FINALLY a new entry!

I just updated my Xanga blog with reference to a Thanksgiving sermon by John Piper, definitely worth a read. Check it out at: http://www.xanga.com/sojourner211

Pray for Bangladesh

Many of you have been in touch with the news of the past week much more than me but as I was sifting through 10 days worth of email, I read about over 1000 Compassion sponsored children in peril from last week's floods. Please pray for Bangladesh, pray for the most vulnerable, pray for the children.

This excerpt from an email to me from Compassion International.

"Advisory: Flooding in Bangladesh.

International aid workers are struggling to help millions of people displaced by the recent flooding in parts of South Asia. The floods, caused by an abnormal monsoon season, have submerged vast areas of land in at least 38 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts. Compassion Bangladesh reports that children in at least seven Compassion-assisted projects have been affected.
Compassion Bangladesh staff workers say many of the affected Compassion-assisted children and their families are staying in disaster centers. However, staff workers are concerned that some children have already fallen sick from the water-borne diseases that have become epidemic in the area. To make matters worse, the severe flooding has also left many of these children’s parents or caregivers without work – magnifying their already impoverished situation.

Please pray for the entire Compassion family in Bangladesh that they may be comforted by God’s love and wisdom during this troubling time."

Reading new pages...

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page."
— St. Augustine

Melanie and I just returned from a refreshing trip to beautiful Costa Rica! Expect photos, musings etc in the coming days. Trust you are all well.

Australia's Sorry Indigenous Policy

You may have seen news last week about some new policy developments from my enlightened country of origin!

See below for a letter I sent to one of the leading Australian newspapers (apparently the Australian media doesn't like publishing my letters, so I have to publish them myself).

Also, see this article for Indigenous reaction.

Indigenous policy: the source of political will matters

We do need strong political will to address problems in Indigenous Australia, particularly problems as evil as child abuse. If individual, family and community regeneration is the goal, then that political will (and control) needs to come from Aboriginal people themselves not decrees from Canberra.

As an Australian working for the peak Indigenous policy organization in the US, I am flabbergasted by the Howard government’s ongoing pursuit of failed paternalism. Child abuse in Aboriginal Australia is the activity of people who have lost hope. How can Aboriginal people regain hope and future orientation if the Howard government repeatedly removes control from Aboriginal leaders and imposes draconian policy from on high?

The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development has briefed the Howard Government on a range of issues. I wish they would listen to them when they say “The identifiable cases of sustained progress in addressing the problems of families and children … are marked by being (Indigenous) -driven.”

When will we have an Australian government with the political will to give Aboriginal people meaningful control to address the problems faced by their communities?

Peter Morris, Washington, DC

Transitions and faithfulness

For any of you who are addicted to my blog (is it possible? availability seems to be a condition of addiction!) I apologize for the last month or so of radio silence! In the span of the last month and a bit I have changed jobs, added the job of part-time children's ministry director, am still trying to transition from my old job, and Melanie's grandfather died.

I will be increasing my blogcount over the coming weeks but wanted to share this poem with you that I wrote on the way to Melanie's grandfather's funeral.

No, Maybe, Yes

We live in a world
Where "no" and "why"
Are more common than "yes".
"Yes" is "maybe,"
"If I don't get a better offer,"
"If I feel like it."

This pain, hurt, wrong thinking
Is in the hearts of those
Who say "God's promises are no"
"His Word is maybe."

Oh glorious truth!
Words that make tears
Roll down my cheeks:

All his promises are YES
He is utterly dependable,
Endlessly faithful.
Oh God, my God,
Your steadfast love,
Endures forever.


Written June 2, 2007
Inspired by 2 Corinthians 1:15-22 and Psalm 119:88-90

A few weeks on...
Reflections on the tragedy at Virginia Tech

Almost three weeks ago now, a terrible event occured on the campus of Virginia Tech, only a few hours south of where I live. As I wrote at the time, it reminded me of the emotions that were aroused five years ago, by a shooting on the campus of the University of Arizona...just a few minutes north of where Melanie and I lived.

