Settling In | Northern India
Nick and I have made it safely to Northern India and are settling in nicely to new cultures, peoples, and adventures. The diversity here is outstanding. From the time we walk out our flat, down our little corridor to our street, to the main square, we have passed Tibetan refugees, Hindus, Bhutanese, Nepalese… etc. (Not to mention the westerners who have come in search of spiritual enlightenment from all over the world.) We are so excited to be here for the next two months to interact with, love on, and share life with all the many peoples we now find ourselves amongst.
The view from our little flat.
The Himalayan Mountains are the backdrop of our new home for the next two months.
The first day we came, we went to a little chai stand down the main road for one of the best chais you can imagine (and for only 6rupees = $0.12). There, I had the lovely opportunity to meet an English woman named “Ann” (named changed for privacy). We started talking over this beautiful cup of chai and she began to tell me that she was feeling “jaded” towards people and more skeptical than ever. I could easily see the hurt in her eyes and disappointment she felt as she shared this intimate detail with me. At that moment, I felt saddened, but at the same time, very hopeful. I recalled to her that at the darkest time of my life, feeling hopeless and confused, I had a real experience with Jesus. This experience changed my life forever and I will live the rest of my days loving people because I am receiving first, love from God. I am full of peace, love and joy because of my experience with God and I am able to serve others out of that. With tears in her eyes and a soft hand on my arm, she said, “That’s what I’ve been missing. I have been searching for 15 years for that kind of experience. I want that.”
Okay, so maybe not all of my days will be filled with beautiful encounters and stories like this, but I pray they are. I pray that God is truly encountered by those searching for Him, and that His love will fulfill their deepest longings.
“Let God love you and let others watch”
Our Tibetan neighbor, doing his daily recitations.
Jesus and his Message
Jesus, the Jesus of history, the Jesus who was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth, the Jesus who was raised by his parents Joseph and Mary, the one who grew up as all good Jewish boys did memorizing the Torah, attending the synagogue and pilgrimaging to the temple; this Jesus began his public ministry with a simple announcement, “The Kingdom of God is near!”
For Jesus of Nazareth, from that point on forward, what began as his opening announcement remained his central message in all that he said and did. He stayed on course with his Kingdom of God motif right through to the very end of his life.
If this was Jesus’ main message then we might ask: “What is the Kingdom of God?” and “how is it near (at hand)?“ Many did ask Jesus these questions and other questions just like them.
Now, Jesus had a peculiar way of communicating his message when people would ask their questions. Many times he simply answered people’s questions with another question.. He had a way of seeing behind people’s questions to something deeper and quite revealing.
He also wasn’t nearly as literal and precise as we are today. Our modern sensibilities seem to prefer describing things in more of a straight forward and direct approach. In contrast, Jesus chose to explain his message through simile and short stories called parables. Jesus went about saying such things like:
The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed..
The Kingdom of God is like yeast the a woman mixes into flour..
It is like a man who scatters seed on the ground..
It is like.. when a certain man was preparing a great feast..
If Jesus were around today we could imagine Jesus being interviewed on the TV show Larry King Live. Larry might ask Jesus if he could explain more about his main message. Jesus would begin explaining, “The kingdom is like this.. or the Kingdom is like that ..” Larry King might ask Jesus in the closing 15 seconds of the show to simply break down his message into a headline or soundbite, something short, concise and clear. Jesus might say, “Well Larry, the Kingdom of God is like..”
You probably get the point already.
I have been on a journey of following this Jesus. The one who was born, lived, died and resurrected a couple millennia ago. When at first I started following Jesus, it was for a variety of different reasons and motivations (I could talk to you about those reasons some time in greater detail.) The point I want to make now is that I now find myself following Jesus for a different set of reasons. Some of the orignal reasons remain, some have evolved, and many are brand new reasons altogether.
