How to Talk about Sin...

It has been argued lately that people don't like to talk about sin anymore, especially their own. It's quite possible that many, in fact, seriously question the usefulness of such a term, as if there were an authority to proclaim what is and is not sin.

Christian evangelists, faced with this (post?)modern mindset, consider this a significant problem as they try diligently to find an appropriate way to demonstrate the need for and effectiveness of Jesus' work. Put simply, how do you tell someone that Jesus has saved them from their sins if they either believe that sin is non-existent or, worse, arbitrarily defined?

I've begun to think that the way forward may actually be through a very different avenue. Rather than speaking of Jesus' work and ministry as one in which he came to save a world of desperate individuals, it may be more productive to speak of Jesus' ministry as a work for the benefit of humankind on the whole, which certainly encompasses the individual.

Whether convinced of their own sinfulness or not, most will agree that much of the rest of the world is in serious need of more than a little help. An old article from US News & World Report cites a study that demonstrates that while most people consider themselves positively, they simultaneously carry a rather bleak outlook toward the rest of the world: "Rich, poor, black, white, young, old - virtually all groups of Americans simultaneously hold sanguine views of themselves and pessimistic appraisals of others. One poll of university professors, for example, found that 94 percent of them thought that they were better at their job than was their average colleague" (David Whitman, "I'm OK, You're Not," US News & World Report 121, no. 24 [16 Dec 1996], 26; quoted in Marva J Dawn, Is It a Lost Cause?: Having the Heart of God for the Church's Children [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997], 28).

It may, then, be quite easy to have someone agree with you that, yes, the world is in a heap of trouble. It is from there that the story of God's work of restoration and redemption through Jesus may be told afresh to an ear that may be willing to listen.

Reflections

There have been oh-so-many puddles in England this summer. I thought it might be appropriate to take a minute to peer into one of them and reflect before I cross the pond once again.

It’s true that in many ways England and the United States are very similar places. Both are “western” nations and English speaking, and many things transfer from one country to the other – we got “The Office;” they got “The Simpsons.” But there are still so many ways in which Britain is a foreign country to me and there are things that I think a person can learn about himself through foreign travel. Ugly as they are, I believe I’ve become a bit more mindful of some of the prejudices I hold about any number of things, particularly related to nationalism. I have found myself in conversation about foreign affairs with people here and found myself immediately defending the United States and being quite proud of where I come from. On some level I think it is important to hold a level pf pride concerning your heritage, but upon reflection it seems that there aren’t always valid reasons for that pride or defense of our country. I don’t think it was really necessary to travel abroad to find other points of view, but being in this kind of a situation certainly does force it rather quickly. There really is no avoiding it when you leave your own country. I do think it’s necessary, even as Americans living in the United States, to be critical of our government’s policies, regardless of political affiliation. It seems all too easy to avoid this responsibility, however, if you never leave the country. This is especially crucial for us as Christians, I believe, since our nationality, ultimately, belongs to the Kingdom of God and not to any particular political body. If we are to then live responsibly where God has placed us, we must maintain a critical eye towards the nation we live in, not only for our own sake but for those around us as well.

There have been various times in my life when I’ve gone on these short-term opportunities - periods in which I know for certain that my time in a certain places is limited, that there is a fixed date for my departure. Working at a summer camp on three different occasions was similar to that. In those situations, it seems that your sense of “mission” is heightened. There is no question that you are in that place for a specific time for a specific purpose and it seems easier to maintain that focus. The same could be said for my time here in England. Knowing that three months was all the time I was afforded here, I think I was quite intentional about the way I interacted with people and the way I went about my work for Green Street Green. Now, as I return home, I wonder if I might be able to maintain that same sense of concentration in what I do in the States – a more definite sense of purpose in my schoolwork, in my relationships, in my church, and so on.

Finally, it was a great personal encouragement being here with these people. One of my bigger questions going into this experience had to do with my vocational goals. I was quite unsure of the way to proceed after seminary. Yet I’ve received a lot of encouragement from those here to pursue a career in teaching, which had been one of my considerations. Of course, I don’t know yet where I’ll do that – whether in secondary schools, colleges, or the local church – but in any case, it will be in the service of the Lord and His Church.