There were so many thoughts and emotions the week of the tragedy, but two reflections that have persisted are as follows:

1. The leadership of Governor Tim Kaine
Governor Kaine is somewhat of an anomaly. He is a Democrat who was much more outspoken about the importance of his faith during the campaign than the Republican candidate. But it wasn't his political stances that struck me in the aftermath of the shootings. I was struck by how this political leader was speaking - even to the media - as a loving Dad, grieving with other parents. Listening to this interview with Kaine I almost cried to hear him recount his interactions with grieving parents, at least one of whom had lost their only child. How this country (and world) needs more leaders like that.

2. Representations of the shooter's identity
A piece by Robert Seagal of NPR was what I had been waiting all week to hear! Attending a church with a large proportion of Korean Americans that meets in Centreville, VA, only minutes from the killer's childhood home, the shooter's identity was particularly relevant to our thoughts and prayers.

Seagal's piece referred to international headlines that identified the shooter as "Korean" as being "evidence of yet another way that people who don’t know this country don’t get this country." He applauded a Washington Post headline that identified Cho as a local. He spoke about how Cho moved here when he was eight, went to public schools in Northern Virginia, and attended a university where there are many other Asian students. Cho's disturbing ideas, expressed in plays and other writings, were "the stuff of [American] newspapers and culture." His ability to buy a gun reflected "an American interprettation of liberty. An idea which, if not unique to us, is no Asian import." The conclusion of the story was most poignant (and, I think, accurate) "like the kids who murdered at Columbine [Cho] lived and died as one of us."

I've got more reflecting to do on all of this...I still feel passionately it's important for us not to forget the brokenness of our world that is brought into stark relief by events like this.

Boom Cars
Making the big time while leaving a bookstore

Melanie and I were in Tucson two weekends ago, spending some time with her Dad and catching up with friends. On Friday night, after dinner with a friend, I was heading off to the airport to collect Melanie and I was asked by a local TV station to give an opinion about 'boom cars'.

As much as I love talking (particularly to cameras), I protested that I didn't live in Tucson (and didn't really have much to say). They persisted and I said a few things then forgot all about it.

Today, Melanie got an email from a friend in Tucson who said she was watching the news and thought she saw me! Well I just looked it up on line (good old Google!) and sure enough...here I am (if you fast forward a bit I'm about 1/4 of the way through the piece).

My active wife!

In keeping with our family memory verse "...I beat my body and make it my slave..." (1 Corinthians 9:27) Melanie has taken the BIG step of signing up for Team In Training to raise money for cancer research by participating in a triathalon. Check out her new blog and consider contributing to help her meet her goal...

How could this happen? And how should I respond?

Reflections on the Virginia Tech shooting

I'm not exactly sure why, but the events of the past 36 hours, on the campus of Virginia Tech (four hours south of DC) have had a particular effect on me. I was emailing with a colleague yesterday who said that this event was "a good reminder to focus on what is important in life."

I have been reflecting on my response to tragedies like this and I must admit, I usually try and forget as quickly as possible. You may remember, I blogged about a campus shooting that happened at the University of Arizona in 2002 (while Melanie and I were still in grad school). I shared this memory:

Like the return to 'normal' life so quickly after 9-11, it's easy to distance ourselves from suffering. Literally within hours (perhaps less), people acted as if nothing had ever happened.The response of a fellow student will never leave my memory: "Well, you don't want to think about it too much - you'd spend your whole life contemplating your own mortality".
While I was and am not saying that "contemplating your own mortality" should be the focus of our lives, the fragility of life MUST convict us of the truly important things in life and allow the frivolous to take their rightful place in the background.

I feel the strong sense that I need to hold on to these feelings of disillusionment, anger, sadness. We all do. If we are to glorify God, if we are to bring hope to our colleagues, friends and family who don't know Jesus, we must remember. Pray, journal, blog, whatever it takes - we must remember.

Just yesterday morning, Mel and I read together the words of Romans 12:15 "mourn with those who mourn". As people who belong to the "God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1), we must not run from this sadness but instead offer hope to those who are grieved (with us) by these terrible events.

A football team by any other name, would smell as sweet?

Names that stink and why to change them!

You can tell by my profile, and other references on my blog, that I am passionate about working with Indigenous communities across the U.S. and around the world. The story of how I got involved in work with Aboriginal people in Australia and Native people here in the U.S. is a long one that I'd be happy to tell you about sometime...but that's not what this post is about.

