living; perhaps it was a promise of success and blessings! It might also be that God is already making true this dream: you are not only able to take care of your family here, but every month, you are in the line at the Western Union, or MoneyGram, sending back support, education, medical care to others in your home country or village. Others are perhaps already finding blessings in you. That is very good. Beyond these material blessings, the point of your being drawn from your land is for you to be a new community, a new people. The promise of Abram is for this new people (a great nation; a great multitude); that is why Abram is given a new name, Abraham (Gen 17:5: the father of a multitude); and Sarai becomes Sarah (17:15-6), “blessed”). It is new view of this new people – multitude – that Abram and Sarai are called out from their land. This is the biblical story. It is a long story, which does not end with the covenant at Sinai, but with the multitude of Revelation 7:9 “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”

Speaking about palms of victory reminds me that there is another story, another angle, to this odd existence that Paul speaks about in Rom 12: 2: “Do not conform yourselves to the patterns of this world…” The verse immediately before that, Paul speaks about sacrifice: “I urge you brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.” There is a lot of urgency and passion in Paul’s words: “I urge you… I appeal to you ….to offer your bodies as a sacrifice.” It is as if Paul was aware that this is a call that could very easily be overlooked. Given its cost. The odd in between into which the church is called is a place of sacrifice, even martyrdom. The story of the young seminarians at Buta continues to speak to me very profoundly as a reminder of the sacrifice, this deep sense of worship, which reveals the true victory of what the church as the body of Christ is about. This is another story I discovered on my first pilgrimage to Burundi in August 2008.

One evening in the fall of 1997, shortly before dawn: militias group, headed by a fierce woman commander, attacked the seminary; they ordered the high school students to separate, Hutu on one side, and Tutsi on the other. Three times the order was given, but the students refused to separate. So, the commander ordered the rebels to open fire. The students fell, and others tried to escape. In all, 40 students were killed. The rector heard the gunshots from his house, and crawled under his bed. One of the students who had been wounded ran to the rector’s house, and called for the rector to open the door for him. When the rector opened the door, the boy dashed inside the small house, and gasping for breath told the rector: “Father, we have won. They told us to separate and we refused. We have won.” And he collapsed and died!

As we heard the story told to us by Fr. Zacharie Bukuru, who was the rector then. As we stood in the cemetery with the neat rows of 40 graves, and looked at the “martyrs of unity” mural with the painting of the young seminarian martyrs holding palms in their hands. As we drove back to Bujumbura that evening, it was the words of the seminarian – the words of the seminarian, “we have won” kept ringing in my ears. His and his friends’ sense of victory haunted me. It is still does. Is it something like this Paul has in mind when he says, “I urge you….offer your bodies as a living sacrifice ….do not be conformed the patterns of this world…so that you can seek what is good, pleasing and perfect!”?

Odd bodies. Odd Victory. We won!

(Buta Martyrs gravesite and memorial see picture on right above)

As we come together here at CCF on this international day to celebrate who are the Body of Christ, drawn from all nations, languages, cultures and tribes, let us recognize what an odd body we are. Let us head Paul’s encouraging invitation: “Be transformed by the renewal of your minds…” Let us therefore dare to be God’s new people in the world; always standing firm to resist the tribalism of race, nationality, ethnicity that would let us live as divided people. Let us through our accents and accent constantly pin to that new future. A future that is good, pleasing and perfect according to the will of God who called us together. Let us be encouraged and inspired to know by the examples of Melance Ntahompagaze and his friends; by the seminarians of Buta, Sarai and Abram to know that we are not alone. And that in fact, we this cloud of witnesses, we too can already say, “We won.” And for this victory, may all honor, power and glory belong to our God. Amen.

BODIES:"THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT BODIES

2011-05-15T08:42:00.005-04:00

"Anyone who watched the news reports from Rwanda in 1994 will remember the images of bodies. Bodies stacked in open graves. Bodies floating down rivers. Bodies hacked to pieces by machetes. We can- not remember Rwanda in 1994 without talking about bodies. The movie Hotel Rwanda tells the story of Paul Rus- esabagina, a hotel manager who sheltered hundreds of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. In the movie, Paul leaves the hotel-turned-refuge early one morning to make a supply run before the killers awake to set up their daily roadblocks. Driving along, he stares anxiously into misty fog, trying to stay on the road and get back to the hotel as quickly as pos- sible. But the fog is so dense that as he feels the tires beneath him bumping on uneven ground, he is sure he has driven off the road.

An Easter Season of Bodies Paul opens the driver’s side door to get out and as- sess the situation. But stepping out of the vehicle, he realizes that he has not driven off of the road. Instead, the road is covered with bodies. It’s an image that cap- tures both the tragedy and reality of Rwanda in the spring of 1994. A book about the Rwandan genocide must be a book about bodies. this book cannot just be about the hundreds of thousands of Rwandan bodies that were mutilated in the spring of 1994. Of course, each one of those bodies is precious to God. Each bears the very image of God. But we cannot begin to understand the life and death of these bodies until we consider another body—the body politic." (from Mirror to the Church)

Dr. Emmanuel Katongole, Associate Professor of Theology and World Christianity and Co-Director of the Center of Reconciliation at the Duke Divinity School. The Center of Reconciliation is a center whose mission is to inspire, form, and support leaders, communities and congregations to think, feel and live as ambassadors of reconciliation in a broken world. He is also author of several books including "Mirror to the Church" which details the Rwanda genocide of 1994. Dr. Katongole will be the Speaker at our church, Capital Christian Fellowship's Annual International Sunday Service Next Sunday May 22 at 10am.
Our Address is 10411 Greenbelt Rd. Lanham MD 20607. Come and enjoy a great worship, uplighting message and food from over 35 countries.

A Mother's Day Reflection (Exodus 2:1-10)

2011-05-09T12:35:00.003-04:00

This is Mothers’ Day! It goes without saying that we wouldn’t be here today had it not been for mothers. Having said that, special days like Mother’s and Father’s Day present challenges to preachers. This is because we each bring different experiences to these special days:

-For some of us our mother is and if she is no longer living was a clear gift sent from God! We could not imagine a world without her.
-For some, however, motherhood came unexpectedly and was perhaps even an unwelcomed and difficult experience
-For some, no being able to be a biological mother has been the cause of pain and suffering
-For some, mothers weren’t all that nice to say the least

Being a mother is a wonderful privilege but it is certainly not a bed of roses! So, with all these realities, why bother with Mothers’ Day celebrations at all? I’ll tell you why, for all its stumbling blocks, pitfalls and brokenness that motherhood shares with the fallen creation, motherhood is a beautiful and natural part of God’s creative plan that brings forth the gifts of selfless love and care for the other. That is why we celebrate it.

This morning let us look at a story of a mother’s love in (Exodus 2:1-10). In this story, we learn about Moses’ mother. In Exodus two she remains nameless until Exodus 6:20 when her name is mentioned as Jochebed. Which means “Yahweh is Glory”! As I read the story, I concluded that she is one of the greatest mothers in the Scriptures. Her dedication, selfless love and sacrifice made possible the liberation of God's people from the Egyptian Slavery. This act of deliverance changed the course of history and from that time on God has been known as deliver and provider. It would do us well this morning to look at the life of this great mother. As we do this, we will note certain characteristics that stand out as inspiration to all mothers but more broadly, the passage speaks to every person here, whether you are a mother or not.

I. Who She was:
Moses’ mother came from the Levite tribe. She, and her husband Amram, seemingly were dedicated and religious people, (preacher’s kids if you will). We see this dedication in the steps and risks she took in order to preserve the precious life of her son Moses. Just by reading the story, I got the sense that she was a woman who was dedicated to God. I believe that a mother or any person for that mater who is dedicated to God seeks to please God and if you are a mother that dedication will be evident in the way you mother your children. May I issue a challenge to us this morning as people of God! May our prayer and commitment be that each and every child here at CCF has a mother who is dedicated to the Lord! Nothing would make a lasting difference in our children’s lives than having good, godly examples in the home. That applies to us fathers as well. And let me also add to us men that there is nothing in your children’s experiences that will leave a lasting impression in their lives than the way you treat their mother. Some of these ways may include, speaking gently to her, praising her, giving some foot rubs, holding and cuddling, helping with housework and even sometimes helping with some meals etc.

Moses’ mother was a woman of many virtues:

I. Courage:
The Decree went out from Pharaoh - Ex. 1:15-22. Moses' parents had the courage that perhaps came from their dedication to the Lord and because of this courage, instead of following Pharaoh’s decree right a way she hid her baby. I think it would take a gut wrenching decision to not comply with the Pharaohs’ edict. We learn that when she could not hide the baby any longer as signs of a cuing happy and healthy baby who did not know the danger his life and that of his parents were in because he was shielded by a loving, caring and dedicated mother began to disclose his location and his mother had to devise another plan to save the life of his handsome and lovely baby.

I believe that God gives courage to parents who aren't afraid to take a stand for that which is right in dark, sinful days! Men and women who demand more for their children than the world can give them. Parents who are willing to say, "Enough is enough, my child is going to learn the ways of the Lord regardless of whether they can pray in school or not.” People who will declare the same thing Joshua declared for His family, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). We need some courageous mothers in these dark times to take steps to nurture their babies in this dangerous environment where all kinds of dangers come to them in our homes, neighborhoods and streets.

It is a blessing when our children live for God. But it is the parents who ought to set the example of courage and godliness for them. We should not blame the world for how our children are being shaped rather we should help shape them by our examples, teachings and dedication to them so that they don’t think that others love and care about them more than we do and hence refuse to allow those others to shape them. When this happens, we will not sit back and complain that the world is shaping our children because we are their first example. Moses had no idea what kind of danger he was in because his mother shielded him from it.

II. Faith:
The mother of Moses was a woman motivated by a strong faith in the will of a Sovereign God! Her faith was so strong that she was named, along with her husband, to God's Hall of the Faithful in (Hebrews 11:23-28). She needed this kind of faith to accomplish what she did for the Lord and for her son and her son likewise exercised the same faith as he accomplished God’s purpose and calling. It probably took great faith for this mother to raise her child under the circumstance. However, she was given the opportunity to teach her son about their God and about right living. She was given the opportunity to shape her child’s life. It is perhaps no accident that when God was fed up with the people of Israel and decided to destroy them in the wilderness, it was Moses who pleaded with the Lord offering himself to be killed instead of the people (Ex. 32:14). I could not help but wonder whether this was the same selflessness that he learned from his mother!

Mothers, and fathers I implore us today to taking this precious opportunity to live our lives before our children in a way that will impact them in the future. We cannot guarantee how they will turn out and perhaps so was Moses’ parents but we need to seek to live right; all we can do is our best. Let our priority be God, marriage, and then our children. Please let us not put our careers before our children because we only have them for a little while but what we give them during this time with them will guide them in the life a head. If you give your children over to God and live a Godly life before them then you have done your best. They then have a foundation from which they may not depart (Proverbs 26:6)

III. Wisdom:
She had the wisdom to know when and how to comply with the Pharaoh’s command. She sort of complied but did so in a way that ensured all-important provision necessary for her baby’s survival. She made an ark, the same word used for Noah’s ship (Gen 7). This ark was not meant to hurt the baby but to be a means of salvation. The mother also ensured that a close watch was kept from a distance. Perhaps feeding provisions were also made even though such a plan is not recorded but it is hard to assume that such a wise mother would go to so much trouble only to not provide for the baby. We need wise and discerning parents in these troubled times to make the right judgment call and to ensure that our children as safe and biblically rooted.

She needed faith, courage and wisdom to:

Not to conform to the prevailing World reality - The world was out to get her son’s life but this mother stood strong in the face of this vicious blood thirst and placed her son above the will of the world! Today the world is in constant demand. We live in a world that likewise demand the allegiance and offers all kinds of goodies to win them over. The world demands our children’s attention and it is time that we Christian parents stood up and assumed our role instead of letting our children to be raised by the T.V and video games, the DS and many others that I don’t even know. Our children need and deserve better than that! We need parents who will teach their children the ways of God and steer them clear of the world and its devises. (Prov. 6:22; Deut. 6:4-9) It takes faith, courage and wisdom to go against the grain and raise your children in Godliness, but the good news is that God will bless you, and them, for it and perhaps your story will be similar to Moses’ mothers story read by subsequent generations for instructions in Godliness.

SHE WAS HONRED:
Her son became a great man of God. He was the one man whom God had chosen to be the deliverer of the people of God and the one who was later known as the Lawgiver Of Israel and to whom all the three faiths, Christianity, Islam and Judaism point to in terms of God’s law. It is probably true that Moses’ mother never imagined such an influence for her son when he was a baby. I suppose that she lived the remainder of her life and never knew what God did with the life of Moses. This mother's love and sacrifice were vindicated in the way God greatly used her son!

Parents, you never know who you are raising! Therefore, give your children the best you have while you have them. Often parents think they have been successful when their child graduates from college, or when they make lots of money in some prestigious position. However, true success cannot be gauged on such a worldly scale. When we see our children living for and in love with the Lord, then we have truly been successful. It is perhaps more meaningful to raise a child who would have none of this world's goods or success, but who know Jesus than to raise a millionaire who lives as if this world is all that there is.
I believe that Moses’ mother today inspired us and showed us what a loving mother ought to be. How are we in relationship to this story as parents today? Perhaps this story and the stories on the men on our panel have stirred something in your heart, May be the Lord is speaking to you about your relationship with your mother and you need to take some steps towards that relationship, please do not ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Let me finish with the words of affirmation from John Killinger:

I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God,
who was born of the promise to a virgin named Mary.
I believe in the love Mary gave her Son,
that caused her to follow him in his ministry
and stand by his cross as he died.
I believe in the love of all mothers,
and its importance in the lives of the children they bear.
It is stronger than steel, softer than down,
and more resilient than a green sapling on the hillside.
It closes wounds, melts disappointments,
and enables the weakest child to stand tall
and straight in the fields of adversity.
I believe that this love, even at its best,
is only a shadow of the love of God,
a dark reflection of all that we can expect of him,
both in this life and the next.
And I believe that one of the most beautiful sights
in the world is a mother who lets this greater love
flow through her to her child,
blessing the world with the tenderness of her touch
and the tears of her joy.

Happy Mother Day!! Go forth and celebrate these wonderful people!!

Reclaiming The Embodied Faith of Jesus Christ

2011-04-28T19:08:00.002-04:00

"Christian ethics would be unintelligible if it did not presuppose the existence and recognizability of communities and corresponding institutions capable of carrying the story of God. The most general name we give that community is Church." Stanley Hauerwas

Michael Cartwright and John Berkman in their editorial section on Essay 19 in the "Hauerwas Reader" (page 371) from which the above quote comes names two of Hauerwas' commonly known dictums: "Every ethic must be a social ethic" and "The first social task of the church is to be the church-the servant community." The editors concludes that these two famous dictums presents Hauerwas' "understanding of the nature of the Christian church and its relationship to the world." (HR 371). It is therefore not surprising that in his book, "Living Holiness", John Thompson demonstrates the usefulness of Stanley Hauerwas' work for the life of the church, which is in the world although not of the world (Jn. 17:16).

In chapter 10 for example, Thompson focuses on how Hauerwas' approach to Christian ethics might help "Christians negotiate the challenges of living in late modern societies within the North Atlantic." (Thompson; Living Holiness, 141). I identify with the people who live in the north Atlantic Societies, as such I was obviously curious to discover how Hauerwas might help us navigate life and especially our faith in our North Atlantic context. But, before I proceed further, let me first make some self-revelation. I live in the North Atlantic society; but I was not born in the North Atlantic Society. I was born and raised in Sub-Saharan Africa and life there is starkly different from life in the North Atlantic Societies.

Having said that however, I can talk about such a difference with confidence because I have lived in the North Atlantic society for fourteen years. I did my seminary work here, married a woman from here and our two boys are North Atlantics save for my shared genes from Africa and may be some stories they hear me tell every now and then and a few lullabies I sing to them in my mother tongue. To add to the list, I have pastored here for five years. I am not quite sure what this makes me!

As a Christian one thing remains key, namely that according to scriptural witness, God loved the world and sent forth his only Son that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life (Jn. 3:16f). I learned this passage and memorized it in three different languages; Luo, Kiswahili and English. While preaching on this text at our church one time I asked the congregation to attempt to quote this passage from memory in their own first languages and in a congregation that has people from over forty five countries not to mention language groups, it was quite an experience. In addition to the multiple tongues that filled the room, which was quite a site in itself, I was amazed that people did so from memory. They knew the story; the story that says that God sent his only Son to the world because God loved the world has become their story as well.

The experience that day triggered in my memory a story of a people in the scriptures who ritualized their story in such a way that they told and retold that same story from generation to generation. The story went like this, "When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the first fruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, "I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us." The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God. Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous." (Deuteronomy 26:1-5)

After the Exile, the idea of homelessness and immigration and being God's people became a part of the community's liturgy, the ritual, of the people of Israel. They were to always remember that they were homeless and that they were once strangers in the land where they lived and God ensured that they were cared for in the same way they ought to care for the stranger among them.

John the author of the fourth gospel reminds us that Jesus was sent by the Father to make the Father known to the world (Jn. 1:18). He came to demonstrate and embody God's love for the world. In other words, God's love was incarnated in the flesh and blood of Jesus of Nazareth who formed a community and explicitly commissioned saying that in the same way the father sent him, he also sends them (John 20:21-22).

This past Sunday we collected clothes, shoes and food and made them available to our church community and the community at large. One person from the women's ministry that had done the bulk of the work told the church that this was a small way that we were being Jesus with skin to our community. I believe that what John writes about above implies that our faith is incarnational.

This is the faith to which both Hauerwas and Yoder and the Anabaptists points but that by and large has been replaced by abstraction which has led to what Charles Taylor calls "excarnational" faith among the North Atlantics. As North Atlantics, then we have much to learn from Hauerwas and I will show the force of his arguments and the effectiveness of the same not only through his work but also in the work of others.

According to Thomson, Hauerwas' work is a corrective to this abstracted and disembodied faith of the North Atlantics. Thompson writes, "Although Hauerwas has sometimes been unfairly criticized as unrealistic, his project actually deconstructs this abstract idealism by rooting discipleship in the particular enfleshed practices of particular gatherings of Christians within the framework of time and place." He continues, "Hauerwas seeks a transformed church not an idealistic one. Transformation is about becoming a variegated and material witness to God's grace in diverse context rather than a singular sign. ..His church is faith in flesh, in sharp contrast to the faith in spirit prevalent in these societies." (Thompson, L.H,142-3).

Thompson is correct as Hauerwas himself writes, "The story of God as told through the experience of Israel and the church cannot be abstracted from those communities engaged in the telling and the hearing. As a story it cannot exists without a community existing across time, for it requires telling and remembering. God has entrusted his presence to a historic and contingent community that must be renewed generation after generation. The story is not merely told but embodied in a people's habits that form and are formed in worship, governance, and morality." (Hauerwas, HR.373).

Thompson's characterization of North Atlantic communities as abstracted finds support in Charles Taylor. Taylor writes, "Christians of a more activist and reformist disposition lost touch with the practices and embodied character of ordinary church living in their enthusiasm to generate an ideal form of discipleship often called beliefs. This led to an excarnational rather than incarnational approach to faith and contributed to the abstract character of North Atlantic societies as the latter became increasingly secularized and dis-embodied from any liturgical moorings" (Thompson, Living Holiness,142).

Having enlisted Taylor in support of his hypothesis, Thompson continues, "The idealist drive neglected the particulars of context and people in a way that not only enabled the Enlightenment philosophers to imagine to objective spectator perspective but also contributed to the secularization of these societies as ordinary people gave up on the quest to become ideal." (Thomson Living Holiness, 143). It was not always like this.

William Cavanaugh in his very helpful book, "The Myth of Religious Violence," locates this abstraction in 16th and 17th century modernity. He writes, "The move toward religion as an interior and universal impulse would be contemplated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by an emphasis on belief over practice. Religion would come to mean a system of doctrines, intellectual propositions that could be either true or false."(Cavanaugh, The Myth of Rel. V. 72). To strengthen his proposal, Cavanaugh sites the work of Graham Ward. Ward wrote on the subject of disembodiment of faith thus, "Stripping away the liturgical understanding of the world had a profound impact on the reconfiguration of power and subjectivity in sixteenth century England:
To think the sacraments and ceremonies as symbols or "mere outward forms" (1549 Book of Common Prayer) was to transform the nature of materiality itself, rendering the natural world opaque, silent and inert".A new space and a new understanding of the body were emerging, a space and a body in which God's presence was only available through the eyes of faith-and faith understood as a set of doctrinal principles to be taught, a set of interpretative keys to be passed down, passed on, for one's experience in the world." (Cavanaugh. T.R.V. 72-3).