I do also want to give a hearty wish of gratitude to all of you who have kept up with my adventures in England, who have prayed for my time here, and who have offered words of encouragement from time to time. This has been a real blessing. I do look forward to coming back home, but I think I will always look back on this summer positively. Thank you all for helping with that. And if you could, please pray the next couple of days that my flight home would be smooth and safe. I'll see you all soon.

Soul Survivor

I ought to say a few things about my week at Soul Survivor, the largest youth festival in Britain. I'm thinking it's going to be somewhat difficult to do simply because there seem to be in my brain so many things I could say about it. Regardless, let's see where we get.

First, a brief description of the event. 10 or 11 thousand teens and youth workers descend on the Royal Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. It's in the middle of nowhere, but where else are you going to facilitate that many teenagers? Everyone camps throughout the week, which revolves around two-a-day meetings - one at 11:00 am, one at 7:00 pm - with seminars available in the morning and afternoon.

A typical meeting might go something like this: announcements to get people updated on any scheduling changes, followed by a short talk highlighting a specific ministry, like Slum Survivor, an initiative to get young people thinking about and raising money for the one billion people who live in slums all their lives; or a variety of gap year opportunities, in which a teen can spend a year working in ministry abroad before going off to university. Next, a lengthy set of worship music begins, usually lasting 30-45 mins. These are the main focus of the event, as the church that started Soul Survivor is the church from which Matt Redman ("Heart of Worhip," "Blessed Be Your Name") and Tim Hughes ("Light of the World [Here I Am to Worship]," "Beautiful One") came. In fact, Tim Hughes led a few of the worship sets and he is very good. After the first set of music, who knows what might happen. There was always a talk scheduled, but often the Holy Spirit would start working on people before the music stopped and so the talks were delayed to give room for God to do whatever it was He was going to do. More on this later. The talk that followed probably went for 20-30 mins and focused on the theme, "Into His Likeness" (the "likeness" being Jesus', since that's kind of the goal of Christianity, for people to be transformed more and more into Jesus' character [Rom. 8:29]). Next, another worship music set would follow and this was more or less indefinite. That is, it could have gone on all night so as to again give room for the Lord to what He was going to do in people (again, more on this later).

So that's more or less what it looked like. It also looked damp and dreary and chilly (at least for summer). It rained every day. One morning it was sunny, but when we left the morning meeting at 12:30, it was raining again. By the way, I've quit looking at the sky and asking "Why is it raining?" and instead started saying "Of course it's raining." We did have a caravan that we used to store food and cook meals and an enclosed awning in which to eat. And I think most of our stuff stayed dry in our tents, so the rain really didn't bother us much.

OK, now what really happened last week? Well, I think I can say with confidence that God met with each of us on some real personal levels. Each of the young people that came along with us were definitely touched at one time or another and certainly Penny and I were as well. And here's where the "giving space to God" thing comes in. I'll try to explain as best I can for those who may read this and wonder what I'm talking about.

I don't know if I could articulate it perfectly from a theological perspective, but when we worship Jesus, stuff happens (how's that for theological language?). I think what it comes down to is that when we worship and give wholehearted praise to the Lord, we do something like opening doors to our heart that give permission for the Holy Spirit to come and "sort us out." I think anyone who has done any kind of work with people long-term understands that at the core, people rarely change, especially by our own efforts. But this is something that our Creator does exceptionally well, especially if we give Him room to do so. So in worship, it's like inviting Him to rearrange our attitudes or heal our scars or our pain or do whatever else He knows needs to happen to further conform us into Jesus' likeness.

At the Soul Survivor meetings, this didn't necessarily have to happen in conjunction with talks or sermons, it was just through the praising of our God. You see, we'd be singing at the top of our lungs for 30 minutes or so and then you'd start hearing people here and there crying or screaming and you knew that the Holy Spirit was starting to heal old wounds as a surgeon might work on our physical bodies, which is likewise briefly painful (but for good reason). And as this started to happen, we simply prayed that God would continue and do more. And sure enough, it wasn't long before more people would be touched by the Lord. What's really remarkable, I think, is that none of this was at the prompting of those running the meetings. There was literally no coercion involved.

