Set Forth Your Case

The Covenant Men's book club is currently reading The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. This quote from Clark Pinnock is a simple summary of the topic and caught my attention...

For the Scriptures then, the existence of God is both a historical truth (God acted into history), and an existential truth (God reveals himself to every soul). His existence is both objectively and subjectively evident. It is necessary logically because our assumption of order, design, and rationality rests upon it. It is necessary morally because there is no explanation for the shape of morality apart from it. It is necessary emotionally because the human experience requires an immediate and ultimate environment. It is necessary personally because the exhaustion of all material possibilities still cannot give satisfaction to the heart. The deepest proof for God's existence, apart from history, is just life itself. God has created man in his image, and men cannot elude the implications of this fact. Everywhere their identity pursues them. Ultimately, there is no escape. ... Clark H. Pinnock

Every Person We Meet

One of the 5 principles that we have adopted at Skillman as part of our effort to become more missional is "Every person we meet is created and loved by God". The following is the lesson I wrote for our life groups to use as a basis of discussion.

Dwelling In the Word – Luke 7:18-22
18 The disciples of John reported to him about all these things. 19 Summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?" 20 When the men came to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, `Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?' " 21 At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. 22 And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them.”

I was in Austin a couple of years ago attending the annual Texas Association of School Administrators Midwinter Conference. Austin suffers from severe traffic congestion, and with the legislature in session, plus a thousand school superintendents and about twice that many more other administrators the problem was magnified. One afternoon it took more than twenty minutes to drive the mile from the convention center to my hotel. People were typically impatient and all seemed to be in a hurry to get where they were going.

As I pulled up to the light at my exit, there was a shabbily dressed woman walking from car to car with a sign asking for money. As she came near, I made eye contact with her and smiled. She started to pass by, then backed up and motioned for me to roll down my window. She said, "I have been standing on this corner for over two hours, and you are the first person I have seen smile. I just wanted to thank you for smiling and tell you to have a blessed day."

(Rubel Shelley tells this story about Josh Graves)
Professor Jack was a homeless man in Detroit. In better days, he played in a band, owned a restaurant, and had a family. Addiction to drugs took all those things away from Jack. When Josh first met him, Jack was taking a meal from some church members whose hearts had been convicted about their need to help the poor. And he certainly qualified.

Jack began to be a tutor and coach to my young friend as the two just sat and talked. Josh can, in fact, tick off a catalog of things he learned from Jack. One of the most important lessons came early in the course.

As with first-rate teachers from Moses to Socrates to Jesus, Jack was open to questions. So Josh dared to ask him what good-intentioned people with charitable hearts could do that would really make a difference for the poor and homeless. "Make us feel real," he said. "We want to feel like we are real people. See us. Talk to us. Be with us. Help us feel. It isn't just about feeding us or giving us clothes. It's about seeing us."

1. What does the passage from Luke imply about the way Jesus interacted with the people he encountered?

2. What do the two stories imply about the way we interact with the people we encounter? What are the similarities of our interactions with people with those of Jesus’ interactions with people? What are the differences?

3. Do we really believe that every person we meet is created and loved by God?

4. What would it look like if we took to heart this quote from Oswald Chambers?

When the Spirit of God has shed abroad the love of God in our hearts, we begin deliberately to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ's interests in other people, and Jesus Christ is interested in every kind of man there is. We have no right in Christian work to be guided by our affinities; this is one of the biggest tests of our relationship to Jesus Christ.

Love Is...

One of those few emails worth passing on...

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 'What does love mean?' The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.' Rebecca- age 8

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.' Billy - age 4

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.' Karl - age 5

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.' Chrissy - age 6

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.' Terri - age 4

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.' Danny - age 7

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.' Bobby - age 7

'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,' Nikka - age 6

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.' Noelle - age 7

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.' Tommy - age 6

'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that.' Cindy - age 8

'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.' Elaine-age 5

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt.' Chris - age 7

'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.' Mary Ann - age 4

'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.' Lauren - age 4

'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' Karen - age 7

'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget. Jessica - age 8

And the winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry'

SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP

The following is from a series on leadership that Edward Fudge has been sharing through gracemail...
We have been considering three fundamental truths of spiritual leadership.
(1) Spiritual leadership involves lowly service, not legal power. Therefore we must not confuse spiritual leadership with political position.
(2) Spiritual leaders exercise grace-gifts from God, not worldly qualifications. Therefore we dare not focus on worldly achievements when choosing spiritual leaders.
(3) The Bible identifies gifted people, not legal qualifications. Therefore we should not confuse technical qualifications with spiritual characteristics.