This in no way dismisses the importance of doctrines because convictions matter as Hauerwas reminds us that, "the intelligibility and truthfulness of Christian convictions reside in their practical force." R. R Reno using brick as a metaphor to describe the power of Christian convictions expounds on Hauerwas' sentiment above by writing," In other words, the intelligibility and truthfulness of Christian convictions resides in their brick-like quality. Being baptized is more like being hit on the head with a brick than it is like going to a teach-in. Celebrating the Eucharist week after week is more like laying a durable foundation for a house than it is like attending weekly lectures. In both instances, we do not learn principles or ideals by which we might exercise power. Quite the contrary: in baptism and Eucharist, we are subjected to something that has power." -(R. Reno Stanley Hauerwas, 303)

A disciple of both John Yoder and Stanley Hauerwas, Mark T. Nation's own story affirms Reno's observation about the power of Christian convictions and practices. In his article on "Foot Washing: Preparation for Christian Life," Mark tells his own story powerfully. He describes how he was shaped by the practices at his small Baptist church in Southern Illinois. He writes, "New birth is quite an appropriate image for what happened to me in the autumn of 1970. It was the beginning of the acquisition of a new identity, a Christian identity. The inauguration of this identity was a dramatic conversion experience in a revival service at first General Baptist Church of McLeansboro, Illinois."

Mark continues, "various practices of the church served to re-shape me: Scripture reading (private and public), sermons, testimonies, music, the Lord's supper, baptism, glimpses of Christians' lives-and one more which I vividly recall: foot washing. These intermittent foot washing services underscored, deepened, and broadened what I was coming to learn of the gospel within this church." (Nation, Foot washing p.6)

I shared Marks' story with our staff on Monday and the experience was transformative. I watched in wonder and amazement as people who had never practiced foot washing before did so for the first time and were deeply touched by the practice. One staff member said wondered how, "Reading about foot washing and actually doing it is very different." She was deeply moved by the practice as staff members spent some extended time hugging crying and holding each other as they washed each other's feet. I was moved by the power of the practice because it broke certain barriers between us as a staff as was evident in their crying, hugging and holding each other and speaking words of forgiveness for those who were harboring certain feelings in their hearts against fellow staffers.

As we read John 12 together, we were reminded of Mary's love for her Lord. It was this love which invoked the act of extravagance in the anointing with the oil whose fragrance filled the whole room. One female staff member wept and wondered how difficult that might have been for a woman in that culture to do such a thing in front of men. She wondered what kind of courage it might have taken for Mary to take the step she took in obedience. I was impacted deeply by their sharing and once again agreed with Hauerwas and Reno concerning the force of Christian convictions and practices. We are extending the practice of foot washing to our entire congregation on Thursday night. This will be a new practice for the majority of our congregation but we are waiting in great anticipation to see God at work among us as we saw on Monday.

On Thursday we are planning to spend time in worship, scripture reading, sharing testimonies and end with a foot washing service after a brief reflection on John 12 and 13 that I will lead. Our church is located in the Washington D.C suburbs; we are surrounded by three metropolitan centers; The Nation's Capital, Baltimore and Annapolis, (the States Capital). Majority of our members are affected in one way or another by the realities of one, two or three of these centers one of the most influential habit is consumerism and the race to catch up "with the Joneses" so to speak. People's identity is wrapped up in their stuff, the kind of homes they own, the cars they drive and the list goes on.

I believe that recovering practices will once again remind us that our story is part of the larger story of God and that these practices form us and remind us that true life does not lie in our stuff. The practices 'force' us to spend time with the other, to see their value to look at them in the face and touch them which is awkward and weird for a lot of people here (In Sub-Saharan Africa that would be the norm) but they are willing to do so on account of the clear instructions from the lord that loved us and gave his life.

I particularly remember the past two Ash Wednesdays; last year's and this years'. In our small bible study group on Wednesday nights we reflected on the words, "You are dirt and unto dirt you shall return" that we uttered as we marked each other on the four head with ashes. I had never done this before and when we did, it was one of the deeply formative truths for me and others in the room testified to the same. I realized through that practice that a truth was being proclaimed over me. That practice obviously subverted the prevailing narrative that I am master of my own destiny.

Mark Nation correctly reminds us that, "the act of following Jesus is never merely about or servanthood or our love. We need the gift of the Holy Spirit, we need the ongoing cleansing of our savior, we need the comfort of the Father's love-and we need the community of foot washers. Followers of Jesus will embody love and servanthood, they will practice "the politics of Jesus," but they will always remember that it is the anointed One who rightly washes our feet before we can rightly wash each others' feet." (Nation, Foot washing p. 2)

Hauerwas' understanding of the nature of the church is very instructive here. He writes, "The people of God are no less an empirical reality than the crucifixion of Christ. The church is as real as his cross. There is no "ideal church," no "invisible church," no "mystically existing universal church" more real than the concrete church with parking lots and potluck dinners. It is the church of parking lots and potluck dinners that comprises the sanctified ones formed by and forming the continuing story of Jesus Christ in the world"..."The church, therefore, is not some ideal of community but a particular people who, like Israel, must find way to sustain their existence generation after generation" (Hauerwas, H.R. 382-3).

This of course is complicated in our life in the United States. Some of our forming practices and even our Christian story have been hijacked by another power structure that competes for our allegiance. On this point Cavanaugh is helful in his ground breaking book. He writes, "attempts to construct religion as a universal, timeless, interior, and apolitical human impulse in the early modern period are willy-nilly part of the creation of new configuration of power, especially the subornation of ecclesiastical power to that of the emergent state."
( Cavanaugh. The Myth of Religious Violence,77).

In his book "Body Politics ( Five practices of the Christian community before a watching world) John H. Yoder refers to the antagonistic nature of this new power arrangement. He writes, "There seems to be no end of debating about how the church should or should not be "involved" in "politics". An example: In 1989 when South Africa's most important black leader, Nelson Mandela, just out of prison, visited the pope to ask him to support the idea of economic sanctions against the apartheid regime of his native South Africa, John Paul II said he could not do that because it would be "political." He continues, "political" mean somehow, in that one case, something with which the head of the Roman Catholic Church should not be involved. Yet such concerns had never kept him from multiple interventions in the public life of his own native Poland when he was archbishop there." (Yoder, Body Politics, vi).

Yoder proceeds to argue that contrary to the notion of "politics" and "church," the Christian community is a political reality. He writes, "The church's calling to be faithful in God's service is definable in political terms." He continues, "To be political is to make decisions, to assign roles, and to distribute powers, and the Christian community cannot do otherwise than exercise the same functions, going about its business as a body." (Yoder, Body Politics ix) The subject of this book is to show five ways in which the church serves as a polis; binding and Loosing, Breaking of Bread, Baptism, A new mode of relationship (The Fullness of Christ) and The Unity of the Body (The Rule of Christ).

In his book "After You Believe:Why Christian Character Matters" .N.T Wright makes the same point I have been making in this paper through the collected reflections and sentiments of the various named authors but mostly Stanley Hauerwas, that our faith is much more than propositional truth claims. It is also entails habits, virtues and character formation informed by a story that is nurtured in the community of faith. This is made possible through practices that tells and retells the story of God through Israel and ultimately through the lord Jesus Christ. Wright argues rightly that after we believe we must be people of Character essentially meaning that it is not enough just to believe. We must continually be formed and transformed by Jesus and the Holy Spirit as we engage in the formative practices of the church.

He writes that, "Character does not come by accident. It comes through the self-discipline required to do anything in life really well. Develop virtue, practice the habits of heart and life that point toward the true goal of human existence, for these lies at the heart of the challenge of Christian behavior, as set in the New Testament itself. This is what it means to develop "character." He writes further, "This is what we need-and what the Christian faith offers-for the time, whether short or long, after you believe. We've had enough of pragmatists and self-seeking risk-takers. We need people of character. (N.T Wright, After You Believe, p 24-5). I am glad that once again, the church can reclaim its incarnational faith as we awake from modernity's abstracted faith which Charles Taylor calls, excarnational." Thanks to the works of Hauerwas, Yoder and their disciples as they follow Jesus who is the Lord of the church.

Bibliography:

Berkman, John and Michael Cartwright, eds. The Hauerwas Reader (Duke Univ. Press, 2001) (Essay 19)

Cavanaugh, William T. The Myth of Religious Violence. (Oxford Univ. Press, 2009)

Thomson, John B. Living Holiness: Stanley Hauerwas and the Church (Epworth, 2010)

Wright N.T, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters (Harper Collins
Pub2010)

Yoder John H. Body Politics; Fiver practices of the Christian community before a watching world, (Discipleship Resources, Nashville, 1989)

Inner compass by James K. Smith

2011-04-28T18:39:00.002-04:00

Defining "The Good Life" - Inner Compass from Calvin College on Vimeo.

John Howard Yoder talks about the limitations of democracy

2011-03-29T21:46:00.000-04:00

DOING #3

2011-02-28T15:37:00.004-05:00

DOING # 3
Isaiah 49:1-7; John 1:29-42, Ps. 40
By Nelson Okanya

“Call and Response”
We serve a God who calls things that are not yet seen into being. This God spoke into a formless void at creation and called forth light out of darkness. This God whom we know as God of Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Rebecca and Israel continues to speak into our lives and is present with us in special ways.

Have you ever been in a situation where you were made to feel worthless and beat down due to circumstances and situations in your life? Well, Israel was in that kind of hopeless situation; they were in exile and homeless. Their call and vocation was in serious doubt if not out right dead. In the midst of this seemingly dark tunnel of life, God showed up and called a servant. This servant spoke the unspeakable under those kinds of circumstances; he spoke on behalf of God, “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isa. 49:6).

But before we proceed let, us also make note that the servant who was now speaking had experienced his own discouragement and had suspected that his “labor had been in vain and his strength spent on nothing and vanity” (v. 4). We see however that he quickly came to acknowledge that his fate and that of Israel was in the hands of the Lord who had honored them and was indeed their strength. We do not know how he got there only that he acknowledged that fact. The Lord called Israel from the hopeless situation back to him that he might gather them to himself. They were not only being redeemed from their terrible reality, they were also being set apart for a mission. Their obedience to the mission would be far reaching because as a result of their obedience, hope would be given to the hopeless and others would be inspired to fulfill their own calling as well. We have a wonderfully written mission statement, “Loving God, Loving people, Living as Disciples.” The mission is clear but how are we going to embody this mission is not yet clear.

On Christmas Eve, I led us in some reflection on the theme of the light of God coming to shine forth through the darkness we live in. During advent, we anticipated the coming of this light and at Christmas we read from prophet Isaiah that people who lived in darkness have seen a great light. Sunday holds much promise in community, as it is also the Sunday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It seems rather fitting to be dealing with the words of the servant and the struggles to accomplish the work of ministry. The on-going struggle for justice, the epidemic of violence in our society, which became evident in the senseless killing that took place the previous Saturday in Arizona that took the life of many people including the life of a little girl demands some response form the church. But how do we respond?

I could not help but see Dr. King’s story as an example for us. When he sensed his calling, the reality looked completely impossible much like the Servant in Isaiah 49. I listened to a speech given by Ambassador Andrew Young at Duke Divinity School, which I will simply paraphrase here. He said that had someone told Dr. King where the nation would be today, he would have simply said, “son go on out and loosen your tie, get some air, eat some food and rest a while.” In other words the conditions under which his ministry calling and location was was an impossible one but he heard the call and acted on that call and others saw their responsibility as well and rose up and joined the cause and we as a society have made great progress since then even though the journey is far from over. Poverty still persists and injustice continues, bad neighborhoods abound, shrewd business people continue to exploit the unfortunate and the uninformed etc but we are making progress. A day like tomorrow ought to remind us about our own sense of call and we need to name concrete and specific ways we are preparing to live our calling.

God's plan requires our willingness to be participants in the world around us. What is the message that we bring for this Martin Luther King Jr. Day? Dr. King looked around and saw injustice and his convictions about God’s vision compelled him to name the injustice and to proclaim what was possible but was not yet a reality. Because of this prophetic pronouncement and the courage to live it out, Jessica and I don’t only hold hands, but share our life together in marriage for almost a decade. We must learn to see as God sees and as the Lord moves us through the Spirit, we must speak and embody that possibility in our net yet world.

Psalm 40:6 proclaims, “Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” Then there is a proclamation of “glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; … God’s new song in our lives…of God’s steadfast love.” The worshippers here are challenged to awaken to God’s larger vision, and imagine those persons with whom they are called to share God’s vision in our hurting and broken world.

CCF Speaker January 30th

2011-01-23T09:38:00.001-05:00

David Shenk

David W. Shenk was born to pioneer Mennonite missionaries in Tanzania, and has invested a life-time in missions. For sixteen years he served within Muslim communities in Somalia and Kenya. At present he is Global Consultant with Eastern Mennonite Missions. His interest in Christian peacemaking and witness, especially among Muslims as well as secularist socities, has taken him into some 100 countries. He has authored or co-authored sixteen books on the mission of the church in our pluralist world. He holds a doctorate in religious studies education with course work in anthropology from New York University.

“DOING” # 2

2011-01-11T10:29:00.006-05:00

(Matthew 3:13-17; Isaiah 42:1-9;Acts 10:34-43)

Two weeks ago we celebrated the birth of a child. In today'sGospel text, Matthew reports that the child that we celebrated at Christmas quickly a threat to the ruling king. This situation ironically led to a flight to safety in Egypt (the land of slavery). Matthew reports after the death of king Herod who sought the child's life, God called his son out of Egypt ( a second Exodus) and he was returned to Nazareth. Matthew says that through this child, a “branch,” a new beginning was being made for the house of David the son of Jesse. In other words, in this child, Jesus of Nazareth a new beginning for David had re-emerged from the old stump.

In our reading further in the text, Jesus goes through the waters of baptism ( a kind of crossing the read sea). We see John with his clear understanding of the status quo objecting to the development of the events. As Jesus came to him for baptism, he protested until Jesus told him to do it in order to fulfill righteousness. So in this story, Jesus humbled himself to be baptized not because he needed cleansing from sin like we do, but because in his baptism he identified with his people's and our need for repentance. We can safely say that as we observe the events in this tex, we see in Jesus of Nazareth something new happening; the old prevailing assumptions had to give way but as is always the case not many people were ready for such a change. So John like many of us resisted this new development.

Jesus’ baptism was clothed all over with signs of newness. The dove and the voice reminds us of the first creation story (Gen. 1:2-4). Jesus was called from Egypt and came through the water of baptism (red sea) and became authority to the new formed baptized community issuing the new way of life commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. God confirmed his status as God’s son through the voice from heaven. In Jesus, a New peoplehood emerged. Those who repent and put their faith in him through baptism and continue to follow him will also hear the same voice from heaven as well, "you are my beloved daughter, you are my beloved son". This new identity is missional as we see in the life of Jesus.

Baptized into Jesus Christ by water and the Holy Spirit, we, too, experience the birth of something dramatically new in our lives, nothing less than being incorporated into God's mighty acts of salvation, initiated at baptism. Every time we celebrate baptism and bring in new professing members into the body, we ritually join in what God did in Jesus when the heaven opened, the Spirit like a dove came down, and God spoke -- "My beloved child with whom I am well pleased." This new beginning reminds me of a story of some Christians on a winter night January 21, 1525 in Zurich Switzerland. This group of Christians realized from their study of Scripture and prayer that their way of life then was completely incompatible with what they were discovering in the scripture and decided that then needed a new beginning marked by the waters of baptism. With this new beginning, they sought to embrace the call of Jesus. This bunch was derogatorily referred to as the,” Anabaptists” who are our forbearers.

How does baptismal experience shape how you live as a Christian?

The Acts text reminds us that the waters of baptism are open to all, anywhere, of whatever cultural or other backgrounds, who seek to confess Jesus as Lord and follow in his ways. Consider, then, all that these waters of baptism hold out for us, this day and every day. New creation, new birth, adoption as children of God, means of justice, inspiration to Jesus' way of embodying God's justice, availability to all people everywhere who seek to follow this way, seal for the day of judgment and cleansing from sin.

Today, we will give you an opportunity to participate in God’s mission to reach out to those who are needy in our community. In two weeks beginning January 23rd we will be hosting about twenty homeless men here at CCF. I would like to invite you to be actively involved in doing what Jesus did; provide for these needy men a meal, stay here at the church with them over night and provide winter coats and other items. Let us go forth in our new Baptized identity and embody the message of the New Creation to our dying world. Let us also remember the victims of violence in Arizona over the weekend and pray for healing of our polarization as a nation for in Jesus the walls of hostility are broken down and the two former enemies become sisters and brothers in the Beloved amen!

"DOING" A Three Week Series

2011-01-02T20:53:00.004-05:00

(John 5:16-30); (Jesus broke the Sabbath and Blamed it on his Father; he was simply an obedient and submissive son)

“If you want to be successful, know what you are doing, love what you are doing, and believe in what you are doing”

Unreflected or unexamined life is not worth living?-Socrates

One of my favorite theologians Stanley Hauerwas proposes that, “the most important social task of the church is to be a community capable of hearing the story of God we find in the scripture and living in a manner that is faithful to that story. This thesis leads us to ask the question,“ Is our community hearing the story and striving to be faithful to it? Does our community reflect our Christian convictions”? The answer to that question should be evident when we look at the kind of people we are or have become and what we are doing in order to continually be consistent with our story. The church is founded on the premise that God the creator decisively called and formed a people to serve him through Israel and through the work of Jesus Christ to bring about the redemption of God’s creation.

As Americans we are known for doing stuff. In fact “doing” constitutes part of who we are and hence forms parts of our greetings. When we meet people, shortly after a few exchanges of greetings and pleasantries, the conversation moves quickly to what we do. We as a people are defined by what we do. Doing gives us meaning in life and those who do not do are considered free loaders in the society and are often ostracized and get frowned upon. We are essentially doers and I do not need to take a lot of time to define what that means for you. I would like however to turn our attention to our life together as a community. I believe you have heard terms like, “we do church…. This is how we do church…etc .” The question is “what do we do? And why.”

Here at CCF, we have been doing church for almost eighty years as a congregation. I believe that our work has made a difference in people’s lives and have somehow made the world a better place for people whose lives we have touched in many ways by this ministry. As we begin this New Year, I would like to ask us to examine ourselves and see what kind of people we have become or we are becoming; what kinds of children are we raising? What is our view of marriage and how does marriage work among us? How do we care for the “least of these” among us? What role do we play in our community as a church? etc, in general in what way (s) is our church consistent with the story of Scripture?

Let us turn our attention to the child whose birth we just celebrated. This child, Jesus of Nazareth according the Gospels, did a lot while here on earth and it was one of those “doings” that became problematic. In John chapter 5, Jesus had healed a man that had been cripple and had sat by the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years. Thirty-eight years! This hit home for me differently because I am thirty-eight years old. Just imagine, as long as I have been living, the man had been sitting by the pool. The mistake that Jesus made was that he healed this poor guy on a Sabbath. Jesus’ “doing” had become problematic.

The event opened up a dialogue with the religious authorities who likewise were known for “doing” stuff in the name of religious piety. This exchange with the religious leaders gave Jesus the opportunity to state plainly and clearly what he was doing and why. Jesus responded that he was not acting independently but rather that his actions flowed from what he saw his Father doing. The implication here is that Jesus must have known the father and was familiar with his father’s routine. He knew what his father did and he did likewise. Therefore performing an act of mercy on a needy person was not Jesus’ own doing, but rather, it was what the father was doing and as a result Jesus did it as well. Wouldn’t that be nice if we as a church were to be known as a church that does what we see the Lord Jesus doing? In other words, what we do is consistent with the teaching of scripture.

In this exchange, we learn that Jesus is the Father’s Son, but more importantly, he is a son who lives in total submission to the Father’s will as we later see in Gethsemane when Jesus surrendered, “not my will but yours be done” as he faced the cross. Jesus shows us here that it is the Father that initiates activities and the son that obeys the Father by doing what the Father does. It is the Father that shows the son what to do, the Son for follows the Father’s example. The Father originates activity and the Son implements it in real life.