In fact, I am passionate about racial diversity more broadly and am thankful to serve a God who pursued racial diversity at "infinite cost" (if you haven't heard or read John Piper's sermon on that issue, you should! Even if you’ve heard his regular sermons, he’s particularly ‘loose’ and funny, as well as his usual incisive exposition and application of Scriptures)

You may not like it…

To lay my cards on the table: I think all thinking people (particularly believers) should not call the Washington football team anything but that. I don’t think we should buy their merchandise, I don’t think we should wear their clothing, I don’t think we should attend their games…until they change the name.

What’s the problem?

At the beginning of a woeful season for the Washington team (from here on, I’ll just refer to them as WT), the Washington Post published an editorial that expressed support for the team but embarrassment (that I share) “to embrace a team that is so terribly named.” Other news outlets have called the team “historically the most racist franchise in professional football"

Native advocates claim that the nickname is clearly a racial slur that attaches a negative stereotype to Native people. One Native attendee at a WT game described their experience as follows:
Any doubt that I was standing at ground zero of Native American Hell was dispelled when I saw what must be the largest and most blatant public display of a racial epithet anywhere in the world — the [team’s nickname] painted in massive block letters across both end zones. (To grasp Native Americans' outrage and humiliation, try to imagine the most hateful and disgusting racial or religious slur that could be used to describe you displayed in colorful, 25-foot letters throughout your community.)
(emphasis added – read the whole article here)

The Response: WT Management

In reaction to a court case in the 1990s and broader expressions of dissatisfaction, team owner, Daniel Snyder, has said the name is intended to honor Native people. The logical conclusion is, therefore, that the name is not racist. As the Post points out “it really is not up to the offender to characterize the nature of the offense. We can't imagine Mr. Snyder, or anyone else for that matter, sitting in a room of Native Americans and referring to them as [the team’s nickname].” One Native writer recommends, that if the intent is really to honor Native people, the owners/home towns of teams with Native mascots should have a meaningful discussion about the best way to honor Native individuals and communities.

The Response: Native People

While there are clearly Native people who feel very strongly about this issue (including colleagues of mine), I see at least two interesting perspectives. The first is the ‘we have bigger fish to fry’ argument. One Native person argues that the name is offensive but, "the issue should not be as big or as time-consuming as it is, and perhaps we should just try to understand the weird customs of the colonizers." The second is the ‘how many people really care’ argument. An Annenberg Public Policy Center survey found that only 9 percent of Native people find the name offensive. Many Native people and scholars who work on this issue regularly, see some problems with the methods of those surveys (particularly claiming the margin of error is significantly wider than the pollsters say and that those self-identifying as Native people, are not necessarily Native).

A twist…

African American writer, Bill Fletcher Jr. makes some interesting points from the perspective of Black America’s experiences, referring to the Confederate flag and the impact of historical racial epithets. The most striking passage is this:
when I insist that something needs to be done about the name of the [WT] it is not just that I believe that it is an insult to Native Americans, though that would be enough to demand a change. Rather it is in addition a demand against the continuous and racist demonization of the enemy of the month, or in the case of Native Americans, the enemy of the last five centuries.

The Post’s editorial makes a similar argument – even if some Native people are ok with it, changing the name is a statement about the kind of society we want to live in. They point to the local example of another team owner in Washington, who was “bothered by the high D.C. murder rate [and so] changed the name of his basketball team from Bullets to Wizards in 1997.”

Colleges Leading the Professionals

Some readers may be aware of the NCAA’s decision in August 2005, to disallow teams from hosting post-season events (like basketball’s March Madness) or bringing their mascot with them when they play in post-season games. Less than two weeks ago, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign exhausted its legal options and retired their Chief Illini mascot (a source of half-time entertainment played by a white student painted red and dressed in a costume and headdress).

A Native leader who has been involved in the anti-WT mascot movement for a long time, Susan Shown Harjo, reflecting on the outcry over UI’s decision, shared her theory that “some of the Chief fans really don't disrespect Native people. They just don't know any.” She shared the sadness of a Native ceremonial leader who felt that “people in D.C. cared more for the Washington football team than they did for real Native people.” Her article has a wonderful list of Native people who are contemporary and historic leaders across the hundreds of Native communities in the U.S., very worth reading!

What does it all mean?

I know some of you WT fans are panicked or just plain mad at me! The article by Fletcher, that I mentioned above, suggests a few strategies that may help you take some concrete baby steps toward getting the name changed!

