Is Lent the Christian Version of Ramadan?

This was the topic of discussion that brought out a number of people to participate in Resto van Harte’s dinner in Schiemond last evening. Resto is a unique organisation whose aim is to create community in rather disparate neighbourhoods by hosting weekly dinners and conversations. The gatherings take place in a local community centre amongst Rotterdam’s crowded government apartments. Last night’s presentation was just as interesting and multifaceted as the diverse group of people who came.

The speakers included a Muslim Imam, Jewish Rabbi, Christian Pastor and a special address from Rotterdam’s first Moroccan mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb. The Rabbi shared about the significance of Yom Kippur being a time of fasting for atonement, while the Imam shared how Ramadan’s fast helps a follower to attain virtues like humility, while the Pastor spoke about Lent being a time of reflection and prayer to prepare for Holy Week and the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection. It was hard to understand everything that was said (because it was spoken in Dutch and I am still struggling to learn) but I found it interesting that the Imam kept mentioning samenwerk, or team work as a theme of Ramadan.

The people I sat with were also full of colour and conviction. Across from me was a man and woman who became friends through a recovery home. Marion shared that she was from Surinam and had lived in Rotterdam for 36 years. She has four children she rarely sees because of her struggles with addiction. Otto is a young man who recently moved from the home to navigate his life from the perspective of sobriety. There were some older women at the other end of the table but the language barrier kept us from sharing. The three ladies were quite happily engaged in their own conversation.Seated behind me was a table of women, mostly related, from Morocco with their children. They were very friendly and open to sharing about their culture and faith. Each stated that they rely on each other for support since they live about 100 km from their families.

I asked everyone I spoke with what they felt was needed the most attention for change in their community, they all echoed the same frustration - crime and drugs brought to their neighbourhood by young men from bordering areas. They believe these young men leave their own neighbourhood because they fear their families’ punishment for their abhorrent behaviour. Most of these youths are out of work and spend their days on the street causing havoc and being especially tyrannical towards women. Otto said, “I would find it hard to be a woman living here, you do not have the freedom to live your life on your own without being bothered.” It seems to be pretty endemic to the poor urban centres throughout North Holland. Should Reckoning be invited to partner with organisations like Resto and GreenGraffiti I am sure we will have the opportunity to touch on this issue.

The evening was well worth the lengthy train ride. It was great to meet and share life with others and organisations that are trying to impact and empower communities. Resto’s weekly dinner program allows people an opportunity to come together in a safe environment. Jim Bowes was sitting at table next to an elderly man who recently lost his wife. When he spoke about being alone, Jim shared that the man seemed to fold into himself at the mention of solitary life. Resto is providing a platform for otherwise isolated or marginalised people to integrate with others. It will take time and effort for some to engage those who are “different” but it is good that Resto van Harte creates a place for all people share a meal and conversation.

Picture from Resto van Harte’s Picasa Gallery

My Dance with Grace

In recent days I have come to realize my relationship with Grace has been in disrepair. What’s Grace? I see it as a force not an it, so I choose to see Grace much like I would see a person who always adds a certain elegance to what is before her. Grace can only build on something, she cannot fathom something upon nothing. Grace is that desirable illustrious creature that offers herself completely and unselfishly to anyone who seeks her wholeheartedly – the catch - you have to continually seek her and fight to stay with her.

I have been examining the nature of my relationship with Grace and I could best quantify it as merely accidental brushes here and there. I can imagine grace as a noun or verb - something I desire to exude; when it comes to receiving or living with her, I have been lacking more times than I care to admit. She often invites me to come dance with her and when I do it is always wonderful and free, but it is so specific and ornate at the same time. When I am willing our movements start to intertwine, I become strangely unnerved and unraveled. Things begin to fall away and appear in ways I do not understand when you are moving with Grace. It feels so off-kilter - I can either move away or I can fall into Grace. If try to grab something to steady myself Grace disappears as quickly as she arrived. If I try to hold onto Grace, my grip is useless I just crash into Grace. When embraced the peace and disruption seem to explode at the same time. It is hard to be cool or feel in control when you are leaning into Grace. You follow and try to press into something that cannot be held or contain. You never feel more alive and ridiculously useless at the same time.

As we lumber along I start to I think this cannot be what it is suppose to be. I was expecting something else… I cannot tell you how many times I have gotten to this place with Grace only to find myself pushing away. But once I am on my own again, I eventually come to my senses and realize what I left. Sometimes I am bold enough to I think I can recreate it on my own without her but somehow I just end up further from where I wanted t be. Just when I think there is nothing more I can do and I lay everything down, I turn the corner and there she is again. She approaches with her arms open inviting me in.

What Does It Mean?

Does that mean…

you are going to start a church?
you’ll start preaching?
you can marry and bury people?

These are the top three questions I get asked when people hear that I am ordained. I have to say that I chuckle inwardly when I imagine myself leading a church and my close friends have more of the ROFLOL response. I know these questions are asked with sincerity and healthy skepticism. To this end I felt that I should share my perception of ordainment.

Most people associate ordination with priest and pastors who work in buildings where some people gather and worship together on weekends. Maybe this is because the word first appears biblically in reference to Aaron and the first priests to the Israelites and it seems that we get stuck at that positional viewpoint. Anointing, meaning blessing with oil, was the outward expression of the act of ordination. If one was anointed it implied that they were ordained. When Jesus stated that, the Lord had anointed him to preach the good news of the gospel to the poor, was it referring only to a position? To some extent an anointing can be positional but it is a very narrow slice of a pie that was meant to be a banquet.

