Aida

When I was a freshman in high school, the band went to New York and I had the privilege of seeing the musical Aida.  I absolutely loved the show and have since listened to the soundtrack approximately 600-700 times.  This is a story I know...or so I thought.

This past Saturday night I was able to learn how mistaken I was when one of our high school students invited us to come see his school's version of the Tony and Grammy award-winning musical.  As it turns out, between several of the songs there are some brief connecting scenes that, surprising enough, have some value.  They enhance the context of these songs I know so well and shape the story in ways I had completely forgotten.

I was delighted to reconsider this saga, contemplating themes of power and oppression, duty and freedom, and our culture's views on love.  The last 654 times I have listened to the soundtrack, I have hardly thought on the issues this show brings to light, preferring instead to be entertained by the pop melodies brought to us by Elton John.

It made me wonder how often I do this with the Bible.  How often do I skip to just my favorite parts of the story, looking to be entertained, rather than wade through the full weight of the gospel story in all its intricate nuances?  I would tell you that I know this story well, but have I forgotten the connecting scenes?

God, please reveal to me the parts of your story I am quick to cut out, that I might more clearly see and ponder your full gospel beauty.

Tennis ball.

In my line of work, I frequently have to come up with ways to entertain large amounts of children for an
extended period of time.  Frustrated by competing with the fantasy world of video games and the constant lure of cell phones, there are days I return home hoarse and exhausted from trying to out-entertain touch screens and 3D animation.  Today however, something different happened...

As I stepped onto the playground of Amelia Earhart elementary, listening to Humberto rattle off the latest details of some cartoon show, I pulled a tennis ball out of my backpack and began bouncing it up and down.  Immediately he stopped what he was saying, scampered about six feet to the side, held his hands up and yelled, "Catch!"  So I bounced the ball to him.

"Ooh, ooh - toss the ball to me!" cried Francisco.  Kids began clambering around this tennis ball as it soared, bounced, and rolled all over the blacktop.  Cyndy and Margaret ran up to me:

"Miss Rachel, what are you playing?  Can we play?"
"Sure!  We're just throwing and bouncing the ball around.  If it comes near you, grab it and do something with it!"

Kids kept coming up asking about this "game" we were playing and before long, over half of the fourth and fifth grade class were all jubilantly engaged in the simplicity of a single tennis ball; a common two-and-a-half inch ball covered with green fuzz drawing in 40 kids in a flash.  We darted all over the blacktop almost as fast as the smiles flashing across kids faces.  We even had a beautiful moment of teamwork as we pyramid-ed a kid up to the basketball hoop where the ball had gotten stuck.  And not once did I see kids arguing or fighting over who got to throw or catch next, but they joyfully shared together.

As I walked away from recess, pondering the magnetism of this fuzz ball, I was reminded of the power and simplicity of the gospel.  Sometimes I try so vigorously to decorate and dress up the gospel, working hard to prove its relevance and shininess.  I think we all walk away from that exhausted and unconvinced that the masses actually saw our good news as better than the American "good news," which promises an easy, comfortable, self-centered life full of instant gratification.

We need to be reminded once again of the simple beauty of the gospel, that "through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, God is making all things new both personally for those who repent and believe, and cosmically as He redeems culture and creation"* from it's brokenness.  This is not more entertaining than MTV, Sunday Night Football, or Thursday night's finest, but it is far superior.  Or as Paul would say, "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Phil. 3:8).

And the kids showed me how to test whether or not we're living out this simple gospel.  Are people running up asking, "What are you doing? Can I play?"  Is the Church working together, sharing what they have with great joy, and effortlessly attracting those who are far away?  Or do people see us and say, "Oh yeah, I like that kind of music so I'll come for a bit," or "This is just the program that I was looking for to fill my Tuesday evenings."  Is the attraction to Jesus the fancy life He offers and the high-quality sound system on Sunday mornings?  Or is the attraction to Jesus the joy of chasing this life-changing gospel, knowing with confidence that all things will be made new and that there are millions of glee-filled, blacktop warriors running along with me?

So I ask you, wanna play?


*Chandler, Matt, et al.
     2012 Creature of the Word. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group.

