Read the Red Print First

Mission from Exile

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:17:00 +0000

""Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare." (Jeremiah 29:1-23, emphasis here on verse 7)

... this is a radical assertion of the Gospel, radically unlike all of the religious conceptions of man. Because it is obviously a passage about mission as well -- the Israelites were "sent" (missio) into exile (and those who remained in Jerusalem are here cursed). They are commanded to strive in life, in prayer, for the welfare of those in the place of exile, a place as evil as Egypt, and the opposite of Jerusalem, the city of God, from which they are outcasts. A place they might have thought impossible for worship or prophecy, for the singing of the Lord's songs, or the playing of harps. But their iniquity and banishment, not their piety and faithfulness, become the very occasion of, the condition for, their mission in the world.

We have realized that to be a Christian is to be, like Jesus, in exile and humiliation, bearing the judgment upon sin. Not simply in times of testing or duress, but for as long as we are here as strangers in this foreign land. This passage goes on to speak of the re-gathering and home-coming, but only "when seventy years have been completed" (v. 10). (...)

What a hope that when God is against me, when He has sent me into exile, He is also preparing a mission, a calling for me. Our believing brothers and sisters in Romania who suffered prison and torture under communism say that on the one hand, this was God's judgment against them, which they accepted as such. But it was also God sending them into the mission field of the prison, "the parish" of those who were clergy. "The Communist torturers will not come to the church -- how else will they hear the Gospel unless we are sent to be the tortured?" they asked.

And why does God send His own people to seek the good of a place of godlessness? For the sake of that city and its inhabitants? Certainly. But also, because "in its welfare you will have welfare." God makes inseparable the welfare of His believing people with the welfare of the pagans, and appeals to the self-interest of His own people: the interests of both are not united in an altruistic and sentimental way, but matter-of-factly and quite literally. Maybe we think it is more holy (or simply, nicer) to love the non-believers in our lives for their sake, out of some generosity for their good. But God says, no, love them for your own good. Let their benefit be your benefit. It is the essence of the second great commandment; it is clear from this passage that loving your neighbor as yourself is a missionary call.

"Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you as captives..." The Israelites are the over-powered and afflicted in this situation, the lowest people on the social rung of the city's population, with no power or status. We see again and again in the Bible that God loves to use the lowest and the weakest -- consider the slaves of Naaman in 2 Kings 5 who convince their master to seek and follow the counsel of the prophet Elijah. They have access to heavenly things that their earthly master does not, but they dare to seek their own welfare in that of their earthly master.

And what if seeking the welfare of the unbelieving city seems to conflict with previous calling from God? Seeking the welfare of the city will undoubtedly prove more difficult than we think, as with Peter, for whom seeking the welfare of the unbelieving Cornelius meant being commanded to eat unclean meats. We don’t know, still we cling to the promise that "in its welfare, you will have welfare."

[GEN, 2010]

Praying in Chains

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 09:53:00 +0000

"There were years and years when brothers from among the most precious stayed in underground prison cells. They were beaten. They were tortured. They prayed and dreamed that this moment would come when the Gospel would triumph and we would be able to gather freely and worship God. Not many survived. God had so arranged that I be among the oldest of my generation. So for me it is a great privilege to be with you today.

Many of you are our children. Because, in prison, in between two sessions of torture, brothers and sisters prayed for the Romanian churches. They prayed for the youth and Romanian children ... for many of you. We prayed when we were in chains. We prayed that you would be faithful and worship God. You came to the faith through your parents, faithful pastors, but maybe even the prayers of those imprisoned contributed so that you today would be children of God. Therefore, do not be offended if I call you my dear, dear children. May God bless all of you."

[RW, speaking in a trailer for Prisoners of the Light]

Food appropriate for us

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:06:00 +0000

Moses glorifies the everlasting Lord as He Who sets a table for His people in the wilderness. The bread of the wilderness was the manna. The word manna is actually a question: What is this? When we are sorely tried, this is our first question: What is this? Clearly, the secret that is hidden from us will become bread for us. Moreover, this bread will keep us alive in a biological sense as well. So our task is not to answer the question, or to insist upon an answer, but to accept the test. The one who accepts trials from God's hand, even if they do not seem to come from Him, that man will eat even the putrid insides of an animal with thanksgiving. God feeds us with food appropriate for us (Proverbs 30: 8), but he also decides what is appropriate for us. If it were not so, those who suffer dreadfully for Him would quickly collapse.

A very peculiar transubstantiation of the food can be observed in the ways of God. There is honey in the rock and there is oil in the flinty crag (Deuteronomy 32:13). God doesn't give honey from the hive or oil from the olive. One of God's lesser known names is the God of breasts. This suggests that we should give ourselves to Him like helpless children and even in the hardest situations, we will become beautiful, like the young Jews in captivity who refused to eat any Babylonian food.

[FV, 1995]

Wonderful is coming

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 08:55:00 +0000

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace".
(Isaiah 9:6)

"His Name will be called Wonderful [One], Counselor..." Many translations like the one above render this as just one name, "Wonderful Counselor". But the "Wonderful" is a noun in the Hebrew -- which means not an embellishment to "Counselor", but a separate, parallel, equal, and prior name. Wonderful. It's a word we have overused so that nowadays it has come to mean something like "really, really good", or "fantastic". Applied to all sorts of mundane things: "Dinner was wonderful." But wonder-ful's real, original meaning corresponds to the original Hebrew word, something that causes us to wonder, to marvel, to be astonished and amazed. That is from beyond our natural comprehension, beyond our reason, our paradigms. Like the continuing miracles of Jesus which left the people "amazed" throughout the Gospels. This child who is coming to us will be named Wonderful. Shocking. Mind-blowing. Mind-breaking. Who is coming? Wonderful. Wonderful is coming.