This was so because the father loves his son and includes him in everything he does. (One New Testament scholar argued that the language Jesus used was an apprentice shop language where the son learned the father’s carpentry trade) Jesus went on to illustrate some of the father’s work, which included; raising the dead. There may be people among us this morning that needs a resurrection; a resurrection of hope, a resurrection on relationship, financial situation etc. In fact this relationship is so tight to the point that the father gave the Son the eschatological role of raising the dead and serving as a judge these roles squarely put the Son in equal position with the father. The Jews had very strict boundaries on this kind of posturing after all it was the attempt to be "like" God that led Adam and Eve to sin in the first place. Jesus had committed multiple 'offenses' because he did what he saw his Father doing. Wouldn't it be great to be accused as a community for doing what we see Jesus and the Father doing? Tune in next week for the next step.

THE CHURCH AS SOCIAL ETHIC

2010-12-29T13:14:00.001-05:00

“The church does not have a social ethic; the church is a social ethic”- Hauerwas

Martin Luther nailed 99 theses that sparked the Reformation movement in 16th century Stanley Hauerwas has proposed ten theses that must not be ignored. I posted them below.

1. The social significance of the Gospel requires the recognition of the narrative structure of Christian convictions for the life of the church.

-The church is founded on the premise that God the creator decisively called and formed a people to serve him through Israel and through the work of Jesus Christ to bring about the redemption of the creation.

2. Every social ethic involves a narrative, whether it is concerned with the formulation of basic principles of social organization and/or with concrete policy alternatives.

-The form and substance of the Christian community is story formed.

3. The ability to provide an adequate account of our existence is the primary test of the truthfulness of a social ethic.

-The first task of the church is to help Christians form a community that looks like their story. The story of God showing up in unlikely places to bring about transformation and restoration.

4. Communities formed by a truthful narrative must provide the skills to transform fate into destiny so that the unexpected, especially as it comes in the form of strangers, can be welcomed as a gift.

-From our story, we learn that we own nothing and whatever we have is a gift. This understanding allows us be less attached to our stuff.

5. The primary social task of the church is to be itself- that is, a people who have been formed by a story that provides them with the skills for negotiating the danger of this existence, trusting in God’s promise of redemption.

-The church is a people on a journey who insist on living lives that are consistent with their conviction that God is the lord of history. They thus refuse to resort to violence in order to secure their survival.

6. Christian social ethics can only be done from the perspective of those who do not seek to control national or world history but who are content to live “out of control”

-This means that Christians must find the means to make clear to both the oppressed and the oppressors that the cross determines the meaning of history. They should thus provide imaginative alternatives for social policy as they are released from the “necessities” of those that would control the world in the name of security. To be out of control means Christians can risk trusting in gifts and not on what we can achieve and hence must protect at all costs.

7. Christian social ethics depends on the development of leadership in the church that can trust and depend on the diversity of gifts in the community.

-The authority necessary for leadership in the church should derive from the willingness of Christians to risk speaking the truth to and hearing the truth from those in charge. This is he kind of community that can afford to have their leader’s mistakes acknowledged without their ceasing to exercise authority.

8. For the church to be, rather than have, a social ethic means we must recapture the social significance of common behavior, such as kindness, friendship, and the formation of families.

Trust is impossible in communities that always regard the other as a challenge and threat to their existence. One of the most profound commitments of a community, therefore, is providing a context that encourages us to trust and depend on one another.

9. In our attempt to control our society American Christians have readily accepted liberalism as a social strategy appropriate to the Christian story (story-less living).

We must constantly remember that we are a story formed community and that story is what defines our existence.

10. The church does not exist to provide an ethos for democracy or any other form of social organization, but stands as a political alternative to every nation, witnessing to the kind of social life possible for those that have been formed by the story of Christ.

The church’s first task is to help us gain a critical perspective on the stories that have captivated our vision and lives. By doing so, the church may well help provide a paradigm of social relations otherwise thought impossible.

Radical Faith as the antidote to Fear; A Christmas message

2010-12-23T09:44:00.008-05:00

(Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18; Romans 1:1-7)
When we talk about Christmas, we normally quickly turn our bibles to Matthew and Luke the two Gospels that tell us (although in varied ways) the story of Jesus' birth. But in order to see the larger scope and its far reaching implications, let us look briefly at Isaiah chapter seven since Matthew makes a reference to Isaiah in jesus' story. In Isaiah 7 we come a cross a king who was facing a national security dilemma; Israel and Syria his neighboring countries threatened him and "his heart shook as the tree of the forest before the wind" (Isa. 7:2). In other words, the King was gripped by fear. In the midst of his fear, God sent Prophet Isaiah to tell Ahaz, the king of Judah that the threat posed by two of his neighbors would not come to fruition (Isa. 7:3-9) and that the king only needed to stand firm in faith.

The king of Judah refused the prophet’s call to radical faith in Yahweh. But despite his refusal, the Lord did not back down on his care for his people and implored the king to ask for a sign that would indicate God’s deliverance. The king refused to ask for a sign referring to scripture, which says, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested God Massah" (Deut 6:16).

The test at Massah grew from Israel's incapacity to trust in God's plan, sustenance, and miraculous provision. Israel failed to believe in God's saving presence among them (Exodus 17:7). Isaiah called Ahaz on his false piety. And told him that even though he refused to ask for a sign, God was going to give a sign anyway because God cares for his people and the refusal of their king would not stop God from showing his care for the people. So the sign was given; “A young woman will be with child and he shall be named “Immanuel” which means, “God with us.”

According to God, the threat posed by the two kings would be no more in two years; their lands would be empty (Isa.7:16) because they had chosen a wrong path. What path was the king of Judah to choose? He was told that If he wanted to see his kingdom stand, he needed to do one thing, have firm faith in God(7:9).   The call to firm faith is hard to receive especially when your heart is filled with fear. God knows that and hence the call on Ahaz to ask for any sign he could imagine. Ahaz refused probably because he had his mind set on something else and but if he saw a sign from God, he not have been able to ignore it.

The impossible miracle of God's saving power was to be evident in the birth Isaiah was telling the king about. In a moment there was to be a baby's cry and in that moment of new life coming a forth and name would be pronounced; Immanuel, "God is with us."  Ahaz chose fear over radical faith, when faced with fear what do you choose?

Forward to Matthew's story of the birth of Jesus which we celebrate at Christmas. Matthew says, “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” Jesus’ story begins with a controversy. His mother was pledged to be married and was found to be pregnant, how? The text simply says by the Holy Spirit. Joseph found himself in a very unfamiliar and somehow occurred situation because he found out that his fiancé was pregnant and he had nothing to do with it. His immediate response was no different from the response of people who question the whole story today. But thanks to God that he does not abandon us to our unbelief.

Like in Ahaz’s situation God showed up this time through his angel and spoke the needed words to a struggling Joseph, “do not be afraid.” This is why Joseph was afraid; “But suppose the man’s accusations are true, and he can show that she was not a virgin. The woman must be taken to the door of her father’s home, and there the men of the town must stone her to death, for she has committed a disgraceful crime in Israel by being promiscuous while living in her parents’ home. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you (Dt. 22:13-21).

Given this background, Joseph knew the implications for what had just occurred and instead of exposing Mary to such a harsh punishment; he planned to divorce her in secret. But God intervened through his angel who appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:0-21). We may once again ask how all this happened and how this unlikely story somehow applies to us? As we ponder that, the text says that while Joseph was still in his dilemma, the angel of the Lord addressed him and he heeded the words of the angel.

Like Joseph and unlike Ahaz, we should choose faith over fear. We who believe in miracles accept the story as it is told in the Gospels. Matthew reminds his readers that the story fits well with Isaiah’s prophecy (Isa.7: 14). This child accordingly was to be named “Jesus” which was the same as the Hebrew name ‘Joshua’ a leader who brought God’s people to the Promised Land.
Matthew sees Jesus as the one appointed to complete what the Law of Moses all along pointed to but could not fulfill. Jesus was to rescue his people from “sin” in the same manner that the Israelites were freed from the Egyptian slavery, Jesus was to free Israel from her sins. He was also named “Emmanuel” as in Isaiah 7:14 and 8:8, meaning ‘God with us.’

The two names “Jesus” and “Emmanuel” captures the story. God is always present with his people and sometimes intervenes in unusual ways. God’s intervention however, is for the purpose of rescuing his people from bondage. This is the story of Christmas. We may choose to focus on the prophecy of a birth (Isaiah) and its fulfillment (Matthew). But we must not stop there because the story does not end there. Christmas is more than just a story about a birth in a manger... though it is also and always that story.   The child that was born in a manger was also the one that was later put to death brutally and thanks be to God, he was also raised from the dead. The resurrection is the ultimate declaration or seal that Jesus is indeed the sign that God is with us to save.

In (Rom. 1:1-7), we see the implication of both the Matthew and the Isaiah texts. The child named Immanuel announced by Isaiah to Ahaz and the house of David; the child, "God-is-with-us," foretold to Joseph in a dream is the child who is born in the flesh died, and was resurrected from the dead. It is this child who met Saul, transformed him and named him Paul and set him apart for the gospel message. The gospel (good news) is that God in Jesus is saving the world. It is this child who also called the Romans and us into the same story; new birth, declared to be God's child, died and was raised from the dead and thereby declared, "God's son". This resurrected Son of God sent his followers to go forth and embody the good news to all creation(Matt. 28:18-20).

The story of this child we celebrate at Christmas has a claim on our lives. He leads us continually to our neighbors, to seek the welfare of those whose lives are in shambles, to bring good news to those who only know bad news, to speak, "do not be afraid"! to those whose lives are held hostage to fear and brokenness. "Immanuel, Jesus"! Come Let us adore him Christ the Lord!

N.T. Wright: Working on a building | Faith & Leadership

2010-12-17T20:36:00.000-05:00

N.T. Wright: Working on a building | Faith & Leadership

The Anabaptist tradition in high demand!

2010-12-04T13:28:00.006-05:00

In his new book "The Naked Anabaptist," Stewart Murray shows the increased interest in "anabaptism." Someone may ask, "what is new in an 'insignificant' 16th century Christian sect? This question could be answered by noting that "anabaptist" is not simply a time period as John H. Yoder once suggested.

Yoder put it succinctly, " 'Anabaptist' is not a century but a hermeneutic (a way of reading scripture). It is represented for certain types of discussion by the 16thcenutry movement, but it can be valid a part from a particular period." He continues, To be Anabaptist meant, in the 16th century, to claim that the recourse to Scripture was an authoritative guide for church renewal, to be applied not only to certain evident abuses but even to the basic structure and identity of Christendom which had been inherited from the centuries before. To take seriously this kind of recourse to Scripture means many other things as well, but structurally it means giving special attention to the dimensions of power and Voluntarism." (From the Aspen essay entitled, "Anabaptist Vision and Mennonite Reality").

I take that Yoder is right in framing the issue as he did above and given our generation's resistance to power and control that flows through rigorous chain of command and the demand to comply, anabaptist's dimension of power and voluntarism is more appealing to our generation in addition to its focus on the story of Jesus and the life of serious discipleship. Stewart's assertion in his book that Christians are turning to anabaptism for guidance in this post-christian society was affirmed my wife Jessica's post on facebook last evening. She wrote, thus,

"Jessica Okanya Is giving up the title, and all the baggage that comes with it- I am no longer a "Christian"- as defined by our current "Christian" culture- which often times is so far from the life and teachings of Jesus. Instead I am simply a follower of Jesus..on a journey, learning how to have a more authentic whole life faith. Thanks to Stuart Murray and his book "The Naked Anabaptist" for inspiring this!"

Within a short moment, she received over 20 responses to her post. Some are here below;

Akeia Rossiter-I have thought about that alot...
Amber Straughn me too.
Mary Minor I totally agree!! I, too, am a follower of Jesus.
Adam Fo I'm tired of how politicized it has become. It seems that in this country you're either a Christian/Conservative/Republican or your some degenerate who is going to burn in hell.
Jessica Okanya Adam I think you would enjoy the book!
Charlene Benjamin Funny how the title given to the Jesus Freaks of the first century, in order to be sarcastic and make fun ("Who do they think they are? The little Christs. ha, ha, ha"), has become a banner that no longer reflects its origin. Interesting....I choose "faithful servant" or "friend" because that is what I want Christ to call me in the end.
Nelson Okanya Awesome. I am enjoying the book and will be blogging about it soon
Carla Sheats Heslop I bought the book for my Dad for Christmas. I'll have to borrow it when he is done.
Judah Melton If only more people had half the common sense you do.
Tracey Brown Me, too.
Trina Trotter Nussbaum I so totally agree with you, Jessica!!!

Yes indeed! the radical tradition is back, most of the comments came from our church, Capital Christian Fellowship, a multicultural anabaptist congregation near Washington D.C. We are striving to live like followers of Jesus! I highly recommend the book.

Taking Jesus Seriously

2010-11-27T10:03:00.002-05:00

The Anabaptist network in the UK is raising interesting questions we are dealing with today as Christians. Below is a sample of their resources which could be found at their sight: http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/An Anabaptist Network study course

In Jesus Christ God has provided the ultimate and definitive revelation (Heb. 1:1-2). Therefore Jesus is the focal point, the centre, the one through whom we can most clearly understand God’s character and purposes.

This does not mean that what God said previously is no longer relevant, nor that God no longer speaks to us in various ways – but it does mean that everything we think God may be saying to us is tested against the ultimate revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

This means that followers of Jesus are committed to a Jesus-centred approach to life, to work, to church, to moral decisions, to priorities, to worship, to finance, to the Bible, to leadership – to everything.

Doesn’t this sound rather obvious? Aren’t all Christians Jesus-centred? What else might be at the centre? What factors might push Jesus away from the centre?

JESUS THE KINGDOM MESSENGER John 1:18

2010-11-21T19:52:00.006-05:00

We are made to love, worship and reflect God's glory. But how do we know God? We can only discover who the true God is by looking at Jesus Christ. John tells us that no one has seen God except God the son and it is him who makes God known (John 1:18). The challenge here for us however is that Jesus lived in 1st century Palestine over 2000 years ago. Ho w can we know him? We know him through the four Canonical Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In order to properly understand Jesus however, we need to understand his first century world.

With the knowledge of 1st Jewish world in mind, What did Jesus mean when he said to his hearers, “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand? (Matt. 4:17; Mk. 1:15). The Kingdom of heaven (as referred to in matthew) or the kingdom as God does not refer to some final resting place after this life is over, it is rather the rule of heaven, being embodied in the here and now. This is why Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

The Jews of Jesus’ day knew that they were the chosen people of God but their here and now reality contradicted that knowledge. They were facing a theological crisis since a pagan destroyed their temple in 587 B.C.E. Could you imagine a pagan destroying the Holy of Holies? I would say that in some similar ways some of us Christians living in this world today, believe that as God’s people we should have it all good. We are supposed to live peaceful lives, in good relationships with each other with our families, neighbors etc and we are supposed to enjoy life after all some of us came to faith in Jesus because someone somewhere told us that when we come to Jesus our lives would be changed and we will live in prosperity and peace.

The question for the Jews living in the first century Palestine was how God's reign of peace and justice to come about? Several options that were apparently available for them to bring about God's reign have been named:
-Realism option-This is the compromise option embraced by Herod and the Sadducees the world as it is and participate in its ways in hopes that God will validate our effort. Accept the world as it is.
-The separation option- This option chose separation from the world in order to wait for God to act. This is the group that the group that wrote the Dead Sea scrolls. We can choose to separate ourselves from the wicked world and regard ourselves as pure. Withdraw from the world and be pure.
-The zealot optionn- Rome only understood the language of violence therefore employs violence to defend ourselves and God will make you victorious over the forces of evil.
Proper religious option-This was presented by the Pharisees, observe rules and regulations.

But Jesus brought a different model and hence his call to, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Out of Jesus’ deep awareness, in loving faith and prayer, of the one he called “Abba, Father,” he went back to Israel’s Scriptures and found there another kingdom-model, equally Jewish if not more so. And it is that model that he calls the church to. He said the kingdom of God is at hand. In Jesus God was bringing about his justice and mercy to Israel and to the world. What Jesus was to his people, the church ought to be to the world.

The church ought to call the world to repent from the various options we are pursuing today. The word repentance has come to mean simply feel sorry for your sins and do something about it, although repentance constitute feeling sorry for sin and turning from it, when Jesus told his audience to repent, He was telling them to give up their agendas and trust him and his way of bringing about the reign of God. As Jesus’ followers, we should be for the world what Jesus was for Israel.

The implication is, instead of putting our trust on stuff or gifts, jobs, abilities, good looks, military might, economic superiority etc, or on people or political parties, Jesus calls his followers to turn and trust the good news that in and through him God is doing something to renew the creation. This way of accomplishing God’s will as we seen in Jesus' life and ministry leading to the cross is costly it appears even foolish (1 Cor. 3:18). It is a way that proposes enemy love instead of killing enemies, it proposes overcoming evil with good instead of evil with evil. It feeds the hungry and heals the sick etc It is a whole new way of being humans not to mention being followers of Jesus and hence citizens of God's kingdom. Let us embrace this messenger and his embodied message in his entire story, life, teachings, death, resurrection and the promise to come again to accomplish all things!

"GREATNESS" WHEN HEAVEN RULES (Matt. 18:1-7)

2010-11-11T09:31:00.006-05:00

God's rule is unique. Its uniqueness is revealed in a discussion that Jesus had with his disciples, who were arguing over which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Before we rush to judgment here, we ought to acknowledge the possibility that when the disciples raised the question of "greatness" they did so in light of their understanding that Jesus was truly their Messiah and as such it was not particularly a bad thing to try to figure out how they would be positioned in his kingdom. In response to their question however, probably to their amazement, Jesus called a child up and began to teach them about “greatness” when heaven rules.

A look at the status of children in ancient societies helps better make Jesus' point. The law viewed children as little more than property until they reached the legal age of adulthood. Their parents had absolute authority over them. Like me growing up in Africa, children were there to be seen and not to be heard from. This is why this story is such an important story for Jesus’ disciples and for the church. Children embodies trust; they cannot do things on their own and therefore to welcome a child is to abandon your authority and status, this is because welcoming a child is to do something without expecting any pay back because the one you are serving has the least ability to repay you.

I believe the story was meant to teach the disciples about the humble nature of God’s kingdom but I also believe that Jesus also needed to teach the disciples and the church a lesson on how to care for children and vulnerable people. Our children particularly here in America by and large often have little more status than children did centuries earlier or in other countries today. But having said that, Children are vulnerable and are completely dependent on adults.

In the ancient societies words for children were gender neutral. The words for ‘child’ in Greek for example were mostly neuter; the child in the story was not a ‘he’ or ‘she’, but simply an ‘it.’ This has led some scholars to translate ‘it’ as a girl in the story. Girls in particular suffered more; newborn baby girls in some cultures were thrown away or sold into prostitution at an early age. So if Jesus did point to a little girl as the model of greatness in the kingdom, he really must have got his disciple’s attention. As was his custom on these matters, Jesus chose the most vulnerable and some how insignificant human being to make his point clear that the kingdom of God belongs to such ones.

The disciples perhaps had in their mind earthly heroes and Jesus threw them off by his illustration of greatness in God’s kingdom by holding a little girl as the model of greatness in his Father’s kingdom. Jesus communicated his heart for the “least of these” and the vulnerable people in our society in general. To be a follower of Jesus also means to care about the “least of these” as he did and failure to do could have serious consequences stated in the story. These “Little ones” obviously includes little children but it could also include people with various disabilities, refugees who have no hope, no identity and self-worth, the elderly, the chronically ill, women (in some cultures), teenagers who are lured into drugs and prostitution etc.

As if to really communicate how important “the least of these” are to God, Jesus said that their angels continually see the face of God (see Isa. 6). From Isaiah 6, the Seraphs that attended to God covered their faces with two wings (Is. 6: 2-3). Here the story is different; the angels of these “little ones” according to Jesus see the face of God, and indication of how important these “little ones” are to God.

To top it all, Jesus issued a chilling warning for those who may cause them to stumble or hurt them; “it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6). Since the world has not been completely redeemed yet, there are going to be people who will cause the “little ones” to stumble or hurt but woe unto them for their role in the demise of the little ones. Although such is bound to be the case, those who follow Jesus must not participate in such things or even aid them in anyway; instead they ought to care for them like their heavenly father does. And even more pointedly, people like that ought not to be among the disciples of Jesus.
If you find yourself in a situation where you are a stumbling block or you are the object of harm to a child, Jesus says that you need to amputate that part of your life that causes that to happen for it is better to enter heaven’s kingdom maimed than to spend eternity without God.