Maybe I can describe this better with a personal story. For most of the week, I was blessed simply by being able to praise God loudly and freely without having to have anything prepared ahead of time (I had been leading worship regularly at church for the last year, where I'd have to have some kind of responsibility during church - it can be difficult to worship and lead at the same time, but not impossible). If that's all that had happened, I'd have been satisfied. But on the last night, in which there was no teaching, I simply asked God what, if anything, He had for me. Background interruption: for many reasons, I think I've consistently had problems approaching the Lord as a loving and gracious Father, as He is described in the Bible. This, I think, has also affected the way in which I interact with male authority figures. I can do it on a business level, but it's difficult for me to do that relationship on a personal level. Back to present: shortly after I prayed, I found myself whispering to myself or to God or both, "Don't leave me Father, don't leave me Father," again and again. Before long I found myself weeping, but not with sadness. Rather, I think it came from an overwhelming realization that indeed He wouldn't and that at that moment He was in the process of wrapping His arms around me in a way that made it possible to trust Him with my tears. I'm not exactly sure how long this went on. 30 mins? 45? I don't know. But when I finally opened my eyes, I just felt lighter. It's that simple. When that process began, I could tell that a few people had gathered around me to pray for me even though my eyes were closed, but none of them prayed out loud. None of them knew what it was I was going through. I'm confident that all they really prayed was that God would keep up whatever He was doing, giving Him room to work.

Anyway, that's a quick glimpse of Soul Survivor, which has certainly been one of the highlights of this season in England. The pictures included are one of the meetings and a few of the youth that came from Green Street Green. I come home in a week, so I'll try to post again this week with some broad reflections. Peace.

The Son of Encouragement

Hello everyone,

Quickly, I want to put a note out there before I go away to Soul Survivor and can't get to my computer for the next week.

This morning Penny and I led the service at GSG and it went really well. We were discussing the falling out between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15. Barnabas wants to take John Mark along on the next journey, but Paul refuses because John Mark had abandoned them once before. Paul, though he's a great hero in the church, gets it wrong here, I think. It's Barnabas who chooses to invest in John Mark when he was a "risky investment," which, of course, is a real Christ-like way of treating him. I mean, how many of us have deserved Christ's love? Um, none. And yet, he loves us and pours his Spirit into us regardless of our history. As Christians, then, it's our responsibility to pour into others in turn, just as Barnabas had done for Paul (Acts 9) and then for John Mark (Acts 15). Anyway, that's what we talked about. The Lord was really there and I think it really impacted some people in a positive way.

Tomorrow Penny and I leave for Soul Survivor for a week. I've still got tons of washing and packing to do before then. But please pray for us and the youth that are coming along. Pray that we all be touched by God there. Thanks everyone. I'll report on it all when I get back.

Coming Attractions

Things have been slow here in Green Street Green and so posts have been few recently, I know. Here's an update. We're officially about halfway into the summer holidays in Britain. You see, kids don't get out of school here until the end of July and then they get about six weeks off before going back in mid-September. During those six weeks is when everyone goes away on holiday (they don't do vacations in the UK). With so many people gone, the church really cuts down its programs too. There is no Sunday evening service, no Tuesday or Thursday youth clubs, no Friday youth meetings, either. We've done a few day trips with people, which I've tried to report on, but none this week.

I've taken the extra time to do a lot of work on some seminary classes that I've taken along for the journey. So that's what I've been up to.

Things do get busy again over the next week and a half, though. This afternoon I'm leaving for some place in Norfolk county along the coast for a couple days with some friends. This trip is solely for hanging out purposes. On Sunday morning, Penny and I are leading the service, which is about Paul's and Barnabas' friendship. Please pray for that and I'll report back afterwards. Then on Monday Penny and I leave with several kids for Soul Survivor, a big youth festival somewhere in the UK (people tell me the names of places, but I forget them because I have no concept of where things are here). Anyway, I'm anticipating a rather intense week with the young people. Please pray for us that week as well.

OK, until later.

God's Irony, Part Two

The last several days have been really thought provoking. I'll do my best to intelligibly relate what's been tumbling about in my brain recently.

Years ago, Maynard's nephew worked with a guy named Matt, who is from Kansas City, MO. Just recently Maynard had learned that Matt was going to be in London and had an interesting story to tell and so Maynard invited him for Sunday dinner. So there was the 6'10" Matt, whom none of us really knew, sitting in the Newman house with Maynard, Joan, Jon, and Anna, Seggie (a French girl who used to live with the Newmans), and me and telling us all about his recent adventures (you'll recognize Matt in the photo as the one who looks by his size that he could be in the foreground, when really he's towards the back). Matt has been traveling around the world this year. So far on this journey he's been through Central and South America, Antarctica, South Africa and much of Africa's east coast, the Middle East, Turkey, Romania, Austria, and now London. Next stop: Ireland, Scandinavia, Russia, China, Australia... It's quite a trip.

