My religion is S 11

Leaving Singapore and on the way to the airport last week when our taxi driver told us his religion was S 11. My wife figured it out quickly but it took me longer to realize he was referring to $. We had a lively discussion about the role of money and faith. In his view, all religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism etc.) had the goal to get/maintain POWER. I tried to encourage him to look to the person of Jesus Christ who had his priorities right, even if others do not. Interestingly, another friend told me that he had heard from a businessman in Singapore that the fastest way to get rich was to become a pastor! Even a “mature” friend of mine on a remote, rural island here recently told me how he was considering a group that promised healing and wealth were inherent in the atonement. Something wrong here folks.

Read last week a couple of articles that sadly point out the distortions with regard to faith and money in much of the public Christianity. Michael Gerson has one on Faith’s Real Riches and Michelle Singletary has one on Does God want you poor? Both of these are from the Washington Post and the latter article has a number of helpful links on the subject. I did download the articles and saved them on my computer in case you need them.

Fear and Faith part 2

A focus on faith by Luci Shaw in The Crime of Living Cautiously

“Faith is really taking the risk of moving, when God calls me, into the realm of the unknown and unseen and only dimly understood. It means that I may have to give up my closely held control of my life and destiny, my fate and my future—a thought alarming enough to keep some of us from moving at all.” 49

“Faith is a widening of the imagination. Imaginative faith takes off the blinders, moves beyond pinched, linear thinking into the wide, unfathomable possibilities into which the Holy Spirit invites.” 52

“Because ignorance is often considered bliss—it seems better not to know bad news, . . . too many of us guard ourselves from a potentially painful truth.” 54

“Every hour we walk into unknown territory, sometimes as threatening to our faith as the den of lions . . . For some it may mean moving into a wilderness of the spirit, where doubts and despairs besiege us . . . I’ve learned from experience in such a time I am being called upon to wait, and in the waiting God will send me the gift of his presence again. I learn a lot as I wait, and my watchword in this unknown and fearful territory is continue to be faithful and obedient.”

“When beauty and risk interact, an almost unspeakable dynamic is released. I want the Holy Spirit to be the “something that grabs me,” so that I too am eager to yield to the impulse to push the life of faith and the life of the mind to extremes. I trust that as I let go and free my imagination to be informed by God’s cosmic meaning, I too will experience those “possibilities of unexpected beauty.” 56-57

Where Lust Leads

Lust and sexuality–an easy topic. First, a couple of links about men, our culture and sexuality. First, Katherine Kirsten uncovers how our culture increasingly provides easier access to the dark basement of the soul. Second, Mike Adams over at Townhall offers five rules for rule men.

After looking at these articles, I went back to Rob Bell in Sex God where he writes about the deceptiveness of lust, “It isn’t just what lust does, it’s where lust leads.” 75 God created us to enjoy life, but when lust is in control, there is a loss of joy. Lust can lead to addiction and Bell says, “Addictions often rob people of their appreciation of things. . . Whether it’s food, sex, shopping, whatever what was supposed to fill the hole within us didn’t. It betrayed us. It owned us. And it always leaves us wanting more.” 76

But, the emptiness of lust leads to other problems. “. . . lust, over time, will always lead to despair. Which always leads to anger. Lust always leads to anger.” 78 This ties in with what Terrence Real says the connection between depression in men and addiction (in his book, I Don’t Want to Talk About It).

What do we need to do? Bell provides some questions that require a courageous and honest look inward. “To be free from lust, we have to move from being darkened in our understanding to being enlightened in our understanding. And to be enlightened, we have to ask lots of questions about the things we crave:

1. What is this craving promising?
2. Can it deliver?
3. Is this lust about something else?
4. What is the lie here?
5. Where is the good in this person or thing?
6. Where is the good that has been distorted?
7. What good thing has God made here that has been hijacked?
8. Have I been tempted like this before?
9. Have I given in before?
10. What was it like?
11. Did it work?
12. Was I more satisfied or more empty?
13. What will the moment, the morning, or the week after be like?
14. Is there a pattern here?” 81

A prayer that Bell suggests, “Maybe the most important thing we can do here is simply to pray, ‘God give me eyes to see the lie here.’” 80 And for any of us that have struggled with lust, we know what Bell means when he warns that it is foolish to fight the “lust” battle alone; we need others. “To be honest, if it’s us against the craving, we will often lose. It too hard. . . And when we give in, it can start to feel pointless. Why resist today if tomorrow we won’t be able to?” 80

There are others that want to walk with us in our journey of faith, even through the rocky and treacherous valleys of lust. Sometimes, we just need to reach out and ask for help.