* DC Residents: don’t go to the games
* Everyone: don’t purchase their merchandise
* Send an email through the ‘Locker Room’ on the team’s website.
* Have your community organization, school, labor union, or religious institution send an e-mail note or hard copy letter to the WT insisting that they change their name.
* Contact opinion makers, including but not limited to elected leaders, asking them to speak out on this issue.

My hesitation to even name the team’s nickname, comes from the fact that I know, appreciate, work with and am friends with Native people. If you’re not willing to do any of the things suggested above – get to know some Native people! If you do, I think Susan Shown Harjo's expectation will be met: “After even a brief exploration…you may kick yourself over the great many Indian people you missed while following the [WT].”

Updated Wilberforce Thoughts

Oops! Only when the resident, card-carrying John Piper fan club member is out of the house (at our church's women's retreat) could I neglect these three awesome posts by John Piper, reflecting on Wilberforce and how his life brough glory to our great God:

Tribute to Wilberforce #1
The role of Newton and Wesley in encouraging Wilberforce's efforts

Tribute to Wilberforce #2
Not unrelated to my previous posts on suffering, here Piper reflects on Wilberforce's joy as the foundation of his usefulness and endurance.

Tribute to Wilberforce #3
Reflection on the moment of victory!

How sweet the sound. But what about the view?


A quick review of Amazing Grace and Reflection on William Wilberforce





Standing among the likes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer as an influential Christian whose name/s are unlikely to make it into the 'top ten names in Sunday School' list, William Wilberforce, is an under-acknowledged figure in British history who changed the world through his fervent pursuit of the abolition of the slave trade.


With today's U.S. release of the movie Amazing Grace, things are changing. There was even talk this week of a Republican presidential candidate being referred to as a 'Wilberforce Republican' for the blend of conservative social positions with compassionate foreign policy.

A group of guys from our Bible study went to see the movie tonight. I thought it was quite well done, a little slow in parts but for the most part accurate to Wilberforce's life. It provided a character portrait of Wilberforce in the midst of a narrative about the slave trade. Unlike a biography, it wasn't focused exclusively on him but it gave you a fairly good grasp of his experiences as they rose and fell with the fortunes of his bill to abolish the slave trade. Christianity Today's review is a pretty good overview of the movie - both strengths and weaknesses, complete with discussion questions to think about after the movie (see it here).

I read a biography, God's Politican, a few years ago and pulled out the following quotes to give you a sense of Wilberforce's life and accomplishments.

His signature quote
God Almighty has set before me two great objects - the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners [society's morals]

A wonderful idea to keep our focus
[Wilberforce] would often spend time before a dinner party thinking out what he called "launchers," topics which would naturally lead on into deeper conversation. Among his papers was found a "Friend's Paper," marked "to be looked at each Sunday," listing thirty of his friends. Against each name stood thoughts of how best to help each to take the next steps toward a fully satisfying experience of Christ.

An interesting comment that is still relevant to politician's clamoring for the religious vote
When a profession of Religion opens the road to respect and power there is always a great deal of religious hypocrisy

Death, C.S.Lewis and you

Below you will see some thoughts from friends from different parts of the world and thoughts from our emails during our time in Tucson.

I vividly remember the experience of death on campus during Melanie and my time at the University of Arizona. In October 2002, a student from the nursing school shot and killed three instructors and himself. It gripped the campus. I remember talking with fellow students in class in the week it happened. I shared about the different reaction of nursing students as against those who were on 'main campus'. The distance is only 1/4 of a mile, one major road separates the nursing school from the main campus. That was enough. Like the return to 'normal' life so quickly after 9-11, it's easy to distance ourselves from suffering. Literally within hours (perhaps less), people acted as if nothing had ever happened.

The response of a fellow student will never leave my memory: "Well, you don't want to think about it too much - you'd spend your whole life contemplating your own mortality".

While I was and am not saying that "contemplating your own mortality" should be the focus of our lives, the fragility of life MUST convict us of the truly important things in life and allow the frivolous to take their rightful place in the background.

The link is somewhat dubious, but these musings make me think of at least one life change we could all prayerfully consider. From C.S.Lewis's 'The Weight of Glory':
It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter [or the death that proceeds it]; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour's glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations...There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal...But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.


Thoughts from you and me...

