Reflections

December 2015

It’s hard to believe that another year is coming to an end. It’s a cliché but true: The older I get, the faster time flies. Seems like just yesterday I was pinning up the 2015 calendar to plan for the year ahead.

And who could have predicted all of the major crises and events that have shaped all corners of our fragile world during 2015? There have been conflicts, natural disasters, epidemics, and displacement. Christmas seems to be coming just in time this year. Now more than ever we need to hear the angels’ song: “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace among all people.” Luke 2:14

Our 17-year old daughter, Alifa, stumbled into the kitchen this morning for breakfast on her way to school. On the news was the story of the latest mass shooting in San Bernardino. “Again?” she asked, appalled. “I feel sorry for my generation. We’re going to become desensitized to all this killing if it keeps on happening.”

Whether we are living in the middle East, southern Africa, southeast Asia, Latin America, Europe or the U.S., the importance of building individual and community resilience, and the study of trauma recovery, are increasingly important to our lives and work wherever we are. In an environment of stress and suffering, the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl reminds us that “those who have a Will to live, can bear with the How”.

So, where do we find the will to live? Where do we find encouragement? Where can we go for ‘Good News’? Where can we turn to find the inspiration that fuels our drive for meaning and a life of service? And, how can we infect others? After all, don’t we follow and worship the ‘Prince of peace’?

Psalm 41: “Be still and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

Psalm 68:19 “Praise be to the Lord, to God our savior, who daily bears our burdens.”

Isaiah 12:2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.”

In the words of the famous Christmas carol ‘Joy to the World’, written by Isaac Watts in 1719: “He rules the world with truth and grace…”

So, let’s avoid distractions of the holiday and seek the Lord. Let’s listen – look up – love well – and live faithfully.

“For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2: 11

Have a blessed Christmas; and let’s look forward to a New Year filled with hope and joy – because He came -- and He’s coming again!

– Frank Dimmock

October 2015

Mark 9:38-50
38 John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ 39But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. 40Whoever is not against us is for us. 41For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
42 ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
49 ‘For everyone will be salted with fire. 50Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.’

As most of you know, I got married a few weeks ago and became step-mother to two wonderful children, Emma and Jackson. But you may not know that I also became “step-mother” to an Australian Shepherd and a Beagle. Now I grew up spending my afternoons and weekends on a working farm, that had two packs of hounds – fox hounds and beagles. My roommate through most of my twenties had a beagle. So Jim’s beagle, Charley, is familiar to me. Yet, his excitement can at times be too much for me. “Stop! Slow down! Act more like my little gentle shi-tzus,” I shout as I throw “stumbling blocks” in Charley’s path. But Charley cannot stop or slow down. He and those other beagles we all know are driven by a focus beyond any human comprehension. Led by his nose, Charley plows forward. He will not be stopped, not by anything. I doubt even a rhododendron forest could stop a hound like Charley when he has his mind and nose set on his goal. Briars, thorns, vines, even bob-wire are mere distractions. Filled with joy – ears up, nose low – the powerhouse little hound might even allow an ear caught in the thicket to be ripped off if it impedes his movement. There is no such thing as a stumbling block when the zeal of purpose possesses a beagle like Charley.

And there is no such thing as a stumbling block when the zeal for God captures the heart of a disciple!

Chapter 9 in Mark has been a hard haul for the disciples. Jesus publically chastised them for not being able to heal a boy of a demon possession. Then taking them alone on a trip to the next stop, he tries once again to teach them, never giving up on them (or us), despite how slow they (or we) are in getting the message.

Here, we move into John’s attempt to stop others from casting out demons. Sure they minister in Jesus’ name, but they are not one of us, one of the in crowd. He must have been thinking of their failure earlier to heal the young boy. If the disciples – Jesus’ closest companions and best friends – could not cast out the demon from that boy, then surely people who are not so close or so special must be doing something wrong if they can send demons on their way.

We modern day disciples are not much different, are we? Us modern day disciples still want to split along lines of who is in and who is out. Who is correctly ministering in Jesus’ name and who is not. We still want to silence those who are not walking right next to us.

The amazing thing about our desire to silence others is that it is based in our zeal for ministry and profound love of God! In Jesus name we all do what we believe, deeply believe God has called us to do. But we cannot accept that others are doing the same. I don’t have to repeat the list. We all can imagine at least one way in which we, like those first disciples, allow our love for God to actually prevent us form loving our neighbor.

Even though beagles were not being bread until maybe the Middle Ages, I imagine that the disciple John knew the beagle’s ancestors. Reinvigorated by Jesus’ teaching, John acts with pure zeal, just as we do when we seek to silence others who are not ministering the way we want. “No! No! Stop it! Now! Jesus, do you see what they are doing? I told them to stop. Make them stop. I love you. I’m with you. I’m right here. I know the right way and I’m protecting it and you.”

