Jesus, if you are willing, you can . . .

In this first week of advent, we were challenged yesterday to come to Jesus for healing as we looked at Mark 1:40-45 and the story of Jesus healing the leper.  Pastor Steve Ruetschle of Union Church of Manila led us through the passage, pointing to four ways the leper teaches us to approach Jesus.   As soon as they upload the file, you can listen to the sermon if you are interested.

First, bring our brokenness to Jesus.  “He came to him.” Imagine all the rejection the leper had experienced in his life! Lepers were to be avoided and the religious establishment led the way in rejecting them. As Pastor Steve pointed out, often rejection leads us to have a hardened heart?  Yet this leper came to Jesus!  How did he know that Jesus would show compassion on him.  So, the first thing I need to do is to come to Jesus with my brokenness!

Second, the leper provides us with a model for faith.  “If you are willing.”  Unlike so many of us, the leper does not demand Jesus to heal him.  Instead, he recognizes Jesus as Lord when he asks him if he is willing; he recognizes that Jesus is God, not us.  Maybe this is one reason why does Jesus not always heal?

Third, the leper knew who Jesus was.  “You can.” He recognized the power and energy of Jesus; he knew that healing power available in Jesus and was not afraid to ask. As Pastor Steve said, “Do we really believe this?  Do we believe that Jesus has power and authority to heal today?”

Fourth, the leper came as a worshipper of Jesus.  “He begged him on his knees.” As Pastor Steve said, “We often come to worship because of what it does for us,” as opposed to remembering that it is really all about Jesus.

The second part of the sermon focused on the response of Jesus to the leper.  As Pastor Steve said, the fundamental response of Jesus was one of compassion in verse 41.  It is that wonderful greek word, splagchnizomai.  It is used 12 times in the NT (all in the synoptic), 8 of them describing the emotions Jesus felt that moved him into a healing ministry.  The word was also used to describe how the father of the prodigal son felt when he saw him coming home and to describe how the Samaritan felt toward the wounded traveler by the road.  Two things Jesus did.

First, he touched the man.  Apparently in the context of the time of Jesus, this was an inconceivable act.  Perhaps the aversion that many have to touching an AIDS patient would be somewhat similar although it seems the lepers had it far worse than do AIDS patients today.  Mark is very deliberate here, “Jesus stretches out his hand and touches him.  Another interesting verb here, hapto. Hapto is used of Jesus about 30 of the 37 times it is found in the NT.  Jesus touches those who are unclean right and left, touches lepers several times, touched a woman bleeding, touched eyes, touched a tongue, touched an ear, touched a blind man, touched babies and children, touched a dead man and many touched him since, “All who touched him were healed.” (Mtt 14:36)

As Pastor Steve pointed out, Jesus risked his own health, his own reputation, risked being rejected by all because he would also be considered unclean according to the law.  Of course, he touched the man before he was made clean.  The question for us here is, “Do you believe that Jesus fastens (the word Pastor Steve used to translate the touch of Jesus) himself to you before you are clean?”

Second, Jesus restores social community.  By giving the man a stern warning to present himself to the priest, Jesus was seeking to allow the healing to impact the community.  Suggested passage to read is Levit 14.  As Pastor Steve said, “Our healing affects the lives of others in our community.”

Finally, there is a picture here of the gospel according to Pastor Steve.  Instead of the man roaming around in lonely places, the story ends with Jesus staying outside the camp in lonely places.  Jesus became unclean so the man could become clean.  Jesus takes on his rejection, his lonely places so that the man could be free and in community.  The challenge for all of yesterday, for me and perhaps for some of you reading this, “Will you throw yourself on the compassion of Jesus?” And then, to complete the sentence, “Jesus, if you are willing, you can . . .”

May this encourage us all as we begin Advent!  Thanks Pastor Steve!

How am I doing?

Kelly and Michele O’Donnell offered the following resources for missionary member care in a recent newsletter but I think a lot of people might benefit from some of these self-assessment instruments   Warning: not written with a Christian perspective.  Some registration is required but all of them are free as far as I could tell. Following is their email:

There are a number of brief tools for assessing areas like work-life balance, strengths, burnout, stress, and resiliency. The inventories we mention below are easy to use although note that their applicability to international settings/populations is not established. We use such tools to help workers get a general sense of how they are doing and to discuss strengths, weaknesses, and coping strategies.