Fear and Faith part 1

Luci Shaw in The Crime of Living Cautiously talks about fear and faith. The following deal with fear:

“Denial of fear is as foolish as fear itself. It is never courage simply to deny that we are afraid. Fear is part of human nature and experience; to deny it is to deny being human.” 47

“Bravery is only as brave as the strength of the fear it must overcome.” 48

“The principle to be followed is feel the fear, but do it anyway. Run the risk of looking foolish should you fail. Shoulder aside the fear, as you would a curtain in a doorway as you pass through.”

Is this honoring to God? It is, if it is done in obedience to Him.” 48

What motivates our risk-taking? I may be motivated and moved toward risk by the desire to prove myself, or to be a star, or to make my mark, or to show my superiority to my friends who are warier of hazard than I am. If that is true, I may be entering the dangerous arena of personal obsession with power.

Have we learned to distinguish between wise fear (facing real danger) and false fear (personal insecurity)? . . . Have we recognized that risk is a means, not an end?” 49

In what does God delight?

Or, to put it another way, “What makes Jesus smile?” These thoughts are arising out of some meditations on Psalm 1. This morning, I opened my journal with these words, “How are you doing, God?” I thought it sounded kind of weird but as I thought about it, I know I don’t believe that God is emotionless and so, why not ask him how he is doing? We know God has feelings of love, anger, jealousy, mercy, compassion etc from the Bible. So, my question, in what does He delight? What brings Him joy? Started out with Psalm 1 and moved on

• He delights when our delight is in Him (John Piper says it much better)
• He delights in our repentance

Then I thought about Jesus, God in the flesh–what made him smile. As far as I know, there is nothing recorded about Jesus smiling but he must have done so and he must have had a beautiful, hearty laughter. I admit that am pushing my normal boundaries or images of God here. So, here are a few situations that I think would have brought a smile (maybe laughter) to the face of Jesus.

• Rich young ruler–it says Jesus loved him
• Lazarus being raised from the dead
• Peter walking on the water–can you imagine the excitement and the laughter in this scene
• Blind Bartimaeus walking–remember the lame man in Acts walking and leaping and praising God?
• John’s disciples asking, “Are you the Messiah?”
• Faith of the military man–just say it and my daughter will be healed
• widow giving her 2 mites
• disciples returning after the 70 were sent out
• Post-resurrection scenes
• Woman in Luke 7 washing Jesus feet with her tears
• Peter–in John 13, “then wash all of me!”
• Zaccheus
• Nathaniel, “how did you see me?”
• Feeding of the 5000
• Those who resist temptation
• Sinners repenting
• when we forgive other

What do you think? Many more I am sure.

Sleeplessness and prayerlessness

I rarely have trouble sleeping but this week I started back on anti-depressant meds and I think that has affected my ability to sleep.   Going back on the meds is another topic–I am a little disappointed about that but, live with it!  My sleeplessness also could have been a function of that cup of tea I had in the afternoon (we drank lots of tea in Singapore!).  In any case, as I lay there wide awake the other night, the Lord showed me how prayerless I have been of late.  It is certainly not because there is a lack of need–at least 3 friends with cancer, others with marriage struggles,  2 of our team here having their mother die, several people around with serious illnesses (dengue fever) as well as fairly serious emotional fatigue issues, my own family concerns.  But, I realized as I lay on my bed the other night, that I had not been praying–I had been talking, texting, emailing, visiting, thinking about but praying?   I am not going to get into here when we are praying–I think generally we do a lot more of it than we are aware.  But i was convicted.

