“I celebrated my re-birth last night. Listen well, my re-birth! I invited a diverse group of people — simple, intellectual, neighbors,” shared "Josephine." (Among them was a couple from the Dijon church who invited her to the Noël worship/brunch.)
As people stood around munching and jawing after the Christmas celebration, I was introduced to "Josephine," “This is Paul the guitarist, our bluesman; he is a missionary.”
I really hate when people present me this way as it so often colors the conversation in somber hues (you will see why in a moment).
Josephine’s visage twisted from smile to grimace, “Ah, a missionary. Leave Africa to the Africans!” What I mistook for racism turned out to be anti-clericalism (a prevalent ideology in France).
“I knew missionaries when I lived in the Cameroon. They liked the young black girls. Those missionaries,” she spewed the word out of her mouth, “liked the pretty young girls a lot.” (A wry smile smoothed her facial contortions communicating the salacious and lascivious activity of these missionaries).
The Christmas conversation went on… “I agree with what the gentleman shared (an elder in the Dijon church had shared of man’s failings and need of a Savior as the significance of Noël), I just do not attend church.”
“Well, church attendance is not an obligation. I find it helpful to be part of a community where we encourage one another in the faith,” I commented. “Ah, but I am quite content living alone,” she clubbed.
“Where do I go from here?” I wondered.
“Do you ever read the Bible at home?” I thrust. “The Bible! It is open in my home all the time,” she parried. “That’s good. Do you ever read it?” I pursued. “No, why should I?” she countered. “It has quite a number of interesting things in it,” I advanced. “I help people, not too much you understand; one can be overbearing. I just do not need what is in there.”
I wanted to ask her how she knew that if she had never read it when she plowed on… “You never attended school with the sisters (Catholic nuns), did you?” as she tugged on her own ear miming winces. “No, I do not need that,” she asserted. (Note the assimilation of teaching and modeling with the content of Scripture.)
“So what do you as a missionary do?” Josephine queried. “I lead a pastoral team here in Europe. We…” She broke in, “What does that mean?” “We have people who…” I continued when she interrupted me forcefully, “Who sent you? Who is your boss?”
“Ultimately God and the Bible. The Protestant church* is not like the Roman Catholic church. We do not have a hierarchy,” I explained. “So you are set up like this, right?” she replied.
My explanation did not fit her plausibility structure; she processed none of what I had just said. Josephine began to lay out an organizational flow chart with folded napkins.
Hopefully, my voice did not betray my exasperation when I interrupted her artwork. “You do not understand. We Protestants are not like the Roman Church. Each church is autonomous. Yes, I went to seminary and teach as I go around, but I ultimately encourage people to read the Bible because each and every one of us has the responsibility and privilege of reading and interpreting it for her/himself.”
Touché ! The expression on her face showed that I had scored a point. She shifted by telling me of her past, death of her husband, her car accident, depression and how she was reborn through art. “I am now content in the morning, happy in the afternoon, satisfied in the evening. I have peace.”
“You said you believe what the gentleman shared this morning. Yes, peace is found in Jesus-Christ,” bringing things back to the essential.
“I have peace and am rich,” she plowed on, “not financially mind you. And I am glad you didn’t talk about money; no one passed the basket. Grrr, I detest when they do that… give, give, give. I am glad you didn’t ask for money.” Another point for our side.
“And my friends really enjoy coming here every week. They need the encouragement of your community. You are helping people in need. That is good.” A positive impression has been left. That too is good.
As I reflected on this talk with Josephine, had the actions and words of church people hardened, deafened and blinded her so that she could not read Scripture? Hmmm, a warning to Christians everywhere.
In any case, her comprehension of religion had led her to the decision to not read Scripture. Yet Jesus came so that the blind might see, that the deaf might hear, and to give hearts of flesh in place of hearts of stone.
This is the miracle of Christmas—religious and secular man twists; God straightens. Man hurts; God helps. Man is not only in darkness but creates it as well; God is light and Jesus is the light of the world. Joyeux Noël to one and all!
*When talking with people I often use the broadest possible categories to facilitate discussion rather than get side tracked by tangential questions of ecclesiology and convictions.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Mr. Boh: say "thank you"
Dear Mr. Boh,*
The day is fast approaching when I will be back in the land of the philosophers. It will be good to share face to face! So that the most important does not get swamped by travel prep, however, I thought I would shoot off a few musings about my gratitude to the Divinity.
The other day I was once again flying and read a book review (Boh, you will not believe this) about a book on gratitude. They will certainly not translate that one in the language of the philosophers!
Yet, I am increasingly realizing that one of the most important things one can do in this existence, just as our parents taught us when we were little, is to say, “thank you!” So I would like to take the time to thank God—Father, Son and Spirit—for…
PROTECTION
Over the past five months my journeys have caused me to cover about 32000 kilometers (here they use miles = 20,000) journeying to and through the land of ecclesiastic plenty. I am a militant travel mode pluralist having taken buses, trains, 14 different planes, and driven 8 different types of cars.
All without accident or incident.
In the book of the Diety’s self-revelation, a lyrist who loved greatly the Divine One recorded a composition, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways… ‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.’” (Psalm 91:11)
Ah, but you may query, “What about the man you told me about on the phone just yesterday, the one you saw being pulled from a nasty car wreck by five emergency crew workers?!” Well, that could be me in the future, but I know that he has protected me in the past and say, “Merci beaucoup” to the God most high in the present.
PROVISION
Over the past five months, like many government and university workers do, I have been seeking funding for my work. Along the way, I met people who are unemployed, others who have taken pay cuts, while others have escaped the economic crisis unscathed, and yet others who have actually prospered through it!
Being underfunded, I have experienced a sweep of emotions. At times I wondered, “Will I be out of a job due to lack of funding?” I brushed against the angst of the unemployed, yet knew that God would provide; I just did not know how, what or when. I wondered if I would need to take a pay cut like my good friend, a salesman in Ohio. I realized that the Lord “gives and takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
At times I felt financially poor and began to count pennies (Boh, those are akin to our centimes). At other times I enjoyed the prosperity of fine dining and private swimming pools thanks to well-to-do friends.
But you know Boh, sometimes my pride felt assaulted by the generosity of these friends, even though they gave without proviso and with complete joy. You know how it is in our land (of the philosophers), when someone does something nice for you, they hold it over you or expect pay back. But I believe the Great Professor is teaching me a hard lesson, to be content in lack (or in my case what is comparative lack) and in abundance supplied by the generous.
“In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.” (Psalm 37:19)
“The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” (Psalm 34:10)
Thank you oh Great Provider! My attitudes have been refined by ordeal, and in spite of my heart’s dross, You have provided full funding and abundance to be enjoyed.
PEOPLE
I have saved the best for last. For the Father has given me traveling companions. My favorite companion, my wife, and I have interacted with countless people over the past five months. I remember…
You know Boh, there is much to be learned from the people of this land. In 1863 their great president, Abraham Lincoln, designated a day to give thanks to the Giver of all good gifts, the Creator, God Almighty. And so I wanted to slow down in order to say “Thank You” to him too.
I can’t wait to see you face to face,
Your friend
* Mr. Boh is a composite French friend who has recently become a Christian. While thoroughly fascinated with the person of Christ, he is completely unfamiliar with the evangelical subculture much of which seems very alien to him.
The day is fast approaching when I will be back in the land of the philosophers. It will be good to share face to face! So that the most important does not get swamped by travel prep, however, I thought I would shoot off a few musings about my gratitude to the Divinity.
"Musing" by Jeff Moriber www.jeffmoriber.com
The other day I was once again flying and read a book review (Boh, you will not believe this) about a book on gratitude. They will certainly not translate that one in the language of the philosophers!
Yet, I am increasingly realizing that one of the most important things one can do in this existence, just as our parents taught us when we were little, is to say, “thank you!” So I would like to take the time to thank God—Father, Son and Spirit—for…
PROTECTION
Over the past five months my journeys have caused me to cover about 32000 kilometers (here they use miles = 20,000) journeying to and through the land of ecclesiastic plenty. I am a militant travel mode pluralist having taken buses, trains, 14 different planes, and driven 8 different types of cars.
All without accident or incident.
In the book of the Diety’s self-revelation, a lyrist who loved greatly the Divine One recorded a composition, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways… ‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.’” (Psalm 91:11)
Ah, but you may query, “What about the man you told me about on the phone just yesterday, the one you saw being pulled from a nasty car wreck by five emergency crew workers?!” Well, that could be me in the future, but I know that he has protected me in the past and say, “Merci beaucoup” to the God most high in the present.
PROVISION
Over the past five months, like many government and university workers do, I have been seeking funding for my work. Along the way, I met people who are unemployed, others who have taken pay cuts, while others have escaped the economic crisis unscathed, and yet others who have actually prospered through it!
Being underfunded, I have experienced a sweep of emotions. At times I wondered, “Will I be out of a job due to lack of funding?” I brushed against the angst of the unemployed, yet knew that God would provide; I just did not know how, what or when. I wondered if I would need to take a pay cut like my good friend, a salesman in Ohio. I realized that the Lord “gives and takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
At times I felt financially poor and began to count pennies (Boh, those are akin to our centimes). At other times I enjoyed the prosperity of fine dining and private swimming pools thanks to well-to-do friends.