Paula and I have been apart of a community of people (here in Cape Town) who are learning together what it means to follow Jesus. Recently we have been learning about and deeply exploring this central message of Jesus, the Kingdom of God. There are four accounts of the life of Jesus: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When I first seriously started reading the story of Jesus I began in Matthew (because it was the first book in the New Testament). Matthew has Jesus going everywhere talking about the “Kingdom of Heaven“. At the time when I first started reading Matthew some people told me that Jesus came to teach people how to get to heaven when they die. Therefore, I used to read Jesus’ parables explaining “the Kingdom of Heaven” and think that he was describing what Heaven will be like for us one day after we die and escape this earthy physical dwelling. I assumed he was talking about a place somewhere else, not here.
Rosa Celeste: Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the highest Heaven, The Empyrean 19th century
In contrast, Luke’s and Mark’s Gospel’s tells us Jesus was talking about the “Kingdom of God”. Even though these Gospels had “Kingdom of God” instead of “Kingdom of Heaven” I hadn’t really asked myself why the language was different in their account of things. I just assumed that all of these stories and parables were Jesus’ attempt at describing what Heaven was like and what we needed to do in order to get there some day.
Originally my motivations for following Jesus was more about getting to heaven, escaping this life. My hope was for a distant spiritual place far away from this physical place.
Recently, my motivations have been changing. I am waking up to the reality that actually Jesus wasn’t going around teaching people how to escape this world, rather he was planting creative stories in the minds and hearts of people which were explaining how God’s Kingdom was breaking into this one, the here and now, with renewing and transforming power.
I have been discovering that Jesus’ Kingdom of God Message is about the present, not simply the future. It is about what God is doing through us, not only what he does in and for us. Following Jesus and living for his Kingdom is not the least bit about escaping this world, rather, it is about shaping our world.
Our Lord teaches us to pray for the reality of God’s-realm (heaven) to become meshed with our-space (earth).
“May your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
This has become our prayer. May the reality/life of heaven become reality in your life today. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Harrowing of Hell 15 centurey. Hermitage
Where in the world?
I can hardly believe we’ve been in Cape Town for six weeks already. In some ways we’ve experienced a lifetime worth, and on the other hand, it feels like yesterday we were waving our (temporary) goodbyes to our Zambian family for this next season. Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, if you ask me. The mountains tower high over the land as the ocean shores crash in all its wildness. We’ve been enjoying it’s countryside immensely all while journeying a heart’s path that will make these moments truly last forever.
We’ve been apart of a school here in Cape Town called CPx (church planting experience) through the parent organization we’re serving under in Zambia, called All Nations
While in this school, we’ve been grappling with things like: how to do life in an African setting while serving and empowering the Africans, how to celebrate the love of Jesus with people without changing their cultural context, and how to effectively minister to the oppressed and walk a journey with them rather than “convert” them. God has really been in the midst of all this, shaping our hearts, bringing beautiful relationships to surround us with, and showing us His love and grace in this process.
Walter Wink wrote a book called Jesus and Non-violence, one that Nick and I are currently reading together. Some of you might have already seen this quote on my facebook. “What does God require of me in response to the needs of others?” It’s not, “How can I be virtuous?” But, “How can I participate in the struggle of the oppressed for a more just world?” That’s where we are. At the very core of who Nick and I are, we are seeking God’s heart to participate in this struggle. How to live out Isaiah 58 and “loose the chains of injustice, untie the cords of the yoke, and set the oppressed free… share your food with the hungry, to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, clothe them.”
How it looks and where that takes us in the future is an open book.
But where is that taking us right now?
Nick and I are headed on yet another wild adventure, and heading to Dharamsala, India. (Where the Dalai Lama lives.) We will be there for approximately two months, staying at the base of the Hymalayan Mountains, sharing life with the Tibetan people residing there. If you aren’t familiar with much of the Tibetan history and why many Tibetans are living in Northern India, please read here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharamsala
We are so excited for this short time we will get in Dharamsala, sharing what we’ve learned in CPx and experiencing the beauty and charm of the Tibetan culture.
We’d be so blessed to have your prayer support during our trip. If you’d like to be apart of an email to receive very specific prayer requests, please let us know and we’d be happy to add you to our list.
The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
He enables me to tread on the heights.