My Psalm for meditation this week was Psalm 1 and in verse 2, the Psalmist says that joy comes from delighting in doing everything Yahweh wants.  So, I began praying for each of the people God brought to my memory this verse–that they would take delight in doing everything Yahweh wanted.   If you think about it, that is a pretty powerful prayer–I mean if we all delighted in doing everything God wanted, this would be a different place (kind of like, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven).   Yesterday, I prayed the Jesus prayer for a number of folk, “Jesus have mercy on _______”  and this morning I went back to Psalm 1:2.  I am a long way from being a faithful prayer but I wanted to write about this.  Perhaps you can pray for me in this area? I realized a number of years ago that if God has called me to lead people, he has called me to pray for them.  I just have been going through a period in which I was not doing this.  Maybe this will encourage you to do something similar?

Beware overstatement . . .

Michael Patton over at Parchment and Pen: A Theology Blog writes a sharp post on “Why I don’t read your books or blogs.” Unfortunately, Michael, it is more than likely that those most in need of hearing these words, will ignore them! We are sorely in need of epistemic humility today!

Michael warns us against Overstatement, Unqualified Superlatives and Non-Contingent Propositions.

Here is a challenging paragraph from his post.

But, ironically, especially in a hyper-critical postmodern world, we give credit to our case when we do represent the transparency that accompanies real contingency and the revelation of epistemic humility. We show that we have a broader understanding of the issues. It evidences an honest wrestling with the subject of the proposition. In the end, when we do come to a conclusion on the matter, even with all the contingencies that we have worn on our sleeve, readers become more confident in your ability to think with integrity and have a greater confidence in your conclusions

About the class of 2011

How our perspectives and assumptions about life are changing!  Apparently Beloit College puts out a “mindset list” for each entering college class.  You can find class lists back to 2002.   Here are a few from the class of 2011.  Read the entire list here.

1. What Berlin wall?
2. Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public.
3. Rush Limbaugh and the “Dittoheads” have always been lambasting liberals.
4. They never “rolled down” a car window.
5. Michael Moore has always been angry and funny.
6. They may confuse the Keating Five with a rock group.
7. They have grown up with bottled water.

One of the world’s worst jobs

If you are feeling sorry for yourself because of your dead-end job or frustrated in your career advancement, check out the website of “The Worst Jobs in History. You can also find a similar list on cracked.com but beware that website gets quite crude. Here is one that is most interesting.

Sin Eater

If you’d like to be bad to the bone and more evil than most people could possibly imagine, you might consider becoming a sin eater. If you’re a dark underworld type who is terrified of going to heaven, read on …

As a sin eater, you will be responsible for consuming the evil and sins contained within the corpses of normal decent folk. When one of the godly community pops their clogs without getting the chance to own up to their wrongdoings, the sin gets trapped inside. As long as those bad things remain in there, St Peter’s going to turn that individual away.

This position involves going to the house of such a dead person and sitting down to a bread and beer supper served up on the bare chest of the dearly departed. The idea is that the sins of the dead are absorbed by the bread. So as you tuck in, you get to fill up on evil and so cleanse the stiff. You’ll get a sixpence for your trouble, but don’t expect to make many friends. And you’d better make yourself scarce when any witch-finding commissions come to town as you’ll be one of the first on their list.

The kind of films Christians may want to watch

It is great to be back home after two weeks away! Easier access to the internet! My wife sent me a link to What Makes a Film Chirstian over at the United Methodist portal. It is a good read and may give you some ideas for some movies that you may want to watch as well as challenge your thinking about watching some questionable films. A few quotes from the article which is an interview with five of the staffers on this site.

• The question The Dark Knight asks—whether the ends justify the means, even with present and future lives on the line—seems immediate and contemporary, but the resonance comes from that question’s very timelessness. Daringly, this blockbuster offers only ambiguous answers and hard-earned wisdom. When was the last time a film on faith had the guts to do that?

• Are Christians really OK with a poorly told story as long as it gets the gospel out there? Even if it misses connecting with their target audience?