But you know Boh, sometimes my pride felt assaulted by the generosity of these friends, even though they gave without proviso and with complete joy. You know how it is in our land (of the philosophers), when someone does something nice for you, they hold it over you or expect pay back. But I believe the Great Professor is teaching me a hard lesson, to be content in lack (or in my case what is comparative lack) and in abundance supplied by the generous.
“In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.” (Psalm 37:19)
“The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” (Psalm 34:10)
Thank you oh Great Provider! My attitudes have been refined by ordeal, and in spite of my heart’s dross, You have provided full funding and abundance to be enjoyed.
PEOPLE
I have saved the best for last. For the Father has given me traveling companions. My favorite companion, my wife, and I have interacted with countless people over the past five months. I remember…
- interacting with a school of teens passionate about studying Scripture (and wrestling with the book of Job)
- now being supported by a young church that was once only a dream. (My wife and I were part of a small group of enthusiastic people who discussed and prayed for that daughter church to be born.)
- six o’clock (oh Boh, things start Early here!) breakfast meetings with companion missioners to discuss a new church being started in the town of my birth.
- crying in despair on a friend’s shoulder.
- laughing around a summer campfire as we recited Monty Python quotes in turn.
- sitting in a hot tub with friends looking at the stars on a crisp cold evening.
- watching Penn State football games with fellow alumni (Boh, this is a land of paradox—they play “football” with their hands!)
- enjoying the blues with old friends played by old high school friends (Ah yes Boh, we are all aging n’est-ce pas?).
- being impressed by a tremendously busy friend who would drop what he was doing to take us to the airport… numerous times.
- praying with people to the One True God in the name of Christ Jesus through whom we have our fellowship-friendship-companionship.
You know Boh, there is much to be learned from the people of this land. In 1863 their great president, Abraham Lincoln, designated a day to give thanks to the Giver of all good gifts, the Creator, God Almighty. And so I wanted to slow down in order to say “Thank You” to him too.
I can’t wait to see you face to face,
Your friend
* Mr. Boh is a composite French friend who has recently become a Christian. While thoroughly fascinated with the person of Christ, he is completely unfamiliar with the evangelical subculture much of which seems very alien to him.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Mr. Boh: surprises
Well Boh, our time in this land of ecclesiastic plenty is coming to an end. We are looking forward to seeing you and our kids again (who are studying their lives away in the land of the philosophers).
In line with your request for me to share observations with you, I thought I would recount some reflections about the Deity.
TRUST I am learning to distinguish between trusting God for outcomes and trusting God himself. Without a specific promise I may or may not obtain a desired outcome. (E.g. I have no guarantee that he will build his church in a particular locality.) But God has proven himself faithful in specific promises. (E.g. “I will build my Church…” where and when he chooses.)
Where the rub comes is that the reigning ecclesiastic mindset claims (à la Job’s friends) that if we do mission God’s way it will always produce successful results. Jeremiah did things right, yet according to the standard of measurable results he would have been counted as a dismal failure.
Observation: my expectations are often askew, but God is nonetheless worthy of my trust. “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” Psalm 9:10
HOPE I used to hope for things to happen (and still do). But I feel like Frodo, who, when looking into the mirror of Galadriel is unable to discern what the visions mean or if they will indeed take place. Now, because my crystal ball yields enigmatic glimpses, I am learning to hope in God himself. And “He’ll take care of the rest.”
Observation: my desires are often improvident, but hope in my loving Father is a solid thing. “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.” Psalm 33:18
PRAYER I know there are many reasons for God’s times of apparent silence, but they are nonetheless destabilizing. “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” Psalm 10:1
Then, at times, he moves with alacrity as though awakened from slumber (Ps. 78:65).
At other times prayer is akin to water dripping upon rock. Very efficacious, but not as fast acting as I would like.
Hmm, I guess I wish God were more predictable, but then I would miss out on his very cool surprises. I like surprises.
Well Boh, I must go. Can't wait to see you face to face in just a few weeks.
Contemplatively,
Your friend
In line with your request for me to share observations with you, I thought I would recount some reflections about the Deity.
TRUST I am learning to distinguish between trusting God for outcomes and trusting God himself. Without a specific promise I may or may not obtain a desired outcome. (E.g. I have no guarantee that he will build his church in a particular locality.) But God has proven himself faithful in specific promises. (E.g. “I will build my Church…” where and when he chooses.)
Where the rub comes is that the reigning ecclesiastic mindset claims (à la Job’s friends) that if we do mission God’s way it will always produce successful results. Jeremiah did things right, yet according to the standard of measurable results he would have been counted as a dismal failure.
Observation: my expectations are often askew, but God is nonetheless worthy of my trust. “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” Psalm 9:10
HOPE I used to hope for things to happen (and still do). But I feel like Frodo, who, when looking into the mirror of Galadriel is unable to discern what the visions mean or if they will indeed take place. Now, because my crystal ball yields enigmatic glimpses, I am learning to hope in God himself. And “He’ll take care of the rest.”
Observation: my desires are often improvident, but hope in my loving Father is a solid thing. “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.” Psalm 33:18
PRAYER I know there are many reasons for God’s times of apparent silence, but they are nonetheless destabilizing. “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” Psalm 10:1
Then, at times, he moves with alacrity as though awakened from slumber (Ps. 78:65).
At other times prayer is akin to water dripping upon rock. Very efficacious, but not as fast acting as I would like.
Hmm, I guess I wish God were more predictable, but then I would miss out on his very cool surprises. I like surprises.
Well Boh, I must go. Can't wait to see you face to face in just a few weeks.
Contemplatively,
Your friend
Monday, October 19, 2009
A letter to Mr. Boh: living in the past
Bonjour Mr. Boh,
You asked me to send my observations and experiences throughout my journeys in the land of ecclesiastic plenty. Well, this letter is more my personal reflections on life and my purpose here in this foreign land, from which I came.
I go here, there, and everywhere sharing about Europe. Maybe it is pretentious or presumptuous, but I believe God wants to use me to:
* bring together 15 European Grace churches into a network, pooling resources to pursue the common vision of being on mission for Christ.
* create a European service / mission agency in order to send more and more and more Europeans from those churches on mission throughout Europe and beyond.
* create a humanitarian organization that will partner with the Fair Trade "Café du Monde" to do good in the world… in Jesus' name.
Ah, Boh, I've told you many times about a verse that inspires me greatly: "the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands" (Isaiah 32:8). So the vision is clear, but that doesn’t mean I see the path that will lead me to the above destinations.
In sharing this vision, I do not yet have stories of people saved, or even helped because these entities — network, agency, organization — do not yet exist. But that is why I am focusing on them, because they need to be created.
As the sage said, “but money is the answer for everything” (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Ah, Boh, in looking for funding I sometimes feel like Europe’s spiritual needs compete with Africa’s material needs for America's dollar. And who am I to tell people what to do with their money? That is truly between them and God. Africa’s need is great. Europe’s need is great, just in extremely different ways.
So will backers come forth? Financial backers yes, but I need to know that people are with me in prayer, on mission together on the Dark Continent that birthed the Enlightenment.
Ah, Boh, you are introspective so you will understand my self-interrogations. Questions are legion:
Have I been gone for so long that I no longer know how to present a message that makes sense to the people of this plausibility structure? Do I just need better marketing to capture my audience? Is God leading me into a different, more sustainable way of being on mission for him? Question engenders query.
Incessant introspection causes me to live the present badly, yet I believe that God still has good works for me to walk in. And I know that he wants to transform me. So instead of living under the financial Damocles sword of discovering new sources of financing, I am (again) learning to trust in the Father’s love and provision.
So, rather than erratic existence resulting from projection into an unpredictable future, I have been spending more time in the solid past, reviewing God’s historical faithfulness in my life. He really has taken care of my family without respite or pause. Ah, Boh, I remember when…
Well, Boh, thanks for listening to my ramblings, for caring and for praying. Hope to see you soon!
Warmly,
Your friend
You asked me to send my observations and experiences throughout my journeys in the land of ecclesiastic plenty. Well, this letter is more my personal reflections on life and my purpose here in this foreign land, from which I came.
"Stranger in a strange land" by Mike Tracy (miketracy.net)
I go here, there, and everywhere sharing about Europe. Maybe it is pretentious or presumptuous, but I believe God wants to use me to:
* bring together 15 European Grace churches into a network, pooling resources to pursue the common vision of being on mission for Christ.
* create a European service / mission agency in order to send more and more and more Europeans from those churches on mission throughout Europe and beyond.
* create a humanitarian organization that will partner with the Fair Trade "Café du Monde" to do good in the world… in Jesus' name.
Ah, Boh, I've told you many times about a verse that inspires me greatly: "the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands" (Isaiah 32:8). So the vision is clear, but that doesn’t mean I see the path that will lead me to the above destinations.
In sharing this vision, I do not yet have stories of people saved, or even helped because these entities — network, agency, organization — do not yet exist. But that is why I am focusing on them, because they need to be created.