Our cultures tend to keep dependent vulnerable people out of sight but Jesus says that when we hide them, we actually hide the very people who embody kingdom living. They are vulnerable and dependent on others in the same way discipleship ought to be depended on God. Such dependence on God is what constitutes “greatness” in God’s kingdom. There is hardly a more important vocation than that of parenting—a task in which congregations and communities are involved. Everything is at stake here.

The future not only of families but also of the church and the society depend upon parents doing a decent job in raising their children, surely one of the most difficult tasks God has assigned anyone is parenting.
But with Jesus’ warning on our minds, we must consider deeply how our decisions as adults affect our children. What happens to our children and young people when mom and dad call it quits? Just to name one situation. If children are involved are they considered in such a decision? What about the issues of sexual orientation and the resultant tragic situations involving young people in our culture, are we proactively addressing these issues or punting them over to other supposed authorities until it is too late?

I am asking these questions to provoke us in light of Jesus’ words in these verses. In addition to learning about humility and dependence on God as Christians, we also learn about how to treat the “least of these” among us.

CREATED FOR GOOD WORKS Ephesians 2:8-10

2010-09-19T10:13:00.004-04:00

According to Ephesians 1:4-6, we are God's people chosen by grace and foreordained for God’s larger plan for the world. We are called to embody the redemptive vision of the creator God. We look to the cross of Christ as redemptive event for the whole creation. In Ephesians 1, Paul uses the old story of the calling and choosing of Abraham and his family to be the bearers of his promised salvation to all peoples. In the same way, as Christians we are part of Abraham’s family through Jesus and therefore like Abraham our ancestor in faith, we are charged with the responsibility to witness to the entire creation and tell the creation that the creator has not abandoned it. The message for us is, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings not only for us to keep but we are blessed in order for us to be a blessing; Abraham was chosen and blessed by God to be a blessing to all peoples of the earth (Gen. 12:3b).

We are not only chosen, we are also redeemed through the cross (Eph.- 1:7-10). In exodus, the chosen people of God were delivered from the Egyptian slavery with an outstretched arm and a strong right hand in order for them to go forth and worship God and in their worship to witness to the world about the redeemer God. Likewise, in Christ we were enslaved to sin have been redeemed through his shed blood and are therefore freed to worship and witness for Christ as the new people of God. This is in line with God’s plan to finally bring all things together in Christ; things in heaven and on earth (Eph. 1:10).

This mandate to worship and witness is contrary to our seemingly disconnected reality in which our faith convictions are separated from how we actually live our lives. Israel was called and redeemed in order to worship and that their worship would lead them to witness to the nations about God. They were to embody God’s vision in God’s creation. What we know about God and what we do for God must not be separated. You have heard from James that faith without works is dead, but a friend of mine once said, works without faith will kill you! When what we know about God and what we do for God is separated our capacity to be faithful people of God in the world gets greatly diminished and our witness gets skewed by how we live our lives.
In Jesus Christ, heaven and earth is united. Paul says, (Eph 1:10)- God’s plan is to gather all things in Christ (no separated lives) in Christ all is joined once for all forever. As the Holy Spirit empowers us, we embody what Christ already did in himself; in Christ Jesus the twin halves of God’s good creation (heaven and earth) are already joined although the fulness of that has not been realized but we are called to live in that new joined reality. The power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in and through us enabling us to embody God’s redemptive work in the wholeness of God’s creation.

The point is, you are created in Christ for good works (Eph.2: 10). Paul did not want us thinking that all the blessings we have in Christ as Christians comes as a result of our works, no! we are saved by grace through faith. But having reminded us that our salvation is not earned, the apostle tells us that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works as our way of life. Good works are bigger than moral behavior although it includes moral behavior.

Our mission is God’s mission for God is the creator of all existence and as a people saved by God’s grace, we are co-creators with God charged with a mandate to remind the world that it is still God’s good creation, which is being redeemed through God’s son who loved us and gave his life for us. Therefore with that view in mind, we can confidently say through the eyes of faith that the world is a wonderful place even though it does not look like that at times in our own daily experiences and that we have the mandate to demonstrate to the world through our lives that it is indeed a wonderful place because its creator is wonderful and awesome and is in the process of redeem and reclaiming it. You and I are part of that redemptive reality (Pictures of our mission)

However, we also must remember that whenever God is at work in us there is always a cross to bear for Jesus invited us to deny ourselves and take up the cross daily and follow him. What does cross bearing mean for you? Could it mean stepping out of your comfort zone? And what shape would this take in your life? For Paul, it meant being imprisoned for the sake of Christ, what does is it look like in your life? As you think about that don’t forget to remember that our lord actually gave his life for our salvation.

Finally remember that God is working through the church to declare his vision for the entire creation (Eph.3: 10). Now through the Church (you) God’s manifold wisdom is declared to the principalities and powers, the controlling forces of the world that attempts to make us subservient to them. In Christ and through Christ, you are empowered and called forth to live out the life of the new creation as the Spirit empowers you. There are controlling forces that use money, sex and power, as well as political influence and positions to attempt to want us to live in their own ways. These powers must know that Jesus Christ is Lord and they are not and that message comes from us.

These powers must know that in Christ the dividing walls of hostility fall as people’s lives are transformed in him this transformation brings forth unity as the people of God unite and show the powers that be that they are not in charge of the world, Jesus alone is. Politicians and political allegiances must not dislodge Jesus as our Lord and savior and therefore the one to whom our first priority and allegiance in life rests. We are called to be instruments of God’s redemptive plan in Jesus. We must not live as if our faith does not matter and we must be prepared to carry the cross as we follow Jesus as his disciples.

Many more pictures from Africa

2010-09-05T21:47:00.011-04:00

Mark Thiessen Nation interview, pts. 2 & 3

2010-08-27T19:48:00.000-04:00

Mark Thiessen Nation interview, pt. 1

2010-08-27T10:31:00.000-04:00

Back in East Africa A reflection III

2010-08-25T08:43:00.027-04:00

Ephesians 2:10-(We are saved by grace through faith unto good works). God created us in Christ Jesus for good works and because God is the creator, as God's people saved by God’s grace, we are co-creators with God and we are charged with a mission both to remind the world of its creator and to embody the creator's vision and dreams for the creation. The creator has a plan for the creation even though it does not look like that at times given our daily experiences. But each person is unique and was designed by the creator to do good works that the creator designed him or her to do. There are many things that you as an individual can do but you have to discern the things that God designed only you to do.

I am sorry that it took me so long to resume posting on my blog. We were gone from Nairobi for a while into the villages of Musoma Tanzania to spend time at the Mennonite theological college and to visit with my parents in Migori Kenya my home village and had no internet access for the entire time. But long story short, we left Nairobi early in the morning for a six hours trip to Migori Kenya my home town. Eastern Mennonite Missions had allowed us to use one of their vehicles since we had a young family and using public transportation would have been very challenging. As we left, I was somehow nervous mainly because I had not driven on those roads and I had to keep left on the road (Kenyan Traffic rules left over from the British) and gear shift with my left hand. Even though I had travelled on those roads by bus since I was a little boy many times to and from Migori to Nairobi this was a new experience all together. As soon as we embarked on the journey, I was immediately pulled over by a police officer who wanted to see my license (the practice is common in Kenya). I immediately showed him my international driver's license and he waved us on.

We subsequently passed countless of them on the road but none pulled us over again. After about 30 minutes we arrived at the observation point of the Great Rift Valley and since we had a private vehicle we pulled over and looked at the breath taking valley as you can see in the pictures. We marveled at God's wonders as we drove through the Rift-valley. We even saw some giraffes by the road side and pulled over to admired the graceful tall animals hovering over the bushes of the acacia trees. The trip went very smoothly better than I had expected. One difference this time was the road condition which greatly improved. The places that were previously known for deep craters and bellows of dust were smooth and clear a sign that something was taking place. As I reflected on this experience, I was once again reminded of the difference that can be made when humans take seriously their mission and faithfully work at its accomplishment. The disconnect between faith and witness or faith and works to use the traditional categories once again came to surface.

I wondered what difference Christians and the church would make in this world if we were to take our mission seriously and live as if our faith really matters? The ride to Migori generally was uneventful save for some rough parts in Kisii town where the road seemed to have been eroded and big gaping holes left which needed careful navigation of the vehicle. When we arrived in Migori town, my dad was still in town and he did not want to go home before seeing his grandsons. He came and met us at the hotel where we planned to stay at and after some soft drinks and greetings, he left for the village. We spent the night at the Valley-View hotel shown in the picture and things seemed to have gone very well. The next day my mom and dad both arrived at the hotel carrying some corn and peanuts for us. We had breakfast together and proceeded onto Musoma Tanzania to spend a week at Mennonite Theological College of Eastern Africa after which we will go home to Migori and spend time with family. I am still pondering an answer to Jessica's question, may be it will come some day or could be that it is leaking out through my reflections here. Stay tuned.

Back in East Africa A reflection II

2010-08-04T09:39:00.020-04:00

I know you have been waiting to hear my response to Jessica's question. To begin, I would like to say that I did not know the impact her question would have on my reflection. I struggled to reconcile the seeming two split worlds I was observing in Nairobi Kenya. The pictures will tell the story: On the one hand were modern malls equipped with tanning tables, all kinds of modern conveniences exotic cosine, expensive cars and even playing grounds for kids. On the other hand were sprawling slums with huge populations, no running water, terrible craters on parts of the roads and stagnated traffic with motorists devising their own traffic rules as they wish. I was deeply moved by the contrast and my eyes were immediately drawn to it as I will reflect on my village experiences in the coming blog posts.

As I watched and experienced life in Nairobi after a few days, I began to draw from the two world views that have come to dominate my thinking lately; the Hebrew holistic world view and the Greek split world view (spirit and matter). I wondered whether the split reality embodied in the Greek philosophy which has also been reflected in Christian theological systems enables people to live in two different realities with minor conflicts if any. I heard people talk about their faith in terms that focused simply on their heavenly yearnings and very little of their earthly realities which bothered me a great deal. I was bothered partly because my reading of the scriptures has increasingly led to a discovery and appreciation of the wholeness of the creation which is embodied in the Hebrew view of reality.

Yes the Scriptures also talks about heaven and earth as separate realities but Jesus taught us to pray "may your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." I believe that the New Testament proclaims the coming of the kingdom of God here on earth which began with the coming and ministry of Jesus. This I believe is the reason apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian Church telling them that God already made known to them and by extension us the "mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment -to bring all things into heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." (Eph. 1:9-10).

I believe as Paul did that this "fulness of time" began with Jesus' kingdom announcement and embodiment through his life, death and resurrection. This kingdom message and embodiment in Jesus of Nazareth I believe is the mission of the church which impacts the created yet fallen world. The coming of Jesus was the world’s greatest event because it signaled the beginning of a decisive move by God to redeem the creation and make all things new and restore the creation to its original intent. As I looked around what I saw stood in contrast to what I have just described; I saw the split world reality embodied there more than the holistic reality that I believe the Gospel message proclaims.

This seeming state of affairs which I believe is not only unique to Africa raised several deep questions in my mind and heart. The situation invoked a further debate within me on two separate levels; personal and church. On a personal level it brought to surface the issues that I have wrestled with and continues to wrestle with in regards to my faith confessions and convictions on the on hand and how I actually live my live as a confessing Christian on the other. I tried to review what I believe about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and glanced at my life and I found a huge gap. On the second level, I reflected on what I believe about the church and its mission to the world and what I experience in church life even as a pastor and once a gain I found a contradiction. The discovery here is not new to me and faith life in general but coming back here heightened it even more as I looked around me and the split reality dominated by experiences. I will continue to ponder why what we know and believe and what we ought to do because of what we believe seem to be contradictory. Apostle Paul and other church leaders have wrestled with this question throughout the history of the church. I do believe that when this separation or contradiction between faith and life occurs, it diminishes my capacity and the church's capacity to be faithful to God and as such our it diminishes out capacity to impact the world. This ought to really bothers us as Christians.

In Ephesians Paul invites Ephesian Christians to examine what they believe about God asserting that their belief about God ought to impact what what they do for God. If this is the case then we need to reexamine what we really believe about God and the church and their respective mission. I have chosen the book of Ephesians for my reflection during my sabbatical and time in East Africa. I agree with Paul that my faith convictions as a christian matters which is the message I see in the book of Ephesians.

In Ephesians we learn for example that in Jesus God is at work and as a result;
1- The creation has been united in Christ Jesus (chapter 1), no more split reality
2- The walls of division between Jews and Gentiles fell (Chapter 2) and so should our walls today
3- There is unity between wife and husband (Chapter 5) this unity is beautiful and is a reflection of the new relationship between the church and her redeemer Jesus Christ.

I will use this line of thought to guide me in my reflection as I move from the city of Nairobi kenya to the villages of Nyabange Tanzania and Migori Kenya from here on. I will also include pictures that aided my reflection on each post. stay tuned

Being Back in Kenya, A reflection

2010-07-31T00:24:00.008-04:00

We arrived in Nairobi on July 6, 2010 at 1pm aboard Ethiopian airline plane. Praise the lord for his protection and a fairly uneventful trip with two toddlers. The boys were great during the flight and I am glad my family and I made it here safely. The visa process for Jessica went smoothly and quickly which was a great relief and top of it all, we got our all our luggage!!! Joseph of “Just Connection” picked us from the airport. Wess and Lois Boyer and bishop Philip Okeyo welcomed us to the guesthouse. The boys immediately located the playground and went to town, they played for sometime and then we began to look for food. Ruth Osiro from the quest house gave us some granola, milk and fruit which saved the evening for us, thanks Ruth. The boys enjoyed the food and we gave them baths (Barak was not very thrilled about the bath). As the evening drew to a close, I quickly realized that we would not be eating dinner as a family at the guest house as previously planned, Izak was a sleep and Jessica was laying down with him when dinner time arrived.

Barak and I went to the guesthouse to pick up our food in "a to go" containers in kenya we call it "take away" while we were waiting for the food to be packaged for us, lo and behold, Barak who would not fall a sleep on the flight after fifteen hours of flight just fell a sleep at the table so I carried him back to the house and laid him down first and then went back and brought the food for Jessica and I. While we were eating, Jessica asked me a question that required some deep reflection, she said “so what is your impression so far being back here?” at first I got somewhat defensive about the question, “what do you mean, I have been here just a few hours.” But she persisted that I share my first impressions. The next post will be my response to her question. Stay tuned

"Land, Life, and the Poetry of Creatures."

2010-06-13T08:28:00.000-04:00

Transcript of Podcast/Radio Broadcast
June 10, 2010
Krista Tippett, host: I'm Krista Tippett. Today, "Land, Life, and the Poetry of Creatures." We approach a new imagination about human domination of the earth and its creatures with biblical scholar Ellen Davis.

Professor Ellen Davis: We are a part of an intricate web of physical relations, which are at the same time moral relations. How we eat and drink, how we sow our land, how we get food to our plates, how we use other bodies, other human bodies, in getting food and drink to sustain us. These are moral issues which cannot be separated from very basic physical questions.

Ms. Tippett: Also, Wendell Berry reads us some of his poems. This is Speaking of Faith. Stay with us.

[announcements]

Ms. Tippett: I'm Krista Tippett.

Ellen Davis is helping to shape a new imagination about the human relationship to the natural world — from the U.S. to Sudan to Indonesia. She's training modern eyes, that is, to see the many layers of the recurring theme of "the land" all the way through ancient yet living biblical writings. And as she began to discover two decades ago, these have life and death resonance for modern urban as well as agricultural realities. Wendell Berry — farmer, poet, and moral essayist — is a friend and collaborator of Ellen Davis. And so we're weaving his poetry into this conversation, as it's woven throughout her writing. Their voices together carry wisdom for the grief many of us are feeling amidst specters of ecological devastation. Here are some lines from one of Wendell Berry's Sabbath poems, which he read for us at his farm in Kentucky:

Mr. Wendell Berry: (reading)

Not again in this flesh will I see
the old trees stand here as they did,
weighty creatures made of light, delight
of their making straight in them and well,
whatever blight our blindness was or made,
however thought or act might fail.

The burden of absence grows, and I pay
daily the grief I owe to love
for women and men, days and trees
I will not know again. Pray
for the world's light thus borne away.
Pray for the little songs that wake and move.
Ms. Tippett: From American Public Media, this is Speaking of Faith — public radio's conversation about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas. Today, "Land, Life, and the Poetry of Creatures."

Ellen Davis is a professor of biblical and practical theology at the Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. She began as a scholar of the Hebrew language, for a time in Israel. From there she became a Christian scholar of the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament. And full disclosure here: In the early 1990s, when she was a professor at Yale Divinity School, Ellen Davis was my teacher. Over two semesters, she captivated my imagination and that of my fellow students — excavating historical, theological, and literary intricacies of the scriptural writings. In the years that followed, she became actively involved with an emerging network of biblically and scientifically informed initiatives on ecology, such as The Land Institute of the plant geneticist Wes Jackson. In 2009, she brought her years of research and discernment together in a book, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. Ellen Davis is herself a city dweller, and she traces her personal attention to the natural world to her childhood on an island in the San Francisco Bay.

Prof. Davis: I grew up in one of the most beautiful places in the world. And so there was never a time when I was not conscious of being in an exceptionally beautiful place, and maybe the best thing I can say about my childhood is my friends and I did not take that for granted. And we were outside every day. We would often just walk around the island and tell each other about the stories we were reading. There was still a lot of wildness in the Bay Area in my childhood. And a second thing, I would say, is that I watched the place I loved most change over the early decades of my life and change in ways I think we now all recognize are probably not sustainable. And while I didn't have that phrase to apply to it as a young person, I realized it was changing in ways that were probably not healthy.

Ms. Tippett: What do you think of when you say that, that those changes?

Prof. Davis: You know, I think about highways going through places where there used to be farms. When I grew up, there was a lady raising goats and I would pass her every day on my way to school. Well, that seems like another century now. It is another century.

Ms. Tippett: Well, it was.

Prof. Davis: Yes. Yeah.

Ms. Tippett: And then what really strikes me is also that this theme that you have become so passionate about and so wise about and you steeped yourself in the texts and traditions around the land, but that you started, as I understand it, thinking about this maybe 15, 20 years ago. And it wasn't because you set out to be an environmentalist. You were very much a scholar. And yet, as you say, you stumbled across this. You came up on it in the course of your normal professional activity of reading and interpreting the Hebrew Scriptures. So can you kind of tell me that story? I mean, can you trace it?

Prof. Davis: Sure. Mm-hmm. Sure. You may even have been in the class, but I was lecturing my way all the way through the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, for the first time. And I think at the end of the first semester, one of my doctoral student teaching assistants said when we were making up the final exam, "Well, you need to ask a question about land." And I said, "Why?" And he said, "Because you talk about it all the time." And I was not conscious of doing that; I was simply aware of talking my way through each book of the Bible. I would now say it's obvious that I would be talking about land all the time because you can't go more than a few chapters in the Old Testament Hebrew Bible without seeing some reference to land, water, its health, its lack of health, the absence of fertile soil and water. But at the time, that came as a surprise to me. And so I became more conscious of what I was doing.

And at the same time, I had made a trip back to California and to a part of California not so far from where I'd grown up but far enough that I hadn't been there in a number of years. And, again, I was shocked at the changes that had taken place within my memory. And I began to recognize that there was a huge gap between the kind of exquisite attention that the biblical writers are giving to the fragile land on which they live and the kind of obliviousness that characterizes our culture, or did at that time, in respect to our use of land. And California and Israel are really comparable landscapes. They're both fragile, both semi-arid. So I found time sort of collapsing in a certain sense, but there was an odious comparison between that care of land which is at least held up as an ideal in the Bible and the disregard of it that I was seeing in my own place.

Ms. Tippett: And then as you took that realization back into your scholarship, did you even start seeing things that you hadn't seen before?

Prof. Davis: Oh, yes. And that continues now. As I started reading text — well, first I thought that I was going to have to be very careful to find text that would speak to the care of land, and that turned out not to be true at all, that I could open up almost anywhere in the Bible and find something.

Ms. Tippett: Right.