But His name is next Counselor, One who advocates for us and advises us, who guides and directs us. How can one whose very name is Wonderful/Mind-blowing/Astonishing guide us or speak to us or even be "understood", known by us? By us who are trapped in this earth and its thinking, very deeply of this earth?

There is a clue for us here: this series of appellations begins with "a child". He is first a child for us. And finally -- a Father! How could it be more baldly Trinitarian? He gives Himself to us first as a child.

Not just God descending to Earth, which is crazy enough; but literally growing up from the earth, a shoot, a "fruit-bearing branch" from the "stem of Jesse" -- yes, stem and even "roots"! (Isaiah 11:1) Rooted in our ground, in our poisoned soil of our broken world. Instead of the Most High just humbling Himself in coming as low as possible, He be-comes for us, begins for us low and grows High among us, with us, for us. For us who are hopelessly trapped, who cannot grow because we cannot even see or admit or know without Him that we are so low. He is not just far higher than we can think, but lower than we can be. Lower than my sin, than my sinning world.

Let us wonder this Christmas.

[LH, 2007]

Action from Stillness

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:33:00 +0000

"Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.' But the Lord answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away from her.'" (Luke 10:38-42)

When one of the families in the little village of Bethany received Jesus and his disciples into their home, it became clear that there is a great difference between the "many things" (Luke 10:41) and the "one thing necessary" (v. 42). Martha, one of the women of the house, so completely occupied herself with so many duties (in the original text, diakonia, literally, charitable works or mission) that she couldn't sustain it and finally broke down in despairing complaint to Jesus.

But Mary, the sister of Martha, became still in the midst of performing tasks of hospitality so that she could concentrate on Jesus and sit as a disciple at the Master's feet.

All of us are usually looking up to and emulating constantly busy, dynamically active people. But Jesus sees and evaluates this condition in a different way. He plainly declares "Mary has chosen the better part." But how could choosing to withdraw into inactivity be the "better part", especially at a time when there were so many tasks to be done in their home? This is not about the exaltation of idleness, of fruitless contemplation, but rather about the question of why the busy man cannot stop. Why is concentrated stillness so foreign to him? Why is he always running? There is a need for diligent people in the duty of the "many things", well and good, until it is at the expense of the "one thing necessary". We burn ourselves up and out when Jesus speaking to us is not the most important thing.

Faith comes from hearing the Word of God. And faith cannot live without works. Action flowing out of stillness doesn't spend us, doesn't make us dead tired and constantly complaining. The gift of the Spirit is this radical moderation.

[PV, 2008]

A noise that I call joyful

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 09:08:00 +0000

Mysterious Ruler,

Today it seems quite pointless for me to speak to you.

Humiliation destroys a soul far more easily than torture. This morning the examining officer (...) ordered me to kneel. His warm urine ran down my face. How stupid one can be. The verse which came into my mind at that moment was the one about "the precious oil upon the head, running down the beard" (Psalm 133:2).

And now I am back in my cell. Should I pray? "Is any among you suffering? Let him pray" (James 5:13). But how can I pray to One who has foreordained all things, who has all power in heaven and in earth, and in whose world someone urinates on my head? (...) his urine on my head was too much. God, I have simply nothing to tell you about it, neither a reproach, nor by way of thanks. Nor do I wish to embarrass You by asking You the indiscreet question, "Why?" You would perhaps not know the answer.

So I circle around my cell, making a noise that I call joyful. Tra-la-la-la-tum-tum-te-tum-tra-la. Or am I in fact weeping? The Hebrew word nud means both "to bemoan" and "to skip for joy". You have asked us "to shout joyfully to the Lord" (Psalm 98:4). Well, here you have it. "Pom-pom-tara-pom-tara." When I am beyond understanding anything, I can enjoy the miracle of hearing my own voice.

(...) I have always marveled at the ritual of the Day of Atonement as described in Leviticus 16. The high priest had to cast lots upon two goats: one lot for the Lord and one for the scapegoat (v. 8). The scapegoat was destined for release in the wilderness. If the law had stipulated one hundred lots for the Lord and one for the scapegoat, nobody could have objected. But God is all for fair play. Only one lot for Him, the same as for the scapegoat, not a whit more. His Son was born in a stable, like many poor children. His Son feasted at the banquets of rich tax collectors, as many other men did. His Son died on a cross; so did the robbers. His Son rose from the dead, as millions will also rise. He will keep no privilege for Himself. He is in glory, and "when He is revealed, we shall be like Him" (1 John 3:2) -- we, His former enemies. We shall sit with him on His throne -- we, former murderers, liars, adulterers, slanderers, unbelievers. One lot for God; one lot for the scapegoat. There is an equality of chances with the Lord.

So this officer's chances of going to heaven are equal with mine. I cannot imagine how any conversation between us will be possible there. It will be too difficult for him to apologize; he will not be able to explain or justify his action. I shall not be able to speak any kind words. We shall simply take each other's hands and cry out ecstatically some loud, senseless noise.(...)

What this officer did to me was base. But God chooses the base things (1 Corinthians 1:28). I will think of him as my future companion in the heavenly choir which will make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Tra-la-la-la. I am calmer now. This also has passed.