As the sage said, “but money is the answer for everything” (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Ah, Boh, in looking for funding I sometimes feel like Europe’s spiritual needs compete with Africa’s material needs for America's dollar. And who am I to tell people what to do with their money? That is truly between them and God. Africa’s need is great. Europe’s need is great, just in extremely different ways.
So will backers come forth? Financial backers yes, but I need to know that people are with me in prayer, on mission together on the Dark Continent that birthed the Enlightenment.
Ah, Boh, you are introspective so you will understand my self-interrogations. Questions are legion:
Have I been gone for so long that I no longer know how to present a message that makes sense to the people of this plausibility structure? Do I just need better marketing to capture my audience? Is God leading me into a different, more sustainable way of being on mission for him? Question engenders query.
Incessant introspection causes me to live the present badly, yet I believe that God still has good works for me to walk in. And I know that he wants to transform me. So instead of living under the financial Damocles sword of discovering new sources of financing, I am (again) learning to trust in the Father’s love and provision.
So, rather than erratic existence resulting from projection into an unpredictable future, I have been spending more time in the solid past, reviewing God’s historical faithfulness in my life. He really has taken care of my family without respite or pause. Ah, Boh, I remember when…
Old faithful
Well, Boh, thanks for listening to my ramblings, for caring and for praying. Hope to see you soon!
Warmly,
Your friend
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Mr. Boh considers “truth with an attitude”
“Dear Mr. Boh…” that is an appropriate salutation for my close buddy, thought Mr. Boh’s friend.
You see, Mr. Boh(emian) lives in Europe where he is just discovering the person of Jesus; so he is looking at the church, familiar to you and me, from a fresh perspective.
Mr. Boh’s friend has gone on journey to the land of ecclesiastic plenty where things are not necessarily wrong, but often quite different from that to which he is accustomed. Friend of Boh continues his post card…
“… one thing that has struck me is that believers here in the land of ecclesiastic plenty talk about grace as good news, but the people around them perceive them as being harsh, bellicose and choleric. Why is this?
So in order to understand some of these dynamics, I picked up a book called, They Like Jesus but Not the Church. The author, Dan Kimball, writes about common (mis)perceptions of the church, “The church is an organized religion with a political agenda” and “is judgmental and negative,” among other things.
I mean really Mr. Boh, did the church family that you are now part of tell you that you needed to adopt a particular political orientation in order to follow Christ?!
It will reassure you that I recently saw on the front board of an evangelical church “Pray for President Obama — 1 Timothy 2:1-4”
[I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.]
So I guess at least some evangelicals are asking God to give the president wisdom and attempting to be at peace with him, a democrat (that is the leftist party here in the land of ecclesiastic plenty).
In his book, Kimball points out that evangelicals are known for what they are against rather than what they stand for. Even if this is a stereotype that does not at all represent what you and I believe or do, “when part of us misrepresents Jesus, we are all misrepresented. If part of us is misunderstood, we all are misunderstood,” he explains.
It seems to me that Paul and the other writers of the New Testament were very concerned about ethics within the church, yet evangelicals quoted by the media seem to be attempting to impose Christian morality on unbelievers.
Mr. Boh, think about it, how can people who do not know Christ be expected to live according to Biblical standards when they lack the power of the Holy Spirit?
I think that there is the danger of attitudinal worldliness among some believers. I admit to having met believers who seem to have adopted both the convictions (that is okay) and acerbic attitudes (not okay) sometimes heard on national news networks.
Whatever one’s Christian conviction may be, should it not be accompanied by love and be gracious toward people who do not follow Christ, whatever their position or lifestyle may be currently? In this way they would have a living example of the message that we preach — purity, grace, love, reconciliation and peace.
After all, Paul instructed Timothy to: “Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25).
I guess what I am saying is that we believers want to present truth with an attitude… gentleness. An appropriate Christian approach is not presenting truth harshly or being graciously vapid, but sharing truth embodied in graciousness… "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
Well, Mr. Boh, I am out of room on this postcard. As I said before, there is much to think about in this strange land!
Your friend…"
You see, Mr. Boh(emian) lives in Europe where he is just discovering the person of Jesus; so he is looking at the church, familiar to you and me, from a fresh perspective.
Mr. Boh’s friend has gone on journey to the land of ecclesiastic plenty where things are not necessarily wrong, but often quite different from that to which he is accustomed. Friend of Boh continues his post card…
“… one thing that has struck me is that believers here in the land of ecclesiastic plenty talk about grace as good news, but the people around them perceive them as being harsh, bellicose and choleric. Why is this?
So in order to understand some of these dynamics, I picked up a book called, They Like Jesus but Not the Church. The author, Dan Kimball, writes about common (mis)perceptions of the church, “The church is an organized religion with a political agenda” and “is judgmental and negative,” among other things.
I mean really Mr. Boh, did the church family that you are now part of tell you that you needed to adopt a particular political orientation in order to follow Christ?!
It will reassure you that I recently saw on the front board of an evangelical church “Pray for President Obama — 1 Timothy 2:1-4”
[I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.]
So I guess at least some evangelicals are asking God to give the president wisdom and attempting to be at peace with him, a democrat (that is the leftist party here in the land of ecclesiastic plenty).
In his book, Kimball points out that evangelicals are known for what they are against rather than what they stand for. Even if this is a stereotype that does not at all represent what you and I believe or do, “when part of us misrepresents Jesus, we are all misrepresented. If part of us is misunderstood, we all are misunderstood,” he explains.
It seems to me that Paul and the other writers of the New Testament were very concerned about ethics within the church, yet evangelicals quoted by the media seem to be attempting to impose Christian morality on unbelievers.
Mr. Boh, think about it, how can people who do not know Christ be expected to live according to Biblical standards when they lack the power of the Holy Spirit?
I think that there is the danger of attitudinal worldliness among some believers. I admit to having met believers who seem to have adopted both the convictions (that is okay) and acerbic attitudes (not okay) sometimes heard on national news networks.
Whatever one’s Christian conviction may be, should it not be accompanied by love and be gracious toward people who do not follow Christ, whatever their position or lifestyle may be currently? In this way they would have a living example of the message that we preach — purity, grace, love, reconciliation and peace.
After all, Paul instructed Timothy to: “Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25).
I guess what I am saying is that we believers want to present truth with an attitude… gentleness. An appropriate Christian approach is not presenting truth harshly or being graciously vapid, but sharing truth embodied in graciousness… "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
Well, Mr. Boh, I am out of room on this postcard. As I said before, there is much to think about in this strange land!
Your friend…"
Friday, August 28, 2009
Mr. Boh asks, “Quantitative or qualitative?”
A friend of Mr. Boh went on a trip to a land of ecclesiastic plenty.
Before leaving, Mr. Boh reminded his friend to make sure to note his observations along the way. “I can do that Mr. Boh,” replied his friend.
Friend of Boh’s journeys took him far and wide.
He spied many fascinating things.
For example, Friend of Boh noticed was how big and how many churches there where in the land of plenty. Once he was at a stop light and noticed that there was literally a church on every street corner. “I've got to take a picture of this for Mr. Boh. Four at this intersection of this little town!” thought FoB. “My city only has five believing churches. How spiritually rich these people are!”
At times, FoB MapQuested directions to a new church, and at times he was not sure if he had arrived. You see, FoB could not always tell the difference between school buildings, corporate buildings and church buildings. Friend of Boh reminded himself, “It’s not wrong, just different.”
Friend of Boh went to a church service where everything was more elaborate than he was accustomed to, much, much more! Afterward he chatted with the pastor, a man of God.
The man of God had just been on a spiritual retreat complete with meditation, prayer, long periods of silence. He told FoB that the retreat leader introduced their time together by saying, “My hope is that you will never rush again.”
Afterward Man of God was troubled; he found peace in stillness while away, but as soon as he returned to the land of plenty, it was rush, rush, rush, more, more, more.
Man of God wanted to do some research on why it is so difficult to be peaceful, to focus on God in the land of plenty. Friend of Boh queried, “Could it be possible that the focus on ‘more,’ on quantity, actually precludes a focus on quality? Could it be that quantity and quality are antithetical? Hmmm, there is much to ponder in the land of plenty.”
Friend of Boh had already noted that the quantitative was very important in the land of plenty, that “metrics,” measurements were mysteriously linked to spirituality. He remembered a quote by an Asian believer who stated that the land-of-plenty-ites “need to count their religion.” “I guess this is what he meant,” thought FoB.
While having bigger musical groups & buildings are just different forms of church, a question haunted FoB:
“To what extent should believers focus on the quantitative?
Yes, we can count the number of people attending a service, but how does one tally ‘disciples’ — people who obey Christ out of a heart of love?
How does one measure depth of relationship with God?
When does a quantitative focus become counterproductive, undermining or even (shudder) precluding the qualitative?”
“Hmmm," thought Friend of Boh, "there is much to mull over in the land of ecclesiastic plenty!”
Before leaving, Mr. Boh reminded his friend to make sure to note his observations along the way. “I can do that Mr. Boh,” replied his friend.
Friend of Boh’s journeys took him far and wide.