South African:
This is the verse of the hymn that gets sung the least, which is weird, because I think it's the best for comforting the afflicted. "Be still, my soul, when dearest friends depart;And all is darkened in the veil of tears;Then shall thou better know His love, His heart,Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repayfrom His own fullness all He takes away."The other verses of the hymn are awesome, too.

Tasmanian:
I think that when death suddenly becomes a close reality, it certainly helps to bring ourselves back into perspective.

American:
"The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth." (Ps.145:18) We seek out God more when we experience difficulties and it's comforting to know that God is continually present. The omnipresence of God should motivate us to cling to Him more fervently.

Another excerpt from my emails about Mel's Dad:
Praise God for the body of Christ. We have been overwhelmed by the support of brothers and sisters from DC and Tucson (and beyond). Every call, email message, and prayer has been appreciated – we love you guys so much and are so thankful for God blessing us with so many faithful friends (some of whom happen to be family too!)

God has encouraged us through the love exhibited by his body. We have seen, more intimately than we have for a long time, the proper working of each part of the body "so that it builds itself up in love" (Eph 4:16). The opening passage of 2 Corinthians has often been an encouragement to us:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God…He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4, 10-11

Standing on the shoulders of giants ...

Thanks to those who have commented already, I encourage you to continue meditating on the issue of suffering and feel free to post comments.

Today I thought it might be interesting to seek out the thoughts of leading Christian writers on the topic. Here are some 'quotes from the giants':

*****

Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his master. Following Christ means passio passiva, suffering because we have to suffer. That is why Luther reckoned suffering among the marks of the true Church...

Suffering has to be endured in order that it may pass away. Either the world must bear the whole burden and collapse beneath it, or it must fall on Christ to be overcome in him.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

*****

I have come to see that pain and pleasure come to us not as opposites but as Siamese twins, strangely joined and intertwined. Nearly all my memories of acute happiness, in fact, involve some element of pain or struggle. (Christianity Today, Jan, 10, 1994, p. 21)

I have never heard anyone say, "The deepest and rarest and most satisfying joys of my life have come in times of extended ease and earthly comfort." Nobody says that. It isn't true. What's true is what Samuel Rutherford said when he was put in the cellars of affliction: "The Great King keeps his wine there"—not in the courtyard where the sun shines. What's true is what Charles Spurgeon said: "They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls."

John Piper, Why we can rejoice in suffering

*****

Are there other Christian writers or favorite passages of Scripture, that summarize your views on suffering and the Christian life? In the coming days I hope to add other perspectives but would welcome your suggestions.

While not a giant - per se - I found this blog/review of Piper and Taylor's Suffering and the Sovereignty of God interesting.

Suffering, to what end?

God has given Melanie and me cause to reflect on suffering quite a bit over the past few months. Why does God bring suffering into our lives? How are we meant to react? What does it achieve?

I will try and pull together a few thoughts on this subject over the next week or so. This first post includes an exerpt from one of the updates Mel and I sent when her Dad had his accident back in October 2006. It was an event that brought the important things of life into focus and allowed the urgent things, that we so often fixate on, to fade into their proper place in the background.

We have been taught many things, particularly from the book of James. It has been amazing to take joy in encountering a trial like this (James 1)! It has not been easy or fun, but God – often through the graciousness and love of his people – has been there reminding us that there is so much more to this life than what we often let it become.

We have also learnt FORCEFULLY that "Instead [we] ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'" (James 4:15). Our flight plans have changed more than five times and as I write this note, I hope we will be home in DC late on Wednesday night. God has proved his timing is perfect and every frustrating circumstance that has kept us here has been clearly illuminated as God's gracious and perfect timing.

In a congregational sharing time, on our return, I shared how convicted we were that James's encouragement to "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds" was neither a pithy Christian version of 'don't worry be happy' nor a retrospective platitude 'look back and laugh.' Rather, James is forcefully calling believers to embrace difficult times as those that develop perseverance and lead us to maturity.

It is my conviction, and observation, that without difficult times our spiritual muscles atrophy.

Stay tuned for more thoughts on this. Feel free to post comments to keep the discussion going.

What does "love your enemies" really mean?

So here's a doozy- what do the Washington Post and Sunday's sermon have in common? Read on and find out!

