Celebrating Anniversaries
by JM · 28 July 2008

Today I received an email marking the 8th anniversary of the Anglican Mission in the Americas. Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary. Yesterday an acquaintance of mine marked his 17th wedding anniversary while detained in his adopted country apart from his wife and children. While on their way out of the country last week, their car collided with another vehicle and at least one of the two passengers was killed. The family who sustained the losses is a prominent Muslim family, and they have pressed charges against my friend, so although he was declared not at fault for the accident, he is being detained in the country awaiting trial. Please join me in praying for him and his family.

In the midst of this week of anniversaries, I am struck by the importance of celebrating anniversaries as remembrance. Certain celebrations and feast-days are proscribed for Israel in the Old Testament. The overall effect is one of helping them to remember and to teach about who God is and what He has done for them. As Christians, we tend to celebrate certain holidays, and those of us who follow a version of a church calendar have even richer opportunities to remember who God is and what He has done on a regular cycle. Yet, how many of us celebrate conversion the way we celebrate a birthday or a wedding anniversary? Some of us have a particular date in the yearly calendar when we can remember our new birth in Christ, but those of us who do not are no less able to select a day to do this.

In light of this idea, which is new to me, I will endeavor to celebrate my new life in Christ on 25 October. Why that day? Since university I have enjoyed celebrating St. Crispin's Day, traditionally marked on 25 October. This began during my rugby days when I would recite the St. Crispin's Day speech penned by William Shakespeare and placed in the mouth of King Henry V prior to the battle of Agincourt. "For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother..." For me, this is a significant day to celebrate on many levels. Jesus took on the forces of evil and shed his blood upon the cross in order to redeem me into his kingdom. That said, parallels break down quickly between the two scenes of Golgotha and Agincourt. Henry needed the help of every one of his men that day and so needed to marshal their courage. Jesus accomplished redemption without my help. As one who is redeemed by his grace, however, all that I am is his and he is mine. Yet, like Paul, I strive to know him more and to grasp the purpose for which Christ grasped ahold of me. And I look forward to yet another anniversary we will never cease to celebrate—the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Let me know what you think of this idea by posting a comment below. /NV/

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Missions and the Kingdom (Day 4)
by JM · 05 July 2008

author's note: This is a longer post than usual, so I implore forgiveness from those of you who appreciate my more typical brevity. I assure you I am normally far too verbose.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about missions?

Lesslie Newbigin's writings on Mission in Christ's Way deeply challenge some of our thinking about missions. As I take these insights and questions to heart, I hope you will join me in doing so. Newbigin considers Acts 1:6-8 a great starting point for our reflexions on missions. The disciples, gathered together, now believe in the resurrection. They ask Jesus, who has appeared before them after the resurrection, if he will now restore the kingdom to Israel. Newbigin understands his response to be twofold: "a warning and a promise". The warning is against thinking that the kingdom is our programme. Rather, it is God's kingdom. The promise is that "the Holy Spirit will come and you will be witnesses".

Newbigin ponders a common question:

I have very often been asked: "Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the gospel in India?" When one gets asked the same question a hundred times one is inclined to develop a standard answer. My standard answer is: "I believe in the resurrection of Jesus and therefore the question does not arise." The gospel is news of a fact—the presence of the kingdom of God in Jesus. About a fact, the question "optimistic or pessimistic?" does not arise. About a programme one can be optimistic or pessimistic, but about a fact you have to ask a different question: "Do you believe it or do you not believe it?" If you believe, the other question does not arise.

How often are we tempted to think about ministry—and especially missions—in programmatic terms? The more heavily we focus our attentions on strategy and human action, the more likely we are to find ourselves down such a path. Do we truly believe that the ministries of worship, prayer and waiting on God are as important as preaching? This is not to suggest that any of these are dispensable—quite the contrary! It seems to me that preaching ought to result in worship, prayer and waiting on God as much as these ministries should lead to preaching empowered by the Spirit.

As Newbigin attests, it is common to be asked questions that betray a humanistic outlook on spiritual work. Not a few of these questions come from within the church. Eventually, we give in to the questions and determine that they require an answer. We formulate, perhaps in thoughtful prayer, what we think is an appropriate response. Yet, in accepting the question as a valid one, we have swerved off the King's highway.

A warning

Newbigin continues:

We need this warning. We are constantly tempted to see the cause of the gospel as if it were a programme about which we could be optimistic or pessimistic. In England, where the churches are on the defensive, we are always tempted to fall into the world's way of looking at the church. For the media, Christianity is a "good cause" that requires support and that will collapse if enough people do not rally to its support. Christians are tempted to fall into this absurd way of thinking...

We need the warning. The kingdom of God is, quite simply, God's reign; it is not our programme. The question is not optimism or pessimism; it is belief or unbelief.