He spied many fascinating things.
For example, Friend of Boh noticed was how big and how many churches there where in the land of plenty. Once he was at a stop light and noticed that there was literally a church on every street corner. “I've got to take a picture of this for Mr. Boh. Four at this intersection of this little town!” thought FoB. “My city only has five believing churches. How spiritually rich these people are!”
At times, FoB MapQuested directions to a new church, and at times he was not sure if he had arrived. You see, FoB could not always tell the difference between school buildings, corporate buildings and church buildings. Friend of Boh reminded himself, “It’s not wrong, just different.”
Friend of Boh went to a church service where everything was more elaborate than he was accustomed to, much, much more! Afterward he chatted with the pastor, a man of God.
The man of God had just been on a spiritual retreat complete with meditation, prayer, long periods of silence. He told FoB that the retreat leader introduced their time together by saying, “My hope is that you will never rush again.”
Afterward Man of God was troubled; he found peace in stillness while away, but as soon as he returned to the land of plenty, it was rush, rush, rush, more, more, more.
Man of God wanted to do some research on why it is so difficult to be peaceful, to focus on God in the land of plenty. Friend of Boh queried, “Could it be possible that the focus on ‘more,’ on quantity, actually precludes a focus on quality? Could it be that quantity and quality are antithetical? Hmmm, there is much to ponder in the land of plenty.”
Friend of Boh had already noted that the quantitative was very important in the land of plenty, that “metrics,” measurements were mysteriously linked to spirituality. He remembered a quote by an Asian believer who stated that the land-of-plenty-ites “need to count their religion.” “I guess this is what he meant,” thought FoB.
While having bigger musical groups & buildings are just different forms of church, a question haunted FoB:
“To what extent should believers focus on the quantitative?
Yes, we can count the number of people attending a service, but how does one tally ‘disciples’ — people who obey Christ out of a heart of love?
How does one measure depth of relationship with God?
When does a quantitative focus become counterproductive, undermining or even (shudder) precluding the qualitative?”
“Hmmm," thought Friend of Boh, "there is much to mull over in the land of ecclesiastic plenty!”
Monday, July 20, 2009
CM: Young boh-friends say, "Finally!"
“But I can’t preach or play the guitar!” lamented young Mr. Boh. “Poor me!”
Young Mr. Boh(hemian) was very sad because he wanted to serve Jesus through his local church but there were no opportunities that matched his talents and gifts.
The elders of young Mr. Boh's local church thought that he was recalcitrant, difficult to work with (maybe he was) and unwilling to serve (maybe he wasn't). Mr. Boh did lack self-confidence so was not one to propose himself for ministry for which he felt ill-suited.
The Fair Trade Café had been bedouin for about 18 months, traveling from fair to festival and back again, promoting justice through selling coffee. The Café team seeks to do good because Jesus has been good to them.
But the Café had no home to call its own. Then in June God opened a door for the Café and that opened doors of service for Misters and Misses Bohs. Maybe they weren’t teachers or melodious, but they could do pointing on 15th century stone, piping, electrical work, painting and papering.
Modernist people sometimes seek unity that borders on uniformity.
Postmodern people sometimes seek diversity that borders on anarchy.
Jesus seeks unity AND diversity in dynamic tension.
The body metaphor for Jesus' church helps us to understand diversity, giftedness, opportunity, service, and unity. A body of coordinated members serving together with purpose.
Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, (therefore cannot play guitar) I have no place in this body….
And if the ear should say, because I am not a mouth, (therefore cannot preach) I have no place in this body….
One of the purposes of the Café was to expand opportunities for service for those who could not find a place within the local church structure.
I find it interesting and instructive that just a few months prior, the elders of Mr. Boh's local church were befuddled, saying, "Mr. Boh and his young boh-friends spend too much time together. And they don't think about serving."
Yet, Misters and Misses Bohs are the very ones who have jumped into the Fair Trade project feet first, contributing the most. "Finally," exclaimed young Mr. Boh, "something that I know how to do. And I can do it for Jesus!"
"But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. As it is, there are many parts, with differing functions, but one body."
Young Mr. Boh(hemian) was very sad because he wanted to serve Jesus through his local church but there were no opportunities that matched his talents and gifts.
The elders of young Mr. Boh's local church thought that he was recalcitrant, difficult to work with (maybe he was) and unwilling to serve (maybe he wasn't). Mr. Boh did lack self-confidence so was not one to propose himself for ministry for which he felt ill-suited.
Elders' perception of Mr. Boh
Mr. Boh's perception of local church opportunities
The Fair Trade Café had been bedouin for about 18 months, traveling from fair to festival and back again, promoting justice through selling coffee. The Café team seeks to do good because Jesus has been good to them.
But the Café had no home to call its own. Then in June God opened a door for the Café and that opened doors of service for Misters and Misses Bohs. Maybe they weren’t teachers or melodious, but they could do pointing on 15th century stone, piping, electrical work, painting and papering.
Modernist people sometimes seek unity that borders on uniformity.
Postmodern people sometimes seek diversity that borders on anarchy.
Jesus seeks unity AND diversity in dynamic tension.
The body metaphor for Jesus' church helps us to understand diversity, giftedness, opportunity, service, and unity. A body of coordinated members serving together with purpose.
Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, (therefore cannot play guitar) I have no place in this body….
And if the ear should say, because I am not a mouth, (therefore cannot preach) I have no place in this body….
One of the purposes of the Café was to expand opportunities for service for those who could not find a place within the local church structure.
I find it interesting and instructive that just a few months prior, the elders of Mr. Boh's local church were befuddled, saying, "Mr. Boh and his young boh-friends spend too much time together. And they don't think about serving."
Yet, Misters and Misses Bohs are the very ones who have jumped into the Fair Trade project feet first, contributing the most. "Finally," exclaimed young Mr. Boh, "something that I know how to do. And I can do it for Jesus!"
"But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. As it is, there are many parts, with differing functions, but one body."
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
CM: Young Mr. Boh says "Oh!"
Young Mr. Boh(emian) came up to me after the service, about his 4th time there I think. He said, “It is interesting to see that it is not just the pastor (Franck) who teaches here, but others like yourself as well.”
(The elders of the Dijon church had asked me to do a four-message series on John 17; I had just shared #3 “The Glory and Shame of Mission.”)
So I shared with Mr. Boh about the universal priesthood of believers (1 Peter 2:5), that all followers of Christ (not just the pastor) have the privilege and responsibility to serve, using the talents and gifts God has given them.
“Oh,” said Mr. Boh.
I added,
“And all believers have the privilege and responsibility to look into the Scriptures, interpret and share them. That is why a number of us preach, not just the pastor.”
“Oh,” said Mr. Boh.
Mr. Boh seemed interested, so risking pontification I continued,
“Just as a body has different parts, the local church body has different members. It is not only those who can teach and play guitar that serve, but all of us.
For example, we just found a building for our Fair Trade Café. We’ll need people to help clean, do masonry, plumbing, paint and wallpaper.”
“Oh,” said Mr. Boh. “I am starting to understand how all of this works.”
It turns out that Mr. Boh had worked in a café, and a few weeks ago came to help clean the building; he is now interested in becoming a Fair Trade barista!
Oh yeah, and just two weeks ago Mr. Boh, another twenty-something friend and I started reading the Gospel of John together :-)
(The elders of the Dijon church had asked me to do a four-message series on John 17; I had just shared #3 “The Glory and Shame of Mission.”)
So I shared with Mr. Boh about the universal priesthood of believers (1 Peter 2:5), that all followers of Christ (not just the pastor) have the privilege and responsibility to serve, using the talents and gifts God has given them.
“Oh,” said Mr. Boh.
I added,
“And all believers have the privilege and responsibility to look into the Scriptures, interpret and share them. That is why a number of us preach, not just the pastor.”
“Oh,” said Mr. Boh.
Mr. Boh seemed interested, so risking pontification I continued,
“Just as a body has different parts, the local church body has different members. It is not only those who can teach and play guitar that serve, but all of us.
For example, we just found a building for our Fair Trade Café. We’ll need people to help clean, do masonry, plumbing, paint and wallpaper.”
“Oh,” said Mr. Boh. “I am starting to understand how all of this works.”
It turns out that Mr. Boh had worked in a café, and a few weeks ago came to help clean the building; he is now interested in becoming a Fair Trade barista!
Oh yeah, and just two weeks ago Mr. Boh, another twenty-something friend and I started reading the Gospel of John together :-)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
CM: Young Miss Boh asks "how"?
Young Miss Boh blurted out, "Yes, but when someone asks me the question to which Jesus is the answer, I don't know how to answer!"
This past Sunday I had asked people to share difficulties in talking about faith with their friends, work colleagues, family and neighbors. We were considering the question, "How might we live and speak in a way that causes people to ask the question to which Jesus is the answer?"
Miss Boh has little problem talking to anyone about anything. But she is a new believer and said, “I don’t know enough about the Bible to give a good answer.”
How would you respond to Miss Boh?
