Worldly Holiness

“According to Jesus, there is no authentic Christianity, discipleship or Christian ethics apart from doing the deeds he taught his followers to do….” – Glen Stassen

“Life naturally provides those moments and occasions of unintentional contemplation, times when the foundations of life seem swept away and we are left with the need to see life from a different perspective. – Parker Palmer

Recently I had the chance to help with a project building a home in North Africa in a region that was struck by an earthquake a few years ago. Many in the host community lost their lives and the survivors are struggling to put the pieces back together as they put a new roof over their heads, hopefully a home that will better withstand a future quake. I volunteered with a non-profit that is rebuilding communities, house by house, making an impact on lives and families and helping the local economy by employing local tradesman for various aspects of the building projects.

It was our job to dig ditches for the foundation of a new home. Not a large home but one that makes sense for the region and fits the lifestyle of a small family. As we worked harder than I’ve worked for a long time, family members dug alongside us investing sweat equity and pride in the building of their own home. They also provided food and wonderful, sweet mint tea during breaks. The weather was intense for a guy from the Northwest and the topography did not easily yield to our intentions to dig ditches. But we made headway. A particular feature that slowed our work were the veins of rock that decided to hide themselves under the veneer of normal dirt where we drew our lines for a hole or trench. The rocks probably saw us coming and wagered on which of these white guys could break them down. Ha.

I pounded on one such rock for the better part of 30 minutes one morning. After me, another guy on our team spent yet more time on the same stone. Thought I had loosened it for him. Apparently not. One of the local workers finally came to our rescue. He got into the same hole we were in for 45+ minutes with a pick. He taped in several places, found a weak spot, pried with the point of the pick, tapped a bit more. In less than 10 minutes he dislodged a huge rock to our shame and chagrin. But were we glad. We also knew who knew what they were doing right then.

I don’t want to over spiritualize this little story but the parallels are striking. Sometimes in my inner life I try to remove the rocks myself, with brute force of will or determination. These are good qualities for some tasks in my life but generally not the inner life. The best way to become conformed to the image of God is to yield, to trust the Holy Spirit to apply his gentle hand at the inner surgery that is sometimes needed in my heart. That is not a passive, static posture. I still need to get in the ditch to uncover the rocks and use the tools given by God. But ultimately it is a work of the Holy Spirit.

The guy who unearthed the rock at our project site has a nickname. They call him “rock whisper.” I kind of like that idea when I think of the work of the Holy Spirit in my life.

“The things that come out of a man are they that defile him, and to get out of them a man must go into himself, be a convict, and scrub the floor of his cell.” – George MacDonald

Henry & Andy, originally uploaded by papalars.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Life Together, is famous for the following quote: “he who cannot be alone should fear community and he who is not in community should fear being alone.” I'd like to reflect on this quote, along with my recent experience in the Journey to Mosaics . I also want to integrate some insights I had during a week long silent retreat I did with a Jesuit priest by the name of Juan Valdez in Mexico over 10 years ago. Lastly, I want to draw out some implications for our current ministry with our focus friends. I trust all this reflection will yield some wisdom for your experience in our increasingly multi-ethnic world. Too much to bring together in one post? Perhaps. Maybe this will be a theme for a week or so.

The experience of being silent for a week was intense. Add the layer of being silent in community only increased the intensity for me. Though I don't always need to talk, I'm known for being able to chat with just about anyone. I'm relationally curious and like to get to know other people. I'm probably like most other people and like to be known as well. In Mexico, many conversations were framed around this type of interchange mostly because it was obvious that we were not from there. We were white people in a context where the majority were brown skinned. We spoke English as our first language and no matter how fluent our Spanish became, folks could tell we were not native. Lastly we were Evangelicals in a land where Catholic identity was almost synonymous with Mexican birthright. At the retreat, I knew all these pieces where in the minds of my fellow retreatants in the silent community. I wanted to explain myself to others, eliminate caricatures they might have of me and be known. And I wanted to get to know them. But we had to be silent.

I found over the week that a bond formed in our community that was profound. The big learning for me–it was not based on externals or the ability to chat. Recently I ventured the hypothesis that if we had all come together in a room outside of the retreat experience we probably would have ended up in different corners. This is mostly what happens in society at large. We live in a world where race, economics, religion and birthright determine where we stand in a room in relation to other people and the things that define us. Unless of course we dig deeper and find a spiritual ground of being. Colossians 1:17 comes to mind, "And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." I have usually applied this to the cosmos but doesn't it refer to human beings as well. All is the operative word.

At the retreat in Mexico as with Henry, my journey partner a few weeks ago, we can connect "in Christ" at a deep level that supersedes our external, hyphenated identities. Being one in Christ is not contrived or forced. It comes as we are first reconciled to Christ which then becomes the ground for reconciliation with others in the other corner of the room or other side of the globe. It is what the world desperately needs today.

