This article is inspired from concepts presented by Don Guthrie PhD from Covenant Seminary in St. Louis at the TEDS PHD EDS retreat held in Lake Forest,IL in October 2009.
I have been reflecting on the phrase, "When meaningless nothing is turned into everything meaningful".
When life feels meaningless and effort seems pointless we (Christians) are in a discontented place and fall into cynicism or perfectionism. Both conditions drive us into deep despair. Our inadequacies condemn us for we know the truth. We "should" be content in Christ. Yet, life can be hard and the hope of eternity feels so far away. All of our labors for meaning only exacerbate the pains of nothingness and breed discontent. Sometimes living between the "already and the not yet" fuels our doubt. So how do we find contentment in all the meaningless nothing of our lives?
In the space between everything and nothing contentment is found.
Phil 4: 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength."
John 5:19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing.
We live between "the everything and the nothing". Everything is possible through Christ but nothing Christ does is apart from the Father. Because Jesus submits to the Father we can do all things.
We Christians stand with one foot in nothing and one foot in everything. We do nothing except what the Father allows. Everything that we need to do is possible because Jesus loves us and is taking us to the heart of the Father. The heart of the Father is the place where the meaningless nothings of our lives become everything meaningful because in them is Jesus' redemptive work. From nothing, that which is done apart from God, Jesus takes us to everything that is complete in Him. This is the place of peace, contentment and purpose. We generally learn this slowly.... painfully...in repentance ...but ultimately with joy.
So what is our posture when we are being dragged through meaningless nothing into everything meaningful? Rest, reflection, and requesting seem to be the Biblical solution to our discontent.
Phil 5:6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus
In the space between nothing (is done apart from the Father) and everything (is possible in Jesus) contentment is found.
Peace
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Missions and Myth Busting
This article was submitted to the Monthly News letter at Calvary Community Church in Schaumburg, IL.
I took our entire Humphrey family of 6 to Florida for Spring Break 2008. We relaxed by the Atlantic, found interesting shells in the Gulf of Mexico and lounged at my parents’ rental home. We had no logistical flaws in our trip to Florida nor during the week-long vacation. The problem came on our way home. The connecting flight from Atlanta to Chicago was canceled and we found ourselves stranded. After several hours of fussing with ticket agents, a flight out of Georgia was found and I negotiated a discounted hotel room where all 6 of us could spend the night. We called our friends Mylan and Ericka Tyrell past Calvary attenders who now live in the Atlanta area. They were gracious and invited us to their home for spaghetti dinner. The next day we were up before the sun. The jets were crowded and we flew back to Chicago via New York’s LaGuardia Airport. We arrived at the end of our 36-hour ordeal exhausted and in need of another Spring Break!
The day after we arrived back from Spring Break, I met with my colleagues at Trinity International University. It was a time of connecting after not seeing many of them for an extended time period. One colleague, my friend John J., had just returned from a trip to his family home in Sierra Leone, West Africa. John relayed to me that his time away was good but with some difficulties. He explained to me that he and his family were deep in the wilderness on their way to visit acquaintances when torrential rains hit. Their Toyota Land Cruiser fell off the road as the road gave way in a flash flood. Stranded deep in the bush they could only seek God’s help in prayer. After much prayer, help came in the form of a traveler who had a satellite phone. John used the phone to call friends and family and they were picked up hours later.
Vinoth Ramachandra, a brother in Christ from Sri Lanka, recently wrote a book called Subverting Global Myths: Theology and Issues Shaping Our World in which he respectfully and reasonably challenges American Christians to consider that our beliefs about global community may be based on “myths.” He makes a strong argument that our lack of understanding about people outside our borders actually creates antagonism toward our country and toward Christ. Here is a quote from a recent interview.
“Many American Christians are not only brought up on one-sided readings of their own history but are largely ignorant of the histories of other peoples. This was reflected in the sheer incomprehension that attended the 9/11 atrocities, and it is reflected today in the sudden disillusionment with the global financial system. Anyone who has followed U.S. foreign policy over the past fifty years, or looked at the way global financial institutions operate from the perspective of the global poor, would not have been surprised by recent events. ”
Comments like this make us very uncomfortable because they confront some very basic assumptions about our lives. Said another way, they challenge our worldview, view of our country, and our view of the church.