1. Resilience. Here is one of many online tools: www.careerdiagnostics.com/surveys/resilience.htm

2. Strengths. The Authentic Happiness site offers helpful tools in six languages. See the tools to assess perseverance (GRIT Survey) and character strengths (VIA Survey). www.authentichappiness.org

3. Social support. One example of a tool is the Social Provision Scale. The link here includes no norms so it is best to use this tool for discussion.  www.my.ilstu.edu/~jhkahn/psy442/sps.pdf

4. Organizational support. How can organizations help their staff deal with stress?  See the “Managing Stress” guidelines in English and Arabic from the Antares Foundation. www.antaresfoundation.org

English as Second Language Books

A friend of ours has written six workbooks designed for learners of English who need to improve their reading comprehension in order to do well in Christian institutions and organizations that require extensive reading in English. The books are designed to supplement classroom instruction with biblically contextualized passages and exercises. All of the workbooks are available as a FREE download, to print and photocopy for personal or class use, but may not be reproduced for profit.

Vocabulary Building for Biblical Studies is an intermediate level workbook of 15 chapters centering on biblical and Christian themes. Each unit includes a passage of 1000 words and exercises that aid the students in understanding and expanding their vocabulary.

Men and Women in the History of the Church is a pre-intermediate primer. Each unit begins with pre-reading questions and a biography of approximately 650 words. This is followed by exercises on reading comprehension and vocabulary building, and ends with discussion questions.

Developing Reading Skills: Jonah is a two-part pre-intermediate curriculum based on the books of Jonah and Ruth.  Each curriculum includes a Student Workbook and a Teacher’s Book and introduces a variety of reading strategies, particularly observation-interpretation-application.

Developing Reading Skills: Ruth is a two-part pre-intermediate curriculum based on the books of Jonah and Ruth.  Each curriculum includes a Student Workbook and a Teacher’s Book and introduces a variety of reading strategies, particularly observation-interpretation-application.

Israel’s Judges focuses on the beginner level, covers all 4 skills, and includes communicative grammar activities for class use. There is a listening component that can be downloaded as well.

Reviewing Grammar is a booklet intended to serve as a reference guide and a review of basic grammar rules for students writing in English.  It is not an exhaustive study of English grammar; rather, it is a compilation of grammar definitions, explanations, and examples from several grammar books.  Basic grammar points and some troublesome spots are addressed.

 

Signature Sins: Envy

Second signature sin from Michael Mangis

Envy is “constant discontent, suspicion that God is withholding. . . Greed is primarily about material possessions and envy is about one’s place in the world.  Greed wants the good things others have, envy wants to be the only one who has good things.  Antidote for envy is contentment, gratititude, joy and satisfaction.  Three forms of envy:

1. Jealousy—form of envy that guards what one already has; needs liberality, good will, kindness or abundance
2. Malice—form of envy that truly wishes ill for others and delights in observing and contributing to other’s pain.  Combated with peace, kindness or gentleness
3. Contempt—heaps scorn on others virtures or abilities. Racism, sexism, classism.  Needs love and generosity

   

   

   
   
   

Irish fighting with the Mexicans

Just watched this on Eric Johnson’s blog–song by David Rovics about a band of Irishmen and former slaves who joined Mexico in the 1846 war against the U.S.  Movie shown here is One Man’s Hero.  I confess that I am a bit stunned after watching this–no I didn’t cry but close.  Not for the faint of heart.

Gameness

In my three years of blogging, the post that received the most hits was one on cock fighting.  In fact, it was getting so much traffic that I removed it from my blog.  Thinking about reposting it after reading Malcolm Gladwell’s article comparing football and dogfighting. Gladwell’s article is a disturbing one–partly because I likely will still watch football along with the other millions around the world.  Gladwell interacts here with reader responses to his football article and I get the sense that a solution is far on the horizon.  Gladwell’s article is disturbing on a number of levels for me–many may not want to read his descriptions of the injuries that happen to dogs and football players–often after an initial injury.   What bothers me is that so many react emotionally to the trauma and abuse that happens to the dogs but could seemingly care less what happens to the football warriors.

