You Must Forgive

24 Mar 2015
 
“...The Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” –  Colossians 3:13 (NLT)
 
By washing the dirt from His disciples’ feet, Jesus demonstrated His willingness to forgive their sin before they even committed it. This takes love to its highest level. You say, ‘I am not the guilty party here.’ Neither was Jesus. Of the men in that room, only One was worthy of having His feet washed. And He was the One who washed the feet. The genius of Jesus’ example is that the burden of bridge-building falls on the strong one, not the weak one. And do you know what happens? More often than not, if the one in the right volunteers to wash the feet of the one in the wrong, both parties get on their knees. Don’t we all think we are right? Hence we wash each other’s feet.
 
Understand this: relationships don’t thrive because the guilty are punished, but because the innocent are merciful. The mercy of Christ preceded His disciples’ mistakes, and our mercy must precede the mistakes of others too. Those in the circle of Christ had no doubt of His love, and those in our circles should have no doubt about ours either. Paul writes,“Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.” (Ephesians 4:32 NCV) Because Christ has forgiven us, we can forgive others. Because He has a forgiving heart, we can have a forgiving heart. When Christ truly lives within us, we have no better alternative. There is incredible power in the words, “I forgive you; I love you; let’s move on.”
 

Smart !!!

12 Mar 2015

“Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them.” –Laurence J. Peter

 

Quote seen on a website: Tackling the Wicked Which's of the West.

Love the title already !

It's a forum to be held in the Western District of Victoria (Australia) in the town where I was 'brought up' spiritually speaking. It's where my supporting church is. A town five times the size of where I live and minister in France, but which is obviously (by the fact of this event to be held 18, 19 March)  confronted by similar problems in the community.

But I just love the way Aussies tackle things with a positive and consultative attitude ... culturally, they face up to problems differently to the French.

 

However, the French are masters in the art of specializing ... and the above quote is also very fitting to their approach to problem-solving. Unfortunately, the French public often gets left out of the process and made to feel unqualified to discuss things which concern them daily, while creative solutions are knocked on the head because too complicated to implement or a challenge to the administrative hierarchy.

 

And, of course, this mentality permeates our churches.

 

Which is why I'm so excited about the Vitality Pathway which  a dozen of our churches have started to follow.

It's all about facing up to the reality of our situation, understanding our internal culture, analyzing that church culture in order to see what is healthy and missional (and so to keep) and what is not (and so to change). My biggest work load is now going to be in the team which is accompanying churches along this pathway. And I'm alternately excited and pessimistic about the fact that our own church is on that pathway now. Excited because I know God wants us to be fully alive spiritually and gives us His Spirit as a living source ; pessimistic because I know this town and its attitudes and am not sure the people will allow change to happen.

 

But our God is the God of the POSSIBLE, so keep praying with us please!

 

Bold Kale Cupcakes

10 Feb 2015

We have now been in our Elkhorn home just over 3 weeks.  What have we noticed since we've been back?  Greek yogurt is everywhere, pushing our previous favorite brands out of the marketplace.  Everything has a gluten-free version now.  And kale.  And cupcakes.  'Jones Bros.' sounds like they should manufacture ammunition, not cupcakes.  I always find myself trapped in a turn-only lane not going where I want to go.  The word 'Bold' is on everything, including salad dressing, coffee, and soft drinks.  It can cost $50 (or a lot more!) to get a copy of an RFID car key!  And everyone has a smart phone.  We do too now!  One can order everything online and they'll even deliver it on Sunday afternoons.  

 

Many have asked what we plan to do this year.  I'm going to open a shop selling gluten-free kale cupcakes in three 'bold' sizes that you can order online.  With your smartphone.  I'm going to be rich!

The Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer

29 Jan 2015

January: a big month in France this year!

 

There are usually 2 different weeks which emphasize Christian Unity. The third week of January for the Catholics, Orthodoxe, Protestant and now Evangelical churches. Apparently, this effort has been around since 1908! This year's theme based on the meeting between the Samaritan woman and Jesus at the well (John 4) was prepared by Brazil.

The other is organised by the CNEF: a week of prayer by all Evangelicals. We don't participate in this one, since we are not close enough to other evangelicals in the region.

