February 2018 – Unravelling Space

February 23, 2018February 23, 2018

Unravelling Cynicism: Living in the Already/Not Yet with Prophetic Vision

There is this Robert Munsch story called The Boy in the Drawer that was a part of my Canadian childhood. It is about this miniature boy that pesters and reeks havoc in the life of a little girl. Every time she gets mad at him and tells him to go away he grows a little. Finally at the end of the book (spoiler alert) the little girl and her mom and dad realize that when they show love to the boy he shrinks – so they shower him with affection until he completely disappears.

I have a cynic in me that acts a lot like that little boy. It grows and growls loud and obnoxious or it shrinks and become powerless, depending on my perspective.

Brokenness has been on prominent display in the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida: the brokenness of individuals, systems, governments and societies. When it comes to the debate about gun control in the US, I just don’t get it. As a Canadian I don’t get it. As a Christian I don’t get it. It completely boggles my mind. And as I watch people fighting and posturing and rail-roading efforts toward justice with their own self-interest the cynic in me grows and grows and grows. I am extremely pessimistic when it comes to our human systems. I know some people feel called to fight within politics, but I just can’t be one of those people; although I have convictions that affect the way I view politics, I feel an overwhelming hopelessness and cynicism on the political front.

But the cynic in me shrinks and the hope in me increases when I take my eyes off of the man-made systems and catch a vision of the Kingdom of God. It’s like Elisha’s servant who is filled with despair as he looks out at the vast army surrounding them; it looks impossible until Elisha prays for his servants eyes to be opened and he is then able to see God’s invisible army all around (2 Kings 6:15-17).

We see this duality in the life of the prophets of the Bible all the time. They deeply mourned and even despaired of the brokenness they saw around them. They communicated messages of gloom and destruction. There is an aspect in which knowing God’s good heart shines a big bright spotlight on all that is wrong and broken. But always, at some point, God gave the prophets a vision of what restoration looked like. He always offered hope like an olive branch. Which is why in the midst of some of the most depressing books of prophecy in the Old Testament we have some of the most compelling pictures of hope lived out and seeping into all aspects of life.

On the other side of the Old Testament prophets Jesus breaks into human suffering and suffers the brokenness right along with us, all the while pointing us to the Kingdom of God, declaring the “year of the Lord’s favour”, jubilee, restoration. Jesus said the Kingdom of God was near and He said the Kingdom of God was here. Jesus died and rose again and He sits on the throne – everything is under his feet. He invites us to live in the upside-down reality of His reign. Where love motivates rather then fear. Where serving and sacrificing is the way to impact rather than position and posturing. Where giving up ones life is the way to actually find it. Where the poor, hungry, humble, weak, grief-stricken, peace-makers and persecuted are actually the blessed ones. No matter the earthly kingdom we find ourselves in, this is the beautiful reality that Jesus calls us to live out of.

We live in this tension – the already/not yet of the Kingdom of God. We mourn the brokenness and pray fervently for His will to be done on earth as at is in heaven. And we let the vision that Jesus gives of a world permeated with the power of the gospel motivate us toward the realization of it as we cling to the promise that he will be with us always and move in the power of the Spirit, operating in God’s economy.

I love the images of jubilee and shalom in the OT, and Zechariah’s vision of the old people hanging out while the kids frolic and play. I love the vision that Jesus cast as he preached on the side of the mountain and as he prayed on his last night before his death. I love how Paul called time and again for the Church to live out unity in all of their diversity. I love how John painted a picture of every tribe and tongue and nation worshipping around the throne of Jesus. I love that in the early church people sold everything and no one had need, that the Ephesians adopted abandoned babies, and that the gospel defied all the social cast systems of that day.