Serving Like Jesus

It seems as though lately I've been doing more of reading other people's blogs than writing my own (though I've done some writing for http://nextphaseblog.blogspot.com), but here is a post that I thought particularly poignant to our time.  As a culture, we've gotten beautifully caught up in serving and giving, though I fear sometimes it is more about making ourselves look or feel good then about genuinely helping our neighbor.  In this article by Jamie the Very Worst Missionary, she examines how Jesus served compared to our typical mission trip model.  Check it out:

http://www.theveryworstmissionary.com/2012/04/healthy-short-term-missions-do-it-like.html

Luke 11:4

 *For those of you who don't know, I am working at Mercy Street with their summer internship program.  Here is a post I wrote for their blog about a recent experience and some of the lessons learned.

Forgive our sins, as we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us.  And keep us from being tempted.  – Luke 11:4

This past week we had a beautiful opportunity to put this verse into practice.  Last Monday, we were able to visit a local Goodwill and learn about their many community development projects beyond simply their thrift store.  Unfortunately there were some miscommunications about the rules and we did not conduct ourselves in a way that best represents our priorities, Mercy Street, or most importantly, the Lord.  While this was not an experience to celebrate, we can most certainly praise God for teaching us a valuable lesson and growing our character through it all.

Forgive our sins…

It was important that we asked for forgiveness for the areas where we had fallen short.  For several of the interns, this was a new skill to develop.  It takes a bold combination of humility and courage to walk up to someone and admit your faults, but this morning, all of the interns dressed up, headed over to Goodwill, and handed Ms. Georgette Caldwell hand-written letters of apology, as well as their salaries from Monday as a token of their sincerity.

…as we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us.

As we considered how much God loves us and how much He has already forgiven us, we knew it was important to offer forgiveness to Goodwill.  Before heading over, we even got to discuss the idea of forgiving those who aren’t asking for forgiveness or who aren’t repentant.  How often do we ignore our own sin, yet through His work on the cross, Jesus has even forgiven us of the sins we’re unaware we committed.

And keep us from being tempted.

This last part of the verse is often separated from the part about forgiveness, but I think it shows an important piece of the repentance process.  “May I not be drawn back into my sin.”  We praise God for forgiving us of the sins we have yet to commit, but I praise Him even more that He gives us the strength and power to not sin as we used to.  If we ask for forgiveness, but do nothing to change our behavior, it doesn’t appear as though we are truly repentant.  Today when we apologized to Goodwill, we also made a commitment to change our ways and act more respectfully in the future.

Thanks be to God for making a way for us to be reconciled to Him and reconciled to our fellow brothers and sisters.  Praise His Name for healing our relationship with Goodwill and bringing us back together.  We thank Him for teaching us about repentance and forgiveness, lessons that are not easy to learn and therefore often skipped over.  We are also grateful this truth found in Psalm 103:8-12:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

     slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse,

     nor will he harbor his anger forever;

he does not treat us as our sins deserve

     or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

     so great is his love for those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

     so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

"I'm ever more convinced that to embrace struggle is to welcome grace."

- Courtney Chapman

Stop Reading My Blog

...and read this one, because it's way better than anything I have to say.

The Beginning of Wisdom, by Jen Wilkin: "Why Transformation Eludes Us"

Semana Santa

This week is Semana Santa, or Holy Week, which apparently is a pretty big deal in Antigua.  From Wednesday through Saturday, they have several processions, where purple-robed people carry giant floats with various scenes from Christ's final week.  These floats weigh about 6600 pounds and require 60-80 men to carry them for one block, before changing out to a new group of sixty.  Anyone can sign up to carry the floats, or the cathedrals' statues of the saints, and since these floats get carried for up to 10 hours at a time, lots of people are needed.

The streets are covered with alfombras, or carpets, for the floats to pass over.  These range from simple patterns of pine needles and flowers, to elaborate designs of sawdust, to creative fruit carvings.  It is impressive to walk up and down the streets and see everyone's hard work.  To create the more elaborate alfombras, people stay up all night on Maundy Thursday to have them ready for the Good Friday processions in the morning.

After the death of Christ, everyone switches to wearing black robes instead of purple, and the music becomes even more somber.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.  The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"  (Mark 15:37-39)

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  (Hebrews 10:19-22)