Mine was a two-part answer. I said,
“Well, we need to remember that evangelism is a team sport. Remember the METAPHOR (yep, we’re back to that) of the field in 1 Corinthians 3? Paul said, 'My job is to plant the seed in people's hearts, and Apollos waters it, but it is God, not we, who makes it grow.' You see Miss Boh, you don’t need to and weren’t meant to do it all yourself.”
I didn’t want to blow her out of the water with the long-term answer which I later shared with her — spend lots of time in the Bible. Miss Boh looked a bit relieved, because you see, she wants to share Jesus with people now :-)
I springboarded to illustrate the application of the metaphor for the whole church group, replying,
“Do you remember Miss Boh? You, my wife and I were at that county fair in your village. Louise and I went to check out some of the stands; when we came back, you were talking about God with one of the merchants. You didn’t know what else to say, but you introduced me to him, passed me the baton, and I took the discussion from there. Planting. Watering. Together.”
P.S. Thought I would pass on this fresh example of a real life application of metaphor…
This past Sunday I had asked people to share difficulties in talking about faith with their friends, work colleagues, family and neighbors. We were considering the question, "How might we live and speak in a way that causes people to ask the question to which Jesus is the answer?"
Miss Boh has little problem talking to anyone about anything. But she is a new believer and said, “I don’t know enough about the Bible to give a good answer.”
How would you respond to Miss Boh?
Mine was a two-part answer. I said,
“Well, we need to remember that evangelism is a team sport. Remember the METAPHOR (yep, we’re back to that) of the field in 1 Corinthians 3? Paul said, 'My job is to plant the seed in people's hearts, and Apollos waters it, but it is God, not we, who makes it grow.' You see Miss Boh, you don’t need to and weren’t meant to do it all yourself.”
I didn’t want to blow her out of the water with the long-term answer which I later shared with her — spend lots of time in the Bible. Miss Boh looked a bit relieved, because you see, she wants to share Jesus with people now :-)
I springboarded to illustrate the application of the metaphor for the whole church group, replying,
“Do you remember Miss Boh? You, my wife and I were at that county fair in your village. Louise and I went to check out some of the stands; when we came back, you were talking about God with one of the merchants. You didn’t know what else to say, but you introduced me to him, passed me the baton, and I took the discussion from there. Planting. Watering. Together.”
P.S. Thought I would pass on this fresh example of a real life application of metaphor…
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
CM: Young Mr. Boh asks why… church?
It was his first time in church; you could tell by his actions and reactions during your innovative, wit-filled, thought provoking, oh yes, biblical message!
Feeling confident that this bohemian-looking, twenty-something would want to talk with you after that oh-so-cool presentation, you introduce yourself after the service. He says, “I’ve never experienced anything quite like this.”
“This is going well,” you say to yourself.
“How so,” you inquire.
He says to you, “Well, I don’t know. I mean, I didn’t understand anything that was going on. Why people were doing the stuff they did when they did it?”
“Oh,” you reply deflatedly.
“But I liked the vibes.”
“Oh,” you mutter.
Regaining composure, you propose, “Would you like to get together for coffee to unpack your experience?”
“Sure.”
You are sitting in Peet’s sipping your latte, and he an Organic Pu-erh tea (your second indicator that he is not fitting into categories with which you are familiar).
His first question is, “Okay, so what is church all about anyway? Why church?” Whew, he’s brought the ball back into your court. You’ve structured your church for growth and its working. Even just last night you listened to an Acts 29 (or fill in your church growth specialist of predilection __________) pod-cast.
You reply phlegmatically, “Well, we taylor our church service to connect with people like you.” (“Oops,” you wonder, “will that make him feel like a target market? And why didn’t he understand what was going on?”)
But this guy is unflappable, “No, I mean what is it all about, you know, epistemologically and ontologically, the stuff the really matters, the core, the essence. Why church? And what is church?” “Sip,” went the Pu-erh tea. “Gulp,” went the coffee!
Fortuitously, last night before bed, you read an article in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia where Geoffrey Bromiley asserted that the Church can be “described in several pregnant phrases!”
So rather than explaining to young Mr. Boh what the local church does, you dive in…
“The Church is:
“These pictures overlap and approach essential issues from different angles. Rather than canceling each other out (e.g. “Do we focus on evangelism or fellowship?”), they provide parallax to promote the birth and growth of vigorous, fertile churches.”
“Got it,” responds young Mr. Boh. “So how was what the Bible describes as 'church' reflected in what you did last Sunday morning?” “Sip.” “Gulp."
Why we do what we do is quite important to our ecclesiology.
Because the imagination is heavily involved in metaphor-based church living and evaluation—one pictures a palette of ideal possibilities—the modernist church leader will tend to imagine, for example, the ideal modern "temple," while the postmodernist will imagine, well, postmodern ways of being "temple," a gathered people possessed by the Living God. And the imagination is engaged, whether modernist or postmodernist, always seeking to live not like living stones or ambassadors, but both concomitantly.
One-size-does-not-fit-all yet forms must always embody Scriptural essence.
Pastors, elders and all disciples who build upon the foundation of the Church—Jesus Himself—should use the Biblical metaphors to guide and evaluate their work. I.e. does the form of church we are living embody the essence embedded in the pictures Jesus gave to us?
The goal is to continuously move toward church-ness, how Jesus imagines His Church, whatever form that might take. And we want to use forms recognizable even to people like young Mr. Boh so that when he asks, why church? the answer—Jesus' presence among his people in the world—rings resoundingly true.
The Thinker by Nayer
Feeling confident that this bohemian-looking, twenty-something would want to talk with you after that oh-so-cool presentation, you introduce yourself after the service. He says, “I’ve never experienced anything quite like this.”
“This is going well,” you say to yourself.
“How so,” you inquire.
He says to you, “Well, I don’t know. I mean, I didn’t understand anything that was going on. Why people were doing the stuff they did when they did it?”
“Oh,” you reply deflatedly.
“But I liked the vibes.”
“Oh,” you mutter.
Regaining composure, you propose, “Would you like to get together for coffee to unpack your experience?”
“Sure.”
You are sitting in Peet’s sipping your latte, and he an Organic Pu-erh tea (your second indicator that he is not fitting into categories with which you are familiar).
His first question is, “Okay, so what is church all about anyway? Why church?” Whew, he’s brought the ball back into your court. You’ve structured your church for growth and its working. Even just last night you listened to an Acts 29 (or fill in your church growth specialist of predilection __________) pod-cast.
You reply phlegmatically, “Well, we taylor our church service to connect with people like you.” (“Oops,” you wonder, “will that make him feel like a target market? And why didn’t he understand what was going on?”)
But this guy is unflappable, “No, I mean what is it all about, you know, epistemologically and ontologically, the stuff the really matters, the core, the essence. Why church? And what is church?” “Sip,” went the Pu-erh tea. “Gulp,” went the coffee!
Fortuitously, last night before bed, you read an article in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia where Geoffrey Bromiley asserted that the Church can be “described in several pregnant phrases!”
So rather than explaining to young Mr. Boh what the local church does, you dive in…
“The Church is:
- the people or Israel of God (Eph. 2:12; 1 Pet. 2:9-10),
- the household or family of God (Eph. 2:19; 3:15; 4:6),
- the planting of God to bring forth fruit to His glory (1 Cor. 3:9; Jn. 15:1),
- the temple of God (Eph. 2:21; Jn. 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:9; 1 Pet. 2:4),
- the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:25),
- the body of Christ (Eph. 4:15, 1 Cor. 12:12, 27)
- a building (1 Cor. 3:10-15; Eph. 2:21),
- a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5),
- living stones (1 Pet 2:5),
- a city on a hill,
- salt and light (Mt. 5:13),
- a shepherd and his flock (John 10:1-18),
- a wild olive branch (Ro. 11:17),
- dough (1 Cor 5:6-7),
- an ambassador (2 Cor. 5:20),
- a virgin (2 Cor. 11:2),
- a golden lampstand (Rev. 1:20),
- a chosen lady (2 Jn. 1),
- a royal priesthood
- and a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9).”
“These pictures overlap and approach essential issues from different angles. Rather than canceling each other out (e.g. “Do we focus on evangelism or fellowship?”), they provide parallax to promote the birth and growth of vigorous, fertile churches.”
“Got it,” responds young Mr. Boh. “So how was what the Bible describes as 'church' reflected in what you did last Sunday morning?” “Sip.” “Gulp."
Why we do what we do is quite important to our ecclesiology.
Because the imagination is heavily involved in metaphor-based church living and evaluation—one pictures a palette of ideal possibilities—the modernist church leader will tend to imagine, for example, the ideal modern "temple," while the postmodernist will imagine, well, postmodern ways of being "temple," a gathered people possessed by the Living God. And the imagination is engaged, whether modernist or postmodernist, always seeking to live not like living stones or ambassadors, but both concomitantly.
One-size-does-not-fit-all yet forms must always embody Scriptural essence.
Pastors, elders and all disciples who build upon the foundation of the Church—Jesus Himself—should use the Biblical metaphors to guide and evaluate their work. I.e. does the form of church we are living embody the essence embedded in the pictures Jesus gave to us?