• The urge to propagandize and the inability to handle ambiguity is a hallmark of bad filmmaking, regardless of the director’s religious or political leaning. . .The Dark Knight wisely dealt with the complicated issue of finding a balance between individual rights and privacy in the face of terrorism: It offered only ambiguous answers. Bravo. . .Christian directors, watch and learn.

• Powerful storytelling gives the Holy Spirit room to prompt a moment of grace without the “help” of a heavy-handed director or script.

• We need to get beyond the subculture of “Christian” films with their formulaic plots if we want to resonate with people who think “family-friendly” means “sappy,” yet who wonder what God’s really up to in the world.

• Though the culture at large may not view stories through a Christian lens, they nonetheless grapple with recognizable problems in ways that can be instructive—for them and for us.

Learning from my enemies–reposted

I am not sure that I would say that I have any genuine “enemies” but being human, I am aware more than I like to admit that there are a few individuals and a few types of people for whom I have a negative inner reaction–even if I have learned to withhold any outward expression.  And I do have my days when my displeasure or irritation or even anger is seen!

The question is posed:–what can I learn from my enemies? What can I learn from those I dislike? What not to do? How not to live? What about how to live and love? Richard Rohr’s newsletter came through today and he asked some of those nagging mosquito-type questions. He suggests, “In the spiritual life your enemies are your best friends.” Why? Rohr says they are helpful to help us face our dark side. Since I re-read recently The Dark Side of the Leadership as well as did a skim over on the Enneagram, I thought I needed to pay attention to his words. Rohr says,

People who turn you off, people you’re afraid of, have a message for you. We reject and hate our own faults in others. I’m not saying you have to go out and become best friends with them, but you should put up your antennae: They’re triggering something within you. You need them.

I had heard that it is best to keep your enemies close to you so you know what they are doing. Maybe God wants to turn that around so that as my enemies are close to me, I can see what is going on inside of me!

After posting this, I realized that I needed to apply this.  What do my “enemies” teach me about myself

• Beware of pride and arrogance
• Don’t talk too much, listen more
• Don’t always have my nose in a book
• Why do I withhold a compliment from others?
• Don’t be afraid of self-awareness and self-disclosure to others
• Live healthy, set boundaries, enjoy life more

The “still small voice” of 1 Kings 19

This is part of a larger paper that I wrote on 1 Kings 19

Does 1 Kings 19 teach us about how we are to hear the word of the LORD or does it teach us the importance of maintaining a focus on the ministry of the word without concern for the results of our ministry? After reading 1 Kings, should we be reminded of the apostles who made it a priority to give themselves “continually to prayer and the ministry of the word?” (Acts 6:4) Is Elijah teaching us to trust in the power of the word? (Heb 4:14-16; 2 Tim 4:2; Rom 1:16; 1 Cor 1:17-21)? Does 1 Kings 19 not remind us and warn us that we are not to “refuse Him who speaks?” (Heb 12:25)

Are we to understand the “still small voice” of 1 Kings 19:12 to be the primary way God communicates with us today, as many have suggested above? In order to hear God are we required to say like Samuel, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening?” (1 Sam 3:10) But, are not the sheep expected to hear and follow the shepherd’s voice? (John 10:1-10) Is it possible that we miss something of God’s character when we fail to meet with Him in stillness and quiet (Is 30:15; Psalm 46:10) Do not the withdrawals of Jesus, to lonely places, in order to pray, provide us a model for these kind of practices? Following are a few occasions when Jesus withdrew: (Lk 5:16 following busy ministry—“often”; Mk 1:35 at night; Lk 6:12 before choosing the 12; Mtt 4:1-11 in wilderness before beginning ministry; Mtt 26:36 before the cross).

