My advisor from seminary (Dr. Andrew Root) recently wrote an article for Next-Wave Church & Culture Ezine titled “The TV Show Lost and Eschatology.” I have personally only watched a few episodes of Lost – and I think it’s pretty good – but I know there are a lot of people who get really into the show and read nearly everything written about it online (fans of the show have even started a user-generated wikisite called Lostpedia to share thoughts and theories about the island, characters and direction of the show). As I said, I like the show, but I’m not into it like many others, so I’m just passing on the link to Dr. Root’s article for people like my roommate who can’t get enough of this stuff. By the way, the word “eschatology” is a theological term used for the study of the last things, or what is sometimes referred to as “the end times.”
“Your kingdom come, your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.”
In the middle of Jesus’ training prayer with his disciples (Matthew 6:9-13), he spoke this phrase in reference to God’s coming Kingdom and will (or plan) for the world. My mom forwarded me an email this morning discussing this passage of the Lord’s Prayer, it was actually an excerpt from a book and the title of the daily devotion was “Where have you had a taste of the Kingdom?” This is an intriguing question, especially since we all experience “the Kingdom” in different ways, times and places – and many people probably wouldn’t describe these experiences as “Kingdom moments” – and as for the “how” of the question, it implies that we are apparently able to use our senses (including taste) to experience these moments.
I could write a lot about the imagination and possibilities involved in the wording of this question, but regardless of the when, where or hows that are involved in people’s experiences with the sacred/spiritual in our world, I want to include Richard’s Daily Meditation from today because I think it offers a good/brief description of when and where the Kingdom of God is found here on earth today.
“Thy kingdom come” means very clearly that the Kingdom is something that enters into this world, or, as Jesus puts it, “is close at hand.” Don’t project it into another world. It’s a reality that breaks into this world now and then, when people are like God.
When that can happen in terms of structures or groups, when you have a free group of people who love the truth more than themselves, then you have a taste of the Kingdom descending to earth.
“Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” is my favorite and most-used phrase from the Lord’s Prayer. I’ve used it in several papers and sermons as a way of not only talking about what God is doing “right here, right now” but also because I think it calls us to do something, to actively work with and on behalf of God in the world – in whatever ways we see possible – to help Jesus’ prayer become a reality.
George Eldon Ladd was a seminary professor during the 1900s who taught that the future Kingdom of God – what many people believe we are waiting for, heaven – is already here on earth (through the church), but it won’t be complete until Jesus returns (again). This has become known as the “already/not yet” theology of God’s kingdom.
What about you? How do you understand the Kingdom of God? How have you experienced it in your own life? Where have you seen God working in your world? Have you ever witnessed people doing God’s will and helping bring glimpses of God’s Kingdom to earth? What senses have been involved in your experiences with God moving closer to us, to meet us here and now? Where have you had a taste of the Kingdom?
Open your imagination to the endless possibilities of how God can work in and through any part of creation. God can use music, art, nature, technology, even the media to speak to people and whisper a message of hope, joy, love or forgiveness. Individuals can be inspired to get involved in efforts to make a difference in the world – God’s movement in and for the world – by watching a movie, hearing a song, reading a book or even seeing others make a difference on the news or a TV show. Allow yourself to be free of any perceived expectations and simply follow the Spirit into the world to make a difference in whatever ways are available to you. Maybe it’s something small, or perhaps it’s something big. Don’t worry about the specifics, just start with the simple prayer that God’s “Kindom will come and God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
I had the chance to see Brooke Fraser in concert a few nights ago. Brooke is a kiwi (a New Zealander) who I just started listening to about a year ago. She doesn’t tour a whole lot in the US, so I have been excited ever since I saw that she was coming to Minneapolis to play at one of my favorite venues, the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown. It was a great night of music, including a short set by my friend Elizabeth Hunnicutt followed by an incredible new and still unsigned artist named William Fitzsimmons, who nearly stole the show. I just couldn’t get enough of his music, and in the days since the show I have bought both of his albums on iTunes and he has quickly become one of my most listened to artists. If you like really chill/acoustic music you should definitely check out his myspace to give him a listen (his style is similar to, but not exactly like, Joshua Radin and Iron & Wine).