Gam ze iavo. So many terrible events have passed in my life. Now this has passed, too. With Jesus the incarnation passed, the crucifixion passed. Everything passes. It is as though nothing has happened to me today. My beloved God, let us walk again in companionship with one another. Amen.

[RW, IPWCS, 2003]

Understanding and Obedience

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 11:08:00 +0000

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." John 14:15

The young Reformed pastor was arguing passionately with his senior colleague over a practical application of theology. On and on they wrangled until, finally, the wife of the older pastor broke in.

"You," she said, addressing their young friend firmly, "you are trying to understand with your head. Instead of with..."

With what? How would we expect the sentence to continue? With the heart? The emotion?

"Instead of with your obedience," she finished. "Understand with your obedience!"

We tend to think that we can't obey what we cannot understand. But Jesus never asks us for our understanding, only for our love and obedience. His "...sheep follow Him because they know His voice..." (John 10:4), not necessarily because they comprehend what He says. The disciples didn't, more often than not, yet gave their lives to Him.

[As told by LH, 2002]

Crumbs of Mercy

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 19:31:00 +0000

"But she said, 'Yes, Lord; but even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters.'" (Matthew 15: 27)

The woman says that people allow the dogs under the table, where the crumbs fall. It is a blessed thing that the more crumbs there are, the more dogs there are also! The greater the duty! However, the people of God are perishing more and more.

The crumb is mercy. But where is it? It is under the table. It is not high above us; it is not in great spiritual experiences. God's benevolence reveals itself in the meeting of humility and mercy.

In Psalm 22 Jesus, the only one who was not a dog, cries and laments thus: "Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has enclosed me." Everybody is a dog compared to holiness. But it matters whether I am a barking, snarling, cursing, scornful dog or whether I am one that slips under the table to get the crumbs. In the countries of the middle east, the tables are not as tall as in our country. Here, you can slip underneath one quite easily, but there the legs of the tables are much shorter. Slip underneath one like that, if you can! If I am a big dog, I will not be able to do it. But if I am a little dog, I will manage. If I cannot slip underneath that table, I will not be able to slip into heaven and under God's mercy either. Let us humble ourselves in order to receive the infinite mercy of God.

[FV, HFTR]

The Shining

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:31:00 +0000

"Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, "Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace." So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.'" (Numbers 6:22-27)

It’s important to listen carefully to God speaking to us in these verses, because our liturgy for Sunday worship closes with a benediction that is usually quoted from these verses. So this passage is so familiar to us that it is in danger of being as empty and sentimental as the text of a commercial greeting card. Yet in its historical context of God speaking to His chosen people, to the Church, it is not sentimental at all, but a shocking and urgent commandment of the Gospel...

The "face of God" is crucial in the last two of three pairs of states or conditions invoked in this so-called "Aaronic blessing". What can it mean, first of all, for Yahweh's face to shine upon the sons of Israel, upon the members of our church? It has a very nice soothing and poetic sound to it; but it becomes weighty and mysterious if you attend to its strangeness.

So I was thinking a lot about these words throughout the week, and as I was walking in the center of town saw hundreds or thousands of faces, most of them looking numb or sad. Certainly none of them could be described as "shining". But then something ordinary but illuminating happened: I saw two very good friends whom I had not seen for a good while, and their faces immediately beamed involuntarily with broad smiles when they recognized me in the stream of faces. And I realized that God's face shining must have something to do with love-filled pleasure at the face of another.

This impelled me to search for anything like this in the Scriptures. I searched the whole Bible, and I found just two instances of this happening; two instances, but one face, one face that calls forth the torrent of God's pleasure. Words prophesied by Isaiah, and quoted as fulfilled in Matthew 12, are spoken by God Himself at the Baptism of Jesus -- and in one other instance, at His Transfiguration: "This is my Son I love in whom I am very, very pleased."

So how can this part of Aaron's blessing be fulfilled for us, be concretely experienced by us? How can he look at a face as numb and sad as ours and shine on it with pleasure? The answer is plain -- only if He recognizes in us the face of His Son....

[PV, in a sermon of November 14, 2010]]

Neginoth

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:52:00 +0000

The essence of suffering has a mystery attached to it. Suffering for the gospel implies suffering together with the gospel. Suffering together with the gospel is to be in fellowship with the good news. Why is there so much suffering in the world? We don't know; but neither do we know what light is, what the atom is. But what we don't know now, we can know in the future.

Richard once asked a seven-year-old boy whether he knew what a logarithm was. The boy answered, "Yes, I do. A logarithm is something I will learn all about in high school."

The disciples did not understand the Christ in Jesus, but they believed in Him. This is why He said, "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me."

Accepting suffering is a question of trust.

The subtitle of the fourth psalm speaks of neginoth, meaning a stringed instrument; Richard believed it also meant the song of a person expressing the joy of being defeated.

[FV, 2010]

Seeking a Jonathan, being a Jonathan

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:16:00 +0000

"Jonathan ... loved David with his whole soul." (1 Samuel 20:17)

"You shall certainly not die," says Jonathan to his friend David, whose life has just been sought by Saul. Although he conquered Goliath, the Philistine giant who had cursed Israel`s God, David has to flee before the king of his own people. His options are limited and a feeling of defenselessness overcomes him. "And my heart has failed me," he cries. There seems to be no way out. The fact that he is God`s chosen has become a burden to him; it is an unbearable weight to be the holder of "the irrevocable calling" of God. (Romans 11:29) Jonathan, King Saul`s son, and consequently, the heir apparent to the throne, realizes that his persecuted friend is the chosen one of the Eternal and he helps David with his whole heart. Not only in spite of his father, but also in spite of himself and his own expected throne. For he loved David "with his whole soul."

