Worldly Holiness

The Space Needle at Christmas, originally uploaded by papalars.

I don't know about you but I always feel the space between Christmas and New Year's is kind of dead. The build up to Christmas is always intense and the pace of life often not conducive to reflection or solitude. Then comes the let down after the celebrations and gifts. With New Year's comes resolutions, a new set of goals and thinking afresh about where one is headed. But the mind and body are not yet ready for all that immediately after Christmas, so the space in between is just kind of dead. Unfortunately, my wife's birthday hits on December 30th. I learned early in our marriage not to forget the day and to make sure I had a little reserve before New Year's.

The analogy to our spiritual lives can easily be drawn. I'm thinking of two things that come to mind. First, it is important sometimes to let the ground lie fallow. This is a practice in farming that observes the soil's need to stop producing for a season so that nutrients, such as nitrogen, which is essential for crop growth, can be replenished. Fallowing also gives the soil an opportunity to reduce levels of weeds by cultivation techniques, and levels of pests and disease. Today, some of the same issues are resolved with crop rotation and pesticides to curb infestations and disease. But these solutions come with drawbacks as well. The runoff into rivers and bodies of water around the world from the use of pesticides kills life, principally by depleting oxygen from the water.

Currently the most notorious dead zone is a 22,126 square kilometer region in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi River dumps high-nutrient runoff from its vast drainage basin, which includes the heart of U.S. agribusiness, the Midwest, affecting important shrimp fishing grounds among other things.

So, the first observation to me is this–we should allow the ground to lie fallow sometimes. Rest is important, both physically and spiritually.

The second observation starts with a question. Is spiritual "fallowing" just about being passive? I think there is a real danger, at least as I observe the tendencies in my own life, to equate resting and being still with passivity. This is really doing the couch potato thing in my spiritual life. Pressure is off. I do not have to be up for a public performance. My prayer life gets weak. You could also say my eating habits during this in-between time almost become like the modern day farming effort of throwing pesticides on the soil to diminish the negative effects of over production. This amounts to a short cut in my view and down the road, or river bed, creates dead zones.

Rest is good. It is mandated by God even in the practice of hallowing the Sabbath. Kind of like fallowing soil. But rest is not passive. Nor does it require giving in to an easy path. I'm trying to train myself to use this "dead time" in a way that prepares me for what is ahead. Pray with me in this fashion, that God would teach us how to walk during the in-between times.

By the way, preparations are being made for the great fireworks display from the Space Needle on New Year's Eve in Seattle. This is always a big show. I had fun taking pictures in the city last night with Kjel. Another by the way–his photos are really amazing. Check them out. Notice his HRD version of the Seattle Center here. WARNING–it really sparkles: Kjel's Space Needle shot.

Christmas Peppers, originally uploaded by papalars.

Hey folks. I've been negligent on this blog this month and I have a few days to correct my pattern before the close of this year. The foto above is one I created to send Christmas greetings to my flickr friends, many of whom speak Spanish. Since I know English speakers know what I'm talking about I didn't bother to translate the greeting. By the way, I'm known as "papalars" on the web for my fotos [this is Spanish for photos...remember my series "Friday Fotos?"].

I just wanted to send Christmas greetings on these pages as well, to my faithful blog readers, to those who have supported us with love and prayer this last year. Once again, you are crucial to our lives and the growth of the Kingdom among focus friends. Thanks for your vital partnership with us, for your friendship and prayers.

This year begins with a flurry of travels again for our family. Actually numero 3 just left this morning for Japan to be with some old friends from Barcelona, one who lives in Japan currently and another visiting from Barcelona. Mom kept asking how he was going to find his friend's house outside of Toyko without knowledge of Japanese. He loved making her worry. This is one of those MK things. Our kids all love the independence and seemingly effortless ability to find their way in new places around the world. They are much further along than we were at their ages! Numero 1 leaves shortly for a short-term job opportunity in Vegas. He gets to use his Spanish to interpret for a crew that will install furnishings for a company that takes new hotels from finished construction to first occupancy. His goal is to pay off college debt before he takes a 2 year stint in Latin America serving with Covenant Merge Ministries. I will begin January with some travels to California, then Chicago for the Midwinter where I will be giving a workshop on the issues related to our ministry to Covenant leaders and pastors. Later in the first part of '08, travels will take me back to Europe and then the Middle East. Hopefully Carol will be able to join me for part of that trip.