When Brooke first came on stage I was a bit surprised by her quirky personality – her NZ accent kept reminding me of Flight of the Conchords, a comedy/music duo also from New Zealand – but she also showed a very kind and serious side (which is what I expected, given that she is closely connected with Hillsong Church in Australia, where she has written and recorded some of today’s most well-known modern worship songs, like “Hosanna” and “Lead Me to the Cross”).
Before closing the night by playing her “favorite song,” Brooke told the incredible story of an experience she had a few years ago in Rwanda that inspired the title track of her new album, “Albertine” (the song she was about to play), which is named after a young woman she met there. I had seen the video for this song on youtube and thought I understood a bit of the story behind it, but hearing the story from Brooke took it to a completely new level. Later that night, after getting home from the show, I was reading through the liner notes of Brooke’s CD (I bought it at the show) while listening to the album on my headphones and I ran across the story of Albertine again, this time as it had been written by Brooke. Albertine’s story is one that Brooke felt needed to be shared through her music, and I feel it needs to be shared here as well.
Here is the video for the song (much of which appears to have been filmed in Rwanda) and below that is Albertine’s story (in Brooke’s word, as found inside her album).
Albertine by Brooke Fraser
In 1994, the tiny Central-East African nation of Rwanda was devastated by genocide. Almost one million Rwandans were killed at the hands of their neighbors, friends and community leaders within the short space of 100 days…the catastrophic outcome of decades of tension and fighting between two ethnic groups – the Hutus and the Tutsis – a conflict that did not exist before Belgian colonists moved in during the first part of the 20th century and introduced an alien politician divide.
My first visit to Rwanda occurred in June 2005, eleven years on from the atrocities. I visited local authorities, churches, schools, official memorials and living ones: child-headed households and communities living with AIDS, facing life without adequate medical care or basics like clean water. I met a people who are humble, joyous, diligent and in deep pain.
One day before I was to fly out and onto Tanzania, my friend and guide Joel Nsengiyumva took me to a village school in a district called Kabuga. He wanted me to see that Rwanda had hope – and no better way to see it than in the next generation. The kids and I exchanged songs and dances, and as things wrapped up and we were about to leave, Joel asked if we could take a few minutes and meet with an orphan whose personal history he was familiar with.
Throughout the trip Joel had introduced me to people as a musician from the other side of the world who was going to go back to my people, tell them about the people of Rwanda and help. No pressure. That afternoon we walked across the schoolyard into an empty classroom, joined by a tall, beautiful girl wearing the school’s cobalt and navy garb, where Joel’s introduction was about to become a kind of commission.
Just before he shared her story with me, that of one person laying down their life for another, he uttered these words:
“You must go back to your people and you must write a song,
and I will tell you what the name of the song is going to be.”
He motioned toward the girl.
“This is Albertine.”
Albertine is alive today because of the selfless, sacrificial love of another. Funny thing is, so am I. And now I want to know what it’s like to love other people like that, so have decided to spend my whole life on the experiment.
Feel free to join me. We might just change the world.
I spent some time reading Out of Ur this morning (the conversational companion blog of Leadership Journal) and ran across an old interview/article titled “Donald Miller Isn’t Hip: a gospel for people tired of trying to be cool” (from May 15, 2006). Some of you may recognize the name Donald Miller as the author of several recent books, including Blue Like Jazz, but I don’t think it matters if you’ve heard of him or read any of his books because I think what he says in this interview is still fitting for people today; especially for anyone who has observed the Church – whether from the inside or the outside – become too focused on its “image” (trying to keep it clean, or even cool), and in doing this, has misplaced Jesus’ commandment to love others by putting it after their own agendas and beliefs about who or what is worthy to be loved.
I believe that God’s call (and Christ’s witness) to all of us is that we love others, no matter what. This is not easy, in fact, it can get really difficult. (Just think about someone you don’t get along with, then think about loving them with the love of Christ…it’s tough, huh?)
Here is a portion of the interview with Donald Miller:
You’ve said that the church “uses love as a commodity.” What do you mean?
Miller: We sometimes take a Darwinian approach with love-if we are against somebody’s ideas, we starve them out. If we disagree with somebody’s political ideas, or sexual identity, we just don’t “pay” them. We refuse to “condone the behavior” by offering any love.