But, what is truly stomach turning is Gladwell’s description of “Gameness.” Gameness for dogs is a “desire to please an owner at any expense to itself.” “In a fighting dog, the quality that is prized above all others is the willingness to persevere, even in the face of injury and pain.”

Not surprisingly, Gladwell writes,

Professional football players, too, are selected for gameness.

When Kyle Turley was knocked unconscious, in that game against the Packers, he returned to practice four days later because, he said, “I didn’t want to miss a game.” Once, in the years when he was still playing, he woke up and fell into a wall as he got out of bed. “I start puking all over,” he recalled. “So I said to my wife, ‘Take me to practice.’ I didn’t want to miss practice.” The same season that he was knocked unconscious, he began to have pain in his hips. He received three cortisone shots, and kept playing. At the end of the season, he discovered that he had a herniated disk. He underwent surgery, and four months later was back at training camp. “They put me in full-contact practice from day one,” he said. “After the first day, I knew I wasn’t right. They told me, ‘You’ve had the surgery. You’re fine. You should just fight through it.’ It’s like you’re programmed. You’ve got to go without question—I’m a warrior. I can block that out of my mind. I go out, two days later. Full contact. Two-a-days. My back locks up again. I had re-herniated the same disk that got operated on four months ago, and bulged the disk above it.” As one of Turley’s old coaches once said, “He plays the game as it should be played, all out,” which is to say that he put the game above his own well-being.

I have to confess that as I read this, I wondered if churches and missionary organizations select staff for their “gameness”, valuing individuals who possess a commitment to put the ministry above their own well-being. Hmmm?

He is speaking, am I listening?

Continue to be stuck in Psalm 95:7 “If only you would listen to his voice”  despite all the beauty of verses 1-6. NT reading was Mtt 3 for yesterday and Col 1:9-23 today.  Psalm 95:8 took me back to Numbers 20 when Israel was complaining about how much better it was in Egypt–hardened hearts says Psalm 95; disobedience according to Heb 4:6 prevented them from entering into God’s rest.  And Hebrews warns that disobedience on our part will prevent us from enjoying the rest God has promised for us.  Even Paul, after talking about the richness and beauty of Christ and the fundamental changes he has wrought in us, warns us, “But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it.  Don’t drift away from the assurance you have received when you heard the Good news.” (New Living) I even notice the rebuke to the Pharisees in Mtt 3.  I guess the Lord is trying to get my attention.  Hmmmm

 

 

 

Identity theft and security

Remember the movie Catch Me If You Can?  It is the story of Frank W. Abegnale and how he was able to create and live in a series of false identities until finally caught.  Since then, it looks like he has made a boatload of money consulting for the government and in the private sector.  Here is a link to an executive summary of his book, Stealing Your Life which says you will learn.

• Who is at risk for identity theft.
• Why you should avoid offers that appeal to greed or fear in exchange for
personal data.
• How to monitor your credit report regularly and know if anyone’s been
“knocking on your door.”
• How to identify the people stealing identities.
• Why you should read privacy statements carefully and choose to opt out of
sharing information whenever possible.

Signature Sins: Pride

From Nick Hunter

The first signature sin Michael Mangis talks about is pride–the greatest sin for C.S. Lewis (see Mere Christianity).  Following are an expansion of the various types of pride that Mangis gives–sorry, I didn’t write down the pages on these. On a side note, as I was trying to find some pictures of pride, I discovered to my surprise by the extent that pride has been co-opted by the G-L-B movement.

Pride—refusal to submit to God; antidote–humility.  Wikki gives the following definition from Augustine, “the love of one’s own excellence.”