Prof. Davis: But now I continue to find that even reading chapters, passages that I've written on before, that I've lectured on countless times, when I read them from the perspective of what they have to say about the land on which our life depends and its health, things pop out at me that I had simply overlooked before, where things make sense to me that I had never tried to make sense of.

[sound bite of music]

Ms. Tippett: I'm Krista Tippett, and this is Speaking of Faith from American Public Media. Today, "Land, Life, and the Poetry of Creatures."

Ellen Davis's realization of the deepest sense of the biblical text has coincided with a burgeoning realization that a certain kind of reading of the book of Genesis in particular formed the modern West — shaping its ecological as well as economic and political imprint on the world. The first chapter of Genesis is, as Ellen Davis puts it, a magisterially toned "liturgical poem." In six days "[a]t the beginning of God's creating," as the Hebrew has it, night and day, firmament and water, seeding plants, sun and stars, fish and fowl, crawling creatures of the dry land, and finally human beings are created. And in a verse that politicians and entrepreneurs, colonizers and missionaries of the Christian West took on with vigor, God blesses the man and woman created in God's image. And here's how the King James version translated God's command to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

Ms. Tippett: So, you know what I thought would be interesting for us to do is just pick up Genesis. I had the Tanakh, the Jewish Publication Society Bible, in front of me, and I have Everett Fox's Five Books of Moses, which is a translation, and it's very close to the Hebrew.

Prof. Davis: Yes. Yeah.

Ms. Tippett: And not necessarily as linear. It doesn't necessarily read in a smooth way in English but, as you've said it, it makes the Hebrew more transparent, including rhythms and allusions. And so with agrarian eyes, you know, what do you see when you open Genesis 1?

Prof. Davis: Well, the first thing that stands out is that the rhythm of the passage changes when we get to the creation of the dry land on the fifth day. That up until that point — actually, I think the dry land is created a little bit sooner than the fifth day, but it begins to be furnished for habitation on the fifth day — and up until that point, Genesis 1 is really very terse. "Let there be light: And there was light" "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters … and it was so." But then, when the dry land begins to be furnished for habitation, suddenly there is blessing enters the world. So the creatures are blessed. And of course, we know human beings are blessed on the sixth day, but we often overlook the fact that the creatures of sky and sea receive exactly the same blessing, pru u'revu, "be fruitful and multiply." And so we are living amongst creatures who are blessed before we even come into existence. I think that's an important thing to recognize.

Ms. Tippett: Now let's just, you know, point out that I think the passage, if people know something from this, it is this blessing that also seems to contain not just permission but a commandment to — you know, the words, the translation's different, to have dominion, to master it, to rule the fish of the sea. So you're saying that that's tempered first of all by the context. But how do you step back from that and what do you see is happening there that is not clear in the way we have translated and used this text?

Prof. Davis: OK. The Hebrew word is a strong word and I render it "exercise skilled mastery amongst the creatures" because I think the notion of skilled mastery suggests something like a craft, an art, of being human without taking away the fact that humans do, from the perspective of almost all the biblical writers — not every single one but almost all — humans occupy a very special place of power and privilege and responsibility in the world. But the condition for our exercise of skilled mastery is set by the prior blessing of the creatures of sea and sky, that they are to be fruitful and multiply. So whatever it means for us to exercise skilled mastery, it cannot undo that prior blessing. I think that's pretty convicting for us in the sixth great age of species extinction.

Ms. Tippett: Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Prof. Davis: The other thing I would point out is that there is tremendous emphasis on the fruitfulness of the earth.

Ms. Tippett: Right.

Prof. Davis: "Let the earth grasp forth grass," the Hebrew says. "Let seed-bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it," and it goes on for another verse. Continual emphasis on how the earth is a self-perpetuating system of fertility, of fruitfulness to provide for all. And then there is the creation of the earth creatures, including humankind. And then again at the very end of the chapter, God says to the humans right after they have been given the charge to exercise skilled mastery, God says, "Look, I give you every seed-bearing plant that's upon all the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit that shall be yours for food. And to all the animals and to the birds and to the things that creep on the earth." So food has been provided for all.

Ms. Tippett: Right.

Prof. Davis: It seems to me that this is the first and maybe the best clue that we have of what it means for humans to exercise skilled mastery amongst the creatures. That we are the one creature that is conscious that everybody has to eat.

Ms. Tippett: Right. I mean, you even write about eating as practical theology. So, I mean, I think here's a whole new area, that Genesis talks to us about eating as part of being human and as part of being a creature. Eating is something we talk about a lot these days in our culture, right, along with words like "ecology" and "sustainability."

Prof. Davis: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Ms. Tippett: So talk to me about what you see there that you haven't even paid attention to.

Prof. Davis: I think we are beginning to wake up in this culture from a long period of obliviousness about what we eat. And we're also stepping out of our completely unprecedented lack of awareness that eating has anything to do with our life with God.

Ms. Tippett: Right.

Prof. Davis: So it's important to realize what a bubble we have been in, with respect to this.

Ms. Tippett: Is the prayer at mealtime that's also going away, is that kind of a vestige of that mentality?

Prof. Davis: Oh, certainly. But I think even people who have been saying grace over their meals have not thought very much about the gift of the land and water and fertile soil that brought the food to the plate. And that I think is what's changing now in our time. I remember 15, 20 years ago when I began thinking about this and I would be asked to speak in a church or to a group of bishops or to a group of clergy, and I would say, "This is what I want to work on," and they would say, "Well, couldn't you do something theological?"

Ms. Tippett: Right.

Prof. Davis: But that has really changed.

Ms. Tippett: Mm-hmm.

Prof. Davis: And I think that's something to be grateful for, that while the situation on the ground has in many ways become worse, the awareness in our culture and in religious communities really all over the world has grown significantly.

[sound bite of music]

Ms. Tippett: You do put it in very vivid and stark religious terms. I mean, you've written, "Every day taking our sustenance from the earth and from the bodies of other animals, we enter deeply into the mystery of creation." You know, you said, "Eating is practical theology because it gives us an opportunity to honor God with our bodies." You know, when I read that, that has resonance for so many things that we're coming back to an awareness of right now in our culture, even obesity …

Prof. Davis: Right.

Ms. Tippett: … and nutrition and care of body in many ways.

Prof. Davis: Yeah. For a very long time, I think we have had a highly spiritualized notion of religion in the West, that our souls, our spirits, our hearts, whatever word we wanted to use for what connected us to God, those things connected us to God; our bodies did not. With the one exception of sexuality. We thought that sexual morality in some way connected us to God, but nothing else about our physical being does. I think we are letting go of that delusion now.

Ms. Tippett: Mm-hmm. Something else that you point out in the text in Genesis that you dwell on is this image of God seeing, right, it says repeatedly in the first chapter of Genesis, "God saw that it was good."

Prof. Davis: Mm-hmm. How we see the world is how we learn to value it. And it's striking that in Genesis 1 what we know of God, really the only things we know of God, is that God creates and God values what God has made. God sees it as good, but that can also be translated, "God saw how beautiful it was." And I think there's almost an element of surprise, of delight, that, you know, we know from our own smaller creations. And so God is, in a sense, the first appreciator of the world, the first one to see that it is beautiful.

Ms. Tippett: And it's very important that, as you said, Genesis 1 is a liturgical poem. So, I mean, before we leave Genesis behind, would you talk about how that must inform our reading of what it's saying to us and how it's saying it to us?

Prof. Davis: Sure. Poetry is language that speaks to our hearts. And I'm using the biblical word "heart," which I think the closest equivalent to that in 21st-century language is our imaginations. The heart, in biblical physiology, the heart is the center of our emotions, but also of our intellect. And those two things cannot be separated. And poetic language is precise. It is detail, it's realistic, but it is not the discursive language of mere fact. And so I think it's important that in different ways the first and second chapters of the Bible are telling us about our place in the world, telling us about the web of relationships into which we are born as a species. And we are placed creatures.

Ms. Tippett: Right.

Prof. Davis: We're placed within an order. That's a quite different way, I think, of thinking about ourselves than what we often take to be a literal reading of the Bible but, in my view, a cruder way of reading the Bible.

Ms. Tippett: Over the years as you've delved into this, you've made more and more connections with the poetry of, well, especially Wendell Berry. You've written about the poetry of loss and care as the poetry of creatures. What do you mean when you use those phrases?

Prof. Davis: A starting point for me in thinking about ourselves as creatures is the observation of Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that now the art of being creatures is almost a lost art. And I think that notion that we need to learn, we need to be skilled, we need to be wise, in order to be the creatures that, in fact, we are, that we think of creatures as anyone who's not human.

Ms. Tippett: Hmm. Right, right.

Prof. Davis: And, again, I think it's part of the sense that we are limitless.

Ms. Tippett: It's that dominion that we have over the creatures.

Prof. Davis: Yeah. Yeah.

Ms. Tippett: Mm-hmm.

Prof. Davis: And it's why I like the phrase "the exercise of skilled mastery" because it suggests an artfulness in being human. And I think that poetry, well, I believe Wendell Berry says poetry cannot be read in distraction. You can, often you have to read an instructional manual or a textbook or whatever, without paying all that much attention to kind of skim you away through it, to get to the heart of the matter. But you can't read poetry that way. Poetry slows you down. And I think that anything in our world now that slows us down is to be valued and maybe as a gift and even a calling from God.

[sound bite of music]

Ms. Tippett: Ellen Davis. And here is Wendell Berry, reading his poem "How to Be a Poet."

Mr. Wendell Berry: (reading)

Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill — more of each
than you have — inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.
Ms. Tippett: Wendell Berry. At speakingoffaith.org, find this and other poems he graciously read for us at his farm in Kentucky. Also, there was so much in my conversation with Ellen Davis that we couldn't fit into the broadcast hour. In the unedited interview hear her discussion of the second Genesis story that begins in chapter 2. There the magisterial lens of Genesis 1, as she puts it, zooms in on the human beings — Eve and Adam, a name taken from Adamah, which is Hebrew for "earth." We also spoke about her fascinating ongoing work with leaders of the Anglican Church in Sudan. That's a place where contested land, and the fertility of land, are at the heart of political and cultural crisis as well as any hope for the future. Hear how Ellen Davis's Sudanese students — bishops as well as seminarians — helped her read the book of Leviticus as if for the first time. Download this unedited conversation and much more at speakingoffaith.org.

After a short break, how the cultivation of agrarian eyes is life-giving work for city dwellers as well. Also, more poetry with Wendell Berry.

I'm Krista Tippett. Stay with us. Speaking of Faith comes to you from American Public Media.

[announcements]

Ms. Tippett: Welcome back to Speaking of Faith, public radio's conversation about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas. I'm Krista Tippett. Today, "Land, Life, and the Poetry of Creatures."

I'm speaking with Ellen Davis, a scholar of the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament, at the Duke University Divinity School. Her thinking reframes the way Western culture as a whole long acted on the biblical teaching that human beings should dominate the earth and its creatures. And she's helping form a new imagination in Christian and other leaders from the U.S. to Sudan to Indonesia. The farmer, poet, conservationist, and moral essayist Wendell Berry is a friend and collaborator of Ellen Davis, and we're weaving his poetry into this conversation as it's woven throughout her writing. He recorded for us from his home in Kentucky. Here are some more lines from his "Mad Farmer" poems.

[music]

Mr. Wendell Berry: (reading)

I am done with apologies. If contrariness is my
inheritance and destiny, so be it. If it is my mission
to go in at exits and come out at entrances, so be it.
I have planted by the stars in defiance of the experts,
and tilled somewhat by incantation and by singing,
and reaped, as I knew, by luck and Heaven's favor,
in spite of the best advice.
Prof. Davis: Part of what I find myself doing in my writing now is creating a kind of shift in paradigm because I've seen that there is something more basic in the Bible than possession of land; it's care of land.

Ms. Tippett: OK.

Prof. Davis: And it's the best index in the Bible of the health of the relationship between God and Israel or between God and humankind is the health of the land of the Israel or the earth as a whole, its fertility. And I think at the root of it is the notion that we are a part of an intricate web of physical relations, which are at the same time moral relations.

Ms. Tippett: OK.

Prof. Davis: How we eat and drink, how we sow our land, how we get food to our plates, how we use other bodies, other human bodies, in getting food and drink to sustain us, these are moral issues which cannot be separated from the very basic physical questions.

And so I think the issue of land possession is important. There's no question it's important in the Bible, but the question of possession can never be separated from the question of care. And I think in maybe all of our cultures, going back to ancient times, we have put first priority on the questions of physical possession and somehow thought that the questions of care would take care of themselves or someone else would take care of that.

Ms. Tippett: Right.

Prof. Davis: And I think now we've sort of come up against the wall and maybe the best thing we can say about ourselves at this point is we're reaching the end of that delusion.

Ms. Tippett: Right. And there's something very striking also in looking at kind of the sweep of where your thinking has taken you, where your studies have taken you, you know? I mean, at the one and the same time, there's a new association and a new sense of the relevance and the present resonance of these images of Genesis and the meanings of it. And also this prophet message, also in the sense of needing to wake people up, right, being a voice of — judgment is a hard word; it's not even a complicated enough word.

Prof. Davis: I think that if one reads scripture carefully, one is continually challenged to rethink maybe everything that we take for granted. I sometimes say to my students the best way to find your preaching angle for any text is to ask how it challenges or turns on its head your ordinary way of thinking about how things really are.

Ms. Tippett: Hmm.

Prof. Davis: And that, I think, is the prophetic dimension of scripture itself.

[sound bite of music]

Ms. Tippett: In her book Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture, Ellen Davis compares current specters of ecological devastation with the prophet Jeremiah's vision of the earth gone "wild and waste" — a kind of reversal of the Genesis story. And in an essay about a visit he once made to a strip-mining site in Hardburly, Kentucky, Wendell Berry described "mangled land" — "a place of titanic disorder and violence." He wrote, "Since I left Hardburly I have been unable to escape the sense that I have been to the top of the mountain, and that I have looked over and seen, not the promised land vouchsafed to a chosen people, but a land of violence and sterility prepared and set aside for the damned."

[sound bite of music]

Ms. Tippett: You and also Wendell Berry do a lot of describing of this waste and destruction, this chaos. And much of that now is becoming familiar. You know, these litanies are becoming familiar of what we have wrought. And of course journalists are kinds of prophets in a way. I mean, we become inundated with these facts and with images that I think are presented with the purpose of awareness and perhaps a different kind of action but can also be paralyzing and debilitating. You know, they can have that opposite effect on our imaginations and on our action. So I wonder how you think about what the biblical text offers also in terms of nourishing hope and courage and practical ways of living forward in a different way.

Prof. Davis: It's interesting that none of the so-called prophetic books of the Bible, the books that actually have the names of prophets attached to them, like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, all of those books bring us to despair if we take them seriously. If we apply them to our lives they, in a sense, bring us to our knees. But none of them ends without what they call in the book of Jeremiah "the book of consolation." None of them ends without a picture of the people of God returning to a healthy relationship with God, and all of them have a picture of the land being fruitful and productive, in celebration you might say, of that restored relationship between God and humanity, God and Israel.

And as kind of a parallel to that, when I began working in this area and I saw how deep the problems were, I got more and more depressed. I noticed this happens with my students when we begin studying this. The first movement is into depression.

Ms. Tippett: Mm-hmm.

Prof. Davis: But then there begins to be a sort of brightening on the path, you might say, as we begin to see that there are other people seeing the same things as we're seeing and working on these things.

Ms. Tippett: Right.

Prof. Davis: So Wendell Berry says now, "When hope sets out in its desperate search for reasons, it can find them."

Ms. Tippett: OK.

Prof. Davis: There are reasons, you know, in the language of scripture, giving reason for the hope that is in us. And it's there.

Ms. Tippett: You know, you use phrases in your writing that kind of countercultural. You know, you speak of "a tenacious but severely chastened hope" or "things that are encouraging and deeply sobering." And maybe it is that kind of realism that we have to have about hope, how closely it can be mingled with our despair and yet survive.

Prof. Davis: Certainly there is a difference between hope and a foolish optimism. And in order to have hope, you have to see the depth and the dimensions of the problem.

Ms. Tippett: Mm-hmm.

Prof. Davis: And I think that we are beginning to grasp.

[sound bite of music]

Ms. Tippett: I'm Krista Tippett, and this is Speaking of Faith from American Public Media. Today reflecting on "Land, Life, and the Poetry of Creatures" with biblical scholar Ellen Davis.

Ms. Tippett: You know, most of the people who — possibly most of the people who listen to this conversation between us, including you and I, are city dwellers, are not agrarian in any kind of way that we can identify or way we would define ourselves. So talk to me a little bit about what this way of seeing, reading the Bible and thinking about land and care and loss of land and creation, what this says for city dwellers.

Prof. Davis: I think what is says is that our cities cannot be regarded as entities in themselves. Our cities are no more important than the watersheds and the breadbaskets that surround them and on which their lives depend and therefore, the lives of us who live in cities depend directly. One of the most positive things that has happened in the years I've been working on this book is that more and more, not only the city in which I live, Durham, North Carolina, but in the cities that I visit, I see farmers in the middle of the city selling their food. I've learned that in Vancouver, BC, 45 percent of the residents grow some of their own food. It may be a pot of basil and parsley on the windowsill, but they grow something that they eat. I think that being conscious of where our food comes from and who grows it and at what cost, that's something that all of us can do and must do. Certainly, if everybody decided to move out of our cities, it would be a disaster.

Ms. Tippett: Right.

Prof. Davis: That's not what I'm advocating.

Ms. Tippett: Right. Right.

Prof. Davis: But just realizing that the kind of contempt that I think many urban dwellers have had for rural areas and the people who live in them, the kind of contempt that allows us to blow up mountains in Kentucky and West Virginia and fill the hollows with the rubble, that kind of contempt is suicidal for people who live in cities.

Ms. Tippett: Mm-hmm. One of my producers behind the glass has a question and will I be able to hear him just in my headphones? OK. OK. You're going to love this one.

Prof. Davis: OK.

Ms. Tippett: So apparently my senior editor, Trent, is Tweeting this conversation we're having, and he has had a question come in from a student of yours who loves you …

Prof. Davis: OK.

Ms. Tippett: … and he was afraid to ask this question in your classes.

Prof. Davis: All right.

Ms. Tippett: So it is how do city dwellers, urbanites, relate to an agrarian mindset without romanticizing it?

Prof. Davis: I think the best way to do that is to listen to farmers and to meet farmers. As we've been talking about, that's easy to do now because there probably isn't an urban area —

Ms. Tippett: Right. They're in your city. Right.

Prof. Davis: Yeah, exactly. They're in our city. So talk to them and find out what they're doing, what their hopes are, and also what their struggles are. And I don't know any farmer who isn't struggling.

Ms. Tippett: Right. Right.

Prof. Davis: And it doesn't matter what model of farming they're using. If they're using small farming, trying to get off the grid, or if they are involved in industrial farming, I don't know any of them who are not struggling and to some degree suffering. So I think that's the most important thing that we can do in order not to romanticize it. I'd also suggest that you can read some of what is happening in new modes of agricultural research.

Ms. Tippett: OK.

Prof. Davis: Because some people think that when I or others are talking about agrarianism, we're sort of talking about going back a hundred years, if not 2,000 years. But it's not an exercise in nostalgia.

Ms. Tippett: Mm-hmm.

Prof. Davis: And so scientists, some of whom are also farmers, are a very important part of shaping the vision of the future. And there's no one more important in my thinking or in the future of agriculture than Wes Jackson and The Land Institute.

Ms. Tippett: He is a scientist, isn't he?

Prof. Davis: He is. He's an evolutionary biologist.

Ms. Tippett: Right.

Prof. Davis: He's a plant geneticist who is working on a completely different model of agricultural. For 10,000 years, the dominant model has been annual plants grown increasingly in monoculture. The model he's working with is perennial plants grown in polyculture. So this would mean wheat, especially wheat, but other forms of edible nutritious grains that can be grown without plowing and stripping the land each year.

Ms. Tippett: OK.

Prof. Davis: I think it's tremendously important. I have another friend, Mary Eubanks, a biologist at Duke University, who is also a plant biologist and she's growing high-protein, drought-resistant corn. Her corn, her maize, now is at 17 percent protein. The significance of that, when you think about —and this is non-genetically modified — when you think about the potential significance that in terms of the world population, it's very significant.

Ms. Tippett: When you talk about Creation and Genesis and this agrarian reading of the Bible, and there's beauty in it, there's reverence in it, and also that the Bible and all the imagery of the Bible is no stranger to catastrophe.