This approach has created a Christian culture that is completely unaware what the greater culture thinks of us. We don’t interact with people who don’t validate our ideas. There is nothing revolutionary here. This mindset is hardly a breath of fresh air to a world that uses the exact same kinds of techniques.
What’s the alternative?
Miller: The opposite is biblical love, which loves even enemies, loves unconditionally, and loves liberally. Loving selectively is worldly; giving it freely is miraculous.
If love isn’t a commodity, what is it?
Miller: I think of love like a magnet. When people see it given in the name of God, they’re drawn to it. If I withhold love, then people believe I have met a God that makes me a hateful and vicious person. And they’re repelled.
I have two responsibilities to this world, the first is to love; the second is to speak the truth. I can tell somebody such and such a behavior is sin, and still love them. Why not? Why not bring them food, why not hug them, why not have them over to the house? Won’t this only help them understand the truth?
To read the interview in its entirety, click HERE.
I have been co-teaching a course at Luther Seminary this week on Ministry with Young Adults. It is an intensive course, which means we meet for three hours every day (for a week) and most of the writing assignments are due a few weeks later. It is, as the course description implies, “intense,” and there is only so much material and information you can fit into the time we have together in the classroom. My main role in the course has been bringing in illustrations of the realities of young adult life (through music, movies and other “texts” of pop culture) and then interpreting them and inviting the students to engage the characters and stories/situations from the examples theologically; asking the questions, How might I enter into this young person’s life in an authentic and meaningful way? and How might the church become a place where these individuals feel more welcomed and accepted by God’s people, as well as inspired and challenged by the gospel message?
Yesterday in class we looked at what James Cote (author of one of our course textbooks, Arrested Adulthood: The Changing Nature of Maturity and Identity) has labeled the problems of “prolonged and undefined” adulthood. Because of these “problems” we have seen the stage of young/emerging adulthood become a very confusing life-stage with no solid markers of beginning and end; adults are living with their parents (called “boomerang” kids, see Failure to Launch), 20somethings dislike the jobs that their degrees led them to or simply don’t like working (see The Office) – so they are switching careers or choosing other work that allows them plenty of freedom, and established/”real” adults are having difficulty relating to this new generation of post-college peoples (often called “millenials”).
Here is a link to a recent segment on 60 Minutes – “The Age of the Millenials” – that was sent to me by one of the students in the class (thanks Jerry). I have invited the students to come here to find the link and watch the video since there was not enough time to watch it in class. Even if you are not in the class, please watch the segment (it’s only 12 minutes long) and join in the conversation by responding to the questions we asked in class yesterday (after watching this video, “The Machine is Us/ing Us”).
Let’s move beyond the question “is technology good or bad?” since the answer must always be “both,” but what should we be asking about the work + life + tech reality that many young adults find themselves living in today? and how do these questions – along with the opportunities and concerns they represent – impact or influence how the church relates to young people?
Please consider supporting the people and country of Haiti by joining others at the Third Annual Walk for Haiti on Sunday, June 1st at Normandale Lake in Bloomington, Minnesota. The Walk for Haiti is an awareness event put on by the Haiti Mission Project (HMP), an organization I have been involved with the past three years. There is no registration fee for this year’s walk, but instead we are asking people to make a donation to the Haiti Mission Project–in whatever amount they are able–to help us reach our goal of raising $5,000.
(The HMP is a non profit organization, which means your donations are tax-deductible, and thanks to a generous corporate sponsor for this year’s event, 100% of all the donations from the Walk for Haiti will go toward furthering the HMP’s mission of sharing God’s hope and love in Haiti.)
If you’re interested in attending the walk and/or supporting the HMP, the links below will take you to the appropriate pages.
This is a bit different than what I usually post, but I got an email from a woman at my church last night about a program her daughter has been involved with and it’s something I think you should all know about, and consider responding to, because taking just a few minutes out of your day could save someone’s life. Read on for more info…
Thanks Mom 2008
The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) helps patients in need of marrow transplants find a matched donor. May 5th marked the start of “Thanks Mom,” a national effort by NMDP to bring people to the national marrow Registry during the two weeks surrounding Mother’s Day (May 5-19). They need 46,000 people to join the Registry in the next two weeks.