Your Calvary Missions Team is entering into a season of reflection where we are allowing voices like Ramachandra’s to give us alternative perspectives. As a team we want to rise above cultural myths, plan, and act in ways that promote the cause of Christ and bring the story of Jesus to the lost. It will probably mean some new ideas and changes to the operation of the ministry. At the moment the changes are unknown, but we are seeking God’s direction, learning together as a Missions Team, and allowing our assumptions/myths to be challenged.
What about my friend John J.? God rescued him from the bush and returned his family safely to the United States. Decades earlier God rescued John from his former life as a revolutionary wanted by an oppressive regime - which is why he explained his Spring Break story with cool indifference. Now he spends his energy equipping the church to lead people into the love and worship of Jesus.
As for me? Well, don’t complain about getting stranded in Atlanta, Georgia; it seems to pale in comparison to John’s jungle ordeal. I am, however, seeing that through Christ I am connected to the suffering of believers and even non-believers in other parts of the world. I have responsibility to understand life from their perspective in order to know God’s mission for me in Schaumburg, Illinois.
I took our entire Humphrey family of 6 to Florida for Spring Break 2008. We relaxed by the Atlantic, found interesting shells in the Gulf of Mexico and lounged at my parents’ rental home. We had no logistical flaws in our trip to Florida nor during the week-long vacation. The problem came on our way home. The connecting flight from Atlanta to Chicago was canceled and we found ourselves stranded. After several hours of fussing with ticket agents, a flight out of Georgia was found and I negotiated a discounted hotel room where all 6 of us could spend the night. We called our friends Mylan and Ericka Tyrell past Calvary attenders who now live in the Atlanta area. They were gracious and invited us to their home for spaghetti dinner. The next day we were up before the sun. The jets were crowded and we flew back to Chicago via New York’s LaGuardia Airport. We arrived at the end of our 36-hour ordeal exhausted and in need of another Spring Break!
The day after we arrived back from Spring Break, I met with my colleagues at Trinity International University. It was a time of connecting after not seeing many of them for an extended time period. One colleague, my friend John J., had just returned from a trip to his family home in Sierra Leone, West Africa. John relayed to me that his time away was good but with some difficulties. He explained to me that he and his family were deep in the wilderness on their way to visit acquaintances when torrential rains hit. Their Toyota Land Cruiser fell off the road as the road gave way in a flash flood. Stranded deep in the bush they could only seek God’s help in prayer. After much prayer, help came in the form of a traveler who had a satellite phone. John used the phone to call friends and family and they were picked up hours later.
Vinoth Ramachandra, a brother in Christ from Sri Lanka, recently wrote a book called Subverting Global Myths: Theology and Issues Shaping Our World in which he respectfully and reasonably challenges American Christians to consider that our beliefs about global community may be based on “myths.” He makes a strong argument that our lack of understanding about people outside our borders actually creates antagonism toward our country and toward Christ. Here is a quote from a recent interview.
“Many American Christians are not only brought up on one-sided readings of their own history but are largely ignorant of the histories of other peoples. This was reflected in the sheer incomprehension that attended the 9/11 atrocities, and it is reflected today in the sudden disillusionment with the global financial system. Anyone who has followed U.S. foreign policy over the past fifty years, or looked at the way global financial institutions operate from the perspective of the global poor, would not have been surprised by recent events. ”
Comments like this make us very uncomfortable because they confront some very basic assumptions about our lives. Said another way, they challenge our worldview, view of our country, and our view of the church.
Your Calvary Missions Team is entering into a season of reflection where we are allowing voices like Ramachandra’s to give us alternative perspectives. As a team we want to rise above cultural myths, plan, and act in ways that promote the cause of Christ and bring the story of Jesus to the lost. It will probably mean some new ideas and changes to the operation of the ministry. At the moment the changes are unknown, but we are seeking God’s direction, learning together as a Missions Team, and allowing our assumptions/myths to be challenged.
What about my friend John J.? God rescued him from the bush and returned his family safely to the United States. Decades earlier God rescued John from his former life as a revolutionary wanted by an oppressive regime - which is why he explained his Spring Break story with cool indifference. Now he spends his energy equipping the church to lead people into the love and worship of Jesus.
As for me? Well, don’t complain about getting stranded in Atlanta, Georgia; it seems to pale in comparison to John’s jungle ordeal. I am, however, seeing that through Christ I am connected to the suffering of believers and even non-believers in other parts of the world. I have responsibility to understand life from their perspective in order to know God’s mission for me in Schaumburg, Illinois.
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