The two friends argue. David can only see what is obvious. A net is closing in on him and there is no escaping the army of the king. Death is only a few steps away. Jonathan believes that to him who has been sent by God, many things may happen. He may be oppressed and persecuted and incriminated -- but he cannot perish. He foresees that "the Lord will cut off all the enemies of David from the face of the earth."(1 Samuel 20:15) Do we have a friend like this who is able to lift our eyes above the things we can see? Someone who believes that God will work out, in us and with us, all that He has begun? Do we have someone on whom we can count when in trouble?

Everyone can find someone who is good to him or her for a short while. But who can find a true friend who is able to show him or her God`s presence and providence in their life? If not, we have to state cynically and disconsolately with Jean-Paul Sartre that "we have no father, there is nobody up there: we are all orphans."

Jonathan swears that if he finds out that his father wants to have David killed, he will let his friend know so that David can stay away from the royal court. A faithful friend obstructs the passage of hatred and of "the father of lies" who "was a murderer from the beginning." (John 8:44).

It is not enough that I be a good friend to my friends. I must also take care not to deprive them of Christ, of the True Friend, "the brother born for adversity." (Proverbs 17:17)

[PV, 2003]

Something which is called nothing

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:33:00 +0000

My text is from second Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 11, "I have become a fool in glorying, ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing." That is what Paul has to say about himself. "I am nothing." The greatest men in mankind were those who knew they were nothing. ...

I wish to start tonight by telling you a prison experience. When the communists took over my homeland, Romania, they did what they did everywhere where they came to power, what they would do in this country, too, if it would ever fall under them, they put in prison thousands of Christians. ... We never saw sun, moon, snow, flowers, stars, mountains, rivers. I had forgotten that these things exist. We never had a Bible not any other book. We never had a bit of paper or a pen. I forgot [how] to write. ... In solitary confinement we saw nobody except the wardens and the torturers. We never heard a sound. The cells were soundproof. We never heard a whisper. We saw nothing. We heard nothing. Perfect silence reigned in those prison cells....

Years of prison passed. ... We were hungry after food. We were hungry after love. Nobody ever smiled to us. Nobody heard us. Nobody caressed us. Nobody told us a nice word, only words of hatred. We were so hungry after love. ... We were hungry after a printed page. We were hungry after the face of a man. And we were hungry for one thing more, a hunger which is unknown in your country. We were hungry for Holy Communion. The years had passed and we had had no Holy Communion.

Now what should we do? We were everyone alone in his cell so it could not be a fellowship of brethren. At that time, we did not have even this one slice of bread a week. We got instead some dirty maize cake. Wine? From where should you take wine in a subterranean communist prison cell? We had no Bible. We had no hymn book. We had nothing. We consulted with each other, everyone alone in his cell, by tapping through the wall in Morse code. ...and we asked each other how [sic] should we do? We are hungry after the body and the blood of our Lord as it is communicated in the Holy Communion. How should we take it? We have nothing.

And at once we had an illumination. Wait a little bit! We had. We had! Something which is called nothing! If nothing would be nothing, we could not have it. We had something which is called nothing. Now, what is the value of this nothing? We have nothing. They have taken away from us our families, our houses, our furniture, our libraries, our churches. Everything they've taken away from us. They've taken away from us our own clothing. They've taken away from us even our names. Every prisoner, if he was a more important one considered by them, was taken away his name and given a number. And he had not, he was not allowed to tell even a warden what his real name is; they feared that a warden, over a glass of wine, might betray the secret of who is in prison to a friend of his. So we got given numbers, the one prisoner number 5,833, the other prisoner 9,221 and so on and all the prisoners did not remember their numbers and then they were beaten because of this. I had the advantage to have a number very easy to be remembered. I was prisoner number one so that was easy to be remembered.

But they'd taken away from us everything, even our names. We had nothing. ... We were nothing and we had nothing. There was another one who said, "I am nothing." Saint Paul. And when he wrote this, he was free. He said, I was nothing. And -- I am nothing. And then we had something, the name of which, is nothing. We had nothing. And we begin, we began in these half dark prison cells, these subterranean prison cells in which all kinds of thoughts come to you which don't come in the free world, we began to think about the value of the nothing. We all love this world with its beautiful, multicolored butterflies and the chirping birds and the scented flowers and the pretty children. Who will remember, "But wait a little bit -- out of what did God make this beautiful world?" He made it out of nothing. So nothing is a very valuable material, you can make a universe out of nothing! If anyone would try to make all of these things out of gold and iron he would not succeed. But out of nothing, God created this world. But wait a little bit. With what is Holy Communion taken in churches? It is taken with bread. And out of what is bread made? Out of flour. And out of what is flour made? Out of wheat. And out of what is wheat made? Well, God made it out of nothing! And in Holy Communion we take wine. The wine is made out of grape juice, and the grape juice comes from the grapes and the grapes come from the vineyard. And out of what is made the vineyard? Out of nothing! So nothing is a very valuable material. Nothing is the basic material with which Holy Communion is taken everywhere in the world. Nothing. We have nothing. And nothing is a material out of which the universe is made. ...