When we talk about listening to the still small voice of God, is this independent from the Word of God? I don’t think so. It is the written word upon which we are to meditate and dwell upon day and night. (Psalm 1). It is the written word that is God-breathed and powerful. (2 Tim 3:16-17) We are to not to neglect even one word from God’s revelation (Mtt 5:18). God communicates to us through the sometimes loud preaching of the Word just as He does through our quiet reflection upon His words. Is it not a danger to emphasize a special way that God communicates to us apart from the written word? “Each way God communicates to us has its own special uses, but all the ways are not equally significant for our life with him. In terms of overall importance, the written Word and Jesus, the Living Word, are not even to be compared to a voice or a vision used by God to speak to an individual.” (Willard 87)

Hudson Taylor on self-denial

This is part of a longer paper on the spirituality of Hudson Taylor which I just posted.

If the only qualification for being a mystic was self-denial, Taylor would have qualified! Taylor often wrote about self-denial, “The real secret of an unsatisfied life lies too often in an unsurrendered will.” (Union) Self-denial was the way the disciple could show his love for Christ and his high value of the Cross. (Separation) Steed quotes Taylor as saying, “Is anything of value in Christ’s service which costs little?” (Man 282) Whenever personal, family, church or even mission interests came above those of Christ, Taylor identified this thinking as “earthly or sensual, if not devilish.” (Psalm) Taylor did not inflict self-punishment on himself (as some of the extreme mystics might have done) but self-denial did bring joy to Taylor, “My experience was that the less I spent on myself and the more I gave away, the fuller of happiness and blessing did my soul become.” (Retrospect)

For Taylor, self-denial was necessary for the disciple if the missionary task was to be accomplished. Without self-denial, the lost would likely be neglected.

How sadly possible it is to take delight in conferences and conventions, to feast on all the good things that are brought before us, and yet to be unprepared to go out from them to self-denying efforts to rescue the perishing; to delight in the rest of faith while forgetful to fight the good fight of faith; to dwell upon the cleansing and the purity effected by faith, but to have little thought for the poor souls struggling in the mire of sin. (Cross)

China could only be won by men and women willing to sacrifice all. (Man 211) Taylor was not afraid to communicate to prospective missionaries about the necessity of self-denial to be a CIM missionary. “If you want hard work, and little appreciation of it; value God’s approbation more than you fear man’s disapprobation, if need be, to seal your testimony with your blood . . .” (Ibid. 260) For Taylor, self-denial was an essential element in his own spirituality, believing that it would bring glory to God. “May GOD work in us, and we work out in daily life, not self-assertion but self-denial – not ease and honor seeking and right-maintaining, but right-abandoning and cross-taking – and this for the glory of His own holy Name.” (Cross)

St. Patrick’s Breastplate

Luci Shaw quotes one of her favorite hymns, “St. Patrick’s Breastplate” in her book The Crime of Living Cautiously. I really am enjoying this small book and I need to find the melody of this beautiful song.

I bind unto myself this day

The strong name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same—

The Three in One, and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever

The power of God to hold and lead,

His eye to watch, his might to stay,

His ear to hearken to my need.

The wisdom of my God to teach,

His hand to guide, his shield to ward,

The Word of God to give me speech,

His heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ besides me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity

By invocation of the same,

The Three in One, the One in Three.

Of whom all nature hath creation,

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word,

Praise to the Lord of my salvation,

The saving power of Christ the Lord.

Value of character

As Christians, we place a high priority on character in leadership. Some in our world agree.

Feeling insignificant?

Found this the other day, a picture of Hubble Ultra Deep Field image, the most massive photo ever taken:

The post where I found this stated the following

Right now, on your computer screen, are approximately 10,000 galaxies.

Each of those galaxies contains anywhere from ten million to one trillion stars.

The average star is roughly a million times the size of Earth.

And yet, with all that junk, the Universe is more than 90 percent empty space.

All of that, in this tiny photo. A photo that took 400 orbits and 800 exposures to take.

And the kicker? The photo covers one thirteen-millionth of the entire night sky.

Gospel in sound bites

Why is the sound bite gospel so popular? John over at Jesus the Radical Preacher exposes the absurdity of trying to summarize the gospel in four easy steps.

I am stunned that some Christians still defend a sound bite gospel. You know, the 4 steps, the “bridge over troubled waters” packaged presentation. The wondrous, thunderous, mind-boggling, heart-stopping gospel of the Bible and of Jesus himself is horribly reduced to bumper sticker phrases.