Outward Pride—arrogant, haughty and snobbish manners, oblivious to others

1. Vanity—taking credit for, and boasting about that which should actually be credited to God.  An inordinate focus on one’s own image—antidote is modesty
2. Arrogance—a demanding, overbearing and opinionated form of pride
3. Snoberty—pride over race, family class etc that artificially creates a sense of superiority; antidote of simplicity
4. Disobedience-disregard for God’s law-obedience is antidote

Inward Pride—obsesses with others and how they feel about him.  Secret pride

1. Distrust—rejection of God’s will in favor of one’s own will
2. Perfectionism—desire to do everything perfectly—grace or brokenness is antidote
3. Sentimentality—substitutes pious emotion, pomp and beauty for true private reverence and obedience to God.  Antidote is seriousness or simplicity
4. Presumption—distortion of hope, Placing inordinate and disrespectful reliance on self rather than on God.  Anitidote–contrition
   

   Pride by Pieter Bruegel

First Sunday in Advent

Psalm 95 is the reading for this first week of Advent—advent—“the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration” of the birth of our LORD Jesus.  A couple of things jump off the page at me this morning.  Reading in New Living. First, the focus on community in verses 1-6: Let us sing, let us shout joyfully, let us come to him with thanksgiving, let us sing psalms of praise, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our God, he is our God, We are the people he watches over. I guess this should not surprise me since God entered into our world to make community possible, fellowship first with the Father, Son and Spirit and then with others who bow in worship before Him.  And then there is the community of all of humanity—all of those created in his image. A confession—community is not something I do well but then again, it is also something without which I cannot live well!  So how will I involve community in my advent?  The fact that I am even thinking about advent is a surprise in itself since advent is almost completely neglected in the church traditions that I have grown up with as a Christian.

Although I also now see the character of the one towards whom and for whom I worship together in community, the second thing I noticed about this Psalm this morning was the latter part beginning at the end of verse 7.  As I read, “If only you would listen to his voice today” my senses become alert to what follows in 7-10.  “Hardened hearts, tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did, hearts turned away from me, refuse to do what I tell them.”  Advent calls me to reflect on my heart condition—and I suppose I need to work out a way to do this also in community?

A more biblical view of morality and fiction

What does it mean to be a Christian writer of fiction?  That all your characters live out a high level of morality?  If so, then according to L. B. Graham, we might be equating Christianity with moralism or good behavior.  Not that the two are unrelated but they are certainly not equal.  Graham suggests three ways we could have a more biblical view of morality and fiction.

“First, we should remember that we do live in a moral universe and attempts to portray immoral behavior as free from consequence cuts against the grain of reality.”

“Second, we should remember that portrayals of characters with ‘good morals’ doesn’t mean a book is Christian.”

“Third, the portrayal of sin in realistic terms, and even the attribution of sinful struggles and moral failures to key characters, even good ones, doesn’t necessarily prove the author condones such behavior.”

Graham’s conclusion,

“At the end of the day, I don’t see many Christian fiction writers leaving much doubt that they believe God’s standards for human behavior are both good and right. What I do see is a certain level of discomfort if characters portrayed in some way as “good” are given significant moral struggles or weaknesses. I hope this will change and that audiences and authors alike will embrace a redemptive rather than a moralistic view of stories – both their own and the one’s they read.”

What’s happening is the right question

From Brian Solis regarding a change on the question twitter is asking, which is now, “what is happening?”

At the very minimum, Twitter is a barometer for fascination, education, and obsession.

Twitter = what are we doing

Facebook = what we are sharing or reviewing

MySpace = what we are in to

LinkedIn = what’s in it for me

Signature Sins: An Introduction

A few weeks ago I read Signature Sins by Michael Mangis (IVP 2008).  He

Bruegel's Seven Deadly Sins

talks about the seven deadly sins:, lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, anger, envy, pride and defines sin as a “failure of our soul to be fully attuned to God’s soul.” 15  He says a  signature sin is “my sin pattern . . . my sin profile.” 14 Signature sins are  “places where sin has most taken root. . . Primary root of sin which lies at the core.” 61 He suggests the following:

“Be in prayerful reflection about your own signature sins. Take note of those sins that cause a twinge of recognition.  Be especially mindful of where your heart may desire not to look.” 29

We need to name our signature sins.  It is a knowing of our secret nemesis.