The goal is to continuously move toward church-ness, how Jesus imagines His Church, whatever form that might take. And we want to use forms recognizable even to people like young Mr. Boh so that when he asks, why church? the answer—Jesus' presence among his people in the world—rings resoundingly true.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
CM: What is metaphor for?
The four month hiatus is over; enough of the practical ! Let’s get back to theory… about church morphing based upon immutable principles in the midst of a fluctuating culture.
This is not theoretical fantasizing about “church” (ekklesia) in order to define the bride ever more precisely (see October 2008 entries “Borg or bride?” and “The reluctant bride”). Rather, as followers of Jesus in a an increasingly capricious culture, we seek understanding in order to live church more fully.
So to comprehend better the essence of true church, let’s play a game! I give you a word-picture, and you guess its meaning (see answers below*):
Rug rat =
The lawyer grilled the witness on the stand. =
Tolerance is the window to peace. =
Road hog =
He was hitting his head against a wall. =
It was a half-baked idea. =
A fat snake of black smoke =
Obviously the above are examples of the linguistic tool called metaphor.
Metaphor: a thing regarded as representative… especially of something abstract (NOAD), a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. (Wikipedia)
The OT is replete with metaphor, e.g. anthropomorphism. Isaiah wrote, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not to short to save.” (Is. 59:1)
Jesus frequently used metaphor, e.g. “Do not be afraid, little flock.” (Lk 12:32)
One might retort, “Why didn’t Isaiah and Jesus just say what they meant?!” Well, Jesus’ disciples were pretty annoyed with him on that very point. “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” (Matt. 13:10). So to make things clear for them he quotes an enigma from Isaiah! “You will hear my words, but you will not understand…” Why?
Swiss anabaptist theologian, Alfred Kuen writes, “When Jesus wanted to reveal truths to his disciples when they were still incapable of understanding, he frequently utilized images and parables.”
One might retort, “But the church is not abstract! You see, here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the door and see all the…” Oops, where are all the postmodern people?!
As Emil Brunner observed, “What is Church? This question, protestantism has not resolved.” If it is questionable whether protestants ever truly grasped ekklesia during modernity (when Brunner wrote), and most evangelicals are tacitly if not explicitly associated with the Protestant Reformation, then in light of the postmodern drift it behooves us to reconsider the question, “What is church?”
And how much more so if a local church has been based upon a business model (surely not all, but some are unabashedly so)? Could those churches run the risk of experiencing crises similar to those that corporate America is now facing? And regardless of the model, what if operating income is reduced due to the financial crisis? And what if the church has profited from political influence that, in the States, may be eroding? Hmmm, maybe an evaluation would be prudent after all.
“That’s okay, we’ll just change models!” Fine, what model will you change to?
Just like models today, Tom Julien observes, “the New Testament reveals the visible church through its practices and development. This revelation is descriptive and not prescriptive. The functions, or essential elements of the visible church, must grow out of her essence.” Concerning the essence of ekklesia Tom says, “The New Testament reveals the ideal church through images. These images are metaphors; they are normative and universal.”
A metaphor is fuzzy.
A metaphor stimulates the imagination.
A metaphor has a well defined subject.
Like an impressionist painting, a metaphor stimulates the imagination; it is fuzzy in detail in order to more clearly understand its essence.
So some church practitioners, rather than consulting extant models in popular books, are going to the Book of books to unearth immutable essentials of ekklesia, embedded in metaphors, in order to move toward fresh forms of sustainable, edifying, missional church in an ever shifting culture.
ANSWERS !
Rug rat = An infant crawls on all fours and chews on everything it can.
The lawyer grilled the witness on the stand. = Tough questions create a damaging level of psychological heat that can have physical consequences.
Tolerance is the window to peace. = A window is a portal that links spaces
Road hog = The territorially aggressive driver takes up far more space than they need.
He was hitting his head against a wall. = Stuck, can’t break through to something.
It was a half-baked idea. = Cake must be fully baked to be of value.
« Un gros serpent de fumée noire » (Guy de Maupassant) = The black smoke wiggled through the sky.
This is not theoretical fantasizing about “church” (ekklesia) in order to define the bride ever more precisely (see October 2008 entries “Borg or bride?” and “The reluctant bride”). Rather, as followers of Jesus in a an increasingly capricious culture, we seek understanding in order to live church more fully.
So to comprehend better the essence of true church, let’s play a game! I give you a word-picture, and you guess its meaning (see answers below*):
Rug rat =
The lawyer grilled the witness on the stand. =
Tolerance is the window to peace. =
Road hog =
He was hitting his head against a wall. =
It was a half-baked idea. =
A fat snake of black smoke =
Obviously the above are examples of the linguistic tool called metaphor.
Metaphor: a thing regarded as representative… especially of something abstract (NOAD), a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. (Wikipedia)
In GENERATION X: tales for an accelerated culture (164), Douglas Coupland describes the modernist malady, “METAPHASIA: An inability to perceive metaphor.”
The OT is replete with metaphor, e.g. anthropomorphism. Isaiah wrote, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not to short to save.” (Is. 59:1)
Jesus frequently used metaphor, e.g. “Do not be afraid, little flock.” (Lk 12:32)
One might retort, “Why didn’t Isaiah and Jesus just say what they meant?!” Well, Jesus’ disciples were pretty annoyed with him on that very point. “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” (Matt. 13:10). So to make things clear for them he quotes an enigma from Isaiah! “You will hear my words, but you will not understand…” Why?
Swiss anabaptist theologian, Alfred Kuen writes, “When Jesus wanted to reveal truths to his disciples when they were still incapable of understanding, he frequently utilized images and parables.”
One might retort, “But the church is not abstract! You see, here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the door and see all the…” Oops, where are all the postmodern people?!
As Emil Brunner observed, “What is Church? This question, protestantism has not resolved.” If it is questionable whether protestants ever truly grasped ekklesia during modernity (when Brunner wrote), and most evangelicals are tacitly if not explicitly associated with the Protestant Reformation, then in light of the postmodern drift it behooves us to reconsider the question, “What is church?”
And how much more so if a local church has been based upon a business model (surely not all, but some are unabashedly so)? Could those churches run the risk of experiencing crises similar to those that corporate America is now facing? And regardless of the model, what if operating income is reduced due to the financial crisis? And what if the church has profited from political influence that, in the States, may be eroding? Hmmm, maybe an evaluation would be prudent after all.
“That’s okay, we’ll just change models!” Fine, what model will you change to?
Just like models today, Tom Julien observes, “the New Testament reveals the visible church through its practices and development. This revelation is descriptive and not prescriptive. The functions, or essential elements of the visible church, must grow out of her essence.” Concerning the essence of ekklesia Tom says, “The New Testament reveals the ideal church through images. These images are metaphors; they are normative and universal.”
A metaphor is fuzzy.
A metaphor stimulates the imagination.
A metaphor has a well defined subject.
Like an impressionist painting, a metaphor stimulates the imagination; it is fuzzy in detail in order to more clearly understand its essence.
So some church practitioners, rather than consulting extant models in popular books, are going to the Book of books to unearth immutable essentials of ekklesia, embedded in metaphors, in order to move toward fresh forms of sustainable, edifying, missional church in an ever shifting culture.
ANSWERS !
Rug rat = An infant crawls on all fours and chews on everything it can.
The lawyer grilled the witness on the stand. = Tough questions create a damaging level of psychological heat that can have physical consequences.
Tolerance is the window to peace. = A window is a portal that links spaces
Road hog = The territorially aggressive driver takes up far more space than they need.
He was hitting his head against a wall. = Stuck, can’t break through to something.
It was a half-baked idea. = Cake must be fully baked to be of value.
« Un gros serpent de fumée noire » (Guy de Maupassant) = The black smoke wiggled through the sky.
Monday, March 16, 2009
What is Good News to these people?
What do these people have in common?
Dale, a professional voice coach for television actors and musiciens
Lurdes, a poet
Tiago, a traditional baptist church pastor who plays bass in an up-and-coming punk band in Lisbon
Jordan, an American entrepreneur who refurbishes homes and rents them out?
They seek to share Good News with Portuguese people who would never otherwise cross the threshold of a church building. They attempt to discern “what aspects of the full-orbed Gospel would be truly Good News to these people, in this place at this time?”
Their stories revealed that they had tried lots of traditional approaches, but generally only reached church people. (Joshua Project estimates that 3% of the Portuguese are evangelical compared to 35% of the N. American people group.)
Their desire for people to know Jesus sent them on a quest to connect with the majority of the population that is not at all interested in church.
So Roy led us in a biblical theology jaunt through Scripture to discover the meaning of “evangelist” (euangelistes: Acts 6:1-7; 8:3-40; 21:1-8; Ephesians 4:4-16; 2 Timothy 4:1-5). And we took an especially close look at Philip the evangelist.
We distilled from the life of Philip that an evangelist is a person who:
And while "Timothys" should “work at bringing others to Christ” (NLT 2 Timothy 4:5), an indicator of the evangelist’s giftedness is that people actually receive Christ when s/he talks with them.
Stories were shared of how the gospel was shared faithfully over a period of time, but it was when the evangelist shared the exact same message that the person gave their life to Christ.