Scripture nowhere provides a single, uniform list of qualifications for spiritual leaders. There are two New Testament passages which people often read in that fashion, written by Paul to his co-workers Timothy (1 Tim. 3:1-7) and Titus (Titus 1:5-9). However, when we read these passages carefully, we discover that they differ in several significant ways. Paul gives Timothy a description of the individual gifted for the episkopes ("oversight," "episcopacy" or "bishopric"), the work of overseeing or watching over other believers. He sends Titus a description of the person gifted to serve as a presbyteros ("senior," "elder" or "presbyter"). Christian scholars differ as to whether elders and bishops served in one position or two in the first century.

These two passages also contain different descriptives. Of the 30-35 traits mentioned in the two lists, only five are the same in Greek. If Paul were listing official qualifications, we would expect his lists to be identical. In addition, the descriptives Paul does give are often negative in form (don't pick this kind of person). The named traits are almost always relative as to quality (no precise threshold given). And there is no attempt to define these sometimes ambiguous terms. Paul is certainly not listing formal qualifications for an office, but is rather giving informal descriptions of those who are divinely gifted for the ministry of spiritual leadership.

Copyright 2008 by Edward Fudge.

Community Code of Conduct

From Jim Wallis's blog - pretty good ground rules for discourse in any setting - church, politics, work, community...

• I will express myself with civility, courtesy, and respect for every member of the community, especially toward those with whom I disagree—even if I feel disrespected by them. (Romans 12:17-21)
• I will express my disagreements with other community members' ideas without insulting, mocking, or slandering them personally. (Matthew 5:22)
• I will not exaggerate others' beliefs nor make unfounded prejudicial assumptions based on labels, categories, or stereotypes. I will always extend the benefit of the doubt. (Ephesians 4:29)

Third Places

The concept of 'Third Places' is one of the topics of conversation over on the Facebook group The Missional Conversation in Churches of Christ....

Frost suggests that people generally live out their lives between three distinct places: Home, Work and a third place. For many Christians, their third place is church and church activities. (He goes on to suggest a deep interconnectedness between this reality and the decline of the church.) While many Christians spend their free time engaged in religious activities with religious people, most everyone else has traditionally found their third place in spaces like bowling alleys, pool halls, mothers' groups, local pubs, and beauty shops.

Identifying the third places of your community will tell you a lot about the people we are seeking to reach. Furthermore, it identifies for us the places our churches must go if we are to reach them. People don't have time for a fourth place. That is what the church isn't getting.

Barclay on the Gospel

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
-- Matthew 9:10-13 (NIV)
_________________________

The social gospel is not an addendum to the gospel; it is the gospel. If we read the Gospels, it becomes clear that it was not what Jesus said about God that got him into trouble (but) his treatment of men and women, his way of being friendly with outcasts with whom no respectable Jew would have anything to do. It has always been fairly safe to talk about God; it is when we start to talk about men that the trouble starts. And yet the fact remains that there is no conceivable way of proving that we love God other than by loving men. And there is no conceivable way of proving that we love men than by doing something for those who most need help.
... William Barclay

Occasional Quote

The two great features of Protestant theology are its doctrines of justification by faith and the law as the rule of life. This is a synthesis of New Testament grace and Old Testament ethics. With this synthesis, Protestants have solved the problem of finding a gracious God, but they have not solved the problem of finding gracious neighbors. They can fellowship with God because he is gracious; but they find it difficult to fellowship with one another, because they are not so gracious.

... Robert D. Brinsmead

God's Politics...

I generally do not engage much in political discussion, but with the election looming I thought that this article by Jim Wallis is worth some thoughtful consideration...