Prof. Davis: Mm-hmm.

Ms. Tippett: To loss and to bitterness and grief. And it seemed especially, I mean, that really seemed especially present and, in fact, fitting for this subject in this moment in our culture in a way that surprised me.

Prof. Davis: Yes. I remember my first seminary dean when I was a student saying, "If you don't shed some tears while you're here you will have missed the point."

[sound bite of music]

Ms. Tippett: Here, in closing, Wendell Berry reads from his poetry collection Sabbaths:

Mr. Wendell Berry: (reading)

For comfort as these lights depart,
recall again the angels of the thicket,
columbine aerial in the whelming tangle,
song drifting down, light rain, day
returning in song, the lordly Art
piecing out its humble way.

Though blindness may yet detonate in light,
ruining all, after all the years, great right
subsumed finally in paltry wrong,
what do we know? Still
the Presence that we come into with song
is here, shaping the seasons of His wild will.
[sound bite of music]

Ms. Tippett: Hear and see this and all the poems Wendell Berry read this hour, and others he read for us from his home in Kentucky, on our website, speakingoffaith.org. He contributed a foreword to Ellen Davis's book Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. Ellen Davis is the Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at the Duke University Divinity School in North Carolina.

Speaking of Faith is produced by Colleen Scheck, Chris Heagle, Nancy Rosenbaum, and Shubha Bala. Trent Gilliss is our senior editor.

Special thanks this week to Ann Thompson.

Kate Moos is the managing producer of Speaking of Faith. And I'm Krista Tippett.

MENNONITE THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE OF EASTERN AFRICA

2010-06-08T16:54:00.002-04:00

In 1934, Mennonites from Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the United States of America responded to the call of God to venture into missions to the African continent. This call led them to Tanganyika, where they began their work in 1934 at Shirati, Tanganyika. One of their priorities was leadership training. Shortly after the work was started, missionaries John and Catherine Leatherman arrived in Tanganyika in 1936 and on October 21 of that year, Bukiroba Bible School was opened. The aim was to train the evangelists in Biblical studies and basic education and classes in Bible and home making for their wives. Old and New Testament, leadership methods, and church history also formed the curriculum.

One year before national independence, in 1960 Tanganyika Mennonite Church attained autonomy from Lancaster Mennonite Conference and desired an upgrading of the Bible College. Following construction, Mennonite Theological College opened in 1962 with Dr. Donald Jacobs as the first principal. Dr. Jacobs led the effort to enroll those who had proven themselves in church ministries to the college. During the three years the students continued in ministries in church life and apprenticeship. A meaningful fellowship of mutual discipleship occurred between students and faculty. After graduation, the church called some and others turned to other vocations while four of the students were sent oversees for further studies. However, due to the high cost of running the college, the church shifted focus from the theological college back to Bible School.

Bukiroba Bible School was re-opened in 1971 offering a two – year course designed for those who had finished elementary school. In order to train leaders who were in touch with the world of work and could help support themselves, vocational courses were added to the curriculum. In view of the low enrollment the Bible School, once again, was discontinued and in 1981, Theological Education by Extension (T.E.E) was developed as an alternative.

In 1988, the council of Eastern Africa Mennonite Churches (CEAMC) was formed. Soon after its formation, the CEAMC meeting proposed a “Theological Leadership Training Commission.” The commission was to be composed of representatives from each Diocese. The CEAMC’s proposal was visionary and proved to be a very important step towards establishing a theological training program. Through the support of Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (EMBMC), “Mennonite College and Seminary of Eastern Africa” was born. The college was reopened in 1991 under this name with a mandate from CEAMC to “Equip Pastors and Deacons for fruitful Ministry and Evangelism”. Since then the name has changed to “Mennonite Theological College of Eastern Africa.” The College is located about 8 kms. from Musoma town along the Musoma – Mwanza road.

OKANYA'S SABBATICAL AND MISSIONS SERVICE

2010-06-07T21:18:00.002-04:00

A sabbatical is a time of release from normal pastoral duties in order that a pastor may devote time to rest, renewal, study, other service, growth, and gaining fresh vision for continued service. Our two months sabbatical will include spiritual development, short-term mission service, vision development, as well as personal and family development. Our family will travel to Kenya and Tanzania. Our time will include a short-term missions assignment conducting church leadership seminars at the Nairobi Diocese of Kenya Mennonite Church and teaching at the Mennonite Theological College of Eastern Africa. Visiting the college will undoubtedly serve as a reunion for us since I served there as Academic Dean and Jessica served as Accountant and member of the board for a year back in 2004. Then I led a CCF mission trip there in 2007. As I contemplate this time, I am filled with expectation of what God wants to do in me and in my family. Stay tuned for updates.

What Makes a Sermon a Good Sermon?

2010-05-29T21:58:00.002-04:00

For the past couple of years I’ve preaching that are difficult to hear: poor been asking adult education classes I’ve been conducting on sermon-listening, What makes a sermon a good sermon? I explain that I’m not looking for “the right answer.” Rather, I want to know how thoughtful listeners honestly evaluate the sermons they hear week in and week out. The answers I’ve been hearing are very helpful. They fall into roughly three clusters. The first cluster of answers defines a good sermon in terms of communicational excellence: “A good sermon is a sermon I can follow. The main point of the sermon is clear. The sermon is well organized. The preacher doesn’t speak over my head. The preacher doesn’t repeat the same point over and over. The preacher uses images, stories and ways of speaking that keep me listening and move me.” Indeed, today’s listeners are constantly exposed to the Internet, television, and movies that sizzle communicationally. Some preachers used to say, “My job is just to preach the Word. It’s the people’s job to listen.” Few preachers talk that way today because preachers know they must prepare sermons that are not only biblically based but also carefully designed to win a hearing. Communicational excellence is an absolute requirement of effective preaching today.

A second way people define a good sermon is in terms of its biblical faithfulness: “A good sermon is rooted in the Bible. It teaches me something from a text of the Bible. A good sermon is not the opinion of the preacher, it’s a Word from God that has authority because it’s from the Word of God.” Preachers and churches run into trouble when they forget that preaching is first and foremost a proclamation of Scripture. Pity the preacher whose congregation is satisfied with just hearing a communicationally excellent speech. Congregations must also clearly expect their pastor’s sermons to set forth the Scriptures. And pastors dare not speak, except to proclaim a Word far greater than their own words.

The third way people define a good sermon is in terms of its transformational power: “A good sermon changes me. It challenges me to a deeper obedience. It stretches me. A good sermon brings me closer to God. It deepens my faith. It makes us a better church. A good sermon makes me a better, more loving person. A good sermon makes me a better kingdom citizen.” Indeed, preaching that doesn’t call for and lead to transformation is only a noisy gong and a clanging symbol. A good sermon is not the same as an enjoyable sermon. This transformative purpose of preaching reminds me of one of Fred Craddock’s lines: “There are two kinds of preaching and good preaching.” Good sermons call us to the cross and invite us into a new life in Christ. Spiritual transformation of course is not just the work of preachers and worshipers. It is the work of God.

Preaching doesn’t change people. God changes people through preaching. Preachers and worshipers must approach the sermon filled with awe, humility, and expectancy that the Holy Spirit will do a great work through this sermon. This involves intense prayer and spiritual preparation on the part of preacher and worshiper without which transformational power is sure to elude everyone. I find these three criteria for evaluating sermons helpful. And the challenge today is to apply not just one or two but all three criteria as we preach or listen to sermons. Preachers can’t get by with saying, “I think I’ll shoot for two out of three of these marks of a good sermon.” Two out of three does not a good sermon make. In the same way, only when worshipers understand that a good sermon involves all three of these marks are they in a position to evaluate whether the sermon they have heard is a good one. This is another way of saying that worshipers cannot simply sit back and dare their preacher to wow them with a great sermon. Worshipers must lean for- ward and be active participants in the proclamation of God’s Word, urgently seeking out what word God has for them on this particular Sunday.
I have never heard of a church that didn’t rank good preaching as the most desirable qualification of its pastor. Only as preachers and congregations do every- thing they can to make the preaching event meaningful and life changing will we be able to speak of “good sermons” in their church. (Article from www.calvin.edu /spring 2002)

The Missional Church... simple

2010-05-25T13:55:00.000-04:00

The Alban Institute - The Myth of Competence

2010-05-16T08:24:00.000-04:00

The Alban Institute - The Myth of Competence

Matthew 15:10-20 (The Purity of the Human Heart)

2010-05-12T13:34:00.002-04:00

What really defiles the human heart? The Pharisees apparently believed that what went in through the mouth was responsible for defiling the heart. As such, purity laws were the correct remedy to the issue. Jesus disagreed and actually argued that purity laws were largely irrelevant as far as keeping the purity of the human heart is concerned and when all is said and done what really matters is what comes out of a defiled impure heart that matters not what goes in.

He said, “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” I believe that you have heard from proverbs that out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. According Jesus, the purity laws that the Pharisees focused on only tended to address the behavior while ignoring the impurity that was deeply embedded in their own hearts. It was this deep impurity in the heart for example that led to their rejection of God and caused them to be exiled numerous times in their history. The Pharisees attributed their exilic experiences and the then current Roman occupation to lack of observance of the purity laws and assumed that the remedy was a strict observance of those laws which would lead to their redemption and the eventual return of their God and with that the end of exile.

Jesus disagreed with both their diagnosis and their recommended treatment mechanism namely; strict observation of those purity laws. He said to the crowd, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” In other words, the Pharisees’ focus was on a wrong thing or wrong place. Obviously these words offended the Pharisees and the disciples let Jesus know that they were offended. Jesus essentially dismissed them. He said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” This statement confused the disciples and Peter sought for explanation.

Jesus explained what he had said by using an obvious illustration about the digestive system and human behavior that flows from the human heart. He said, “Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defiles a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” The point is that the Pharisees were misguided and hence were blind people seeking to lead the other blind people with potential catastrophic end in a pit. It was not that they were eating with unwashed hands or even being defiled by foreigners but that their own hearts were impure and hence their speech and even actions were impure as well.

This was the reason Jesus focused on dealing with the root of the problem namely; the impurity of the human heart. By focusing only on the purity laws, the religious leaders were not addressing the root cause of the problem. The disciples of Jesus were astounded by his take on this issue because seemingly like everybody else they were following the Pharisees and their emphasis on purity laws as the means to not be defiled. This could be the state of the church today as well. Jesus confronted this misplaced view of what keeps the heart pure and as his disciples, we may not necessarily be observing the purity codes of ancient Israel, but are our hearts, our thoughts and intentions, and the casual words we speak, telling us that our own purity is less than complete? If so what are we doing about it? By rejecting the focus on the purity laws, Jesus offered himself as the remedy to the situation. Through his life, teachings, death, resurrection and the promise to come again, we enter into a transformation process through his holy Spirit that works through and in us to cleanse us deep inside. As we live our lives together in accountable relationships, we must constantly open up our hearts to the Spirit of God to cleanse any impurities within our hearts so that we may bear fruit unto God.

ORGANIC CHURCH

2010-05-11T12:04:00.004-04:00

How would God's mission in the world through the the church be affected if we were to lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple? In the book "organic church," the authors propose that "if the church is simple enough that everyone can do it and is made up of people who take up their cross and follow Jesus at any cost, the result will be churches that empower the common Christian to do the uncommon works of God. Churches will become healthy, fertile, and productive." When I look at the church in our society and see how complex we continually make it, I am worried that we will increasingly loose the simple message of the gospel and with that loss become like the cooperate behemoths with specialized roles geared towards profit making and in the end create the church of professionals that non-professionals would not feel welcome at. My heart is troubled with what I see because it is so far removed from the New Testament example where we see the great message of world's redemption entrusted to rugged fishermen on one qualification only, "they had been with Jesus". It is my prayer and hope that the church today will begin to reflect deeply on her mission and once again live up to its call to be the light of the world. Being "light" means the church should shine in darkness and as that happens, what hides in the darkness is revealed. The church, I believe ought to be distinct and it is that distinctness that the world is hungry for. let us focus on our call to live as disciples and make disciples in the process.

Choosing Against Common Sense

2010-02-25T10:12:00.002-05:00

 Luke 4: 1-13; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

"Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan where his baptism had just taken place and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him…." (Luke 4:1-2)
The Temptations:
1. Command the stone to become a loaf of bread (Lk.4:3-4)- (cf Dt. 8:1-3)
2. Worship me and I will grant the control of all the kingdoms of the world (Lk.4:5-8) -(cf 1 Jn. 5:19)
3. Throw yourself from here, for he will rescue you according to his word (Lk.4:9-12)- (cf. Ps. 911-2; 9-16) .
*Satan can only suggest, the action is yours, temptation is not a sin by itself until we act on them.

Having not eaten for forty days, it makes perfect sense to make bread out of a stone particularly if you have the power to do so after all would God want his son to starve? Jesus needed to act to provide for his own personal needs so the devil thought. He presented Jesus with an opportunity to prove himself as God’s son an opportunity that could have had serious consequences for Jesus and his mission. Could hunger although a legitimate reason lead Jesus to show mistrust of his father? Luke tells us that Jesus turned the challenge down by referring to an old story in Dt. 8:1-3.

Worship me and I will grant the control of all the kingdoms of the world (5-8) -( cf.1 Jn. 5:19)

The devil moved to another area to test Jesus. He enticed him with power and authority offering him the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would worship him. Jesus knew full well that the kingdoms of the world would become the kingdom of God and his Messiah. So, he could have jumped at this offer after all his people would be free from the Roman occupation in an instant and he would become a hero and a true Messiah for his people. They surely would recognize him as the new Moses who came to liberate them from Rome’s crushing rule and restore God’s rein once for all. Once again Jesus rejected the offer knowing full well that all that was his but the way to attaining them was through suffering and death and not through a short cut, which would have proven deadly.

Throw yourself from here, for he will rescue you according to his word (Lk.4:9-12)

In oder not to be left behind or depicted as ignorant of God's word, the devil shifted his tactics and said to Jesus, “it is written, “He will give his angels charge over you, and on their hands they will hold you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone” (Ps. 91:11-12). Here the devil dared Jesus to trust God’s promises. Trusting God's promises is not easy when faced with enticing alternatives. Jumping from the pinnacle of the temple would be a spectacular show of rescue that would go along way to prove that he is indeed the high priest.

Satan dangled to Jesus the collective Messianic hopes, and by doing so brought them to consciousness as options to be chosen rather than fate to be accepted (Walter Wink). When Jesus tested his own sense of calling against what was being offered to him by the devil, they did not fit. Jesus could perceive them not to be what was proceeding out of the mouth of God. Satan offered him, in short, not outright evils but the highest goods known to Israel.

Jesus was to be the Mosaic prophet, Priestly king, and Davidic king. All these were images of redemption, which Israel believed God had given them in scripture (the church has given Jesus all those title, prophet, Priest and king). The devil normally does not come to us with crazy unreasonable things; he offers us the good instead of the best. He puts the question at the leading edge of possibility and what he suggests in many cases makes perfect sense.

As C.S. Lewis once said, only the person who never yielded to temptation knows the full strength of temptation. Jesus never wavered. The devil threw everything he had at Jesus, took all his best shots, but Jesus never fell. Jesus is the only realist, Lewis said, because he alone knows the full fury of temptation. Because of that Jesus knows better than anybody how much strength we need. And so, by his Holy Spirit, he gives it.
Amen!

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL AND SUFFERING IN THE WORLD DOES GOD CARE?

2010-01-19T06:18:00.003-05:00

When a tragedy like this past week’s in Haiti strikes normally we are left speechless as we reckon with our own mortality. When we hear stories of survival and stories of lives lost we are heart broken and our emotions are jarred from shock to denial to anger and to numerous questions. One of those questions is the action and involvement of a good God or lack there of; "if there is a loving God why so much suffering, why diseases, terrorism, natural disasters like earth quakes, tsunamis, hurricanes etc" the questions flood our minds.

The various horrific events in the world and around us are reminders that “the problem of evil and suffering” is not something we will “solve” before the Lord returns, and our primary task is not so much to give answers to these seemingly impossible questions but rather to embody signs of God’s renewed creation on the basis of Jesus’ death and resurrection through the Holy Spirit who empowers us.

The call of Abraham starts to answer the question of God's care for evil and suffering. That call continues through Abraham’s descendants, not as the explanation of why there is evil and suffering, but as the story of what the creator is now doing about it. Since the terrible event in the Garden of Eden, God’s grief for creating humans, the Tower of Babel and Abraham, God has been involved in restoration, which ultimately led to his son’s gruesome death on a tree.

God who made the world remains passionately and compassionately involved with it. For the Christian, the problem is how to understand and celebrate the goodness of creation and, at the same time, understand and face up to the reality and seriousness of evil and suffering and how to tell the Christian story in such a way that, without attempting to “solve” the problem in a simplistic nevertheless address the way in which God is at work and in that the church also holding hope alive that one day Christ will come and reset all things and wipe all our tears away writes N. T Wright.

If we can work toward understanding and being the willing agents of both the divine tears over the world’s evil and the embrace creativity in our response, I believe we join God in his redemptive efforts. Evil is powerful but love is more powerful. Love is on our side

SALVATION FROM UNLIKELY PLACES

2009-12-27T12:58:00.001-05:00

Micah 5:2-5a; Luke 1:39-55
During our second advent we reflected on the strange ways in which God works. When God wanted to issue an announcement concerning the great new salvation for the whole world, he chose neither emperor Tiberius nor Caiaphas the high priest but instead chose a rugged prophet from the margins in the desert to announce the news and call people to prepare the way for Lord’s arrival through baptism and repentance.
That same theme continues on this fourth advent, which is also our Christmas message. In our Old Testament text, prophet Micah announces the coming of a ruler. Like our Second Advent message, this ruler comes neither from Jerusalem nor from one of the larger tribes of Israel but from the little known Bethlehem from one of the little tribes of Judah. These circumstances indicate the ruler’s humble and insignificant roots. These humble roots reminds us that the insignificant ones in the eyes of the world may indeed be God's messengers or servants charged with the great purpose of the creation’s redemption. These messengers, therefore minister in the strength of the Lord and their own strength is not a pre-condition for their calling.
In the Luke passage, the same story is told about the choice of instruments God made in this particular case a barren old woman and a young engaged virgin. Among the Luo people of East Africa, which is my tribe, if an unmarried girl got pregnant traditionally, she was sent to spend time with her aunt until the baby was born with the hope that while she was there, she would get married. Growing up in that culture, the story of Mary and Elizabeth was sort of a normal story because it was the standard cultural practice. However, as I have come to read this gospel story in its entirety with different sort of eyes and experiences, I have marveled at the story all the more.

Here were two pregnant women, whose pregnancies came about under strange circumstances; Elizabeth was a barren old woman and Mary was an un-married teenager. When the angel delivered the message to Zachariah that his old barren wife was to have a baby he did not believe and he was stricken with dumbness until the child was born. Mary on the other hand was a young engaged teenager who had not yet “known” a man (no sexual intercourse). These are indeed two strange and baffling circumstances. Mary and Elizabeth each found perhaps the only other person who could possibly understand each other’s experiences in these unusual circumstances. In each other, they found not just understanding, not just hospitality; in one another, they found a common story. Together these women and their unborn babies proclaim the advent of the Lord.  They are therefore living signs of the Great Revolution:  two women, insignificant in the eyes of patriarchal culture —one old, one young; one barren, one still a virgin; neither possessing any particular dignity nor power and yet the first to recognize the embodiment  of God in human life.

Introducing the theme of God’s impending salvation through the reversal of social structures is clearly a call to the church to participate in this reordering as well. This means a call to live out the implications of accepting a God who defines Himself in terms of the weak and oppressed, who has chosen to work in the world among teenagers and barren women. Our task is to believe the newness and embrace it as a defining characteristic of what it means to be faithful to God.
To embrace this newness is to confess with Mary in joy, faith, and submission that "the Mighty One has done great things for me." It is to acknowledge that the powers of this world are not the powers that matter most, and that God is the great leveler of all human structures of power that oppress and control. It is He who brings down the exalted and elevates the lowly. We are called to nothing less than to view the world in terms of that potential of God’s ordering of worth and value, not in terms of our own ordering of worth and value.