With what other literature or great story do we do this? None to my knowledge. Imagine the classic story (and movie) of Ben Hur reduced to…

• Ben Hur accidently killed a Roman soldier.
• Ben Hur was a galley-slave.
• Ben Hur drove in a big chariot race and won.
• Ben Hur met Jesus at the Cross when his mother and sister were healed.

Wow. I really know the story now. Do YOU believe in Ben Hur?

Read his whole post. He concludes with the following.

You say, “John, this is so silly.” I agree. But the question remains: Why do we do this with ” the greatest story ever told” and act like we’re doing something noble, even holy? It actually is stupifying. The sweeping, rumbling Bible saga and the Spirit-energized, Jesus-intense Gospels get miniaturized to…

• God loves you.
• You are a sinner.
• Jesus died for you.
• Believe in Jesus now.

Wow. Do YOU believe in Jesus? If so, you get to go to heaven when you die.

A bumper sticker gospel creates sound bite believers who parrot things rather than live into the sweeping Story of God’s amazing, amazing grace.

Multi-tasking or a single minded focus?

Arrived in Singapore earlier today and I am in major culture shock after being in Manila the last year!  Took a walk out to Orchard Road this evening.  Pictures to follow since we will be here two weeks. Lately, I have noticed my difficulty in focus–I think it has been related to just doing too much and being available too often.  With no cell phone here, I will be less available altho if I can get the wireless working in our room, that will keep us connected.  But, I am looking forward to getting some down time from the pressures of always mult-tasking and seemingly to never get the important things done.  So, the following article seems appropriate. 

From The myth of multi-tasking by Christine Rosen

To Chesterfield, singular focus was not merely a practical way to structure one’s time; it was a mark of intelligence. “This steady and undissipated attention to one object, is a sure mark of a superior genius; as hurry, bustle, and agitation, are the never-failing symptoms of a weak and frivolous mind.”

multitasking. Used for decades to describe the parallel processing abilities of computers, multitasking is now shorthand for the human attempt to do simultaneously as many things as possible, as quickly as possible, preferably marshalling the power of as many technologies as possible.

In 2005, the BBC reported on a research study, funded by Hewlett-Packard and conducted by the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London, that found, “Workers distracted by e-mail and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers.”

A generation of great technical facility and intelligence but of extreme impatience, unsatisfied with slowness and uncomfortable with silence: “I get bored if it’s not all going at once, because everything has gaps—waiting for a website to come up, commercials on TV, etc.” one participant said

Compare these with Jean Pierre de Caussade who discusses living in the present moment!

The long and windy road to our office

Here is a new video a friend took which shows you the way we have to walk into our office every day.

The Wisdom of Age

One of our older missionaries lamented the other day how in one Asian country younger believers were not reluctant to give their opinion and even advice to him rather than seeking out the wisdom from his 30 plus years of ministry. In fact, I remember a few years ago when I was told that at age 51, I was considered too old for a pastoral position of spiritual formation. They were looking for someone younger to reach the younger crowd. I know I try to intentionally elicit and listen to the stories of those older than me and at the same time respect the life journey of the younger crowd. We had an older Swiss couple join us here as missionaries recently, filling in for 6 months to run our vacation home, listening to folk, making video for people and Herbert is going strong at close to 70. One pair of a Welsh couple on the field is over 70! Thank you my friends for continuing the race!

John Frye over at Jesus the Radical Preacher wrote the following wise words

When old people speak

listen for the ages in their words.

They say “I remember” and we skip

back over Viet Nam, over Churchill and World War II,

landing somewhere in the Great Depression,

feeling the hot dust and deprivation.

When old people speak

honor the silences that carry time,

fragile yet weighted with life;

the silences from which startling,

future-shaping words embrace the soul.

When old people speak

don’t confuse the wispy, airy sounds

with lack of strength or depth of soul.

Imagine life so full, so hard, with pain and peace,

that words are too flimsy to bear it.

When old people speak

sit and watch, listen and listen well,

for their frail, soft utterances

define, refine meaning in your journey,

saving you from all that’s hollow.