After the last election, I wrote a book titled God’s Politics. I was criticized by some for presuming to speak for God, but that wasn’t the point. I was trying to explore what issues might be closest to the heart of God and how they may be quite different from what many strident religious voices were then saying. I was also saying that "God’s Politics" will often turn our partisan politics upside down, transcend our ideological categories of Left and Right, and challenge the core values and priorities of our political culture. I was also trying to say that there is certainly no easy jump from God’s politics to either the Republicans or Democrats. God is neither. In any election we face imperfect choices, but our choices should reflect the things we believe God cares about if we are people of faith, and our own moral sensibilities if we are not people of faith. Therefore, people of faith, and all of us, should be "values voters" but vote all our values, not just a few that can be easily manipulated for the benefit of one party or another.

In 2008, the kingdom of God is not on the ballot in any of the 50 states as far as I can see. So we can’t vote for that this year. But there are important choices in this year’s election — very important choices — which will dramatically impact what many in the religious community and outside of it call "the common good," and the outcome could be very important, perhaps even more so than in many recent electoral contests.

I am in no position to tell anyone what is "non-negotiable," and neither is any bishop or megachurch pastor, but let me tell you the "faith priorities" and values I will be voting on this year:

1. With more than 2,000 verses in the Bible about how we treat the poor and oppressed, I will examine the record, plans, policies, and promises made by the candidates on what they will do to overcome the scandal of extreme global poverty and the shame of such unnecessary domestic poverty in the richest nation in the world. Such a central theme of the Bible simply cannot be ignored at election time, as too many Christians have done for years. And any solution to the economic crisis that simply bails out the rich, and even the middle class, but ignores those at the bottom should simply be unacceptable to people of faith.
2. From the biblical prophets to Jesus, there is, at least, a biblical presumption against war and the hope of beating our swords into instruments of peace. So I will choose the candidates who will be least likely to lead us into more disastrous wars and find better ways to resolve the inevitable conflicts in the world and make us all safer. I will choose the candidates who seem to best understand that our security depends upon other people’s security (everyone having "their own vine and fig tree, so no one can make them afraid," as the prophets say) more than upon how high we can build walls or a stockpile of weapons. Christians should never expect a pacifist president, but we can insist on one who views military force only as a very last resort, when all other diplomatic and economic measures have failed, and never as a preferred or habitual response to conflict.
   
3. "Choosing life" is a constant biblical theme, so I will choose candidates who have the most consistent ethic of life, addressing all the threats to human life and dignity that we face — not just one. Thirty-thousand children dying globally each day of preventable hunger and disease is a life issue. The genocide in Darfur is a life issue. Health care is a life issue. War is a life issue. The death penalty is a life issue. And on abortion, I will choose candidates who have the best chance to pursue the practical and proven policies which could dramatically reduce the number of abortions in America and therefore save precious unborn lives, rather than those who simply repeat the polarized legal debates and "pro-choice" and "pro-life" mantras from either side.
   
4. God’s fragile creation is clearly under assault, and I will choose the candidates who will likely be most faithful in our care of the environment. In particular, I will choose the candidates who will most clearly take on the growing threat of climate change, and who have the strongest commitment to the conversion of our economy and way of life to a cleaner, safer, and more renewable energy future. And that choice could accomplish other key moral priorities like the redemption of a dangerous foreign policy built on Middle East oil dependence, and the great prospects of job creation and economic renewal from a new "green" economy built on more spiritual values of conservation, stewardship, sustainability, respect, responsibility, co-dependence, modesty, and even humility.
   
5. Every human being is made in the image of God, so I will choose the candidates who are most likely to protect human rights and human dignity. Sexual and economic slavery is on the rise around the world, and an end to human trafficking must become a top priority. As many religious leaders have now said, torture is completely morally unacceptable, under any circumstances, and I will choose the candidates who are most committed to reversing American policy on the treatment of prisoners. And I will choose the candidates who understand that the immigration system is totally broken and needs comprehensive reform, but must be changed in ways that are compassionate, fair, just, and consistent with the biblical command to "welcome the stranger."
   