• Enter the process with reverence and prayer
• Accuracy and thoroughness should be our first priority
• Take great care
• Choosing a name requires a growing familiarity with the sin itself—shades of meaning are important
• Prayerfully submit to God’s naming of our sin.

Apparently some are making money off of these signature sins as you will see below since you can buy and demonstrate to all your own special sin!

Despair or Depression?

Picture from Linda Keagle

What exactly is the relationship between our spiritual health and our psychological health? Between despair and depression? I think most people would say that they are inter-related—what affects one affects the other.  But, even though they are inter-related, are the fundamental or core problems different? And thus, are the solutions not different?

Gordon Marino suggests in an article in the NY Times, Kierkegaard on the Couch, that today we have become “deaf to the ancient distinction between psychological and spiritual disorders, between depression and despair.”  Are not many happy and yet full of despair.  Quoting Kierkegaard, Marino says, “Happiness is the greatest hiding place for despair.”

If despair is a spiritual problem, then perhaps the solution is also physical? Marino said that despair equaled intensified doubt for K? Quoting, from From K’s Sickness unto death, “A human being is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, of the temporal and the eternal, of freedom and necessity.” For K, despair seems to occurs when there is an imbalance in this synthesis. Despair according to Kierkegaard is a lack of awareness of being a self or spirit, says Marino. Perhaps the dark feelings of depression and despair may look similar but come to be due to different causes.

So, if despair is related to a loss of hope or could we say a desperate longing for the transcendent, then a visit to a mental health professional alone will not bring the answer that is needed. A spiritual consultation may be what is needed, along with a visit to a mental health professional and to a medical doctor.  How do we provide care for depression and yet allow people to sense their despair at being disconnected from the Transcendent one?

http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/kierkegaard-on-the-couch/

Gordon Marino at NY Times on Oct 28, 2009

Prosperity Gospel

Usually movements arise to meet something that is lacking.  The Kruse Kronicle suggests that the prosperity gospel may have arisen because of the failure of evangelicalism to provide “instruction that guides me in my daily economic life.”

Some web based learning tools

A compilation of many of the new web tools out there.  Some are pretty basic but others may be new to you.  I have a couple that I am going to try out.

Posted in Education, culture | Tagged: learning tools, powerpoint | Leave a Comment »

Unusual Christmas speculations

Posted by ruach on November 18, 2009

Tongue in cheek reflections on the birth of Jesus, why we unwrap Christmas presents and why Santa Claus is so adored, from Malcolm Gladwell at Vanity Fair.

Thanks to Felix Salmon

Posted in Laugher Medicine | Tagged: Christmas, Gladwell, Jesus | Leave a Comment »

Not responding in anger

Posted by ruach on November 17, 2009

I appreciate Michael Hyatt’s words on what to do when we receive that unfair email or text message or . . . Happened to me last week!  Hyatt says the next time he gets angry or frustrated:

1. I will pause before responding.
2. I will give myself time to cool down.
3. I will not write anything in anger.

His full post is worth reading.

In another post Hyatt suggests the use of the following ten words, “I’m sorry. I was wrong. Will you please forgive me?”

I think as Hyatt notes that it is the combination of all of these words that makes for an effective apology when we mess up, as I do frequently. Unfortunately, I don’t see this being practiced too much in our organization.  Then again, I have yet to read Five Languages of Apology!

Posted in Emotions, Leadership | Tagged: anger, apologies, email | Leave a Comment »

Amazing what we can’t see

Posted by ruach on November 16, 2009

From a grain of rice to a red blood cell to a flu virus to a carbon cell, the following shows you the actual and relative sizes. Fascinating!

Use the scroll bar at the bottom of the picture to move up and down in size.

 

Posted in science | Tagged: cells, nature | Leave a Comment »

Tall tales from the newsroom

Posted by ruach on November 16, 2009

Great story by one of my favorite story tellers of late here. If you go to minute 45 in the episode called tough room, you will hear Gladwell tell some tall tales about his early days at the New York Times.  Good fun.

Posted in Fun | Tagged: Malcolm Gladwell, stories | Leave a Comment »

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