At our silent retreat in Mexico, our priest invited us to one last meal at the end where we could finally talk with each other. The joy and sense of community, the bond of intimacy we shared was something I will never forget. It is like we were long lost buddies who had just found each other after years of searching. Luke anticipates this Kingdom vision in his Gospel, "People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.: Luke 13:29.

Swirling, originally uploaded by papalars.

Last weekend I was on the "Journey to Mosaics" trip with the North Pacific Conference of the Covenant Church. This learning experience is different than the "Mosaics Project" which I am working directly with under the department of World Mission. I plan to post later today some deeper reflections about that experience but I wanted to start off, since this is Friday, with my chosen foto for Friday.

I took this picture at the Broetje Orchards that we visited during our J2M trip last weekend. This is truly an amazing place with a far reaching ministry to the immigrants among us as well as ministries around the world. The founding couple, Ralph and Cheryl Broetje, started with a small cherry orchard in the 70's that froze two weeks after they signed papers for the purchase. Their vision persisted and has blossomed into a present day reality that is really unmatched in size and reach for the Kingdom of God.

Their orchard holdings are now around 40,000 acres, one of the largest privately owned apple orchards in the world, located in southwestern Washington, near Prescott. The value is assessed at roughly $40 million. Almost 700 employees work year-round, with the number doubling during peak harvest time. The orchard produces an average of 18,000 boxes of apples a day, packed and shipped from their own warehouses.

This is all amazing but the more important piece is how they do business in this little, desolate corner of the state and what they do with the profits. They personally underwrite many ministries around the world. All of their profits from the cherry orchards are donated, 100%. On site they provide low cost housing for employees, many who have come from Mexico and other countries where they cannot find work. They have started a Jubilee Youth Ranch for "at risk" boys between the ages of 13 to 19 years old. In 1990, they established the Vista Hermosa foundation and with it a K-6 school that aims to "serve, encourage and educate children and the under-served in their spiritual, community and health development."

There is more but I will leave you a link to check out more extensively what they are doing. Their humble but significant vision is "to be a quality fruit company committed to bearing fruit that will last." John 15:16.

Trust, originally uploaded by papalars.

I was just sharing with someone today by email how God has been so amazingly faithful, again, in our transitions. He always has been faithful but sometimes we notice it more when we are about to make a big move. I know folks are praying for us as well.

The Psalmist declares God's faithfulness over and over and over again. That is kind of the habit of those who truly have entrusted their whole lives unto God’s care. Sometimes, however, I think the common run-of-the-mill Christian [like me] wonders if we should do the same, the "thanking God for his faithfulness" thingy. I know I just don’t do it as a regular thing. Perhaps I get tired of the falseness that can sometimes creep in to eager and well meaning God talkers, who praise God for stuff that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with God’s role in our lives. However, the other problem is that I think the case could be made that many times we have taken care of business fairly well on our own strength and therefore have no need to praise God for something.

Saying grace before a meal is a case in point. How many times is this just a perfunctory thing we do because that is what Christians normally do? It has been awhile since I had to really worry about having enough to eat. Actually more honestly, I don't think I have every really had to worry. I don't want to turn this post into an occasion to feel guilty about something that just is not our reality. Maybe the point is that I realize more keenly in our moves and transitions that God is with us. Perhaps that is because these are the times when I acknowledge more acutely that we truly need him. Like we need a place to live within 3 weeks and why should our gracious in-laws always have to bear the brunt of our call to serve the Lord? Not to worry.

We have been able to take care of almost all of our big ticket items on this side of the pond and have a place nearly in the bag for us to move into close to Erick´s high school in Bellevue. Today, the owner of our apartment here in Barcelona showed our place to two interested parties. It is expected that one of those will sign a contract in a week, thereby guaranteeing we won’t have to pay rent for another 2+ months through the termination of our lease in October. We also were able to take care of some furniture today! Wow, these are not small things! God is faithful, so very faithful. This is not to say that the journey is always smooth, but that in one way or another, God reminds us that he is with us, goes before us, prepares things for us to step into and allows us to grow in the process. We need to do our homework, but it is not ALL up to us.

The picture above shows the hands of one of my Pakistani friends and his baby boy that I took today when I visited them. It was a precious reminder of the trust I feel in the Lord. The story of what God is doing among this group can be found in my May Prayer & Praise list. Click the following link for a brief report: The first Urdu speaking service in Barcelona.

By the way, you can pray this week for some continuing growth in some key relationships with my Arabic teacher and Pakistani network. We will be joining together this Saturday for a special fellowship and meal with another 70 immigrants from all around the world. That will be fun. Today, one of them told me they always feel the peace of God when I am with them. That is of God, let me tell you. It was also an encouragement. Continue to pray for our transition…and include our children in your prayers. Kjel just went to Mexico to serve with work teams with Covenant Merge ministries. Nicki is working in the Midwest and considering plans for the fall. She still has some health challenges. Erick has a friend visiting us from Seattle and will soon pack his bags for our trip home. Thanks for joining us in the journey.

Psalm 36:5
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.