How to join the Registry
Joining the Registry is incredibly easy – you can register online at www.marrow.org (click on the “Grow the Donor Garden” link near the top) and provide some basic health information, or there is a list of locations in your area if you’d rather register in person. (I just registered online and it only took me 6 minutes.) After registering, NMDP will send you a kit with directions explaining how to swab the inside of your cheek a couple times, and then you just send it back to them in the provided, postage-paid envelope.
Seriously, who doesn’t have time to do that? And during the next two weeks, the cost has been covered by generous sponsors, so now is the time to join the Registry!
What happens after I join?
If you are ever identified as a potential donor, NMDP will call you. Donating marrow can be as simple as donating blood or plasma. In case you’ve never done either, that’s okay. Here’s a video that shows just how easy it is.
“Thanks Mom” will help patients across the country who need a marrow transplant to live. Many don’t yet have a possible donor on the Registry, and many will die while waiting. Every day, 6,000 patients across America – that’s 6 THOUSAND people EVERY DAY – are searching the Registry for a match. Imagine if one of these people was your mom, dad, brother, sister, husband, wife, child, friend….or you.
Visit www.marrow.org to register today…or, if you really don’t have six minutes to do it right now, please make sure you register before May 19th.
Pass this on to friends, relatives, neighbors, coworkers, or anyone else you can think might register. Every bit of awareness about how easy it is to help save lives will make a difference. You can even become a fan of NMDP’s “Donor Garden” on Facebook.
Still not sure?
Watch this video to meet Matt & Alexandra, a brother and sister who are alive today because someone like you took the time to register with NMDP and donate when they were called.
Some of you may remember this post I wrote back in February about my regrets over not seeing Coldplay during my senior year of college, along with my hopes that the tour that accompanies the upcoming release of their new album (Viva la Vida, June 17th) will include a stop in Minneapolis. Well apparently Coldplay’s management reads anewdoxology; either that or they know I’m not the only Coldplay fan in the Twin Cities who would pay whatever they want to charge for tickets in order to see them live, because while I was driving around yesterday the new Coldplay single “Violet Hill” came on the radio (sidenote: this song was offered as a free download on coldplay.com last week and it was reportedly downloaded by over 600,000 people in the first 24 hours), after the song the DJ made a comment, no, make that a promise, that Coldplay would be coming to Minnesota this summer as part of their tour. How awesome is that? I was so pumped I sent a text to my friend Tim (the same one who invited me to come with him to the Coldplay concert during college), but because I was texting while driving (not recommended, and probably illegal) it ended up saying “Cokeplay is coming this summer!” Oh well, typos and unsafe driving aside, I’m pretty excited about this. I just hope that the tour schedule is released soon so I can make sure I’m in town for the show.
I’m not sure how many of you watch 60 Minutes regularly, but every once in a while me and my roommates see previews for something interesting that’s going to be on and we set the DVR to record it. I just watched a segment from last night’s episode while eating lunch today and it was really great. The segment was called “Dr. Farmer’s Remedy” and it tells the incredible story of Paul Farmer, a doctor who has literally helped save millions of lives by providing free health care for people throughout the world, many of them who were suffering from treatable illnesses like malaria, tuberculosis, aids and women who die in child birth. Along with a few others doctors, Farmer helped start Partners in Health around 20 years ago. Today, Partners in Health has hospitals and provides care in nine countries including Peru, Russia, Mexico, three countries in Africa and the country where Farmer was first inspired to begin doing what he does, in Haiti.
Please watch this video segment from 60 Minutes. It’s only 12 minutes long and it offers an incredible glimpse into the life and perspective of a person who sees hope where others only see hopelessness. (I couldn’t embed the video on this page, but click HERE to watch it on cbs.com.) The images of people, poverty, landscape and roads in this short video look incredibly similar to what I’ve seen in Haiti.
By the way, a few days ago I bought plane tickets to go to Haiti at the end of June to make a documentary that will hopefully create some more awareness of what is going on there and the need for more people to join Paul Farmer in believing that the persistent efforts of committed people over time really can make a difference.
If you know me you are most likely aware of my involvement in Haiti through a non-profit organization some friends and I started a few years ago called the Haiti Mission Project. The HMP represents a huge piece of my heart, and the opportunities I’ve had to work alongside my friends in Haiti — both my American friends and my Haitian friends — is probably the closest experience I’ve had to the mission and kingdom of God here on earth.