A piece in the Post caught my attention back in October and I saved the link. The article, 'Why everyone you know thinks the same as you," provided some food for thought to consider the people I spend time with. The article talks about 'homophily' the idea that "people seem to be drawn to others like themselves." More on the article in a moment.

This past Sunday, our pastor continued our series on the Sermon on the Mount. The passage was Matthew 5:43-48 (to check out the audio and or video file, go to the website).

The thrust of the message was a look at the passage in Leviticus where the Israelites are told to "love your neighbor as yourself" and the extrabiblical add-on "hate your enemies." Jesus turns this on its head and tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. For context, we also looked at the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) and reflected on the fact that part of the shock value of the story is - the Samaritan was racially and religiously different, and he was the one Jesus' listeners were told to emulate.

Our pastor defined the source of most conflicts in the world as a clash of race and/or religion. One of the key applications from the sermon was therefore to love those who are different - build friendships across racial lines, with your Muslim colleague at work; pray for those who are different.

I think this application is critical but see another area of application for myself that my fellow Washington-area residents (and others around the world) might find helpful.

Race and religion are really subsets of a broader category - culture. We tend to dislike (even if passively) those who don't agree with our cultural viewpoint. It can be big picture - capitalism vs socialism; or fairly nuanced - covenantal vs dispensational. The Post article pointed to research that showed American culture is increasingly segmenting with "Ever larger numbers of people seem to be sealing themselves off in worlds where everyone thinks the way they do."

Think, for example, about cable news channels. Many conservatives choose to watch Fox News because they get sick of the bias they see in the mainstream media. Christians with conservative political views may make the same decision, but that's where things can get tricky. Watch or listen to conservative talk shows - it's like political blood sport! Take Bill O'Reilly's show for example, it is predicated on attacking cultural difference - protecting one (cultural) perspective by undermining (and at times demeaning) another. This issue transcends the political spectrum and is just as evident in liberal talk shows as it is in conservative ones.

So what's the point?

The Post author did not take a position on whether homophily was right or wrong but he did make an observation that is very instructive:
In politics, for example, the fact that people rarely have friends with different views makes it difficult to seek common ground or to examine one's positions closely. Most of us would be hard-pressed to provide clear explanations for our political beliefs.
When we think through the political lens it means, if we're not careful, we are ceding 50 percent of the population that needs Jesus just as much as those whose political views we share. When we think about it through the lens of the Great Commission and the call to evangelism, the implication can be devastating - highly segmented culture presents high barriers for seeking and saving the lost and may affect our ability to be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we have.

Jesus lived cross culturally. He initiated a Christian counter-culture, not a Christian sub-culture. We must love those who are socially, politically, economically different and we must take seriously the call to pray for them.

Are you a Republican? Pray for Democrats, that God would lead Democrats into your life that you can win for Christ. That victory will be of much more significance in eternity than midterms and presidential elections.

Are you an Evangelical? Pray for liberal believers, that God would draw them to the truth of the gospel and give you wisdom to love those liberal believers that he places in your life.

What is the area where your personal prejudices and animosities have undermined your witness? What is the issue that allows your culture to overcome your desire to see God glorified?

It’s time to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

Is it true?

Did they leave the last half out of John 14:6 at Gerald Ford's funeral?

As many of you know, the verse reads "Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth and life, no one comes to the Father except by me.'" At the funeral the quote was ended at "life."

Peter Jensen, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney wrote a very interesting piece , referring to the event but casting it in the context of the individual believer's role in the life of the church's mission to a pluralistic society.

The event itself underscores something very important about American society that simply must be acknowledged - for the sake of the gospel. America is not a 'Christian country.' I have often had conversations with my American friends (since my first time here in '94) about this issue, both the historical reality, but more pressingly, the contemporary situation.

My experience is that many Americans who claim to be Christians, even many who attend church regularly, are not 'sold out to the gospel.' The Gerald Ford funeral is just another example of Christian-like social expression that devalues the enormity of Jesus' sacrifice and decries the urgency of evangelism.

I encourage you to read Peter Jensen's piece. For me, the most striking quote is this:
"If you are not prepared to be unpopular and culturally off-side, then don't get involved in the mission of the church."
This isn't a reference to feeling uncomfortable with the 'liberal media' or angry with the new Democratic Congress, it's about living lives that confront the individual decisions and choices that our unbelieving family, friends, colleagues and neighbors make every day. It's about a radical commitment to engaging our culture so we can truly act as salt and light.

