On the day marked as the day of love, how does such hate occur?
As most of you have already read, heard, or seen yesterday marked yet another tragedy on a college campus, however this one in our back yard. As I watched the news reports yesterday I was filled with intense anger and sadness. Anger that people around each college campus will now attend their classes in fear, angry that 6 sets of parents had to bury their children, angry to see innocent victims victimized, angry because I don’t know what to do, sad because someone was this lonely to do something like this, and sad because this was not and is not God’s intent for humanity.
Questions have been filling my mind today, questions of how do we explain this? How does a sovereign God allow this to happen? If Satan is defeated then why does he seem so victorious at times? Questioning our part in this, what does the Church do? Wondering what the root problem is that continues to cause these school shootings? Wondering what it looks like to bring justice to this, or is this even up to me?
I’m not sure I have many answers, but questions I do have. How about you?
One thing I would like to speak to is how does God feel about shotguns in classrooms, how does this incident that happened yesterday impact him? I’m amazed when I hear people put things like this on God, or they say “this was what God wanted”, lets be clear God did not intend for this to happen. God did not take joy in seeing more of his beloved murdered. God did not take joy in witnessing such injustice, his heart breaks for this, his heart aches to see this, tears spill from heaven when these things occur.
As we journeyed through our Skurriculums last week we discussed a very fitting topic within our month focus of Re-Entry, that being Suffering.
It’s true that suffering is a natural result of living in a fallen world, and yet God can redeem it so that it becomes a vehicle to greater intimacy with Him.
This truth is what I’m clinging to right now, holding on to the truth that God does not delight in this, for he is perfect love. And as I hold on to this I pray toward the truth that he can use this suffering to bring about good, to bring about redemption.
I’d love to open this up to hear from you, how are you doing? What are your questions?
Lets chat and express our pain, our fear, and our hurt's within community.
Jon
Friday, February 15, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Don’t read alone!
As we continue to journey through the 5th thread of the Movement this month, I challenged our Community at the Axis Experience this past Friday to saturate our minds with God’s Word, in particular Chapter one of the gospel of John. The reality is that we continue to live and move with many misconceptions of who Jesus was and is, and typically our best combatant is to fix our eyes and time on really digging through the gospels.
This past year I had the amazing privilege to travel to Cape Town, South Africa on a mission’s trip and while I was there we finished up our trip on what is known as Table Mountain. Now if you can picture the continent of Africa, then picture the very most southern tip, and that’s where this mountain lies, there where the Atlantic and Indian oceans collide. Myself along with the rest of the team crammed into the cable car as we left base camp on our trek to the top of Table Mountain and none of us were prepared for what our eyes were about to see. As we reached the Summit, we climbed out and began our hike around this mountain and gave explicit instructions to our students to meet back at the rendezvous spot at sunset. So each person went off on their own journey taking in on what is one of the most beautiful places in the entire continent of Africa. With the buds of my Ipod in place I began to hike myself and found an awesome rock off the beaten path we’re I could journal and overlook the entire city of Cape Town. I sat there in amazement of the view, and of the burden I felt for this city to know Jesus and experience his healing Grace. To my left I could see the prison off in the bay where one of my hero’s Nelson Mandela spent some twenty years in confinement and as I looked images of the Apartheid and all its injustice filled my heart and mind. After a few hours the sun began to set and as a result the skies exploded with a combination of orange and pink. I rocked out to “how great is our God” and had the privilege to see a side of our Creator that I’ve never seen before; all in all it was an experience that I will never forget.
After the sun set we all gathered and headed down to the base of Table Mountain and from there went out to dinner to unpack our experience over a meal. As we discussed what we saw I was blown away, not because of what we all saw but how each person seem to see something a bit different. It was if we all had different interpretive lenses that caused us to all digest the beauty of Table Mountain and God’s creation a bit different. It wasn’t that we disagreed; it was as if their experiences helped me see parts of the beauty of Table Mountain that somehow remained undisclosed. My Journey was only enhanced and deepened.
So what does this story have to do with “not reading alone”, well everything. The term of epistemology is one that I can barely pronounce but one that I believe is really important when it comes to studying or interpreting scripture, in particular gleaning from the Bible an accurate view of Jesus. This term is how you and I know things and one can make a strong argument from the arena a of epistemology that people, you and I interpret new data when unchecked, through a grid or lens of what we already know. What!