 

At our local level, we also organise an ecumenical Christmas celebration early January for the residents of the Aged Care Home in Lamastre. Three of the four communities in our town participate and a special support club organises bringing all the residents to the main meeting room and distributes Christmas gifts as well. In a militantly secular country, this practice is holding its own, especially in smaller communities where church culture is still very present. But it's one of the last bastions of 'free expression' where religious matters don't raise allergic reactions.

 

Then yesterday we were invited to attend the consecration of one of our Union colleagues who is now a part-time Army chaplain for the Reserve Army. He was 'prayed in' by other Christian military chaplains and the local pastor of our Churches.

 

In the light of recent events (terrorist attacks in Paris, massacres in Nigeria, attacks on Christian properties in Niger ...), these Christian unity events take on an extra dimension. We are witnesses of a Great God;  we value diversity and now accept it enough to participate in these events together; we want to be visible and voluble in a society that has been trying to avoid public expression of religious beliefs; and we are making the most of this confused time where many are recommitting to the 'republican' value of 'freedom of speech, expression and liberty to choose one's belief system.'

 

There have been numerous calls on all Christian sides for the French Christians to be at the forefront of discussions on faith, respect, value of humanity, and then all the Christian core beliefs. The idea is that in this confused world, people need to hear about God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, they need to find anchors in an ever-changing and now, for the French, dangerous world.

 

This month I've repeated the Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer 3 times! Thank you, Jesus, for this prayer which allows your followers to experience a time of unity. And thank you to all those anonymous Christian leaders who worked on the Creed centuries ago, which still allows us to summarize our beliefs today.

 

Note to self: make sure we teach it properly to our young people so they know it by heart ...

 

Never Underestimate what a Man will understand while Drunk.

29 Dec 2014

MJ is a drunk.  I've seen him 7 times and he's been drunk 5 of those times.  Last night our church held a farewell for us at church, with people saying lots of nice things, gifts of sweaters and fruit cake and a visit from MJ.  Drunks scare people.  It probably doesn't help that they often have a glass bottle in their hands as they stumble about.   In fact, the first time I met MJ he had thrown a glass bottle of liquor into the street, hitting the pastor's car during the sermon, setting off the car alarm.  Despite being the runt of the litter in my family, I'm a big guy in Peru, so last night when MJ walked into the church (carrying a bottle) the pastor nodded to the 'bouncer' to take him out.  I took him gently by the shoulder and helped him up the stairs out of the church.  As much as possible, I talk to drunks as if they are in their right mind.  A senior missionary, David Coombs, once told me, "You never know how much a drunk will hear and understand when you talk to them.  I've seen drunks come to Christ who later told me that the things they heard from Christians while drunk (okay the Christians weren't drunk!) made the difference."  But I didn't have much hope when we made an appointment to meet today to talk when he wasn't drunk.  (I've made appointments with him twice before, and he's stood me up both times.)  Sure enough, when I arrived, he wasn't there.  He lives directly across the street from the church.  We had forgotten a tupperware at last night's farewell, so I went into the church to retrieve it and then I knocked on MJ's door again, just be sure he wasn't there.  He wasn't.  I grabbed a post-it® note out of the car and wrote a quick note.  As I was about to drive away, I saw MJ walking up from a block away.  Was that him?  Same shirt as last night, so it must be.  We talked and talked about his dreams, his broken home of origin and his current broken home, his church experiences, his alcoholism.  We just sat not saying anything at times.  I told him I wanted to help him, but I was leaving in a few days for a year's absence.  By the end he said, "I'm going to quit drinking.  I promise."  He then took my hand to shake it to seal the deal.  "Thursday.  I'll visit the church Thursday," he said, pointing to the church billboard advertising our Thursday Bible Studies.  Pray for MJ.

Gratitude

18 Dec 2014

 

As the end of the year approaches,  one of the denominations that our missionaries work with (the Iglesia Evangelica Peruana,)  invited us all to a program to say thanks.  There were skits and songs and speeches,  followed by a nice alpaca steak lunch.   As a very nice surprise for me (Amy) some of the women present were ladies I used to teach in a Bible study.  I hadn't seen them for more than a year.   One, Carmen, asked if they could come visit me,  so Tuesday,  I made some banana bread,  and was thinking about putting water on for tea when the first car load arrived.  I was expecting 3 or 4,  but 9 ladies came, plus 8 of their kids!   They are mostly sisters and sisters in-law,  and their mom came too.   She said that although her daughters hadn't told her about it, because I mentioned it to her and she had come to the Bible study once or twice,  she considered herself invited.  While I taught the moms,  Sarah used to take care of the kids, who love her very much.  One mom said that her daughter had been counting the days,  and then the hours until they could come see her.   We sang Christmas carols, and they brought us gifts,  but mostly,  they came just to say thanks for teaching them.    