“Cindy” attended a Christian campus group bible study week in and week out. But in God’s plan it was when she attended church where there was a visiting speaker (who happened to be an evangelist but was not preaching a particularly evangelistic message) that she surrendered her life to Christ.
We recognized, therefore, that evangelism is a team effort (1 Corinthians 3:5-9).
We recognized that as we plant ourselves and the Good News, that as others water that seed through testimony and teaching, that if God does not give the growth our farming will be barren; “he is the one who makes the seed grow.”
So we prayed for people with whom we are currently sharing Christ, that they too might have the joy of knowing him.
Dale, a professional voice coach for television actors and musiciens
Lurdes, a poet
Tiago, a traditional baptist church pastor who plays bass in an up-and-coming punk band in Lisbon
Jordan, an American entrepreneur who refurbishes homes and rents them out?
Dale & Lurdes
Tiago and Alfredo
Jordan
They seek to share Good News with Portuguese people who would never otherwise cross the threshold of a church building. They attempt to discern “what aspects of the full-orbed Gospel would be truly Good News to these people, in this place at this time?”
Their stories revealed that they had tried lots of traditional approaches, but generally only reached church people. (Joshua Project estimates that 3% of the Portuguese are evangelical compared to 35% of the N. American people group.)
Their desire for people to know Jesus sent them on a quest to connect with the majority of the population that is not at all interested in church.
Alfredo led us in lectio divina
He uses this contemplative bible reading to sow the Word in the lives of business people who do not know Christ.
He uses this contemplative bible reading to sow the Word in the lives of business people who do not know Christ.
See Tiago’s youtube video “You kiss like a nun”
Interestingly, Tiago has decided to keep the local church very traditional in order to discover what true spirituality is. He does not want to draw people to the “punk church” or cater to the fad of the month in worship. He connects with people outside of the church but wants them to come to church because of Jesus only.
On the way home from dinner, Jordan took some workshop members out to meet some of the homeless to whom he distributes food.
Not all who attended the workshop were gifted as evangelists, so we explored what might have gone through Timothy’s mind when he read Paul’s letter saying, “Do the work of an evangelist”. Evidently Timothy knew what Paul wanted him to do, but we did not want to assume that we do 2000 years later. So Roy led us in a biblical theology jaunt through Scripture to discover the meaning of “evangelist” (euangelistes: Acts 6:1-7; 8:3-40; 21:1-8; Ephesians 4:4-16; 2 Timothy 4:1-5). And we took an especially close look at Philip the evangelist.
We distilled from the life of Philip that an evangelist is a person who:
- is a servant
- is recognized as being filled with the Spirit, wisdom and faith
- is on the go, yet wherever s/he is always remains focused on sharing the Good News of Jesus
- demonstrates and articulates Good News in a way that people see, hear and respond to it
And while "Timothys" should “work at bringing others to Christ” (NLT 2 Timothy 4:5), an indicator of the evangelist’s giftedness is that people actually receive Christ when s/he talks with them.
Stories were shared of how the gospel was shared faithfully over a period of time, but it was when the evangelist shared the exact same message that the person gave their life to Christ.
“Cindy” attended a Christian campus group bible study week in and week out. But in God’s plan it was when she attended church where there was a visiting speaker (who happened to be an evangelist but was not preaching a particularly evangelistic message) that she surrendered her life to Christ.
We recognized, therefore, that evangelism is a team effort (1 Corinthians 3:5-9).
We recognized that as we plant ourselves and the Good News, that as others water that seed through testimony and teaching, that if God does not give the growth our farming will be barren; “he is the one who makes the seed grow.”
So we prayed for people with whom we are currently sharing Christ, that they too might have the joy of knowing him.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Gospel in the glut: evangelists' workshop
The average Brit is exposed to 1500 advertisements per day, the average American 3000! This information glut concomitantly causes people to filter communication and become skeptical about the veracity of the information that makes it through their grids.
So when we share the Good News of Christ with someone, it is quite possibly perceived as commercial message number 743 for the day, sandwiched between the $2000 rebate with 0% financing, and the free vacation for two to Hawaii (just remember to read the fine print!).
In light of information overload, (not to mention other realities of postmodernism and postchristendom), how then might one communicate the gospel so that it does not just bounce off the eardrum, but actually registers in the mind and heart?
March 2-4, members of the GBIM Europe team will gather in Lisbon for an Evangelists’ Workshop. Alfredo and friends will be sharing with us some of their insights as people on mission in Portugal for two decades and more.
We will also spend time in prayer and reflection in the Gospel of John and the Song of Songs to rekindle our heartfelt love for Jesus, the one we proclaim.
Together we will explore prayer, hot hearts, corporate testimony, service, creative approaches and other God-guided ways that help people comprehend the difference between tabloid communication and truly Good News.
So when we share the Good News of Christ with someone, it is quite possibly perceived as commercial message number 743 for the day, sandwiched between the $2000 rebate with 0% financing, and the free vacation for two to Hawaii (just remember to read the fine print!).
In light of information overload, (not to mention other realities of postmodernism and postchristendom), how then might one communicate the gospel so that it does not just bounce off the eardrum, but actually registers in the mind and heart?
Alfredo is the organizer and facilitator for the Evangelists' Workshop
March 2-4, members of the GBIM Europe team will gather in Lisbon for an Evangelists’ Workshop. Alfredo and friends will be sharing with us some of their insights as people on mission in Portugal for two decades and more.
We will also spend time in prayer and reflection in the Gospel of John and the Song of Songs to rekindle our heartfelt love for Jesus, the one we proclaim.
Together we will explore prayer, hot hearts, corporate testimony, service, creative approaches and other God-guided ways that help people comprehend the difference between tabloid communication and truly Good News.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Ministering to ministers
Detlef and Manfred of the German Missionary Fellowship shared at the GBIM Europe Shepherds’ Workshop last week. My teammates and I listened intently and interacted with them about their philosophy and principles for caring for over 300 missionaries in 76 countries.
The purpose of the DMG is: “We want to glorify God by helping churches to send out and care for their missionaries who build up missional churches among and together with other peoples.”
And to pursue that purpose, they have determined that “member care” / pastoral care / shepherding must be a high priority so that missioners remain close to God, focused on and enthusiastic about their God-given call. The goal is to both see missionaries start strongly AND finish well.
The DMG has a holistic view of caring for their missionaries. To preclude the recurrent tendency of missioners to become ministry machines, the DMG seeks to promote the health of body, soul and spirit. They therefore keep their eye on the following areas in the lives of their people:
1/ Do they rest & recreate? Do they have a hobby?
2/ How is their physical health? Do they exercise regularly?
3/ How are their relationships with colleagues & the people with whom they work?
4/ How is their devotional life? (It is all too easy to focus on God’s mission and neglect God himself.)
5/ Are they growing in their understanding of the culture & language acquisition?
6/ Do they have a plan for “lifelong learning,” that is to say are they pursuing ongoing training?
While nothing is written in concrete, the ideas that our workshop participants are batting around for the GBIM Europe team is to create a four person SHEPHERDING TEAM that would:
Detlef (left) and Manfred (right) are director and Africa coordinator respectively for the DMG (Deutsche Missionsgemeinschaft: www.dmgint.de)
The first priority of the DMG is: "to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to people of all nations and races."
The purpose of the DMG is: “We want to glorify God by helping churches to send out and care for their missionaries who build up missional churches among and together with other peoples.”
And to pursue that purpose, they have determined that “member care” / pastoral care / shepherding must be a high priority so that missioners remain close to God, focused on and enthusiastic about their God-given call. The goal is to both see missionaries start strongly AND finish well.
John (above) organized and led the workshop until he had to leave because his mother had a stroke. Sam (below) then took over and ably led the workshop.
The DMG has a holistic view of caring for their missionaries. To preclude the recurrent tendency of missioners to become ministry machines, the DMG seeks to promote the health of body, soul and spirit. They therefore keep their eye on the following areas in the lives of their people:
1/ Do they rest & recreate? Do they have a hobby?
2/ How is their physical health? Do they exercise regularly?
3/ How are their relationships with colleagues & the people with whom they work?
4/ How is their devotional life? (It is all too easy to focus on God’s mission and neglect God himself.)
5/ Are they growing in their understanding of the culture & language acquisition?
6/ Do they have a plan for “lifelong learning,” that is to say are they pursuing ongoing training?
While nothing is written in concrete, the ideas that our workshop participants are batting around for the GBIM Europe team is to create a four person SHEPHERDING TEAM that would:
- Develop sending church care suggestions.
- Interface with the GBIM member care team in the USA.
- Assemble a grass roots shepherding network so that teammates share their concerns and needs before a crisis occurs. (In my experience, problems are often ignored until there are physical symptoms. Could we not deal with the root causes before they degenerate?)
- Develop and send ideas to teammates about personal responsibilities they should assume in their pursuit of holistic health. Send regular health tips—for body, soul and spirit—to the team.
- Determine what needs may be met by the various layers of shepherding: personal relationship with God, sending church, Europe Team, GBIM…
- Discern how we could help with “little” problems, fears and insecurities before they attain critical mass.
