Cross-Cultural Friendships

Yesterday we were privileged to have Richard Weston of Friends International come to Missio Dei and speak to us about cross-cultural friendships.

Personally, I was born and raised in Michigan and always lived in the same county until I was 24 years old! On top of that, aside from driving through Canada a couple of times to get to New York, I have only left the country once which was for a week-long mission trip to Honduras. Needless to say, my experience with different cultures is quite limited. Although this past year or so I've learned a lot about this subject from people like Bruce and books like "Serving with Eyes Wide Open" by Dr. David Livermore of GRTS, I still had a ton to learn from Richard's message.

While there are probably a lot of people in Missio Dei that were in similar situation to myself, I was also realizing yesterday that there are many people in Missio Dei who have quite a bit of experience interacting with other cultures. There are many within the group who have spent time studying abroad, serving in foreign missions, or studying cultural diversity, not to mention the fact that several people from Missio Dei were born and raised in other parts of the world. In other words, not only do we stand to learn about from people like Richard Weston, but we can also learn from the experiences of our friends.

All that being said, what did you take out of Richard Weston's message yesterday? Also, what experiences with other cultures, or lack thereof, do you have to share with the group to help us further understand how to bridge the cultural gap to make a path for sharing the message of Jesus?

Missio Dei Spring Retreat 2007!

This past weekend we had an awesome time at our Spring Retreat, and lucky for us the snow melted just in time for it to actually resemble spring!

We had fun hanging out, eating great food (thanks kitchen crew!) playing games, serving together, and discussing what friendship really means (because after all, friends are friends forever, right?)

Of course, rather than have me remind you of what happened this weekend, I'd rather open up the floor for everyone to share their retreat experiences. So if you have a favorite story, hilarious moment, way in which you were impacted, or an encouraging word for someone, please share it. The floor is open...

Happy Easter - HE IS RISEN!

This past Sunday we celebrated the most important event in the history of our faith, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We often talk about Christ dying for our sins, which of course is important, but just as important is the fact that He did not stay dead. In rising again, Jesus defeated death not just for Himself but for all who trust in His name.

This weekend I read an article in the newspaper questioning whether or not the resurrection was a physical event. There are some Christians who believe that Jesus rose in spirit only, appearing to His disciples as some kind of ghost, not as a flesh-and-blood human. In the article one pastor said that if someday a tomb were found containing the bodily remains of Jesus Christ, that it would in now way affect his faith.

But is that really true?

In 1st Corinthians 15:3-4, Paul tells us that the core of his message is that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. Some of the people in the Corinthian church, however, did not believe in a physical resurrection of the dead. They believed that our souls would go to heaven, but our bodies would merely decay and we'd never need them again. Paul had a huge problem with this. He told them that if there is no resurrection, then Christ Himself could not have been raised either.

"So what?" some of them may have thought. Just like the pastor in the article I read this weekend, these believers wouldn't have had a problem with the idea of Christ not physically rising from the dead.

Paul goes on to say in verse 16-17, "For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins."

In a world without sin, death would not be an issue. The power of the resurrection is that in Christ physically rising from the dead, he reversed the consequences of humanity's fall and he defeated death. Without a physical resurrection, death still has the edge and we don't have hope for new life.

As we continue to reflect on Easter, let us remember the transforming power of the resurrection.

Good Friday

Today Christians around the world recognize Good Friday in honor of Christ's death on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. It is easy for us to call today "good" because we know the end of the story. Yes it pains us to think of Christ being beaten and killed because of our sins, but at the same time, without that act we would have no hope for salvation.

Imagine, however, looking at the crucifixion through the eyes of one of the disciples. They did not know that Christ would rise from the dead on Easter. All they knew was that their leader had been betrayed and was being put to death unjustly. From their perspective all hope was lost.

In the Gospel of John we're told that after the crucifixion the disciples hid out together and locked the doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. They weren't waiting for Jesus to rise from the dead; they were waiting to find out whether or not they would be executed as well. In fact, in Luke we are told that after Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the Mother of James saw that Jesus' tomb was empty and told the disciples what happened, the disciples didn't believe them! They thought that what the women were saying was nonsense.

Without Christ, there is no hope and our faith is nonsense. I think the disciples understood this. Although they didn't understand Jesus' true purpose, to die for our sins, they did understand his central role in their faith. If He were to have remained dead then, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:14, our faith would be useless.

Today let us reflect on the importance of Christ's sacrifice and be thankful for the resurrection that followed.

Maundy Thursday

Today marks the day of Lent that commemorates Jesus' Last Supper with His disciples. Typically the church refers to this day as Holy or Maundy Thursday. Maundy comes from the Latin word "mandatum" meaning commandment. This comes from the phrase, "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos," or for you English speakers, "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you," a phrase Jesus spoke to his disciples during the meal in John 13:34.

It's not really surprising that Jesus chose a meal as the setting for his final address to his disciples; a meal is a very powerful thing. A meal seems to have a way of bringing people together and making us comfortable opening up to each other. It's also a powerful thing to offer a meal to someone who is longing to find community and acceptance.

All too often we exclude people from meals. Many of us probably have experiences from school of either not letting someone sit at our lunch table, or being the one forced away. A meal can be a symbol of status. Yet Jesus openly invited anyone to share a table with him. Everyone from the holier-than-thou Pharisees to tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners ate with Jesus, sometimes even at the same time. At the Last Supper He even shared a table with the man He knew would deny Him, Peter, and the man He knew would betray Him, Judas. I wonder if in the same situation we would be so welcoming.

As we recognize Maundy Thursday, or even whenever we celebrate communion, let us remember the power of a meal and think about who we are inviting to or excluding from our tables.

Spy Wednesday

As we close in on the end of Lent, Easter Sunday, the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, the church recognizes several of the important steps in Jesus' journey. The first of these events was Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem which we honor with Palm Sunday. Today we recognize another event, Spy Wednesday, the day Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

For 2,000 years now the church has vilified Judas because of the death of Christ, and rightly so - for a bag of coins he was willing to sell out the man he'd devoted his life to following. At the same time, are we really all that unlike Judas? Perhaps we have not denied our faith and betrayed God for money, but can we say we are always faithful to our savior?

Are there times when, intentional or not, we betray Jesus with our actions? We're all guilty of sin. We all have a part to play in Jesus having to die on the cross. Perhaps instead of pointing the finger at Judas, we should take the time to consider our own blame and thank Christ for removing it from us.

Palm Sunday

This week is known on the church calendar as "Passion Week," the final week of Lent. The week kicked off with "Palm Sunday," the day we celebrate Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem.

In many ways we treat Palm Sunday like an Easter before Easter, but should we? The reality is that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was on one hand a parade and on the other hand a funeral march. While Jesus was entering Jerusalem as the messiah, the son of David, the promised King, no one really understood that His intention as King was to serve. Luke 19:41 tells us that as Jesus approached the city he wept over it. This wasn’t the reaction of a King who was about to overthrow an oppressive government, it was the reaction of a King who knew His people’s sins, their ultimate consequence, and what needed to be done to save them from it.

As we’ve studied the Servant Songs of the book of Isaiah, we’ve learned that the mission of the Christ, the Servant, was to bring justice to the oppressed, bring God’s people back to Himself and be completely obedient to the will of the Father. On top of that we’ve learned that to do this, Christ had to willingly choose the road of suffering. Though He would ultimately be exalted by the Father, He first had to endure his most intense hour. On Palm Sunday we watch as Jesus begins that journey.