The message here for people today can be liberating. In many cultures in the world and to a lesser extent here, the social and cultural ordering of power that marginalizes women and children is reversed in the story of Jesus as we see in Mary’s song.
But the issue here is not really specifically about gender. It can be applied to anyone who has been marginalized by society, by culture, even by the church. For some, it may be a message that offers newness in the midst of racial or economic discrimination. For some, it may mean a message of newness from a wheelchair or a nursing home, or in the midst of grief or loss, or barrenness of body or soul. For some, it may be a message that God’s criteria of value and worth goes beyond conformity to certain set standards or definitions of truth or paths to salvation defined by self proclaimed defenders of truth. It is a message that God does some of his best work with powerless people whose lives are defined by the world as impossible!

The newness of this passage is the newness that promises a new future to people who have no future. This message is a message of hope that suggests, even promises, that the "powers that be" are no power at all, and that the only power worth believing in comes from God through the Holy Spirit to those who accept the invitation to be in God’s plan of redemption. Will you accept this message today? May Mary’s song be your song as well this Christmas!!

THE QUESTION OF PRESUMPTION AGAINST VIOLENCE

2009-12-25T16:34:00.004-05:00

Do Pacifist and Just-War Ethics begin with "a presumption against violence"? If so, on what principle or obligation is such a position based? Recent scholarship has debated this question with opponents and proponents both referring to the classical just war theory for their respective support. We will explore the tradition as it was developed in the works of St. Augustine and St. Thomas, and engage contemporary interpreters to discover and focus on the biblical, moral and theological sources of the debate, and to discuss implications for Christian discipleship and possible impacts for those who make war decisions as well as those who conduct wars.

The just-war tradition offers a set of criteria that ought to guide those who make war decisions as well as those who conduct wars. These criteria although varied, can be grouped into two categories: jus ad bellum (decision to go to war), and jus in bello (the conduct of war). Under the assumption that war is an evil but might be necessary in certain cases, a burden of proof is required and it is that burden of proof that the Just-war criteria seeks to regulate . In contrast, “Pacifism” is a mode of moral deliberation that rejects war and violence on biblical, moral and theological grounds.

Historically, these two systems of thought have been deemed incompatible as shown by their contrasting positions above. In recent studies however, the aforementioned divergence is debated and convergence in some moral sense proposed. James F. Childress proposed such convergence over thirty years ago. Basing his argument on the logic of prima facie duties put forward by W. D Ross , Childress argued that both just war and pacifism share a prima facie starting point namely, a “presumption against violence” or “presumption against war”. He writes, “Whether their arguments are based on Scripture or human reason or experience, pacifists and just warriors both share the same starting point-war is at least prima facie wrong and thus requires justification. They differ; however, because absolutist pacifists deny that war can ever be justified, while just warriors hold that it can sometimes be justified.” He continues, “the just war tradition can best be understood as recognizing a prima facie duty not to injure or kill others and that this prima facie duty implies a presumption against war, that is, against the use of violence as the direct, intended physical attack on other human beings.”

Jesus the greatest interpreter of God's will

In many of his writings connected to the just war tradition, John Howard Yoder questioned the adequacy of the entire just war mode of moral discourse as a guide for a people who claim that their first moral obligation comes from the teachings and example of their Lord and savior Jesus Christ who taught them to love God with all their hearts, minds and soul and second to love their neighbor as themselves and showed that love by loving his enemies all the way to the cross of Calvary. Such love, can hardly endorse killing enemies. Lisa Sowle Cahill writes on Christian discipleship, “to the extent that conversion and discipleship involve total reorientation of life, they lead the Christian convert to imitation of God’s perfect righteousness and mercy (Matt. 5:48), an ideal sure to have practical consequences. She continues, “The subsequent problematic of Christian social ethics has been to define the substance of the life of converted discipleship, as well as to establish practically the meaning of Christian moral faithfulness in a sinful world.”

Christian Discipleship

Matthew 5-7 commonly referred to, as “The Sermon on the Mount” constitutes a clear call to Christian discipleship. When Jesus sat on the mountain to teach his disciples, he rolled out his mission in the same way Moses rolled out the Ten Commandments at Sinai marking the beginning of a new people with a new set of lifestyle separate from other nations and other deities. This sermon is a disclosure of the kingdom of God and a stipulation of the lifestyle of those who were to become part of that new community. Like Moses Jesus went to the mountain to unveil the new plan and define its characteristics and its subsequent mission.

This community is to be “a city on a hill” modeling God’s peaceful new order in which reconciliation is preferred over anger (5:12-26), lust is not ignored(5:27-30), fidelity in marriage is a virtue(5:31-32), words are simple yes or no(5:33-37), revenge has no place(5:38-42), and loving one’s enemies is preferred to living in hatred and rage(5:43-48).
Like the Torah, the Sermon marks the beginning of a new people of God and fulfills the Torah and the prophets (5:17-20) with Jesus as the new authority in this new community and hence the superior interpreter of God’s will.
He established a greater righteousness in the form of antitheses; “you have heard that it was said to the men of old…. but I say to you….” The righteousness that Jesus called the disciples to is rather intense and exceeds the standards of Israel’s expert interpreters of the Torah. At the end of the sermon, the disciples marveled at his teaching saying, “he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 7:28).

This kingdom Jesus unveiled to his disciples is radical and counter-cultural. Instead of using weapons of war as means to settle disputes, the community of Jesus' followers strive to practice meekness, mercy, purity, devotion to justice and peacemaking, and welcomes suffering and persecution in the name of faithfulness to their Lord.
They experience the Lord’s blessings as they faithfully follow and live out the radical vision and mission he unveiled in the sermon. This community of believers today is the church.

I would argue that based on the teaching of the Lord, nonviolence is a default Christian position which ought to outweigh the other duties if it becomes a competing duty in the order of prima facie duty. Richard Miller commenting on "the presumption against violence" in Aquinas which was a major part of a the paper that I shortened here argues that overriding the prima facie duty does not mean erasing the prior one but that the prior duty ought to leave moral traces which continues to function.

My hope is that when the non-violence position cannot be absolutely followed due to the reality of the "not yet" nature of the kingdom of God, the just warriors and those who make war decisions must adhere to a strict observation of just war criteria although this has eluded us in history so far and in my opinion weakens the just war argument.

I therefore stand in agreement with John H. Yoder that “Nonviolence is thus the a priory stance, to which violent action is an exception needing in each case to be justified.” Hence Just- war and Pacifism in this analysis do converge in the moral dictum, “do no harm” and hence presume against war as first duty even though historical just war tradition did not explicitly state so but the fact that war was restricted tells us a lot. Lets follow our Lord who loved his enemies all the to the death penalty without turning back on his commitments. That is what faithful Christian discipleship is about.

"A radical challenge to Politics and Religion From the Depth of the Desert"

2009-12-06T08:54:00.002-05:00

For Sunday December 6, 2009 Second Sunday in Advent
Malachi 3:1–4
Luke 3:1–6

This is the second Sunday of Advent. In advent generally we focus on two events; we enter the time of preparation for Christ’s first coming while at the same time live in expectation for his return to finally make all things right. I apologize to you in advance that instead of giving you comforting message that prepares your hearts for Christmas, such as I know the economy is bad but you will still get your Christmas gift, I am inviting you to hear the words of some ancient prophets. Now that the apology is offered let us look at the texts before us and listen to the prophetic voices. In our Old Testament text, prophet Malachi tells of a figure who was coming to prepare the way for the Lord who is soon to come.

Malachi speaks of a messenger who will purify people's hearts. "God is sending a messenger," writes Malachi, "who comes intending to cleanse”. Malachi’s message is a message of reform aimed at the religious system, particularly the temple. He uses the imagery of a refiner’s fire and a soap to cleanse the religious system until it offers sacrifice in righteousness. Due to the intensity of this cleansing activity, Malachi asks, “who can endure the day of his coming? Malachi is saying that before God arrives, we need a bath in order to be ready for him. To use a Christmas language, as we make our way to Bethlehem and the manger in a few weeks, the prophet Malachi is simply reminding us that, "We need to wash up before we may hold the baby."

God's special message to the world he created came not from Caesar’s seat in Rome or from Caiaphas in the temple but rather from a wild and rugged man who lived in the depth of the desert, on the fringes of society. His message like the Messiah’s was to come in direct conflict with Caesar and the temple establishment which end up in cross. The message came not from the corridors of power or from the epicenter but from the periphery. The divine messenger and his message originated in an unlikely place and from an improbable source. John would have been easy to ignore if you expected or wanted something normal, safe, or traditional. But neither John nor his message was normal by any stretch of the imagination.

We need to repent, said John, because in Jesus “the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2). This is the identical message that Jesus preached when he began his own public ministry: “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’ The kingdom of God that Jesus announced and embodied is what life would be like on earth, here and now, if God were king and the rulers of this world were not. The ancient Hebrews had a marvelous word for this, shalom, or human well-being. But entrance into this kingdom likewise requires a counter-cultural choice.
John's terrible indictment to repent is a tender invitation to be our best selves. Repentance doesn't mean to feel bad, but to think differently. To repent doesn't mean to grovel in self-hatred, morbid introspection, or pious sorrow. It consists of both outward acts and an inward disposition. When you repent you turn around, change directions, choose a different path, and make a radical turn in lifestyle and attitude. Repentance signals an abrupt end to life as usual. In fact during this advent season repentance is appropriate. For some of us it applies to our attitude of consumerism at Christmas and the need to accumulate stuff.
John urged his listeners to prove their spiritual intentions by concrete deeds rather than by claims of religious or political affiliation. Some people took him at his word, but many in the political elite and religious establishment did not. These political and religious leaders who rejected John got one thing right — they understood that his message was not only deceptively simple; it was deeply subversive.
In this Second Advent, John urges us to spurn anything and everything that hinders ultimate allegiance to Jesus. He invites us to make our crooked ways straight, to flatten all hilly terrain, and to prepare space for the birth of the Messiah into our own lives. Let us take time this morning to examine our hearts and heed the prophet’s call to repent before we come to the communion table.

The New Testament Perspective on War and Peace

2009-12-02T22:49:00.002-05:00

The New Testament contains important texts that seem to communicate a negative perspective on the use of violence as means to deal with evil, but human experience presents us repeatedly with situations that appear to require violent action to deal with evil. Are there norms concerning the use of violence in the New Testament that could guide Christians today? This being a very difficult subject a number of texts are often cited in the debate, some are quoted as supporting non-violence others as supporting the acceptance of at least some kinds of violence, and of the military profession. Defenders of both positions cite “Proof texts” as shown below. We shall look at these texts in their contexts in light of the whole story of Jesus, past, present and future.

A more clear text on this subject comes from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount:
“You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow. “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.(Matt. 5:38-48)

This text has astounded many Christians for centuries. This is because it states a clear intention of the Lord but implies a difficult if not close to impossible task for those who seek to be faithful to their Lord. This difficulty has led to attempts by many interpreters to try and make meaning of the task at hand for those who follow Jesus. As a result, varied interpretations have been offered as to the meaning of these texts and their implications for the followers of Jesus. New Testament scholar and Duke Divinity School professor Richard B. Hays summarizes these interpretations as shown below in his book, “The Moral Vision of the New Testament”:

1. These words offer a vision of life in the eschatological kingdom of God; thus, they are not literarily to be put into practice presently. (Impossible Ideal)
2. These words prescribe an “interim ethic” for Jesus’ disciples on the assumption that the end of history and the final judgment of God are soon to occur (temporary arrangement while awaiting the end)
3. These words literally forbid self-defense, but they do not preclude fighting in defense of an innocent third party (St. Augustine’s reading)
4. These are “council of perfection” that apply to those who aspire to belong to a special class of holy Christians, such as monks, clergy etc not to general believers (The Catholic Church’s traditional position)
5. These words serve to show how impossible it is to live up to God’s standard of righteousness, thus, they convict our consciouses and show that we are sinners in need of grace.
6. These words are located within a specific social setting. Therefore limited in scope, the “enemy” refers only to personal enemies within the Palestinian village setting, not to foreign or political enemies.”

A reading of this passage within the larger context of Matthew reveals that the above interpretations miss the point of the passage. Matthew 5-7 commonly referred to, as “The Sermon on the Mount” constitutes discipleship 101. It is training on life of discipleship for Jesus’ disciples. When Jesus sat on the mountain to teach his disciples, he rolled out his mission in the same way Moses rolled out the Ten Commandments at Sinai marking the beginning of a new people with a new set of lifestyle separate from other nations and other deities. This sermon is a disclosure of the kingdom of God and a stipulation of the lifestyle of those who were to become part of that new community. Like Moses Jesus went to the mountain to unveil the new plan and define its characteristics and its subsequent mission.

4. A TWO-TIERED UNDERSTANDING OF DISCIPLESHIP

2009-11-24T12:46:00.001-05:00

-Discipleship made for supper Christians and not the ordinary Christians.
Question:
“How many of you can say, in the humble confidence of your heart, that you are true disciples of Jesus” Please raise your hands
-“How many of you can say, in the humble confidence of your heart, that you are convinced that you are a true Christian? Please raise your hand” – what occasions this response?
There are ordinary believers who have slipped into the kingdom through profession of faith in Christ, and then there are those who have died to self in response to Jesus’ call. The difference is commitment
- A close examination of biblical discipleship does not allow for two classes of followers: the ordinary and extraordinary. Our starting point is (Lk. 9:23)

5. UNWILLINGNESS TO CALL PEOPLE TO DISCIPLESHIP
Christian leaders seem to be reluctant to restate the terms of discipleship that Jesus laid out. We are afraid to ask too much, people stop coming to our churches. Our operating assumption is that people will flee to the nearby entertainment church if we ask them to give too much of themselves. So we start to lower the bar and try to entice people by increments of commitment, hopping that we can raise the bar imperceptibly to the ultimate destination of discipleship. Could it be that our unwillingness to set the bar high for our congregations is because we want to let ourselves off the hook? If we call people to a higher level, are we ourselves willing to enter that adventure? “Is the quality of discipleship we are getting not in spite of our leadership but because of it?” discuss this question

3. REDUCING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

2009-11-23T11:09:00.001-05:00

3. REDUCING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
Many have reduced the Christian life to benefits we get from Jesus, rather than living as students of Jesus. Ogden writes, “A disciple is one who, in the context of community, places himself or herself under the shaping influence of Jesus so that there is no doubt as to who is deploying the formative power. This life entails ‘sitting at the feet of Jesus.’ Instead we want ‘abundance without obedience.’”
The bumper sticker “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven,” reduces the Christian life to simply receiving forgiveness says Dallas Willard. As Christians we see grace as the very act that leads to our salvation. This act of grace is expressed in its fullness at the cross of Jesus. At the cross, Jesus took away our place and died our death hence we are saved from the punishment that our sin deserved. In sum, grace is a passive act that requires no action on our part. When we hear the word Discipleship we assume something that is done by us. So the question is how do these two very different concepts fit together in a believer's life?
In his attempt to bring a balance between these two realities in the life of a Christian, Dietrich Bonheoffer talks about costly grace versus cheap grace. He writes, Grace is represented as the church's in exhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of us using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap? Bonheoffer concludes that cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the incarnation of the Word of God.1
The poor result in our discipleship comes from our focus on the benefits we get from Jesus. –see “Divine Conspiracy” (P.40)
“The most telling thing about the contemporary Christian is that he/she simply has no compelling sense that understanding of and conformity with the clear teachings of Christ is of any vital importance to his or her life, and certainly not that is in any way essential.” How else do we account for the disjunction between professed faith and the quality of discipleship? There must be something fundamentally wrong with the way we have been teaching what it means to be a Christian. The answer is that we have not called people into an apprentice relationship with Jesus. Jesus is not looked to as our discipler, teacher and lord. We do not see him as our trainer in life. “We have disconnected the Christian life from the one who called us to follow him. Instead we have taken the benefits of forgiveness with a positively altered state of inner peace and equated the Christian life with being a decent person.” Reflect on this point.

2. DISCIPLING THROUGH PROGRAMS:

2009-11-22T07:50:00.002-05:00

There is no better place or better person to learn about discipleship from than Jesus our Lord. From our reading of the Gospels, Jesus demonstrated to his disciples what it means to be on God’s mission and how to invite others to be on a similar mission. Greg Ogden writes, “The Scriptural context for growing disciples is through relationships. Jesus called the twelve to be with him, for through personal association their lives would be transformed.” In other words, ‘proximity produces disciples’. I could not help but imagine the implications for leaders if proximity produces disciples. Discipleship happens within the context of intentional and accountable relationships. We know that each individual is unique in his/her own way and in the same way; a disciple is a unique individual who grows at a rate peculiar to him or her. Ogden concludes, “Unless disciples receive personal attention so that their particular growth needs are addressed in a way that calls them to die to self and live fully to Christ, a disciple will not be made.” At your table, reflect on the above statement. Do you agree or disagree with this statement why or why not? How could we develop intentional relationships in our groups?

Programs have four characteristics in common:
a) They tend to be informational- or knowledge based- Programs assume that knowledge will automatically lead to transformation- “right knowledge produce right living”
b) The one prepares for the many;’ people come as passive recipients”
c) Characterized by synchronization-completing the program is equated to making disciples”, making disciples requires a accustomed approach not mass production”
d) Low personal accountability-a closer examination of programs reveals a focus on completing the assigned study curriculum rather than committing to life change.

Ogden's insight here ought to make us think about emphasis on programs as a means for disciple making.

Eight Possible Problems for Lack of Discipleship in Our Chruches

2009-11-21T12:29:00.003-05:00

1. DIVERSION FROM PRIMARY CALLING:
“We have undiscipled church because the leaders have not made discipleship their primary focus.”-Greg Ogden
Most people in the church expect to receive care from their pastors. In fact pastoral care is rated the highest on the list of pastoral duties from both the perspective of pastors and congregations. This focus on pastoral care by pastors differs from what the apostle Paul seems to be saying in Ephesians 4:11-16. Before running through the list debating the nature of different offices and ministries as is often the case, we need to ask why these roles are important. According to Paul, the goal is Christian maturity (v.13).

From the passage, we learn that Christians must grow up to maturity. Having seen Jesus exemplify for us what it means to be mature, we are not to rest until we have attained that goal. Paul did not want Ephesian Christians to remain immature, because such a state would make them vulnerable to all kinds of deception that might lead them astray. He brings together three ideas in verse 14; babies, a rudderless boat being tossed about on a stormy sea, and deceitful scheming trickeries. All these situations add up to show the vulnerabilities of immature Christians. In contrast, maturity includes learning to “speak the truth in love” and “growing up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” In sum, as we mature, we become members of Christ’s body in practice. The question is how has Christ provided for this process? Once we realize that the passage is all about the whole body of Christ, and each member of it, coming to maturity, we are in a better position to understand the ministries in verse 11. The main point of certain people having special roles is so that every single Christian, and the church as a whole, may be equipped for their work of service. Ogden writes, “Pastors are consumed with pastoral care, but how does caring for those in need equip the saints for works of service?” Take some time around your table and discuss this situation, do you agree or disagree with this statement, state why you agree or disagree. What are the implications here for you as a small group leader?

I will post a factor each week, check in.

LOVE AS GOD'S LANGAUGE

2009-10-27T12:24:00.000-04:00

“Love is the language Jesus spoke, and we are called to speak it so that we can converse with him. It is the food they eat in God’s new world, and we must acquire the taste for it here and now. It is the music God has written for all his creatures to sing, and we are called to learn it and practice it now so as to be ready when the conductor brings down his baton. It is the resurrection life, and the resurrected Jesus calls us to begin living it with him and for him right now. Love is at the very heart of the surprise of hope: people who truly hope as the resurrection encourages us to hope will be people enabled to love in a new way” - N.T. Wright, “Surprised by Hope”

JESUS LORD OF THE SABBATH MatT. 12:1-14

2009-10-21T20:46:00.002-04:00

People matter more than things, even when those things are part of God’s Law. Jesus here claimed that he actually had authority over that Law for, “the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath as well (12:8). The “son of man” is the one who carries God’s authority. This authority is to come into sharp conflict with the authority of the religious establishment and is to finally lead Jesus to the cross. Jesus and his disciples were not ordinary people anymore due to his claims and outrageous acts of power that he had performed. They were being watched by the Pharisees to see their loyalty to Judaism. Keeping the Sabbath was, one of the Ten Commandments, and it had been reinforced by the prophets and by subsequent Jewish teaching. It was one of the things that separated the Jews, over the centuries, from their pagan neighbors. Sabbath is one of the things that reminded them that they were God’s people.
Jesus acknowledged that his disciples had not observed the traditional Sabbath regulations, but pleaded special circumstances based on scripture. He puts himself on equal level with King David in the period when David, already anointed by Samuel but not yet enthroned (because Saul was still king), was on the run, gathering support, waiting for the time to come. The implication of the claim is that Jesus is the true king, marked out by God (presumably in his baptism) but not yet recognized and enthroned. He therefore has the right, when he and his disciples are hungry, to by-pass the normal regulations. In other words, this kind of Sabbath-breaking, so far from being an act of casual or defiant civil disobedience, is a deliberate sign, like the refusal to fast: a sign that the King is here, that the kingdom is breaking in, that instead of waiting for old creation to come to its point of rest the new creation is already bursting upon the old world. “The son of man” (see Dan 7), the Messiah, the true representative human being, has authority over institutions that might otherwise repress human beings and stand in the way of God’s love for people and the Sabbath had become one of those institutions. Here we see that Jesus is the best and authoritative interpreter of the Torah not the Pharisees and hence the one with the authority.