6. Healthy families are the foundation of our community life, and nothing is more important than how we are raising up the next generation. As the father of two young boys, I am deeply concerned about the values our leaders model in the midst of the cultural degeneracy assaulting our children. Which candidates will best exemplify and articulate strong family values, using the White House and other offices as bully pulpits to speak of sexual restraint and integrity, marital fidelity, strong parenting, and putting family values over economic values? And I will choose the candidates who promise to really deal with the enormous economic and cultural pressures that have made parenting such a "countercultural activity" in America today, rather than those who merely scapegoat gay people for the serious problems of heterosexual family breakdown.

To The Least of These

Give us a heart for the hopeless,
The weary and wounded,
For all who are hungry, helpless, and poor.
Let us see the sorrow,
The pain and the heartache
That all the abandoned endure.

May we reach out to the broken,
the beaten, the battered,
To all who have fallen, disgraced and ashamed.
May we be a comfort, loving forgiving and
Offering grace in Your name.

To the last, to the lost, to the least of these,
Let us be Jesus today.

Randy Gill, 2007

Quotes for Today

Ultimate confidence in the goodness of life cannot rest upon confidence in the goodness of man. If that is where it rests, it is an optimism which will suffer ultimate disillusionment. Romanticism will be transmuted into cynicism, as it has always been in the world's history. The faith of a Christian is something quite different from this optimism. It is trust in God, in a good God who created a good world, though the world is not now good; in a good God, powerful and good enough finally to destroy the evil that men do and redeem them of their sins. This kind of faith is not optimism. It does not, in fact, arise until optimism breaks down and men cease to trust in themselves that they are righteous. ... Reinhold Niebuhr

Certainty

Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We imagine that we have to reach some end, but that is not the nature of spiritual life. The nature of spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty, consequently we do not make our nests anywhere. Common sense says - "Well, supposing I were in that condition . . ." We cannot suppose ourselves in any condition we have never been in. Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life: gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness, it should be rather an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. Immediately we abandon to God, and do the duty that lies nearest, He packs our life with surprises all the time. When we become advocates of a creed, something dies; we do not believe God, we only believe our belief about Him. Jesus said, "Except ye become as little children." Spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, but uncertain of what He is going to do next. If we are only certain in our beliefs, we get dignified and severe and have the ban of finality about our views; but when we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy...Oswald Chambers

Quote of the Day

Genuine outrage is not just a permissible reaction to the hard-pressed Christian; God himself feels it, and so should the Christian in the presence of pain, cruelty, violence, and injustice. God, who is the Father of Jesus Christ, is neither impersonal nor beyond good and evil. By the absolute immutability of His character, He is implacably opposed to evil and outraged by it. ... Os Guinness

Imagination vs Memory

Charme passed this along to me a couple of days ago. A guy named Mark Batterson wrote it on April 1, and the perspective it lends to the missional discernment process is worthy of consideration...

Neurological studies have shown that over the course of time, there is a cognitive shift from right-brain to left-brain. And if we don't find a way to stop the shift, memory overtakes imagination. We stop creating the future and start repeating the past. We stop innovating and start imitating. We stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing ministry out of memory.

A few years ago I read something R.T Kendall wrote that impacted me: "The greatest opposition to what God is doing today comes from those who were on the
cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday."

One of the byproducts of the neurological shift away from right-brain imagination toward left-brain logic is that we become too logical. And it seems fitting on April Fool's Day to say that great leaders are illogical. The people God uses the most are people that aren't afraid of looking foolish. In fact, if you aren't willing to look foolish you're foolish!

I Corinthians 1:27 says that God uses foolish things to shame the wise. Nothing has changed. He still uses fools. So maybe the church should adopt April Fool's Day and make it a holy day!

Death, Be Not Proud

Easter came really early this year, and I'm still reflecting on it. I came across John Donne's poem on the powerlessness of death, and thought it appropriate...

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more, must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms, can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke. Why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die.
... John Donne (1573-1631), Divine Poems: Holy Sonnets, no. 17

Oswald Chambers on Prayer

This year one of my daily devotional resources is Oswald Chambers' 'My Utmost for His Highest'. I must admit that some of them kind of pass over my head, but this morning's caught my attention...