Seriously, when you and I read God’s word often times we see it through the lens of our stories, experience, brokenness and even geographical placement. For example someone that is from a broken home who lives in an urban setting may interpret the parable of the prodigal son entirely different then someone who is from a healthy home, however is wrestling with the let down of a Pastor they once believed in who lives out in the burbs. I’m currently making my way through a book called “theology as big as the city” a very interesting read on how theology is viewed by those who live and minister in an urban context. (shameless plug)
This reality is not bad thing at all, actually it’s really powerful when we study and read not alone, but within community! My biggest breakthroughs within seeing more of Jesus and learning have typically come when studying the scriptures in community, it’s as if I see parts of the beautiful story and landscape of God Word in ways that I never knew existed.
How about you? What have your experiences been? Are you willing to intentionally study scripture within community? Are you willing to dive into and LTG and explore with others to see in new ways?
Finally I want you to continue inviting the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read and pray. We need to realize our dependence on God to reveal Truth to us as we open the pages of scripture. One of my biggest prayers is that this year God opens the eyes of our Community to see the beauty of His Word in ways that we never thought were possible, will you pray with me?
Have a great week!
Jon
This past year I had the amazing privilege to travel to Cape Town, South Africa on a mission’s trip and while I was there we finished up our trip on what is known as Table Mountain. Now if you can picture the continent of Africa, then picture the very most southern tip, and that’s where this mountain lies, there where the Atlantic and Indian oceans collide. Myself along with the rest of the team crammed into the cable car as we left base camp on our trek to the top of Table Mountain and none of us were prepared for what our eyes were about to see. As we reached the Summit, we climbed out and began our hike around this mountain and gave explicit instructions to our students to meet back at the rendezvous spot at sunset. So each person went off on their own journey taking in on what is one of the most beautiful places in the entire continent of Africa. With the buds of my Ipod in place I began to hike myself and found an awesome rock off the beaten path we’re I could journal and overlook the entire city of Cape Town. I sat there in amazement of the view, and of the burden I felt for this city to know Jesus and experience his healing Grace. To my left I could see the prison off in the bay where one of my hero’s Nelson Mandela spent some twenty years in confinement and as I looked images of the Apartheid and all its injustice filled my heart and mind. After a few hours the sun began to set and as a result the skies exploded with a combination of orange and pink. I rocked out to “how great is our God” and had the privilege to see a side of our Creator that I’ve never seen before; all in all it was an experience that I will never forget.
After the sun set we all gathered and headed down to the base of Table Mountain and from there went out to dinner to unpack our experience over a meal. As we discussed what we saw I was blown away, not because of what we all saw but how each person seem to see something a bit different. It was if we all had different interpretive lenses that caused us to all digest the beauty of Table Mountain and God’s creation a bit different. It wasn’t that we disagreed; it was as if their experiences helped me see parts of the beauty of Table Mountain that somehow remained undisclosed. My Journey was only enhanced and deepened.
So what does this story have to do with “not reading alone”, well everything. The term of epistemology is one that I can barely pronounce but one that I believe is really important when it comes to studying or interpreting scripture, in particular gleaning from the Bible an accurate view of Jesus. This term is how you and I know things and one can make a strong argument from the arena a of epistemology that people, you and I interpret new data when unchecked, through a grid or lens of what we already know. What!
Seriously, when you and I read God’s word often times we see it through the lens of our stories, experience, brokenness and even geographical placement. For example someone that is from a broken home who lives in an urban setting may interpret the parable of the prodigal son entirely different then someone who is from a healthy home, however is wrestling with the let down of a Pastor they once believed in who lives out in the burbs. I’m currently making my way through a book called “theology as big as the city” a very interesting read on how theology is viewed by those who live and minister in an urban context. (shameless plug)
This reality is not bad thing at all, actually it’s really powerful when we study and read not alone, but within community! My biggest breakthroughs within seeing more of Jesus and learning have typically come when studying the scriptures in community, it’s as if I see parts of the beautiful story and landscape of God Word in ways that I never knew existed.
How about you? What have your experiences been? Are you willing to intentionally study scripture within community? Are you willing to dive into and LTG and explore with others to see in new ways?
Finally I want you to continue inviting the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read and pray. We need to realize our dependence on God to reveal Truth to us as we open the pages of scripture. One of my biggest prayers is that this year God opens the eyes of our Community to see the beauty of His Word in ways that we never thought were possible, will you pray with me?
Have a great week!
Jon
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