- Compile a list of European specialists for outside help.
- Establish a confidential prayer network, not about ministry, but for the personal needs of our teammates.
John emphasized that prayer is an important aspect of the shepherd's ministry.
Well, we have our work cut out for us. But Jesus gave shepherds to his Church for the equipping and edification of his people so that they might grow in every respect (Ephesians 4:11-16).
And the shepherd's ministry extends to all sheep, including ministers—apostles, prophets, evangelists, other shepherds, teachers and leaders in general.
And the shepherd's ministry extends to all sheep, including ministers—apostles, prophets, evangelists, other shepherds, teachers and leaders in general.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Burning hope or burned out?
Burnout: “'the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.' Herbert Freudeberger (who coined the term) quoted in EMQ, July 2008.
If your church participates in the ministry of missionaries, how often do you consider their spiritual, emotional and physical needs?
I became very aware of the physical needs of missioners in the Balkans during a trip to Bosnia. How much more so then for those serving in the 2/3rds world?
But for all, including those like my teammates, who serve in the materially affluent, spiritually impoverished West, burnout, “the condition of being spiritually, emotionally, and physically spent, of having nothing more to offer… a condition that does not go away with a good night’s sleep and a day at the beach” can also be a pernicious bane.
And burnout is just one of the many issues that we will discuss at the shepherds’ workshop that begins Friday at the German Missionary Fellowship headquarters in S. Germany.
In preparation for the workshop I read an article by Gregory Waddell. Waddell described his own slow journey toward burnout as a missionary in Uruguay then Argentina, in the Evangelical Missions Quarterly article “Missionary Burnout: Who is Adequate for These Things?”
To sensitize you the needs that those in the ministry have (whether it be pastoral, church planting, etc.), here are a few excerpts from the article on burnout:
“Missionaries often go to the mission field with a view to conquer, which is couched in the terminology of planting churches. They arrive on the field knowing what they want and what the people need. They go with their plans, strategies, objectives, and goals.”
Describing his own journey, Waddell says,
“We intended to be a blessing to the people, whether they liked it or not. We thought we were giving them what they needed. In reality, we were out to achieve our objectives.”
“Yet there is a major problem with approaching missions purely from the perspective of our objectives. God has created people to be free moral agents. People do what they want, not what the missionary wants them to do. I had my plans and objectives; however, the people didn’t cooperate. It seemed that no matter how hard we tried, no matter how innovative our methods, no matter how detailed our strategies, nothing worked.”
Now he is expressing how he felt in order to make a point because Dr. Waddell actually planted three churches, started a Bible institute, training and youth centers and a soup kitchen! But underneath this success was his spiritual-emotional state was eroding. He says,
“It was like plodding through a dense, muddy forest, always seeing just enough light ahead to keep our hopes from totally dying out, yet never seeming to draw any nearer to that open place, never reaching the goal.… A deep, suffocating sense of frustration sets in that eventually expresses itself in anger. The missionary senses that the people are not cooperating with his or her plans.… Even though he or she may be able to keep it hidden under a facade of hard-nosed perseverance, anger can eat away at the missionary’s inner life."
"Even efforts at benevolence can breed contempt rather than gratitude.… Burnout may be experienced as a sense that one is falling into a pattern of growing anger, frustration, and cynicism.…a feeling of emptiness.”
I did my undergrad studies in business at Penn State. I remember vividly, classmates discussing their hopes to land a first job with accounting firms that paid well, used up their CPAs in a matter of two years, cast them away and recruited a fresh crop.
Well, as director of a group of people that bears good news I do not want to be guilty of employing a disposable approach toward church planters. Abraham, Moses and David were all shepherds before they were asked to care for God’s people. So this upcoming workshop will be quite instrumental in helping me care for (or ensuring that they are shepherded) for the team of about forty missionaries entrusted to me.
Fortunately, Waddell explains that there is hope and help. He says,
“If burnout is the extinction of motivation or incentive, then recovery is the reverse. It is the igniting of motivation and incentive, and the rekindling of hope that one can achieve the life purpose to which he or she has been called. This begins with a return to the source of that calling, a return to God. For me, this meant learning how to pray again—not as a missionary, but as a soul in need of God’s grace and loving touch.”
Oh by the way, if you are a church member, have you ever considered the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of your pastor and those of the pastoral staff? How are they being shepherded? What can your church do for them to help hope burn brightly rather than burnout?
"In a word, burnout is the loss of the spirit of adventure.” Gregory Waddell
If your church participates in the ministry of missionaries, how often do you consider their spiritual, emotional and physical needs?
I became very aware of the physical needs of missioners in the Balkans during a trip to Bosnia. How much more so then for those serving in the 2/3rds world?
Sarajevo, Bosnia 2002
But for all, including those like my teammates, who serve in the materially affluent, spiritually impoverished West, burnout, “the condition of being spiritually, emotionally, and physically spent, of having nothing more to offer… a condition that does not go away with a good night’s sleep and a day at the beach” can also be a pernicious bane.
And burnout is just one of the many issues that we will discuss at the shepherds’ workshop that begins Friday at the German Missionary Fellowship headquarters in S. Germany.
In preparation for the workshop I read an article by Gregory Waddell. Waddell described his own slow journey toward burnout as a missionary in Uruguay then Argentina, in the Evangelical Missions Quarterly article “Missionary Burnout: Who is Adequate for These Things?”
To sensitize you the needs that those in the ministry have (whether it be pastoral, church planting, etc.), here are a few excerpts from the article on burnout:
“Missionaries often go to the mission field with a view to conquer, which is couched in the terminology of planting churches. They arrive on the field knowing what they want and what the people need. They go with their plans, strategies, objectives, and goals.”
Describing his own journey, Waddell says,
“We intended to be a blessing to the people, whether they liked it or not. We thought we were giving them what they needed. In reality, we were out to achieve our objectives.”
“Yet there is a major problem with approaching missions purely from the perspective of our objectives. God has created people to be free moral agents. People do what they want, not what the missionary wants them to do. I had my plans and objectives; however, the people didn’t cooperate. It seemed that no matter how hard we tried, no matter how innovative our methods, no matter how detailed our strategies, nothing worked.”
Now he is expressing how he felt in order to make a point because Dr. Waddell actually planted three churches, started a Bible institute, training and youth centers and a soup kitchen! But underneath this success was his spiritual-emotional state was eroding. He says,
“It was like plodding through a dense, muddy forest, always seeing just enough light ahead to keep our hopes from totally dying out, yet never seeming to draw any nearer to that open place, never reaching the goal.… A deep, suffocating sense of frustration sets in that eventually expresses itself in anger. The missionary senses that the people are not cooperating with his or her plans.… Even though he or she may be able to keep it hidden under a facade of hard-nosed perseverance, anger can eat away at the missionary’s inner life."
"Even efforts at benevolence can breed contempt rather than gratitude.… Burnout may be experienced as a sense that one is falling into a pattern of growing anger, frustration, and cynicism.…a feeling of emptiness.”
I did my undergrad studies in business at Penn State. I remember vividly, classmates discussing their hopes to land a first job with accounting firms that paid well, used up their CPAs in a matter of two years, cast them away and recruited a fresh crop.
Well, as director of a group of people that bears good news I do not want to be guilty of employing a disposable approach toward church planters. Abraham, Moses and David were all shepherds before they were asked to care for God’s people. So this upcoming workshop will be quite instrumental in helping me care for (or ensuring that they are shepherded) for the team of about forty missionaries entrusted to me.
Fortunately, Waddell explains that there is hope and help. He says,
“If burnout is the extinction of motivation or incentive, then recovery is the reverse. It is the igniting of motivation and incentive, and the rekindling of hope that one can achieve the life purpose to which he or she has been called. This begins with a return to the source of that calling, a return to God. For me, this meant learning how to pray again—not as a missionary, but as a soul in need of God’s grace and loving touch.”
Oh by the way, if you are a church member, have you ever considered the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of your pastor and those of the pastoral staff? How are they being shepherded? What can your church do for them to help hope burn brightly rather than burnout?
Friday, January 09, 2009
Thankful in 2009
Happy New Year
Many are beginning this new year with trepidation. After all, we read and hear, many times a day, about the downward spiral of the economic crisis, wars, and other singularly uncheery news.
One might ask why Santa didn't make it all better a few weeks ago?! Hmmm, maybe he checked his list once or twice and determined that mankind was naughty and not so nice!
As we enter 2009 I am very thankful for Jesus who forgives and transforms naughty, not-so-nice people (like me at times) into loving, peaceful, helpful people.
I am thankful for His gift of forgiveness, having subjected Himself to God's anger and sentence against mankind's injustice—mine and everyone's—on the cross.
I am thankful for His justice, that He imputes to anyone who places her/his unadulterated confidence in Him.
I am thankful for God's provision over the decades of my life and fully believe that He will continue to provide for my true needs.
I am thankful for His protection, care and compassion.
Dr. Klaw and the family wish you a 2009 rich in trust in Jesus, hope in Jesus, and love for Jesus and others. We wish you a confident 2009 in Christ!
And we were thankful to get back to our nice warm apartment!
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