I got an important book for Christmas and would like to recommend it to you. It looks very relevant to our work in Europe but also to the broader issues related to Islam and Christianity for our globe in this century. I hope to share some reflections as I dive in on these pages. The book is called: God's Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's Religious Crisis, by Philip Jenkins. Jenkins is the author of a another book you may have heard about, The Next Christendom, which features the growth of Christianity outside of Western societies and how the center of gravity has changed. So, keep posted for thoughts and ideas, reflections and Kingdom observations on these pages. I think this will be a very important read.

I wanted to send Christmas greetings before this day passed. May God grant you your deeply held, heart desires for this coming year. May you also know his presence and goodness in your life….the stuff that will not tarnish in a few days after the glow of Christmas wears off.

Desert Floor, originally uploaded by papalars.

Hey friends, I bet you are beginning to think about Christmas. Actually many of you are probably well into your shopping list for friends and family. I have not started. In part because I was out of town last weekend, from Thursday thru Sunday night. Likely excuse, right? I was well south of here, in a region where they have things like the foto you see above. I love the way cacti look. Or is it cactuses? Anyway, the town I visited is also home to some ministries I am looking at for the Mosaics Project, serving and loving focus people for Christ. I also spoke at the local Covenant church and began conversations with several people in the congregation about next steps for themselves.

One of the important ministries that I became acquainted with is serving Iraqi refugees, providing an oasis of care and support for these wayfarers as they transition into a new society. Not an easy task. By the way, you can pray for the 2 million plus Iraqi refugees held in limbo presently in countries bordering Iraq–like Jordon, Lebanon, and Syria principally. One recent estimate puts the number of Iraqi citizens displaced from war and violence at around 4 million. About half of those remain in Iraq but have been uprooted from their homes because of the sectarian violence. Most have a family member who has been killed. The people I met last week are ministering to the needs of the few who are coming into their city, with practical things like basic home furnishings, clothes, English classes and the like. The recent arrivals are looking for an oasis and have found it with my new friends.

By the way, on another note, I have wanted to mention for some time an exciting thing that has happened in recent months, a significant bridge that is being built from the Muslim to Christian community, reaching across the chasm that divides Christians from Muslims. Last fall a leading group of Muslim leaders and clerics in Jordon drafted a letter to the global Christian community. The letter is called "A Common Word Between Us and You." In the letter a strong appeal is made to Christian leaders around the world. The content addresses the desire to demonstrate love of God and neighbor to each other, to strive together for a religious peace that would be the foundation for world peace, and to find common ground that could be the basis for genuine interfaith dialogue. Scriptures verses from both the Bible and the Qur'an are used to support the appeal. This is perhaps the most significant move in interfaith relations in my lifetime. Many in the Christian community are giving the letter, and the intent behind it, high marks. God is up to something.

Below you will find two important links to the actual letter from the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan, and a Christian response from the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. My professor from Fuller signed the letter as did many other leading evangelicals. I actually signed the response found on the Yale site. Look for my name. It is in the long list of "who's who" in the Christian world, but a little down the list, where a growing number of not so "who's who" are adding their two cents. Actually, this initiative is worth a lot more than two cents. This is really big and provides a bridge upon which more positive interaction can be conducted.

The link to "Loving God & Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to 'A Common Word Between Us & You'" can be found here. The official Website of "A Common Word Between Us & You" from The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Jordan can be found over here. Both of these links are now also listed in my sidebar in the Outward section. We are living in interesting times that are pregnant with very significant movements in our world. Behind the mayhem and ugly stuff God is doing something. Will you take notice? Won't you join me in prayer for this opportunity? Let's pray that at all levels God could use this for his Kingdom.

By the way, this is Friday so enjoy this edition of Friday Fotos!