The reason many of us leave off praying and become hard towards God is because we have only a sentimental interest in prayer. It sounds right to say that we pray; we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial, that our minds are quieted and our souls uplifted when we pray; but Isaiah implies that God is amazed at such thoughts of prayer.

Worship and intercession must go together, the one is impossible without the other. Intercession means that we rouse ourselves up to get the mind of Christ about the one for whom we pray. Too often instead of worshipping God, we construct statements as to how prayer works. Are we worshipping or are we in dispute with God - "I don't see how You are going to do it." This is a sure sign that we are not worshipping. When we lose sight of God we become hard and dogmatic. We hurl our own petitions at God's throne and dictate to Him as to what we wish Him to do. We do not worship God, nor do we seek to form the mind of Christ. If we are hard towards God, we will become hard towards other people.

Are we so worshipping God that we rouse our selves up to lay hold on Him so that we may be brought into contact with His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship to God, or are we hard and dogmatic?

"But there is no one interceding properly" - then be that one yourself, be the one who worships God and who lives in holy relationship to Him. Get into the real work of intercession, and
remember it is a work, a work that taxes every power; but a work which has no snare.

I'm Back...

I didn't intend to take 2 months off from blogging - it just kind of happened. It has been an extra busy time at work and I'm in the midst of a 3-month stint as chairman of the elders. So far during this 3 month period we have gone through a reaffirmation process (for the first time ever at Skillman) of 1/3 of the current elders, have had the retirement of our senior adults minister, the resignation of our worship minister, our annual congregational business meeting (as required by Texas state law for non-profits), and the regular congregational meeting that we have on the 5th Sunday of each of the months that have 5 Sundays - and I have another month to go....

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My original bracket has North Carolina beating Memphis in the finals - I am still in good shape on that half of my bracket. I won't bring up the fact that my other 2 final 4 selections were Duke and Georgetown...

Post Super Bowl Musings

Being a Cowboys fan, I was ambivilant as the game began, but I found myself in the unexpected state of pulling for the division rival underdog Giants. It was fairly predictable that Tom Brady would move the Patriots efficiently down the field for the go ahead score late in the game. What was exciting was the question of whether the maligned Eli Manning would be able to respond. I wonder how many other non-Giants fans found themselves pulling for Eli in those final minutes?

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I'm not that big on all the hoopla and entertainment that surrounds the Super Bowl, and deliberately did not tune in until right before kickoff. Hence, I missed the reading of the Declaration of Independence, which was reportedly one of the highlights of the day....Jordin Sparks did one of the better performances of the National Anthem that I've heard. I hear many variations before the start of most of my basketball games - they are not always inspiring or necessarily pleasurable; this one was....I also thought the half time show was better than usual....Most of the commercials were uninspiring and unoriginal. I did think the fire breather was a little bit funny and the talking stain was more than a little funny. (It also provided a pretty good illustration of the barriers that can interfere with communication) The two Coke commercials and the Diet Pepsi Max one were pretty good. I thought the Sales Genie commercial with the Pandas stereotyped an entire culture and was in poor taste....

IRC - Barbara's Reflections

One of the experiments planned as part of our second year of Partnership for Missional Church is called 5 in 5. The idea is that we will interact with and get to know 5 different cultures in our community within 5 months. There are several purposes. One is to expand our awareness of God at work in our community. Another is to develop and build relationship with our neighbors. A third is to prime the pump of our imagination as to ways that we can get out of our building and join God in His activities. Last Saturday a group of us visited with refugee children and families who have been resettled in an apartment complex a couple of miles from our building. Barbara compiled her reflections on the day...

Last Saturday, Jan. 26th, 22 Skillman people went to an apartment complex off of Greenville Avenue to host a party for some refugee children. While we were there, we learned about the IRC - International Rescue Committee. This group was founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein. The IRC is the oldest and largest non-profit nonsectarian voluntary organization that provides assistance to refugees and victims of oppression and violence in their home countries. Dallas is one of 25 resettlement communities in the U.S.