It’s because of my personal involvement with HMP that I want to request your prayers for the current situation in Haiti, where people have been rioting the past few days in the capital city of Port-au-Prince in response to rising food costs. Violence of many forms is not a new thing in Haiti (it is the only nation with UN peacekeepers permanently in place although they are not at war), but the current situation is of particular interest and concern to me and my friends because we are planning to go to Haiti this Saturday to spend a week in Port-au-Prince visiting and working in orphanages, hospitals and churches as well as hanging out with our Haitian friends who we’ve gotten to know over the years.
Among our good friends in Haiti is a young boy named Jean who I have sponsored through Compassion International for the past four years, and who I will (hopefully) get to see again next week. It’s been an incredible experience to meet and spend time with the child who I have been exchanging letters with, sending money to and praying for since we were randomly paired together four years ago. In the beginning he was just a kid from a country I didn’t know anything about who was in a picture on my fridge, but now I have pictures and memories with him and the country he lives in is in my daily thoughts and prayers.
Here’s a powerful video from our trip to Haiti in 2006 that was made by a talented guy in our group; it includes images of Haiti (the country and its people), a glimpse of some of the typical work we’ve done there (building an orphanage in this case) and footage of the first time I met Jean (you may recognize him from a few of the pictures in the “Witness” video).
Many people don’t know much about Haiti except that it’s often listed as the “poorest country in the Western hemisphere” (which is true), but it’s actually an island nation with a long history of slavery, corruption, violence and injustice. Yet, through our partnership with several individuals and organizations (including a Lutheran church) in Port-au-Prince, we have been able to help fuel the hope that many Haitians have for their nation and its people, a hope they have found through their faith in Jesus. It’s a hope that is often hard to understand and is rarely seen in visible/physical ways, but it’s a future (“eschatological”) hope that is wrapped up in the message of Easter; the death and resurrection of Jesus that gives freedom, life and hope to all people at all times in all places, even especially Haiti.
To be honest, looking at Haiti in the big picture often makes hope seem hopeless, freedom look like oppression and life doesn’t appear like its worth living if it’s filled with so much hunger, suffering and violence. I realize I wrote earlier that my experiences in Haiti have provided me with the closest glimpse of God’s mission and kingdom that I have ever seen, but my time in Haiti has also led to some of the most difficult questions and doubts (of faith) that I have ever faced. It just does not make sense that a world created by a loving God would include the blatant poverty, suffering and injustices that I have seen in Haiti; it’s not fair. Yet I believe that God not only created the world but God loves the world (John 3:16), all of it, and through that love, God is continually active inthe world — working in and through people, powers and movements of other forms — but unfortunately this world is contaminated by sin (not just blaming sinful people), and so this means that God is doing as good as God can given the current situation. Just because things aren’t changing for the better doesn’t mean God has abandoned the situation, in fact, I believe that God can be found even in the suffering, since the understanding of God that I have is of a Father who watched his only Son die a painful and innocent death (God knows suffering and God suffers with us).
The discussion we’ve been having about missions in my systematic theology class lately has helped me realize that the group I’m involved with does not bring Christ to Haiti, in fact, we have actually discovered that He is already there in the efforts of others to help the poor and oppressed, to look after the sick and to comfort the forgotten and vulnerable. When we go to Haiti we are meeting God where God is already at work.
We are planning to wait until Friday to make a decision about whether or not it is smart for us to go ahead with our trip. We have already sent several emails and made phone calls to our friends in Haiti asking them if it’s safe for us to come (trust me, we aren’t going to put ourselves in a bad situation intentionally, and our friends there would tell us not to come if it wasn’t safe). Please pray for our team as we face the next couple of days uncertain of where we’ll be and what we’ll be doing next week, and definitely pray for Haiti as they deal with these difficult times.
I’m not sure how many of you watch 60 Minutes regularly, but every once in a while me and my roommates see previews for something interesting that’s going to be on and we set the DVR to record it. I just watched a segment from last night’s episode while eating lunch today and it was really great. The segment was called “Dr. Farmer’s Remedy” and it tells the incredible story of Paul Farmer, a doctor who has literally helped save millions of lives by providing free health care for people throughout the world, many of them who were suffering from treatable illnesses like malaria, tuberculosis, aids and women who die in child birth. Along with a few others doctors, Farmer helped start 