Zambia to South Africa
I’m a photographer. I see the world in highlights and shadows, composition and shape. Sometimes I don’t want to be ‘framing’ my world within the contours of a viewfinder, but I do. It’s not a burden, but a gift. Being in Zambia, the world around me has changed. I feel a bit like a kid in a candy store with all the new and wonderful treasures there is to capture; the people especially. We have journeyed with the beautiful people of Zambia for about 5 months. We have learned a bit of their language, their culture, and their faith. We have seen the hardships they face and we have seen God move in beautiful ways. It has been my pleasure to freeze them in my camera. To freeze the moments of time we have spent with them, and to freeze their burdens and trials into a means of raising awareness and connecting worlds. That’s my hope and my prayer.
On a personal note: For those of you who don’t already know, Nick and I will be spending the next few months in Cape Town, South Africa as we go through the CPx training and schooling with All Nations (the parent organization to Love’s Door). We are excited to be back in South Africa, in a town we love and with people we cherish, but will deeply miss, for this short time, the people of Zambia, the villagers we shared life with, and the opportunities to serve with them… but this is only the beginning for us….
Prayer points: For those of you who are continually praying for us and showing us support and encouragement, Thank you! We are forever grateful! A few things we are praying about and hope you can join in are: A mode of transportation. We are thinking about getting a little scooter to get around Cape Town during our schooling and are praying for the funds to come in. We are also prayerful about the outreach phase of this schooling, as we want to be and go where we are supposed to be. There is so much need and so many people to shine light to, but want to be in His perfect will.
Well Watered Gardens
Our return to Redhill was a much-anticipated reunion. Three years ago marked a very pivotal time in our young, American, newly married lives: deciding to move into a little shack in a South African township to work amongst the Xhosa people. Life changing, really. Probably more for us than them. We had little inklings of what it’d be like, but had no idea it’d shape our lives and decisions from then on in such a large way. Not to mention the real love and bond with the people of Redhill, specifically with our neighbors David and Daisy.
So, you can imagine, the emotions that come into play, when you drive up the road, in anticipation to seeing them again, revisiting the little shack that kept us cold at night and warm in the day. (and no, that was not a mistake)
My heart felt heavy from the start of the day, wondering if they’d still be there, fearing they wouldn’t share in our excitement of returning, but mostly just out-of-my-skin thrilled for the opportunity to see everyone again. Liana, our roommate in this shack three years ago, and I both admitted feeling a little nervous just as we parked.
So we head up to our old stomping grounds, reminiscing and noticing changes in the once burnt grounds of a fire stricken land, now with flourishing gardens and natural landscape. We see David and Daisy. Tears start flowing and Daisy immediately embraces us and reminds me that I am crying the same as the day I left. David came around the corner and got his same old toothless grin on his face. One that looks like he’s trying to hold back his real emotions. “We often talked of you guys, wondering when you’d come back. Took you long enough” he said, in his almost cowboy-like abruptness. Soon came the little kids that once knew us so well, playing in our yard, and sitting on our laps. I saw Artule, a little boy whose photographs graced the pages of magazine stories of Redhill and my gallery in Portland. I had a photo of him hanging on my office wall at home, and would recognize his eyes from a mile away. He was happy to accompany us for the remaining tour of Redhill that day. Hand in hand, we went.
I was reminded of the scripture the Lord gave us while working in Redhill. Isaiah 58, a well quoted chapter of God’s heart for justice, and yet, for us, almost a prophetic inscription of what to expect from the Lord in our sun-scorched land.
“and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in the sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called the Repairer of Broken walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” Isaiah 58: 10-12
Walter Brueggemann: What is Justice?
I was just watching this short vimeo video from The Justice Conference where Walter Brueggemann is discussing what biblical Justice is and the challenge for those who follow Yahweh to work towards the alleviation of injustices.
I am encouraged how Brueggemann is bringing much needed attention to the often separated notions of our “declared love for God” and our “social activities”. I also appreciated how he highlights the truth that there can be systemic conditions within communities that lend to the oppression of people.
Watch this video below and lets discuss what he is saying here. Is it helpful to you?