... And then we felt how foolish we had been not to rejoice about the fact that we had nothing and that we were nothing. And we decided by mutual consultation, on a Sunday morning, to take Holy Communion with nothing. I have read similar things have happened in the past too. So we decided to take Holy Communion with nothing. And at a certain moment on a Sunday morning, we gave a signal through the wall from one end of the corridor to the other -- there were many cells -- and at one and the same moment we took in our hands nothing, we thanked God for nothing. You must not have a thing to thank God for. ... A bird does not sing because of the things it gets. The bird sings because it has a song in its heart. And Christians are simply thankful and grateful in their character and they thank not for things. We thank because we are thankful. And we thanked God for nothing, we blessed the nothing, the beautiful nothing, out of which multicolored butterflies and the smiles of children are made. We blessed the nothing, we ate nothing, and we remembered the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which has been broken for us.

[RW]

Where is my face?

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 23:44:00 +0000

"So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?'" (Genesis 4:3-6)

...God questions Cain. It's the very well known story of Cain and Abel. "Where is Abel your brother?" But before this question - this is the second - is another one: "Why has your countenance fallen?" In Genesis 4:6. Literally speaking, if we were to translate this language - it's a little bit old for me, for us - literally it means, why has your face fallen? Your face. "Cain, you dropped your face. I can't see your face. Where is your face?" If we would search the language - you know, the language is a big treasure for all of us - we would find here something very interesting. In Hebrew, we find the word, panim. This is a plural, but always used as a singular. ... Like trousers or scissors. You know, there is a secret in this language. He speaks about faces. The Bible never speaks about one face. It always speaks about faces.

...The Greek word for mask is very similar to this Hebrew word. It's prosopeio. What does it mean, this? It means, "pro" - like, I have a face, but I have to turn my face toward you. I exist just in this motion of turning toward you. In other words, objectively speaking, one face cannot exist. Only panim. Only many faces. Only various faces. Just one face does not exist. Because my face contains your faces, but in the beginning it contains the face of God, of the creator.

God says to our friend, Cain, "You dropped your face." Do we have faces or do we just have our own face? Do we have a plural face? In other words, does our face contain the face of God or not? This is the basis of humanity. To share the face of God, the panim. If we don't, what happens? The next step of Cain is murder. The first step is to drop the face, the next step is to kill the other. To destroy the other's face.

We have a wonderful passage in the Bible when God speaks to a friend of His face to face. Moses. God wants to speak to us face to face. In other words, to share His face with us. We need to have faces penetrated by God's image. We need this, because if not, the next step is violence. ... My father explained to me once that this expression in the Bible, face-to-face, means to be so close, one face to the other, that there is no room for anything in between. Do we have things in between God's face and our face? Do we have? We do. We do. But we need the light of the Holy Spirit to see those things and to deliver us from behind those walls.

[AV, 2008]

Stumbling after Abraham

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 11:59:00 +0000

"After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.' Abram said, 'O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' And Abram said, 'Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.'" (Genesis 15:1-3)

Abraham was so concerned with obtaining an heir that he failed to understand that God was offering Himself, the greatest of all gifts, to him as his sole reward....

Abraham expresses his lack of belief when he says to God "O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" ... "Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir." However, it must be noted that although Abraham displays a certain disbelief in God’s promise, he does not completely disbelieve God. Rather, what he does is demonstrate a limited degree of faith. That is to say, that although Abraham did believe that God would provide him with an heir, he did not believe that God would issue forth an heir from his own flesh. He thought that he would have to settle for a servant who would be only legally adopted into his family.

This was not the only expression of Abraham’s limited belief in God. On many occasions, he tried to assist God in the fulfillment of His Word according to his own will rather than waiting for the fulfillment of God’s perfect plan. He attempted to bring God’s plan into being by taking his nephew Lot with him whom he later had to abandon; having sexual relations with Hagaar who bore him a son, Ishmael, whom he later had to send away; and now he tries to substitute Eliezer for the heir that God has promised him.

This is our story as well. First we believe God at His Word, and then try to help Him bring His Word into being according to our own will and according to our own plans. He allows us each misstep, each expression of unbelief. He corrects every attempt to fulfill His plans by our own means. It is only after allowing us these faltering steps that He lovingly corrects us and leads us to maturity in our faith. It is at this point that His will is accomplished according to His perfect plan. This is the way to true faith.

So please, do not be discouraged as you too stumble along in Abraham’s footsteps. After all, you cannot be expected to be a better believer than he was.

[LH, 2009]

Searching everywhere for the lost

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:40:00 +0000

During all my trials I hear disparaging speeches about religion, about faith, about the Bible.

"Please," I object, "do not talk about the Bible in such a way. The Holy Spirit sealed every word of it."

"I do not see any seal here!"

"But it's there. Anyone can see it."

"Show me," the prison warden says, and going to the cabinet he takes out a Bible, and places it in my hands

My soul rejoices! Thank You, God, that I can take a Bible in my hands and can read from it!

"Stop turning the pages," the warden shouts. "Read what is in front of you!"

I begin to read aloud, "I will search for the lost..."

The warden interrupts my reading with a sarcastic laugh. "I wonder how will God find you, the lost!"

"But I have already been found," I remark.

"Then who is lost?"

"You."

[SSz, BR, 1997]

Nothing is Essential

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:10:00 +0000

Mar 12:38-44: In His teaching He was saying: "Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation." And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on."

Compared to the large sums of the many rich people, the two coins of the poor widow was almost nothing. Nothing and everything, because it was "all she owned". So it became a very important nothing.