We might expect Jesus to agree with John. We might expect him to criticize John. We might expect him to criticize us. But he does not. Jesus returns to his teaching mode. And he begins by catching the passion! Building on John’s zeal, Jesus tells him to continue to run with mad abandonment towards God. If our foot causes us to stumble as we rush towards our beloved God, cut it off and keep running anyway. If our eyes distract us, rip them out and keep moving toward the Kingdom. Naturally, Jesus was not being literal here. In no way does he require or want us to harm ourselves. He is simply remembering Charley’s ancestors and recognizing John’s disciple passion. “Run disciple, run.” Like a lover racing into the arms of the beloved. Like a beagle on scent. Like a disciple yearning for God’s kingdom. Let nothing get in the way.

So Jesus speaks of stumbling blocks. He tells John to avoid the stumbling block of being distracted by trying to control others. We are not to worry about what others do in Christ’s name, for after all they cannot long speak ill of Jesus if they heal in his name. But more than that. Subtly and indirectly, Jesus let’s John (and us) know that worrying about “them” and trying to control “them” is a stumbling block for us. Don’t distract them and don’t let them distract us. We are to keep our ears up and our nose low and head as straight as we can for the kingdom.

The kingdom! This is a place where all disciples – those first disciples, the disciples with whom we agree and with whom we disagree, and even us disciples – all of us give and receive cups of water. I know people who always have bottles of water with them to share with homeless people who stand on corners holding signs all day. They also find it a great conversation starter.

Keep heading for the kingdom. This place where all of us watch out for the “little ones”. We don’t know, but it is reasonable to think that at least one child was present for this conversation. It comes directly after Jesus took a little child to him and taught his disciples that in welcoming a child we also welcome Jesus and the Father who sent Jesus. But whether or not the child was still there and whether or not Jesus nodded in the child’s direction, we know what he means by a “little one”. He means someone who, for one reason or another, could use some help along the way. Children, to be sure. But also those disenfranchised by the powerful of the land. And those set aside or even hurt by our religious traditions. He also means us, for we all needy “little ones” in one way or another. So, little in social power, young in faith, or just plain weak at the moment, the kingdom is a place where no one encounters stumbling blocks to wholeness in body, mind or spirit.

And what keeps those pesky stumbling blocks at bay? Well at least in part, it is when we disciples keep our focus. We may stop to give or take a drink of water, but we do not allow our disagreements to break our concentration and take us off our goal.

Like a hound who has caught a scent, we disciples of Christ live in total abandonment, moving ever more towards God’s kingdom of service. The Persian poet, Rumi, described it like this, “At the end of my life, with just one breath left, if you come, I will sit up and sing.” Jesus tells us to sit up and sing not only at the last breath, but from the first breath through our last.

Reflection by Rachel Anderson

June 2015

Mission, brokenness and celebration.

The party had turned to crying. Children, women and men, mostly Muslims and a few Christians, who were seen as disabled or otherwise. All of them had gathered in the ancient North African medina to celebrate the town’s first therapy center for children with motor disabilities.

During the event, attendees honored the work of Dora, the mission worker from Colombia credited as the founder of the center because of her role in bringing people and funds together for the completion of the project.

“We need more of these centers,” said one of the town officers in front of the crowd. He then asked Dora how she did it and where the funding came from.

Knowing that it would be hard for them to believe that most of the resources came from the people themselves with only a tiny fraction coming from the network of Latino churches that support her work, Dora chose to tell them in her broken Arabic: “I don’t know exactly how it was finished, but I can tell you how it got started. It started by us crying together.” As tears began rolling down her face, she added: “If we want to see more of these centers, we need to learn to recognize the huge need that we have before each other and God.”

Why do we send mission workers? Why do mission workers, congregations and global partners need each other? During a March 2014 retreat, Mark Adams (Mission Co-Worker in the US-Mexico border) gave a memorable response:

“God is bringing together the broken pieces of humanity to be God’s holy dwelling in which we experience the reality of God’s grace. We are called to join together as the body of Christ throughout the world to experience, bear witness to and celebrate the Spirit’s transformative work. In gratitude and humility, our church, especially in brokenness, responds by sending and receiving mission workers both to serve and to bind us together with the church throughout the world in God’s beautiful mosaic, proclaiming the good news of God’s saving, liberating, and reconciling grace.”

Mark’s words remind us how essential it is that we recognize God at work as we encounter each other in our pains as much as our joys.

After all, isn’t mission all about the “merciful and compassionate” God broken with us and for us in Jesus Christ? Isn’t our work done in the anticipation of the joyful day when God will be fully dwelling among us and wipe away the tears from our eyes? That very moment of crying together, when Dora didn’t quite know how to explain what had happened, gave impetus to the creation of 18 similar centers scattered around villages in the region. Since then, several more co-workers from Latin America have joined her; to cry but also to celebrate God’s presence among all of them.

Juan Sarmiento
International Evangelism Catalyst