And I am inspired by the vision of the Kingdom that I see as individuals, in the power of the Spirit, live it out despite the governing laws and politics around them. I have friends who are punching human slavery in the gut as they slay the power of porn addiction in their lives or bring flowers and dignity and all their care to prostitutes in red light districts in SE Asia. I know people who put not just their money but all their resources where their mouths are, valuing human life enough to care for mothers in crisis rather than shaming them, and to foster and adopt so that there are other options. I’ve seen those who are moving in to rough neighbourhoods rather than moving out of them; people who have committed to teach in the rough schools in rough neighbourhoods with rough kids; people who have sponsored refugees. I have friends who work in microfinance projects and skills training so that people can leave the poverty cycle. I have heard story after story of radical love and communities transformed – and it is almost always from the bottom up.

I look to government and broken human systems and the cynic grows, paralyzing me with fear; I look to Jesus, to His vision, to His gospel affecting every sphere of life, to his Kingdom reality lived out at a grassroots level in the lives of Spirit-filled individuals all over the globe and I have all the hope in the world!

Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus and cling to hope and follow as He calls us to live out of His kingdom reality.

February 10, 2018February 10, 2018

Unravelling My Story: My Sheep Hear My Voice

I moved to the other side of the world when I was 19. I spent almost a year in this place I came to love and it marked me in some beautiful and some terrible ways. Some of my deepest wounds and greatest growth found their way into my life in that year. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about one of the beautiful ways.

Like any young person I was on the cusp of major life decisions and struggling with direction. One day I was reading John 10 and when I read that the sheep know the Good Shepherd’s voice and follow Him, I began to panic a little. Did I know the Shepherd’s voice? I couldn’t confidently say that I did. I had desires and dreams but how could I be sure that they were from God? The heart is “deceitful above all things” after all (Jeremiah 17:9) and perhaps it was tricking me into believing that God was leading me in a certain direction when He wasn’t. I was in anguish.

I can think of many situations before that point in which God had spoken clearly through His Word or promptings in my heart, but in that moment, with the finger of the Accuser pointed right at me I suddenly wasn’t so sure that I recognized God’s voice. God did two beautiful things to silence the Accuser.

First, within a few days I was reading in Philippians 2 and verses 12 and 13 leaped off the page at me: “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” I may not have been able to trust all that was in my heart, but I could trust in the One that was working in me, not only to act as He desired, but to will in accordance with His good pleasure. He was working in me so that I could want what He wanted.

The second thing came a little while later. There was this wonderful lady I knew who was dying of AIDS. She was always the first to praise God and share about His goodness in her life in spite of the fact that she was unwell and approaching skeleton skinniness. It seemed like such a waste that she was going to die and that we would be deprived of her example of trust and gratitude and service and all the beautiful things she embodied. So I began to pray. I wouldn’t say it was fervent, but as it came to mind I would ask God to heal her. I’m not sure how long I prayed but one day, one normal, unsuspecting day, she came back with results from the blood work that was required on a regular basis and incredible news began to filter through the community: she was no longer HIV+! God had done it! As I rejoiced in answered prayer and reflected on what had happened I felt the Spirit encouraging me. I don’t have the gift of healing, but I had heard God’s heart for this woman and when I prayed His heart back to Him, He was happy to give me the desire of mine. Proof: I heard the Shepherd’s voice.

I’ve been thinking on these experiences a lot as I walk alongside a friend who is learning to recognize the voice of her Shepherd and as I reflect on prayer. God planted something in me way back then and it is growing into an ever deepening desire to hear His heart, to be formed by His heart, to pray victorious warrior prayers because they align with His heart, and to see others realizing that they can hear their Shepherd’s voice too.

___

What has been your experience with hearing the Shepherd’s voice?

February 3, 2018February 3, 2018

Unravelling Identity: Created in the Image of God

Have you ever stopped to wonder why the good news is really good news? I often do – because when I think of the North American Christian experience, it is often a lot more like the proverbial church coffee compared to the richest most delicious dark roast that exists on earth that were the experiences of the early followers of Jesus. It’s like mowing down on funeral sandwiches when there is a feast spread with the most tantalizing dishes created by human tradition and imagination.

Anyone with me?