These verses have become very important for me. Most of you know that I have recently come back to Romania from two semesters at the L'Abri centre near London, and the manager of our community's publishing house (Koinónia publishing, www.koinonia.ro) has asked me to again be the editor of our popular mission magazine (Kis tükör, "Little Mirror"). Before this request, I had returned with no employment prospects, feeling that I have nothing to offer in this difficult job market. And in thinking about filling this position, felt that I had so little to give or share in this confusing and difficult period of my life.

But I have realized from this passage that my only hope to make a meaningful contribution, to bear fruit, is to accept my nothingness and to confess it, to give it to the Lord. I know a story about a man who wanted to become a novitiate at a monastery, and in his interview with the abbot told him that he had no spiritual qualifications, no wisdom, no experiential or theological knowledge, no personal spirituality. "Very good," was the abbot's surprising reply, "your room will be number 23 in this corridor." Of course common sense would suggest a response more along the lines of "I'm sorry to hear this; may God prepare you so that you can re-apply when you are truly ready." Instead, the abbot continued, "Of course it is not good, not good at all, that you possess none of these very important spiritual attributes; but I am confident that if you remain with us being who you are and giving of what little you have, you will acquire them and share them with us all."

So the nothing that I am and have can be the very source of God producing fruit in my life and work. For God, only my nothing can be like the bread ("Master, the crowd is hungry and we have nothing but five loaves.") from which Jesus fed the thousands. Here Jesus says to us that the scribes "devour widows' houses": in other words, they suck something into themselves from others, they consume rather than produce. This is why their luxury, honor, and long prayers "will receive greater condemnation". These are less, not more, than the required nothing.

[EM, from the opening devotion of the a TSI (Bible college) board meeting, September 2010]

The Greatest Thing

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:13:00 +0000

"The source of cruelty is always fear... Whoever tortures you has a great fear inside of him. He is more afraid than the one being tortured. And you have to understand his state, because if you don’t understand, then you have lost, and the torturer has also lost. You [the torturer] are not authentic with the man who tortures me. No! No!

Here lies the problem of suffering. Here is the greatest thing: when you will see that the man who is torturing you is more afflicted than you who is being tortured."

[Ferenc Visky, speaking in a trailer for Prisoners of the Light]

As if

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:00:00 +0000

...Suffering is difficult as long as it is senseless. Suffering makes it clear that God is not playing games with us, that He is deadly serious not just about our redemption, but about our sanctification also (Barth). Justification is our life. Sanctification is our death.

"From now on, even those who have wives should live as if they had them not; and those who cry as if they cried not; and those who rejoice as if they rejoiced not; and those who have bought something as if they acquired it not; and those who enjoy the goods of the world as if they enjoyed them not; for the face of this world shall pass away." (I Corinthians 7:29-31) We could continue, "and those who are in prison as if they were free, for the face of the barred-in world shall likewise pass away."

This free "as-if" state can be attained by no human effort, by no self-persuasion. It is God's gift. And when we share in this gift, we are pierced with joy. Jesus promised His disciples that no man could take away their joy. He did not say that no one would try to do so. They would do everything possible to take it away. But they would not succeed...

There are situations in prison when we can't understand God. How can we understand Him Whom we can only grasp by faith? Yet, even when we can't understand Him, there is still an opportunity. We can praise Him.

How can we overcome fear? Right here, on the other side of the cell bars, are those who continually threaten us. Our lives are in their hands.

The antidote to fear is love. There is no other way. We are free to love our enemies. We cannot fear those whom we love. Fear is the curse of mankind. (Dostoevsky)

[FV, TFOG, 2010]

"And those who followed were fearful."

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:56:00 +0000

"Getting up, He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.... They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.'" (Mark 10:1; 32-34)

We find here those gathered around Jesus divided into two groups: those who are amazed, and those who are afraid, yet follow Him. Amazement is maybe the easiest reaction to Jesus and shared by many, many people -- think of Pilate, of Nicodemus, of Herod. This is not to suggest that it is wrong to be amazed. It is great and very important because to be amazed is to be a little bit like a child. But we must experience Jesus beyond this: if we follow Jesus only in our amazement, we will soon find ourselves afraid of Him and of where He is leading us. Because He is going to Jerusalem. And even though terrified, we cannot help but follow Him.

To Jerusalem, the place of death and resurrection where Who Jesus really is will be revealed, and, irrevocably, who the disciples are as well. After what happens at Jerusalem, their identity in Him can never be revoked or effectively denied, though, as in Peter's infamous denials, we often attempt to do just that.

After teaching the crowd for a while (v. 1), Jesus does something very dramatic: He walks resolutely on ahead of them, and then takes the twelve aside to tell them where He is going. This is one of the special times when Jesus turns to the disciples and speaks with such directness and plainness.

He tells them that He will be humiliated, tortured, and killed. And finally resurrected. He could have gone on by Himself without telling them -- it was only He Who was appointed to die there. Nonetheless, He is telling them in this dramatic tenderness that He wants them to share in His suffering and death, and -- though they did not, like we, know the end of the story -- finally in His resurrection. He does not invite and include them because it is somehow noble for them to share in His fate, but simply because He longs to have them with Him. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem..."

And He longs for you and me to go with Him as well. If we are to never get over being amazed by Jesus, let us follow Him in fear and trembling to the Jerusalems in our lives so that our identity in Him may never be revoked. When we are truly "in Christ" we are surrounded and engulfed by Him so that we can see only Him; maybe we will not always see where He is going and taking us. But seeing Him is enough.