The next story is that of the healing of the Man with the withered hand. For a Jew in Jesus’ world,the sabbath was a national flag that spoke of freedom to come, of hope for the great day of rest when God would finally liberate Israel from pagan oppression. It looked back to the creation of the world and to the Exodus from Egypt, and marked out those who kept it as God’s special people, God’s faithful and hopeful people; it was a commandment deeply embedded in the Jewish scriptures but the Pharisees attitude nullified the point of the commandment namely; celebrating God’s creation and redemption, past, present and future. Could the church today be repeating the same mistake by focusing on people's behavior rather than loving them as God does?

Jesus’ Invitation (11:25-30)

2009-10-21T13:30:00.002-04:00

Jesus is the window to the father; his words, actions and life reveals the father to us. The true God of creation can only be known through Jesus of Nazareth and this knowing happens when people enter into a relationship with him in the same way he related with his father. As a son, know my father not from reading about him in books or from from what people say about him, I know him because I lived with him and dwelt in his presence. Because of this truth, Jesus offers an invitation, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The Pharisees had burdened people with the heavy weight of the Torah, Jesus invited them to a different kind of yoke; this yoke came from mercy and love and therefore was easy to bear. Jesus was offering and still offers what he had and has to all of us carrying heavy burdens of morality, physical ailments, emotional instability, marital conflicts, troubled children, financial difficulties etc to come. He invites us to come to him because he is meek and ‘lowly of heart’, which means he is not going to stand over us like a guard or like an angry figure of authority in our lives.
Jesus offers to us a welcome that comes from God, it is such a welcome that tears the curtain apart and reveals the Father to us and encourages us to come into his loving welcoming presence. There in his presence is the fullness of joy and the relief of our heavy burdens, there is where we find rest for our weary souls. Let us heed the call to come. Like Jesus our Lord, we also must represent God through Jesus in our lives and hence invite others to come and rest in his loving presence.

REMEMBERING JESUS AT THE TABLE

2009-10-21T10:27:00.003-04:00

In a world ordered by violence we grasp for the resurrected Jesus who has all power above & below for our souls' rest but in a world where our bodies are in control, we strive to embrace the warrior Jesus; the " The king of kings and the Lord of Lord" who will enable our will to be unbent, our swords sharpened our bombs spectacular and our authority recognized and feared by all. These thoughts emerged as I read Miroslav Volf's book "Exclusion and Embrace". We are indeed embodied beings not simply sou less entities. What do we do with Jesus who asked us to "remember him" when we come together at the table? What are we to remember? I would suggest that the call is to remember Jesus' whole story; past life, teaching,death, resurrection and the promise to return in God's renewed creation, present; the person and the work of the Holy Spirit as he walks and guides us in discernment of God's will daily in our lives)and future Living in hope of a renewed creation. May our hearts continue to seek Jesus when we consider issues of injustice, war and the hopelessness that is griping our lives and the world.

Father's Day Speaker at CCF, Dr. Ervin Stutzman

2009-06-20T12:24:00.001-04:00

Ervin Stutzman is Professor Church Ministries and Vice President & Seminary Dean.
He joined the seminary faculty in 1998 as an associate professor of church ministries, with a particular passion for preaching and biblical interpretation. Two years later, in 2000, he took on the role as Dean of the Seminary.

Ervin was born in Iowa, grew up in Kansas, and served the Mennonite Church as a pastor in Ohio and Pennsylvania. He came to the seminary after leading the Mennonite Church as a pastor, district overseer, and conference moderator. He served the newly formed Mennonite Church USA as its moderator from 2001-2003. He enjoys woodworking and has built or restored much of the furniture in his house. He likes to explore new ideas for ministry.

Ervin will be our Father's Day Speaker at CCF Tomorrow. Come and be blessed.

Ministry perforamnce is a by-product of Formation

2009-06-20T12:02:00.001-04:00

“Leadership is a lifelong of lessons. It is not a set of do-it-yourself correspondence courses that can be worked through in a few months or years.”- Robert Clinton

All leaders have a ministry philosophy out of which they operate as they serve in their leadership roles. The ministry philosophy flows out of their experiences with God and the ministry situation. As I continue in my Spiritual growth and ministry experiences, I have developed a deep conviction that ministry performance is a by-product of formation. To focus on performance only is to miss a key role in the journey of discipleship. People minister out of who they are; to ignore their lives is to do a disservice both to them and to the mission of the church. Our lives as leaders bleed into our ministry either directly or indirectly. Hence it is of paramount importance that we reflect on our lives as leaders. This reflection could involve exploration of life experiences in various stages of life such as birth, family, school, church and other formative communities and events.
As leaders go through such a process of reflection and personal exploration, they discover their own giftedness, call to service, and commitment to God’s mission which becomes a lifelong learning processes that deepen their:
• Self-awareness
• Strengthen their spirituality
• Facilitate discernment of their call to service
• Examine their identity as servant leaders
• Explore the spiritual nature of their authority as a leaders in the ministry
• Sharpen their creative thinking, strategic planning, and operational leadership skill

JESUS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW Mathew 5: 13-20

2009-06-17T13:24:00.000-04:00

As we said last week, the Sermon on the Mount was a call to Jewish Christians to live their lives in the present in a manner that made sense in God’s promised future; because the future had arrived in the present in Jesus of Nazareth. This promised future was in direct conflict with the current Jewish life in the 1st century hence its ideals were radical. As a result of this Jesus needed to do at least two things:
1. Show the Jews that even though his movement seemed radical, it was a fulfillment of all that Israel had longed for for centuries.
2. Show them that he and his followers were really living the new way he was announcing.

These two realities must continually be held in close tension to each other, Jesus announced a new movement but that new movement at the same time was fulfilling what the Jews had lived waiting to be fulfilled. Therefore in this passage Jesus was offering something new and revolutionary to which he would remain faithful to, but it was also in fact, the reality towards which Israel’s history and tradition pointed to. As Christians, our lives ought in the same way to reflect the ideals of the kingdom Jesus announced and brought about through his life, death and resurrection. Although the Sermon was initially given to a Jewish Christian audience, it reflects a way of life for the followers of Jesus.

After the introduction to the sermon by the beatitudes (Matt. 5:1-12), the following section now introduces the main themes that from there on occupied Jesus’ whole ministry. Jesus had come to fulfill both the law and the prophets Matthew tells us. As such, he called Israel of his day to be really Israel as God intended it to be in the first place. What he said in this section also applies to all Christians even though it was initially meant to challenge Jesus’ 1st century contemporaries;
• God had called Israel to be the salt of the earth, but Israel was behaving in no way different from everybody else! How about us? In what ways are we like or different from Israel of Jesus’ day?
• God also called Israel to be the light of the world but Israel became part of the darkness instead of leading the nations to the light (Isa. 42:6; 49:6; Matt.
4:16). in what way(s) are we similar or different from them?

• The teachings of the scribes and the Pharisees fell short of on faithfulness to God, hence those who wanted to belong to the new kingdom breaking in through Jesus needed to discover a way of covenant behavior not just by teaching but by a change of heart and mind and their righteousness needed exceed that of the Pharisees and the Scribes otherwise their entrance into the kingdom Jesus was bringing in was not assured. This goes without say that the same applies to us. In what ways are we similar or different than the Pharisees and the Scribes in our approach to God?

This was a revolutionary message while at the same time a message deeply in tune with the ancient stories and promises of the Scriptures. Jesus brought it all into reality in himself. He was the salt of the earth, he was the light of the world; set up on a hill, crucified for all the world to see, becoming a beacon of hope and new life for everybody, drawing people to worship his father, embodying the way of self-giving love which is the deepest fulfillment of the law and the prophets. That is why these sayings which originally applied to Israel in their context now apply to all followers of Jesus who draw on his life as their own source of life.

Question for Reflection: In what aspects of our lives, communities and even our world are salt and light needed today and how can we through following Jesus meet those needs?

THE BEATITUDE (Matt. 5:1-12)

2009-06-11T12:35:00.002-04:00

THE BEATITUDES: (Matt. 5:1-12)
Those who follow Jesus are to live according to the ideals and ethos of the Kingdom he announced and brought about in his life, death, resurrection and the promised return. This is the point of the Sermon on the Mount, and the ‘beatitudes’ in particular. They call us to live in the present in the way that will make sense in God’s promised future; because the future has arrived in the present in Jesus of Nazareth.

1. "Poor in Spirit": Matt. 5:3- Those standing without pretense before God, stripped of all self-sufficiency, self-security, and self-righteousness. Those who in desperation turn without pretense and haughtiness to God through the person and ministry of Jesus Christ are “blessed.” They are blessed for theirs is “the kingdom of heaven”

2. "Those who mourn": Matt. 5:4 –Mourning is an expression of bereavement which is characteristic of this life. It includes remorse and grief over one’s loss. The promise “they shall be comforted” is the announcement of divine intervention which implicitly refers to the removal of the cause of mourning. This beatitude guided me last year through my sister’s sudden death. It invoked in me a confidence of comfort based on the fact God is at work in Jesus brining that promise to fruition. Therefore, while our hope for the future does not remove the reality of our present mourning, it places our context in a different light. This beatitude announces the good news of “comfort” to those who are in despair and open to God’s work in Jesus Christ.

3. "The Meek": Matt. 5:5- This beatitude like the first one refers to an attitude of total dependence upon God, an attitude arising out of our helpless condition as humans.

4. "Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness": Matt. 5:6-The actual nature of our “hunger and thirst” may take different forms in our experiences. But it always touches on the basic necessities for living life as God intended it. God is already at work not only in accepting us into a new relationship with himself but also in supplying our needs (Matt.6:33).

5. "The Merciful": Matt. 5:7-“The merciful” are those who forgo judgment and offer forgiveness and pardon. Because of his mercy (5:7) and acceptance of us, we can stand and live without pretense before God and others. Followers of Jesus ought to demonstrate this God-like conduct in of offering forgiveness to those in the wrong. .

6. "The pure in Heart": Matt 5:8-(Ps. 24:4-6) this beatitude speaks of standing with total integrity before God. It deals with the very nature of our relationship with God, integrity in our entire person before God. Such honesty or transparency before God is not self-generated. As with the other beatitudes, it is a posture that comes with being confronted by God in Jesus Christ and called to an allegiance and loyalty to him (John 15).

7. "The Peace Makers": Matt 5:10-12- Peace here is referred to in its Hebrew sense of wholeness, that which constitutes “well-being”. The “peacemakers,” therefore, are not simply those who bring peace between two conflicting parties, but those actively at work in making peace, bringing about wholeness and well-being, among the alienated. The peacemakers, as the merciful, are engaged in expressing to others what they themselves have come to experience in Jesus’ ministry. The promise is that they will be called sons of God. To make peace is to engage actively in bringing God’s redemptive purposes to bear in all of our broken society.

8. "The Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake": This beatitude sets the stage for the examples of 5:13-16 that illustrates the disciple’s role in the world, a role that is similar to that of the prophets and to that of Jesus himself.

This is how those who belong to the announced Kingdom ought to live. As we follow Jesus, our lives will impact our broken world.

SUCCESS AND TEMPTATION (Matt.4:1-11)

2009-05-27T20:39:00.001-04:00

While reading the story of Jesus’ temptation in preparation for this study, I was struck by a strange sense that I had never experienced before. Since we have been reading Matthew as a story, I discovered quickly the success of Jesus so far. He had just reached the peak of his call when a voice from heaven affirmed, “this is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17). I reflected on how it would feel like for me or others to achieve a dream! How would I have responded to such a reality? Is it possible that many voices of temptation would start emerging at that moment of great achievement?

The book of Hebrews says that Jesus was tempted in all ways, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). The questions above in addition to the Hebrew reference shed some light for me a fresh as I read this passage. Jesus had just been pronounced and enthroned as God’s Son and with that enthronement came all kinds of voices to usurp power and do as he pleased. Jesus faced these tempting voices and emerged victorious at least for the moment, a failure to prevail over these temptations would be a bad sign for his unfolding ministry; these temptations would catch up with him if he had not decisively defeated them.

My reflection here is very human, when we fail to address voices of temptations in our lives, we lay down a fertile ground for sin, failure and ultimately defeat of our mission and purpose as sin takes root and control us. Jesus confronted the devil and his enticement at the very beginning of his ministry when he was feeling successful, the very moment when temptations had the opportunity to lay a claim on him. Just imagine the voices that emerge when people attain positions of power and influence. What would happen if people in authority or positions of influence were to resist the voices of temptation that seeks to carry to influence them to use their positions for personal gain? I see in this story Jesus doing just that; facing the temptations head on and prevailing over them.

The first two temptations were aimed at Jesus’ identity directly aimed at contradicting what God had said about Jesus at his baptism (3:16-17). The tempter came to Jesus and said, “If you are the Son of God…”. Jesus’ identity was challenged directly and an alternative offered to him. Jesus was indeed hungry after having not eaten for forty days and forty nights as the text says he was “famished.” He had all the reasons to display his power and make his identity known to all by turning stones into bread. Jesus’ body needed food and he was perfectly capable of producing that food and taking care of his anger immediately. Knowing that this was the wrong time to display the power which he actually had, he refused to obey the devil. His concern was not with the ability to prove himself by doing a miracle and wowing everyone, but instead with obeying and trusting his father’s words and providence in the face of hunger (Dt. 8:2-3).

Had Jesus obeyed the devil, he would have elevated the tempter above his heavenly father, which seemed to be the tempter’s aim. I say so because immediately Jesus debunked the trick, the tempter came right out and plainly told Jesus to worship him. Such worship would lead to Jesus receiving power and greatness unmatched by anyone, the tempter said. Seeing through all the lies presented, Jesus responded by quoting scriptures and by talking about his father. Jesus was committed to God’s word and sought to completely trust him and not second guess him. His commitment was to love and serve God alone. The context of the quoted text in Deuteronomy indicates that God tested (a situation that allows the true character to emerge) Israel in order to see what was in their hearts. Jesus as king was also tested in order to show his servant heart and commitment to the father.

As we have seen before in Matthew’s story, this story is a retelling of Israel’s story in the wilderness. According to the text, Jesus had just come out of the water of baptism when he was led to the wilderness in the same manner that Israel had come out of the Red Sea to the wilderness. Like Israel after the Red Sea event, Jesus was sent into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights (Israel’s forty years). But take a note that where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded; therefore, Jesus is a true Israelite who was finally going to fulfill what God intended to do through Israel; being the light of the world (.v. 16). In this story also is the retelling of the creation story. While Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation with devastating results, Jesus succeeded by trusting his father and in doing so, set to undo the effects of human rebellion and sin as Matthew will show us later in the book.
As we read the text further, the tempter will return to Jesus through his disciple one more time at his moment of vulnerability as he faces the cross (16:23). He will be faced with ridicule and mockery (27:39-43) with same words, “if you are the Son of God…..” By refusing to obey the devil and his lies, Jesus embraced God’s plan a plan that involved the cross. This was the story begun at the events of baptism when he chose to be baptized in order to identify with his people’s need for repentance and ultimately die their death; our death. The temptations were meant to stop all this.

The daily temptations we face in our lives are critical to the success of our calling as Christians. The daily temptations are meant to destruct us from God’s mission. Each of us has a glorious but costly calling and the enemy will do everything possible to distract us from that calling. It is likely that if we are capable of hearing God’s affirmation of our calling, we will most defiantly hear the whisper of the enemy trying to distract us from that affirming voice as well. We should therefore, learn from Jesus to use scripture but in order to do that, we must store the word in our hearts in the same way Jesus did. Let us stay focused on God’s calling and not listen to the distracting voice of the enemy. Our calling is to shine God’s light in the dark world. Stay focused and committed to him who called you in spite of the temptations, do not second guess God. Learn from Jesus.

Call….>………Temptation…..>... Mission fulfillment

Some Questions:
• What do you make of the fact that Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil?
• How do you define “temptation”?
• What can we learn about transition into ministry from this story?

Wear Out Your Welcome

2009-05-18T13:09:00.000-04:00

This post from Heather Zimpel

Ryan and I have officially worn out our welcome. The "welcome" word on our mat, that is. Yesterday, Ryan noted that the welcome mat at our front door was faded and shredded. You couldn't even read the multi-lingual "welcomes" on it. As usual, our perspectives on this mundane domestic development were almost as far apart as the political views of Mary Matalin and James Carville.

My immediate reaction: that's terrible, we need a new one! Our house is a mess!

Ryan's immediate reaction: that's awesome, we are so hospitable! Our house is full of people!

It's not often that I like Ryan's perspective better, but in this instance, I'm willing to part with my opinion.

It's true, we have worn out our welcome. And I think that's awesome. Here's what I'm learning. Discipleship and hospitality are closely connected. I used to think that hospitality was about teacups, doilies, and properly set tables. That's definitely a dimension of it. But at its core, hospitality is about inviting people into safe places to encounter the dangerous message of the Gospel. It's about creating environments where people can experience the presence of God. Isn't that the most important thing we can do as disciple-makers?

Dave Gibbons described his mentoring strategy at the Willow Grouplife Conference: whenever someone asks Dave to mentor them, he tells the potential young padawan that they must come live with him. Makes sense to me. If discipleship is about "imitate me" and "doing life together," then let's do it.

If you are a small group leader, disciple-maker, mentor, pastor, here's my challenge to you today: invite people into your life by inviting them into your house. For dinner. Dessert. Games. Movies. Karaoke. To help you pack for your trip. Don't just invite them in when the house is prepared for guests. Invite them in when it bears the marks of life. Wear Out Your Welcome.

LIVING A FOCUSED LIFE Matt. 6:24-34

2009-05-18T12:43:00.003-04:00

As I reflected on Jesus' teaching on the sermon on the mount urging his disciples to focus on God and give God their true and only devotion. I reflected on my own call and life as I read the portion on the sermon as part of my message yesterday. Lately I have been burdened by questions about my call and focus in life. I was wondering whether I am being effective and useful enough? Whether I am making any difference? Etc, I preached on what a Christian's true devotion out to be drawing from Jesus' teaching on the above passage. But today as I was doing my devotion, I was challenged to take another look at the birds of the air, the lilies of the field, the sea, the air, the sun, the stars etc all which simply ARE, yet they render great ministry and service on our behalf. . Osawld Chembers writes, "So often we impair God's designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God." He continues and I personalized this part, " If I want to be of use to God, then I should maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of me every minute I live-yet I will be unaware, on the conscious level of my life, that I am being used of Him.

This was God's word to me today, BE CONNECT AND STAY CONNECTED TO THE FATHER!

Amen.

THE STORY OF A FATHER (CCF'S FATHER'S DAY SPEAKER)

2009-04-29T14:29:00.002-04:00

On June 21, Dr. Ervin Stutzsman, Dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary and the author of the book below will be our speaker at Capital Christian Fellowship. Check out the book below:

‘Tobias of the Amish’ grew out of a son's desire to know his father, Tobias J Stutzman, an Amish entrepreneur. The quest was daunting, since Tobe died in a car accident when author Ervin Stutzman was three. Ervin delved into a pool of communal memory and peeked into closets with shelves of family secrets. The search revealed tangled strands of relationship, woven by Tobe's ambition through the warp and weft of family, church and community. Tobe was a determined worker, a legend of physical strength and inventive genius in a small community. His weaknesses loomed large too, threatening to sever the thread of trust that held the church community together. Often the Amish are viewed through rose-coloured glasses. This book seeks to paint a more genuine portrait, yet without accenting flaws that would ruin the picture.