The terms “refugees” and “immigrants” are not the same. Refugees have been forced to leave their countries due to fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, or membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Immigrants voluntarily leave their countries of origin to reside in another country.

The U. S. accepts a certain number of refugees each year, determined by the President and Congress. In 2006, the U. S. admitted 70,000 refugees, although more could have been admitted – in recent years many slots have gone unfilled.

In order to qualify for resettlement in the U.S., a person must come from a country or belong to a group designated by the U.S. Department of State. They have to prove that they have a well-founded fear of persecution. Officers from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service conduct interviews to identify people who are eligible for resettlement in the U.S. Once they are approved, they undergo medical and security screenings.

When they arrive in the U.S., the gov’t and non-profit agencies, such as the IRC, provides time-limited assistance, helping refugees to adapt to American society, get jobs, learn English, find housing. They are entitled to refugee status for one year after they arrive, then they are eligible to become permanent residents. Five years after their arrival in the U.S., they may apply for American citizenship.

Our group provided snacks for about 40 beautiful children from Burma and Burundi, and helped them complete an art project. We gave them the socks and scarves that the congregation provided. We also met several volunteer workers who are also refugees. They are grateful for the help they themselves have received and want to give the same help and kindness to other refugees. One of the workers told us her story about her family fleeing their home country of Burma due to persecution related to their political beliefs and how they ended up in a refugee camp in Thailand before they were relocated to the U. S. She spoke of the difficulty in adjusting to a new country with different customs, foods, and language.

We had an opportunity to spend some time with people who don’t look and sound like us, but yet a connection was made in that brief time. It made me think about God’s beautiful creation – this tapestry of people and cultures that God created. What an amazing plan He has! He is at work in the lives of people everywhere, whether they are living in an apartment complex filled with refugees or in this sanctuary of our congregation.

I have been thinking a lot recently about what it means to be “missional”. I think that I have defined being “missional” too narrowly. It’s more than providing support for mission efforts. It’s more than doing good deeds and working and picking out a particular “cause” or service project to be involved in. All of these things are good. But I think it also involves taking the time to hear the stories of people and genuinely being interested in them. Being “real” with people leads to further discussion and further opportunities to share Jesus. To be honest, this is difficult for me. But I know that this is something that I can do each day if I will only take the time to be aware of what’s going on around me.

I think this experience with the refugees raised our awareness. We became aware of issues faced by refugees and their needs. We became aware of their desire to rebuild their lives in a new country. We became aware of their spirit.

Normandy

One last post on our trip to Europe (maybe...). In some ways this was very much a World War II trip. Someone had encouraged us to watch Band of Brothers before we went - an excellent suggestion and a great series. We spent a day at Dachau and got some feel for the German perspective on things. We spent several hours in the World War I and II exhibits at the Military Museum in Paris, and got some feel for the French perspective on things. (Did you realize that DeGaulle was almost single handedly responsible for the Allied victory in WW II?) And on the Friday before we left Paris we took a day trip to Normandy.

We took an early (7:15 am)train from Paris to Caen, where we were met by our tour guide. We spent the morning at the Peace Museum in Caen - an experience I would recommend to anyone who has any interest in World War II. We were served lunch at the museum and then boarded a bus with a couple of other small groups to visit a few of the significant sites in the area, including St. Mere Eglise, Omaha and Juno beaches, Pointe du Hoc, and the American Cemetary. I've seen The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan and now The Band of Brothers, and have a much greater appreciation for those depictions now than when I saw them, but none of them manage to fully convey the conditions that the American soldiers faced at Omaha Beach on D-Day.

I have been to the National Cemetaries at Gettysburg and at Arlington, and am duly appreciative of what they represent, but the American Cemetary in Normandy, at the top of the cliff overlooking Omaha Beach is something extra special. Nearly 10,000 American soldiers are buried there, and more than 1500 additional names are on the Wall of the Missing. Perhaps some of my perspective comes from visiting it with my (then) 19 year old son. Most of the bodies buried there were around his age when they gave their lives on foreign soil for the sake of freedom. It was truly an experience that I will never forget.