One of the misfortunes in the long history of the church is that we have mistakenly separated love of God from love of neighbor and always they are held together in prophetic poetry.Covenant members who practice justice and righteousness are to be active advocates for the vulnerable and the marginal and the people without resources and that then becomes the way to act out and exhibit one’s love of God.
So love of God gets translated into love of vulnerable neighbors. And the doing of Justice is the prophetic invitation to do what needs to be done to enable the poor and the disadvantaged and the neglected to participate in the resources and the wealth of the community.
And injustice is the outcome of having skewed neighborly processes so some are put at an unbearable disadvantage.
And the gospel invitation is that people intervene in that to correct those mistaken arrangements.” -Walter Brueggemann
I have read his book about the both the vocation and influence of the Prophets within the scriptures titled, “The Prophetic Imagination”
I do recommend it if you are interested to study about the prophetic literature within the Bible. It is only 150 pages but full of prophetic challenge for the faith.
To hear more about what I have been reading and being encouraged by, visit readingtheology.com
Queen
Queen, a recent widow and newfound friend of mine: at first impression, she is seemingly shy and reserved. Take another look and you’ll find she is spunky and a fighter. She wears the scarf of one who has lost her husband. She is grieving. He was the sole provider of their family; now leaving her the sole provider of her eight grandchildren. She is burdened. Zambian law gives rights to her husband’s family, not including his widow. She is being told that their land is no longer hers, because it belongs to his family. She is alone.
I would like to say we have easy answers and a quick fix for Queen. We don’t. The issues that Queen is up against are complicated, cultural, and multi-dimensional, and if we want to help create an atmosphere of empowerment for Queen, more and more, we are finding that being encouragers and a support is where our role should be. It’s hard. It’s messy.
I am reminded of a song that Dan wrote… (Abridged version)
Take my love to the Nations…
Show them I care…
Show them I’m there
Take my light to the dark places of this world
Show them I care…
Show them I’m there
Watch their faces turn bright when they turn on that light
And they see that I care
and they know that I’m there
Take my healing to the broken hearted orphan child
Show him I’m there
Show her I care
In her darkest night
I will work for her with all my might
Show her I’m there
Show him I care
Cause if you don’t go
How then will they know?
That I still care
That I’m really
You’re my hands and my feet
You’re my message to this world
To show them I’m there
To show them I care
We ask for prayer and wisdom in finding ways to partner with Queen and her family… for provision and long-term solutions to take care of her and her grandchildren.
Poverty
“Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meaning.” When Helping Hurts
I have told many people about this book that I’m reading, When Helping Hurts. It’s a book serving to identify what true poverty looks like, from all aspects, in order to be able to discern the best way to help alleviate it. Poverty is not just lack of material possessions. It’s not just about lacking food or shelter or shoes to walk to school. There’s definitely a lot of that kind of poverty here in Zambia and it’s an easy thing to recognize, that’s for sure. But what this book is distinguishing between is the material poverty and the kind of poverty that goes deeper. It goes into the very fiber of who we are and who we were created to be. It’s poverty that keeps us from being able to have compassion on others, or that keeps us broken inside, or that keeps us distant from our Maker.
Living in Africa, it’s very tempting to want to help in visibly large ways! I want to be able to say, “I fed 1,000 people today!” I want those 1,000 people to have food. It’s not a bad thing to want, I believe. But what happens when tomorrow, those same 1,000 people don’t have food again? Do they come together as a community to figure out creative ways to get food, or do they come to us, the “makuah” for the handout? (makuah is white person). My heart would be the former, and not the latter. They are wonderfully intelligent, hard working, and compassionate people. But if we only see the immediate need of giving the handouts as the answer, we are stunting their ability to be whole people, to have the dignity of working and to be creative beings to solve problems and see it through. I am challenged and encouraged by the concepts in this book, and it’s helping me form relationships with the people in the village that is not on a “giver and receiver” basis. Instead, it gives us the ability to have relationships with mutual encouragement, helping each other reach our full potential as loved human beings, created for great things, restored for His glory!
Monde.