[GEN, 2001]

Be Still, Go Forward

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:08:00 +0000

I searched my mind for some strength from God’s word for this moment, and suddenly the Holy Spirit enlightened to me the words the Lord had spoken to Moses. "The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still ... why are you crying out to me, tell the children of Israel to go forward." (Exodus14:14-15)

To be still was not for me to retreat, but was a starting point for me to lift up the rod of the Lord. The time had come for us to march forward in a close relationship with Him, and to stretch up our hands to Him. If you stop in a place where you can only see the armies of the enemies, fear will strike you. The children of Israel began to murmur and complain because they had stopped out of fear. They could not go forward because of what their natural eyes saw. If our eyes are under the Serpent’s spell, we will become paralyzed with fear. It is not only sin that has the power to paralyze, but also fear, confusion, and unrest.

Slowly the corridor I was in lightened, and with it my entire being slowly became full of Light. There was nothing for me left to do now, but to put myself totally in the Lord’s hands, and follow the way His rod leads me.

[JF, TOATR, 1989]

Faces

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:48:00 +0000

The examining officer [in the prison in 1950’s communist Romania] was in a good mood today. You could sense it from the very beginning. There would be no beating. He just wanted to amuse himself with some pleasant conversation.

He asked me, "Do you believe that God created man in His own image?" I answered, "I certainly do." "Do you believe that you are in the image of God?" "Of course."

Then he took a mirror out of his pocket and handed it to me. "Look into the glass. See how ugly you are. You have dark circles under your eyes. You are all skin and bones. Your whole appearance is haggard, like a madman. If you are in the image of God, God must be as ugly as you are. Why should you worship Him?"

I had already seen myself in a mirror once since I had been in jail, and I knew that I was terribly ugly, I who had been considered a handsome man. I had been horrified to see myself in such shape. Now, my ugliness was being made into a theological problem.

Happily, Christians do not have to think beforehand what to answer. The words are given to them.

I said, "Yes, my God has an ugly face like me. In Hebrew there is no such word as 'face'. You can only say 'faces' -- panim. The word has no singular. There is a deep meaning in this, because no man has one face. He shows one countenance when he speaks to a superior, another when he bullies an inferior, one when he is grieved, another when he hears good news. Our God also has many faces. One is a face of complete serenity, the serenity of a Being Who has foreordained everything and can see from the beginning the happy end of the tortuous road. He has a face radiant with joy, sharing the pleasure of all who rejoice, even that of a little girl who has been given a new doll. But He has also another image, one of even worse suffering and ugliness than mine. We saw this face on Golgotha. His hair was disordered, His brow was disfigured by wounds. Spittle and blood mingled on His face. He had dark circles under his eyes. 'He had no form or comeliness' (Isaiah 53:2). This, too, is one of the faces of the Godhead. Christ is not ashamed to call me His brother."

I hope the communist officer understood at least something of what I told him.

[RW, IPWCS, 2000]

Tell Him, "My Hands Are Empty"

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:24:00 +0000

Good Friday is the place where we should return, again and again, so as to depend only on God, letting all knowledge and all stories go. This is the place and the state that invites God to act, to intervene in our lives. Good Friday is the best time for this meeting in history which shows God as an acting, active God.

...Jesus is resurrected, yes, but Jesus is also still on the cross. And if I want to be with Him, I have to go where He is. To arrive at a Good Friday is a gift from God, an invitation from God to re-begin my life with Him. It’s a big gift from God if I realize that I have to re-begin my life. God is so rich that He doesn’t permit us to use blessings from the past. He wants to share with us blessings from the present. His presence is out of time, which means it is a continuous presence. He overcomes time in this way. And even those experiences of past blessing are nothing when you are in a new trouble. It doesn't help. You have to tell God, these past experiences are not tools in my hand. My hands are empty again and again and again. Why doesn't God speak to us through the Bible? Because we know everything and our hands are not empty. We cannot listen to His voice because between Him and me there is a Bible passage. My hands have to be empty. To say to God at the beginning of the day, I will open the Bible and I want to be taught by You, not by my knowledge about the Bible. ...

You know, the history of European theatre begins with the empty tomb. The first theatrical representations used the liturgy as a starting point. Or more precisely, the visiting of the empty tomb. In these early plays, the Marys are going to the tomb in order to meet the dead Jesus and they are asking the angels where the dead body is. And we, we too cannot find the resurrected body so we are always looking for a dead body, returning to the tomb. This is our general condition, to search for dead bodies.

Because we have to go back to the beginning. Always re-beginning. Where is the Messiah? What happened? John and Peter run to Jesus' tomb in their desperation. They don't know what they will find there. And John himself tells us that when they entered the tomb, the scriptures were resurrected. Had they not understood anything of the scriptures before this? But they had to throw out all of their previous understandings and re-begin.

[AV, 2005]

More Than Hired Hands

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:57:00 +0000

"'I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.'" (John 10:11-15)

"Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.'" (Matthew 9:36-38)

The phrase "to lay down his life" is not at all shepherd-like. It is more "lamb-like," it is more the action of a lamb who does not resist when being put on the altar and giving up its life. And for a shepherd to lay down his life for the sheep! A shepherd should feed and look after the sheep in order that he might feed and clothe himself with what the sheep produce, even slaughtering the lamb to enjoy its meat. But who ever heard of such a crazy shepherd as this who would do the opposite, allowing Himself to be slaughtered in order to feed His own sheep with His own flesh! ...