In the process of raising support, when we discuss missions with churches are we not tempted to believe that our efforts and the efforts of our supporters will make the difference? In our communications do we suggest, or even subtly hint, that by our presence or efforts we will turn the tide? Should we not rather proclaim the majesty and reign of God in His church? I am not suggesting that we refrain from communicating with excellence what God is doing, but that we would be cautious of overstating our importance in God's mission. We are unworthy servants who have been made heirs to the kingdom by God's sovereign grace. When the Spirit comes upon us, we give witness to the amazing things He has done. But such things are amazing, and worthy of proclamation.

A promise

Similarly, the promise is not that we shall undertake a programme of witnessing, but rather that the Holy Spirit's presence will cause us to be witnesses. Newbigin says it this way after quoting Isaiah 43:8-11:

It is clear that God is not calling the oppressed Israelites to undertake some kind of campaign for liberation. It is he, the mighty Lord, who is going to act, and they will be the witnesses, interpreting to the nations what he has done. Here is the background for the assurance "You shall be witnesses." It is not that the church is called upon to undertake a programme. It is that the liberating presence of the Spirit will constitute the church a witness to the mighty acts of the living God who alone is king.

This is where I think things get messy. Although the church is not to create programmes out of mission or the proclaiming of the Kingdom, there is a significant record of individuals and church movements which take on what appear to be characteristics of a programme, if considered from a purely human perspective. Newbigin mentions Paul's statement, "Woe is me if I do not preach". If I quoted the entire section from Newbigin all of it would be worth considering. Newbigin's point, though, is that Paul is expressing an outpouring of the Spirit from within himself which compels him to preach the gospel. Other men and women have felt similar compulsion throughout history. It is this outpouring I think particularly worth our attention.

...mission is wrongly understood if it is seen primarily as a task laid upon us. It is primarily a work of the Spirit, a spill-over from Pentecost.

Revivals are an obvious example of this spill-over, though we tend to consider them in terms of people movements. Prophets, carried along by the Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), are another example. Apostles and missionaries, compelled to preach the gospel are yet another example of the Spirit's work.

Diagnostic Questions

For this reason, I urge you if you are considering missionary service—or any ministry, for that matter—to consider your motivation. Are you compelled by the inner working of the Holy Spirit, whose power is at work within you, or are you intrigued by the work in strictly human terms? Perhaps in a later article I may suggest some diagnostic questions to assist us in evaluating our motivations for ministry.

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Jesus and the Kingdom (Day 3)
by JM · 01 July 2008

I continue reading "Mission in Christ's Way". Lesslie Newbigin concludes his section on Jesus preaching the kingdom with the following words:

So, for God's sake, let us not fall into this game of setting words and deeds against each other, preaching against action for justice and action for justice against preaching. Do not let us set "kingdom" against "church" and "church" against "kingdom". The church is not an end in itself. "Church growth" is not an end in itself. The church is only true to its calling when it is a sign, an instrument and a foretaste of the kingdom. But, on the other hand, talk about the kingdom is mere ideology if it is not tied to the name of Jesus in whom the kingdom is present and if it does not invite men and women to recognize that presence, to do the U-turn, to become part of that company that (sinful as it has always been) acknowledges Jesus as the one in whom God's kingdom is present and so seeks to honour him, to serve him, to follow him.

I suspect that Newbigin's words here are more challenging than they even at first appear. Is it possible that God could have an active purpose for small congregations of believers other than to grow in numbers? We often assume that growth in numbers is a sign of health and our actions can succumb to the temptation to focus on growing as opposed to other things God may have in mind for us to do. If God's calling for some congregations is to grow in numbers, what if growth in numbers were a distraction to His calling for other congregations? Is it possible that God could use small churches to accomplish unique things for His glory that larger congregations either cannot or are not called to do? What about the local church you attend?

Please post a comment if you have thoughts on this one way or another.

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For Trust (Day 2)

Poetry is too often overlooked for its devotional value. Though I am myself a poet, I am guilty of the same forgetfulness about poetry's devotional value. Here is a poem by the Scottish poet John Huie from a book I discovered in the Highlands called The Singing Pilgrim.

For Trust

Lord, when my way I cannot see,
When earth and heaven are dark;
I know my path is clear to Thee,
For Thou my steps dost mark.

Give me to live by faith—I grieve,
And this is all my grief,
I would have sight—Lord, I believe,
Help Thou mine unbelief.

When halt and blind I go, my God,
Still would I hope in Thee,
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
And staff shall comfort me.

Why should I fret in troubled mood
When I may rest in Thee?
All things together work for good,
Because Thou lovest me.

Thou lovest me—here would I rest
From all perplexity;
O take me to Thy loving breast,
And grant full trust in Thee.

I most like the line above, "When halt and blind I go, my God, / Still would I hope in Thee..." This accords well with a prayer of Thomas Merton's mentioned in last Sunday's sermon at Church of the Redeemer. I quote the prayer below:

My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean
that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that my desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.

This week this is my continual prayer as I feel I can relate so well to Merton's, "I have no idea where I am going". Yet, I want to know more deeply the trust he writes about, so that even when I cannot see the road ahead, I have faith that Jesus will guide and lead me.

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