How often do we think about (and act on) the mission of the church in our own backyard (not in some distant country)? Are you sold out to the gospel? Or would you sell out to the culture, even the Christian-like culture, like they did at Ford's funeral?

Exhausted but hopeful

Well friends, thanks for your patience! More than 50 days ago, I said I would blog more in 'a few days'. I am sorry for my loose use of the word 'few,' but I guess if I ever say I owe you 'a few dollars' you should get ready for a big pay off!

The title of this post is my outlook on 2007. The last quarter of 2006 was an absolute blur:
*3 weeks in Arizona dealing with the aftermath of Mel's Dad's accident
*A quick trip to Chicago
*Thanksgiving
*A few weeks of work
*Home to Australia for three weeks and my first Christmas there for five years

2007 has not brought much respite:
*Back to work to finish multiple big projects including a 250 page research report that I'm editing in its entirety and writing two chapters for
*A growing list of tasks as we try and support Mel's Dad and speed his recovery
*Off to Hawaii for a week of work (alright, I just say that to make you jealous)
*Finally home and trying to get back into blogging

So you get exhausted, why hopeful?

It's a word I use cautiously! While Melanie and I have enjoyed our time in Washington over the past few years, spiritually speaking the time has been quite challenging for me. The experience of searching out a new church was much more challenging than we thought. The amount I travel for work makes life much less structured than we humans tend to appreciate! Rhythm with quiet times, small group attendance, and even ministry involvement is an ongoing challenge.

So again, you ask, why hopeful?

It is very easy to forget the blessings of life and focus on the amount of trouble we have in front of us. My trouble may be much smaller than Mercy, our Compassion sponsor child who lost her father due to AIDS, but I tend to make my problems just as big (maybe bigger) than hers! Mel's Dad's accident demonstrated to me clearly that when James says "consider it pure joy my brothers when you face trials of many kinds," he wasn't saying "consider it joy when you're on a beach in Hawaii reflecting on trials from a long time ago" he was saying "in the thick of the pain and the hardship know that God is in control and is working". I am hopeful because God is breaking through to me with that truth.

I have an amazing wife. I'll try not to get too mushy, but it's true! God has blessed me with a wife who has a passion for Him, a heart for his people, and a desire to build a godly family with me. She is intelligent, very fun and funny, and is exceling at her work. How often I forget the grace God has rained on me through my wife, no matter what else is facing me. I am hopeful because of the woman God gave me as my wife.

I have a great family! Spending time with my parents, grandparents and extended family in Australia was a wonderful reminder of God's blessings in my life. God has drawn many in my extended family into relationship with him in my lifetime. What an amazing thing to see that transformation. I'm also conscious of the blessing of family because we get to spend a belated Christmas celebration with my sister this coming weekend! I am hopeful because of my wonderful family and all that God has done in and through them.

I have a wonderful church family. Ambassador Bible Church is the perfect example of how church should work - prizing God's word, diverse, missions focused, connected, welcoming...the list goes on. It's also a perfect example because it's imperfect! There is room for Melanie, me and all the other members to contribute, to glorify God through the work of the church and outreach to the community. I am hopeful because of the body of believers I am a part of.

I have brothers. I feel the blessing of my dear friends who have prayed for and supported me through a very difficult close of 2006. I have also been convicted to be more proactive in submitting to (placing myself under) the direction of more mature believers. I am hopeful because "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

I am getting back into habits of Bible reading and other spiritual disciplines. So critical, so overlooked, so easy to fall out of the habit. I am enjoying another James Emery White book (Wrestling with God, I believe it's published in the US as Embracing the Mysterious God). Mel and I are planning our annual Morris family retreat for next month - a wonderful time to reconnect with God, with each other, and seek God's vision for the next year. I'm hopeful because I am drawing near to God, so I trust he will draw near to me.

So, I'm exhausted but hopeful. I resolve this year to be some who:
*Considers it pure joy when I face trials of many kinds
*Draws near to God
*Swears to his own hurt and does not change

Expect more blogs (I am trying to challenge Mel for a weekly 500 word or less blog...)
Expect more hope
Pray for less exhaustion!

PS Cos I'm still a rookie at all this blogging, I posted photos from Australia and two from Hawaii on my Xanga site: http://www.xanga.com/sojourner211