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." This situation always seems to persist. The true laborers, the good shepherds are few or even none. But the hired hands are plentiful, and this seems to be a constant crisis. However, God has a different perspective on what seems to be a critical situation. He can be glorified in the crisis, precisely when the laborers are only a few compared to the plenty of the harvest. Think of Gideon, when the Lord said to him, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, 'My own power has delivered me.'" (Judges 7:2)

"Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." "Therefore," -- what for? Not, for there are few laborers, but for God’s glory! He does not need us. ...But He says, "I am the Good Harvester, the Good Shepherd, implore Me, -- I am not imploring you to send out more missionaries, more laborers, more experts for My work." No, not at all! The Lord alone is the Good Shepherd ... and He has done what was needed. He has laid down His life for the sheep. Implore Him to send out laborers. In other words, it is His harvest and it is He who sends out, not us. The field is His, so the laborers and even the harvest are also His. And He is interested in the harvest, in the laborers, and most of all, He is interested in the sheep -- in contrast with the hired hand.

The hired hand is not concerned with the sheep, says the Lord. The phrase "not concerned" in the original means not having an interest, not having a profit in the sheep. This is curious! We would think it would be quite the opposite. If a hired hand is working for wages, why is he not interested? In what is he invested if not in the sheep?

The Good Harvester, the Good Shepherd put His interest in the field, in the sheep. He invested in the flock. Jesus is neither hypocritical nor prudish about the importance of investment and profit. It seems that the hired hand is the more profit-oriented one as he works for money. But while the shepherd does not work for money, He is not working for nothing. He does not invest in His wages, but in the sheep. The value of the sheep is not in themselves, but in the measure of sacrifice -- the laying down of His life -- provided for them by the shepherd. You are precious to Me because I died for you. Your value equals My life’s value.

... My soul's profit is the Lord, and the Lord's profit is my saved soul. ... The hired hand sees his profit in his wages, the shepherd sees it in His flock, even in the most ignored and marginalized ones, so He can invest in them for eternity. ... our greatest gain is in people, let's invest in them by prayer, counseling, sacrifice, sharing, giving and dedication. Then and only then can we say boldly with Paul, "For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward [profit!]? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more." (1 Corinthians 9:17-19)

[LH, 2008]

Hate and Fear and Love

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:23:00 +0000

...the visits from the Securitate [the Romanian communist secret police] began and continued over a period of months. Eva* was followed to work daily by a Securitate member. Balint, who was lecturing at the time and thus had a more flexible schedule, was required to report to the Securitate every day...

One afternoon, Eva was coming home from work [she worked from 6:30am to 3:30pm] and a neighbor met her and told her that the Securitate had been to her and Balint's house. Eva was disbelieving at first. For an afternoon visit by the Securitate generally meant one of two things: one was to be taken to a very distant prison and quite likely never heard of again, or one was to be beaten and possibly killed in the local facilities. Eva's neighbor persuaded her. The Securitate really had paid them an afternoon visit. "So, I had time to pray and ready myself for their return," said Eva

They were both very frightened. Balint was stretched out on the bed, waiting for the summons to go to the Securitate headquarters. Praying, praying. "Then I felt as if someone was telling me that we had nothing to lose. We had no children then and so we had nothing to lose but ourselves. I went over to Balint and said, 'Balint, we have nothing to lose. We have everlasting life.' When he realized how I was thinking he was encouraged and so we were able to laugh and pray together before he had to go. I went with him. It was the custom to accompany someone to the Securitate, not to let a person go alone."

"Then I walked home but someone was following me. I went into a shop to buy something for Balint, something to put on his bruises, because I was hoping that he would come home and I would be able to do this for him. And one of the Securitate was following me and I was frightened. I was so frightened I couldn't pray."

"It was at this time that I learned about loving and forgiving my enemies. A voice said -- it must have been an angel, because it wasn't my voice, I couldn't pray, I was so frightened -- a voice said, 'You are afraid of him because you don't love him. Perfect love casts out fear.' [1 John 4:18] And it was true, I hated him... I loved my life more than him. I wanted to live. And I realized that I had to love him more than my life, I had to say, 'Take my life if you want, it is more important that I love you.' And so my fear left me."

Balint came home that night without a mark on him... The daily visits to the Securitate were ended shortly afterwards, but the Securitate would still search their house when they were not there. "We would return from a holiday and realize that someone had been in our home and I learned then that even my home did not belong to me. We own nothing but our life and even that is not our own."

*names have been changed. [as told to CS, 1997]

Rabbi, where are You staying?

noreply@blogger.com (CS) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:27:00 +0000

"Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God!' And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and said to them, 'What do you seek?' And they said to Him, 'Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?' He said to them, 'Come, and you will see.' They came therefore and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour." (John 1:35-39)

When the two disciples saw Jesus, their first question was not, "Who are You really?" or "What did John mean when he called You the Lamb of God?" or "What is Your teaching?," but only "Where are You staying?" After hearing the startling claims of John concerning Jesus, all they wanted was to see where and how He lived.

And Jesus confirms the legitimacy of this by saying, "Come and see". In so doing, He teaches us the connection between being living epistles and showing hospitality, because it is in our homes and family life that people begin to see us as we really are. If they are to see that our Christianity is not just a set of theological opinions, but a living presence in our lives and a way of being in relationship with God, it is essential that we invite them into the spiritual atmosphere of our homes to eat, read, and pray with us, and to truly get to know us.

In Jesus' case, what was the answer to their question, "Where are You staying?" In both Matthew and Luke we read that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Though Jesus had no home, He was at home in the fallen world, because He was there with its Owner. In the same way, people will be at home in our homes if the Holy Trinity is at home there also and they find Him there. This is the key to fellowship among us.

[AV, 1998]