Apparently, Matt had been visiting friends in Japan a few years ago when he read a quote by Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." This got him thinking about what he was doing and what he was leaving undone. Among his goals at the time were to visit all 50 states and to set foot on all seven continents, which he is currently doing and blogging about. It was such an enjoyable time to hear his story and to catch some level of inspiration from it, even if I don't plan to travel the whole world myself.

The next day I was reading a book on God's multicultural intentions for the church. The introductory chapter is the stories, in part, of the three co-authors, each of whom has some relevant history in multicultural settings in the US or abroad. As I read, I found myself identifying with their stories as some of the unease I've felt here in the UK.

You see, a few days prior, a woman I met through Joan and Maynard asked me how I was liking England. I found myself hesitant to answer, which probably says more than what I actually said. I did eventually reply, saying that when I went to Scotland several years ago, I felt very much at home from the moment the plane touched down. I don't know why, but it just hasn't been the same with England. There's no real way to put a finger on it, but somehow you know you're not quite the same as the people all around you. In some sense this seems strange because I could easily blend into a crowd here in England. I don't look any different from anybody else and I dress about the same. Furthermore, American and British cultures are, in many ways, very similar - and all the more so as the world grows smaller and political ties between the States and the UK strengthen. But my identity as a foreigner is firmly established the moment I open my mouth to speak to anyone. I wonder if in some sense this actually heightens the tension I've been feeling. It's assumed that, as an American, I should be able to fit in quite naturally with the English, as though cultural references made in conversation don't have to be explained to me. Yet the differences are frequent enough that this assumption actually makes the differences more noticeable to me. Although the UK and the US are very similar in many ways, I'm realizing this is definitely a cross-cultural experience.

I wish I had been able to ask Matt about his experiences in light of this, but it has only been recently that these thoughts really started to come into more focus, even though I know this particular post is somewhat rambling. I should add, however, that the people of Green Street Green Baptist Church have been remarkably hospitable. I have in no way felt like too much of an outsider there (Actually, that's a whole other post about how great it is to be able to travel around the world, visit absolute strangers and still know that you can call them brothers and sisters because of our connection through Christ. Certainly that's been another incredible experience on this journey.).

Anyway, just some thoughts I've been having in reflecting on what's going on here. I pray that some of these things really get lodged in my heart. I'd hate to forget this feeling of being an alien, such as it is, and not offer hospitality to those that feel like foreigners when I'm at home.

Where All the Women Are Strong...

It's been a busy week in Lake Wobego...sorry. It's been a busy week in England.

On Wednesday I went into London with several young teens from the church to do a citywide scavenger hunt. Good times roving the city with four young people looking for different things and taking pictures of things and answering questions about things. You know how it is.

I spent a day at the beach in Broadstairs with several of the young people from GSGBC on Friday. It was a decent day for the beach. It wasn't hot, really, and it was windy, but at least it wasn't cold and rainy, which seems to be plaguing England this summer. Apparent features of English beaches include mini carnivals, Punch & Judy shows, seaweed, and donkey rides. Also to be found at the Broadstairs beach: a concrete structure that traps water at high tide so that people can wade in it during low tide. Unfortunate side effect of things to be found at Broadstairs beach: the wading pool turns into a haven for crabs. Also, men and boys in England do exactly what boys and men do in America when they go to the beach: dig a hole. The pictures here are a friend named Michael digging and then a girl named Zoe standing in it (though buried).

Maynard and Joan decided Saturday that they wanted to take me somewhere outside of London, so we traveled a little way towards the southern coast to Chichester and the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum. It was a real treat. The basis for the museum is similar to that of Plymouth Plantation or Sturbridge Village without the employees playing period roles. Essentially, the museum had acquired old and ancient structures from around the country, dismantled them piece by piece, and rebuilt them on this property. The result is the opportunity to see English buildings from as far back as the 13th century and to see how the people lived during those times. Most structures were from the 16th-18th centuries and were really captivating, for those of us who like to imagine what that "old world" must have been like. I really enjoyed it.

So that's the news from England...