I grew up in the church. When I was 4 we were doing a family devotional that talked about being ready so that when Jesus returned we would be able to be with Him and enjoy the wonderful eternity that he has prepared for us. I decided to ask for forgiveness for my sins and ask Jesus into my heart because I loved Him and wanted to follow Him, but also because I didn’t want to miss out (hmm…just had a little aha moment there…might have to explore that in a future blog). So I accepted Jesus as my Saviour at the age of 4. I was baptized at the age of 7. I didn’t have a rebellious youth. I don’t have a dramatic rescue story or jaw-dropping before and after photos. It was hard to really capture what was so amazing about the Good News. My christian experience for most of my life had been trying really hard to avoid bad things and to do good things to please my Heavenly Father. Not exactly compellingly good news either. I was way too old before I started to understand how the good news affects my current reality and not just my eternal destination, when I began to understand grace and intimacy with God, when I began to clue into the fact that the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead, that resurrection power is at work in ME! (Romans 8:11)

So this is a question that I often still ask myself…what really is so good about the good news and am I living in that reality? Several years back Dan and I had privilege of attending a one day workshop put on by Jeff Vanderstelt. He taught us this really helpful rubric for thinking through the ramifications of the gospel and also analyzing where we are living out of false beliefs.

Who God is — What He does — Who we are in light of that — What we do.

God demonstrates who He is to us by what He does. What He does for us ultimately informs our identity (who we are) and then we are able to live out of that identity. So our doing comes out of our being which is defined by God and His work on our behalf. Our behaviour can be a reflection of gospel identity or it can highlight some wrong belief about who we are or who God is. I have thought of this often since I first heard it.

The other day I was reflecting on creation and identity and marvelling again at the gospel, the truly good news. I was thinking through some of the ways that God created us in His image and how that impacts our identity and how we live out that identity. I was thinking about the Fall and all that Satan set out to destroy in the garden. A light went on for me that illuminated so many facets of the gospel! When Satan deceived Adam and Eve he wasn’t just trying to trick them into eternal suffering; He was attacking his greatest enemy, God, by attempting to destroy His very image in us! And what Jesus accomplished on the cross what not just about ensuring our eternity with him, it was about restoring His very image in us!

As I was thinking about this a new rubric formed in my mind. It goes like this:

Who God is — How He created us in His image — How Satan sought to destroy that — What Jesus’ saving work through His death and resurrection does to restore what was broken — Who we are because of that — how we live out of this restored identity.

Here are some examples:

God is triune (communal) — He made us for community — Satan and sin brought shame which broke community between humans and God and one another — Jesus restores honor — We are adopted sons and daughters, coheirs with Christ — We live in community with God and others in the new family of Jesus.

God is present and close and speaks — He made us to enjoy His presence and hear His voice — Satan and sin broke our communion — Jesus’ death tore the veil — We are a temple of the Holy Spirit – He actually makes his dwelling in us (!!!!) — We manifest God’s presence to a world starved of communion with Him.

God is holy and good — He made us perfect and good — Satan and sin brought guilt and marred perfection — Jesus justifies us and makes us righteous again before God — We are redeemed — We reflect again God’s beauty in a broken world.

God is powerful/in control — He gave us authority — Satan usurped our authority, making us fearful slaves — Jesus rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of the Son He loves — We are free, citizens of the Kingdom, ambassadors sent out with His authority — We rule again through Jesus’ authority.

God is love — He made us to be recipients of His love — Satan and sin introduced doubt and fear — Jesus demonstrates His love for us through His death on our behalf, while we were still his enemies — We are deemed worthy — We are free to receive and give love.

God is our gracious provider — He made and gave us everything that we needed — Satan introduced doubt about God’s good and gracious provision — God’s grace and provision is extended to us anew through Christ’s work on our behalf — We lack no good thing — We are blessed to be a blessing.

God is creative/life/life-giving — He breathed His life into us – Satan and sin brought death — Jesus died and rose to break the curse of death and breathe new life into us again — We are new creations, we are filled with the Spirit — We bear good fruit, we speak life, we create and celebrate beauty.

Now that, my friends, sounds like really good news.