It’s so easy to think on the life changes we have seen by coming here to Zambia. I often times recall all the things we left behind or the people we miss. That’s not a bad thing. I would like to think it’s actually quite normal and healthy. I’ll be the first one to tell you that I miss my mommy. I’m a momma’s girl for sure. We used to talk on the phone everyday. About everything. I miss that.
Our life has changed dramatically. Too true. We went from a comfortable life in the Pacific Northwest, where we had friends and family, great jobs, and community with our church; we went on dates to our local pub, we ran on the river trail by our house, we volunteered at the local community center, we knew our postman.
These days, we still have community. We have a group of people that all love serving the poor, who serve Jesus first and foremost, and who are passionate about seeing people’s lives improved, both by seeing life in Jesus, but also by tangible things like clean water, orphan care and empowerment. We are a multi-cultural group, which I love. We are friends. We have partnered with some of the most salt-of-the-earth kind of people, who we share life with. We watch movies here, we talk about life and dream together.
Life is much simpler here– simpler than the fast-paced-United-States, sense of the word. We walk a lot. We hang our laundry on a line, we make most of our meals… yes, even I cook. And yet, we are faced with more challenging scenarios and situations than I have ever been faced with before. A woman’s son beats her, a woman’s husband beats her, a woman has just been diagnosed with AIDS, a father must pass down his demon spirits to his son because it’s tradition… the list goes on. Alcoholism, rape, abuse, AIDS, oppression, fear, poverty… How do we handle it? How does one Jesus-loving group tackle these things?
Here’s my hope… Monde. A little girl, once vulnerable, once abandoned, once left without food or care. Now, living in a safe, loving environment. Once unable to walk because of neglect, now walking. Once only knowing tears and crying, now laughs.
For all the things we don’t know, or for all the things we don’t feel equipped to handle, we have been commanded as Christians to care for the poor and the widow, to show justice and mercy, and to be love, as Jesus loved us. So we press on. We ask for wisdom and grace. We ask for support from you, family and friends. And we ask for prayer to continue to seek what’s right and advocate on behalf of those who can’t.
Children of Zambia
“…if you spend yourself on behalf of the hungry, and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” Isaiah 58:10
With the demeanor of a meak and quiet spirit, with just wispers in his voice, Oliver sits beside me as I teach him English colors and read him some Bible stories. At age 9, Oliver (shown directly below), has been identified as a vulnerable child here in the villages. He and his younger sister, Monde, were both found with no food, in a home with no roof, in a village where they were unwanted. Even by their own mother. Love’s Door for All Nations, the organization we serve with, gladly welcomed them into their Children’s Home with a caring widow, named Hilda who has taken them in amongst her own children. He now has food, shelter, clothing, and school fees, but most importantly, a chance at life, and hope.
World Change is How We Roll
World Change is How I Roll….
I received this slogan on a sticker from a company called Sevenly after purchasing a t-shirt that donates funds to people in need of clean water.
I loved the sticker almost as much as the shirt.
How cool would this world be if everyone lived by that little catchy phrase? World Change.
What does it even mean? How can we even do this?
For some people, maybe they can’t go to far off distant lands and work with the poor and broken. Maybe some don’t even want to. Maybe others don’t have any extra money to give or resources to spare.
We know a man here in Zambia in one of the villages we serve in who is constantly telling us about all the needs we should help with. This woman’s thatch roof is falling down, or this family has no food.
He desperately wants to help, but doesn’t feel like he has anything to give.
So he tells the “white man”, who of course, has all the keys to save the world and all the money in the world to do it. Or maybe that’s what they’ve been told or maybe that’s what they’ve learned. (a different subject entirely)
But instead, I want to challenge our friend in the village to give what he does have.
Compassion, time, a worker’s strong hand, prayer, love.
If we think on these things, we all have SO much to give. Some things are intangible, but equally, if not more, moving to another human.
I offer my hand to help, but also, I offer my heart.
Jesus taught me this. He showed us first what it’s like to lay down our lives for others. I have been moved by this and in turn, want to show this love to others. It’s a start. It’s a goal.
And thus, I offer my two cents and challenge you to go ahead… change the world.