New Year's Greetings

16 Dec 2014

 

This greeting was sent to us by an Eye-wear company we had used over the year. I took out their logo and just retained the things they were wishing for their customers this new year.

Can you see which word caught my eye ?

I forgot: they are French words so I should translate them for you.

Chance = luck

Vitalité = vitality

spiritualité = either our spirituality ie. to do with the spiritual aspect of our lives, or liveliness and wittiness of mind.

bonheur = happiness

audace = daring

passion = .... have a guess! ;)

succès =  ..... ditto

 

Apart from the word 'luck', we can turn each of these words into a blessing for each other. Shall we try ?

 

May the Holy Spirit be the source of your vitality and spiritual well-being; may His inspiration be the foundation of your daring and passion as you minister in His mighty name ; may you know that your happiness and success are God-given blessings. This has nothing to do with luck ! And all to do with the sovereignty of our Eternel God. Our very best wishes to you for 2015.

 

The Ants come Marching one by one...

09 Dec 2014

When we returned from my Mother's funeral in the States, we were greeted by a stream of ants parading through our kitchen.  Not nasty stinging ants, so one wouldn't think it was a problem, but Amy thought that I should do something about them. What did they do to hurt me?  Besides drowning by the thousands in our jar of honey with a loose lid?  Amy took the initiative and put out some ant powder, but they kept coming in.  It turns out they had made a colony under our dishwasher, which was sitting on some broken concrete.  I can fix this, I thought. I'll just pour a new floor  of concrete over the dishwasher pad.  That stopped them from coming in from under the dishwasher, but forced the ants to find a new way out of their predicament of being buried alive.  They started coming out of the wall plug-ins and around the pipes in the kitchen.  After weeks of caulking all of the conduit and pipes I think we have them under control.  I've said that at least 10 times now, so my optimism is subdued.  The good news is that it forced me to do a much-needed countertop renovation project that I've thought of doing for years!

 

Nearly Christmas time

09 Dec 2014

Christmas preparations are not nearly so frenetic as in English-speaking countries, but there are plenty of things to do.  I especially want it to be a special time for my family to create traditions, to reveal the real meaning and joy of Christmas. Our churches organise Christmas plays and our country church has quite a reputation for its plays and atmosphere. We usually do 2 sessions and can get up to 250 people attending.

 

Unfortuately, the Christmas play is an end in itself, and in the 7 years we have been in this church, I've never heard our parishioners speak of it as an occasion to do serious outreach and follow up. We've never had new people come to the church as a result of what they experienced in the Christmas play.

 

But Christmas is an ambivalent time for me and I have reasonably regularly become ill over this time - usually after the Christmas plays. I think it's a psychological reaction to Christmas not really being what I would like it to be, notably spent with my Australian family. Thank God, they have been able to come over every few years to share with us and especially to have the joy of seeing their grandchildren.  I have rarely been to Oz for Christmas because it's just not possible to get away.

 

So I feel alone and not very motivated even to organise things to have more people around. When you are in leadership, people expect you to be the motor, and don't consider that you might like NOT to have something to prepare yet again. People around here don't invite easily outside of their own family. There isn't that same ability for everyone to muck in and have a good time together.

 

I'm in bed with the flu again, trying to convince my psyche that it is possible to stop the self-pity and the discouraged attitude.  Why do I want Christmas to be special ? What is the most important thing ? What is it I really want, but can't have ?  Allez, a little rest, catch up with my daily Bible readings,  read a good novel, make the most of the occasion to do Christmas mail before the 25th December! Ask the God of the Spirit of Christmas to show me why this Christmas is important for Him so I can also be caught up in the wonder of this amazing story.

 

PS. This year we have been invited to stay with good friends near the Alps for the New Year. So it will give us a chance to get away from leadership and just enjoy being with friends. Their children have flown the nest and we are one short, him being in Australia this year for his studies.

 

 

 

 

 

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