The word, ordain, was also used when recognizing something the creator designed and called into being. Check out Psalms 8, 65, 11, and 139, and discover what the creator desired and facilitated into existence. Ordain is a verb that implies action and proclamation, a calling out if you will, which may or may not have anything to do with an appointment to a position. Ordination is a recognizing, an acknowledgement, a command of what is.

In some respects we have gotten into the practice of putting the cart before the horse when it comes to ministry. Often people are given positional authority without the experience and testing that Aaron and his sons faced in the desert. It was a way of life for them that had to be proven over and over. A profound shift happened when anointing became based on birthright and veered from the testing that can only happen with time, which at times lead to disastrous results.

When Jesus read from Isaiah 61 he announced what had been ordained to do in this world. He had a deep understanding of what the triune God wanted to communicate to creation about its character and desire for mankind. He embodied that message, which cannot have been put on through study - it was something lived out in his eternal relationship with the one who sent him in the first place. From a young age it was evident that he was going rip to shreds what people thought they knew about their creator. What he shared was something accessible and tangible – that my friends was then and is now “good news.”

Leaders and followers of his time tested this message and its application, which left people mystified or transformed. The fact that people still refer to and argue over Jesus’ teachings is a testament to its longevity and validity in the realm of man. He was truly ordained, not because of his position but because of who he was in this world and what he offered it.

So what does ordination have to do with me? It was the acknowledgment by a body of believers who recognize that I have a gift for missions, art, and inspiring others in a way that helps them come to a better understanding of the “good news”. Dan and Kathleen Prout initiated this decree because of what they observed in the years they have known me. In turn, others who support this observation came together to echo that recognition and enter in accountability with me. In it’s barest form, this is the heart of my ordination.

I could say yes to any of the above questions and pursue those ends (who knows maybe someday I’ll officiate at someone’s wedding), but they are only one of many ways I could express my faith and what I believe I am on this planet to achieve. In truth I think I will keep doing what has been proven and asked of me, because in my heart I think it makes God smile.

South Africa to Amsterdam

If you did not get a chance to see this or you were wondering what I have been up to here you go!

Angry God?

I found this article online and sent this article out to my regular supporters, but I wanted to share it with my friends as well....

Was Jesus Mean? By Dr. Ray Pritchard

I confess to never having thought about the question until a friend raised it in an email recently.

Was Jesus mean? The answer, obviously, is no. I think the question is meant to highlight a deeper issue. Why are some of the followers of Jesus so mean if he wasn't? I don't know that I can adequately answer that question without going back to the question of Jesus himself.

Jesus was not mean, but he could be very, very tough. He sometimes used very strong language when speaking to people he regarded as hypocrites. In a withering excoriation of religious hypocrisy in Matthew 23, he compared the scribes and Pharisees to whitewashed tombs, which is a worse insult than it sounds because the religious leaders prided themselves on their outward righteousness. He could be tough on his own followers also. In Mark 8:14-21 he tells his disciples that they are spiritual blind and have hard hearts. When he appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, he calls them "foolish ones" and "slow of heart to believe" (Luke 24:25). He told certain Jewish leaders in John 8:44, "You are of your father the devil." The notion that our Lord was always "gentle Jesus, meek and mild," as if he spent his days saying nice things to make people feel better is only possible if you never read the gospels.

He was gentle and meek and mild and kind. But that's not the whole story.

He also demanded that his followers commit themselves to him wholeheartedly.

He had no patience for hypocrites who took advantage of others while ignoring their own sin.

Say what you want about Jesus, but don't forget that he took a whip and overturned the tables of the moneychangers, driving them out of temple precincts because they had made a house of prayer into a den of robbers.

Jesus could be very, very tough.

But was he mean? The answer may rest in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps some of the Pharisees and those moneychangers whose tables he overturned thought he was mean. After all, it was precisely because of his righteousness that they plotted to put him to death. His zeal for God aroused envy that turned to murderous hatred.

But was he mean? A quick check of the dictionary gives us these definitions and synonyms: offensive . . . selfish . . . nasty . . . malicious . . . small-minded . . . contemptible . . . petty . . . cruel . . . vindictive.

None of those words applies to Jesus. Isaiah 42 speaks of God's servant who will come to establish justice in the land. It is a prophecy of the coming of Christ to the earth. The prophet says of the Servant of the Lord that "He will not shout or raise his voice in public"(v. 2 NLT). That seems like a good standard for evaluating our actions. Mean people use threats to get their way. They shout because they are angry and fearful of losing control. They raise their voice when they would be better served by remaining calm. Mean people use ridicule and biting sarcasm to put others down. They are contentious and unkind and they mistreat others and don't think anyone of it.

Was Jesus mean? No, but he could be very, very tough. I admit there is a fine line here, but I also say that Jesus never came close to crossing that line. He was tough when he needed to be tough and tender when he needed to be tender. He knew how to treat each person exactly as they deserved to be treated. That includes blind beggars, sincere questioners, little children and proud Pharisees. Everyone got what they needed from Jesus. Some of them, like the rich young ruler, went away sorrowful, others marveled, the common people loved him, and many of the rulers hated him for his honesty.

So why are some of Jesus' followers so mean? I can't answer that question, but I know I need to look into the mirror and think about my own life. A mean Christian is not just a contradiction in terms; it is a terrible slander on our Lord. When Christians are mean, when we raise our voices in anger, when we use cruel words to hurt and not to heal, we give outsiders yet one more reason to disregard what we believe.

…It makes you think. Alycia