A Love That Runs Deep

I admit it...I love the fall...in many ways for the last 15 or so years of my life it has been the busiest time of my year...and I guess to be honest, I'm pretty much a guy who thrives on activity and being engaged in the high school and college communities I've been part of...but it's also more than that...I love the often perfect weather that seems to show up in the MIDWEST in the months of September and October...I love more mundane things like college football Saturdays...and I love all the new things that fill our family life as we re-enter the school year season and get connected to new friends and new experiences...

And I love one other thing that I've even reconnected with again this fall...the beautiful game we call soccer in the USA and the joy of being part of a team that plays a season...these two months are forever etched in my own yearly calendar as the times when I'm supposed to be on a sideline watching diagonal through balls get played, head balls won, and half-volleys cracked into the corner of goals...and it's something I've fallen in love with beyond my expectations...

This fall of 2010 has been one of the busiest in recent memory in terms of activities, new programs, lots of relationships, management responsibilities, and time required at our various CU campus initiatives...often times, the schedule threatened to exhaust me and leave me worn out to the point where I've found myself losing a bit of the fire and passion for what God has called me to do...

And in the midst of those moments and seasons of life, I've discovered that the antidote I need to inject into my life is to spend time with something I truly love...something that strangely restores my energy and enthusiasm instead of wiping me out...these moments are often to be with the people that I love the most...long time friends and Ingrid, Olivia, and Trey...creating memories with them makes my heart full and fills back up those wells of passion and joy...

And then perhaps most strangely for so many of my peers and even my fellow Americans, I find that my heart needs for me to walk out to the soccer pitch...a few years ago, I ended up having to walk away from the fields where a major chunk of my heart was poured out and built strong for many, many falls in a row...I missed coaching and its emotional roller coaster ride for sure...but more than that I missed being part of the sport...being part of the game the world loves in a hands-on way...being part of a bunch of guys that care so deeply that they commit almost silly amounts of time and emotion to its pursuit...

The soccer coach here at CU has become one of my best friends quickly on the campus and graciously has invited me to step back inside the soccer world in a small but significant way for me...the days when I walk from my office to the practice field are ones that cause me to walk with a smile on my face...and I still even find myself going back to old habits as I'll wear some CU soccer gear to the office on game days...

And when I stand on the sidelines during our matches, I am reminded of how good it is that God created these things in our world that give us great joy, great pleasure, great heartbreak...things that we do very much love...and I often offer these strange prayers of thanks for this game that I've fallen in love with...a game that has brought into my life many of the people whom I love most deeply...a game that has enabled me to fall in love with the cultures and peoples all over the world...a game that I love coaching my son in as he cracks a left footed volley to my great surprise...a game that has helped allow me to connect in new places every time I've made a major transition in my life to a new place...a game that I grew up playing but is something that I seemingly enjoy and treasure even more as I age...

The soccer schedule is winding down for Trey and the CU guys this very week...and I'm already feeling that tinge of sadness as winter will soon be here and soccer on grass will disappear around here...but in my heart, a love will still burn and flicker...and I reflect on the truth of Proverbs 4 where Solomon writes about how our heart is indeed the very "wellspring of life" for us...and I am reminded that I Corinthians 5 rings true as the love Christ pours out upon us does in fact compel us to pursue with passion that which God invites us to be part of in His world...

The other day I went out to practice on a gorgeous October afternoon and offered a quick reading of I Corinthians 13 and reminded myself and a bunch of college soccer players how blessed we are all to love what God has gifted us to do...how beautiful the love is that teammates have for one another as they share these truly unique corporate experiences...and how remarkable it is for us to be able to create memories and moments that will forever shape and stay with us as a Christian soccer community built upon a love for a beautiful game, for each other, for the Kingdom work it allows us to do as we live and bask in a love that runs so deep...

Three things will last forever...faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love...I CORINTHIANS 13:13

Weeping Because of Malaria...

I did something tonight that I've done several times before, but hadn't done in quite a while...I wept for the children and families in sub-Saharan Africa...I wept not out of pity or guilt, but because of the personal stories I encountered in watching a documentary filmed to raise awareness and response to the global health pandemic of malaria...

I screened a documentary for a bunch of students here at CU concerned about global poverty and justice issues called WHEN THE NIGHT COMES...it's a piece done by some of the folks who did the Invisible Children documentary and was sponsored by the UN and ONE CAMPAIGN groups...we just completed hosting a major malaria event called Night of Nets where we raised several thousand dollars at a CU soccer match and will be able to distribute over 1000 insecticide treated malaria bed nets when he head to Zambia in May for families at great risk of being affected by this awful disease...

I've probably shown over 100 documentary style pieces done concerning issues in Africa, and I like to think I'm fairly aware of some of the impact lack of resources and as Bill Gates calls it "the accident of geography" has upon many people's global situations and life challenges...

But this particular film was exceptionally well done and the filmmakers had access and demonstrated great sensitivity in telling and showing life stories in northern Ugandan communities...and my heart was once again broken and I was educated in a meaningful way about what life does and can look like for a people that have the deepest faith in a God who will see them thru very challenging things and who has remarkable plans for their futures...

And as I sat in a classroom just outside my office covered with African paintings and photos and treasures, the tears came once again, despite my want to stop them and my head's ideas that I couldn't possibly still be crying about things on the other side of the world...

But I wept...I wept because 500 million people globally deal with a horrific health issue that was swept away from our American world over 50 years ago...I wept because I saw once again the utter despair and grief of parents who lost their one year old babies in clinics that would never pass health codes anywhere in the western world...I wept because Ugandan teenagers just assumed that millions of people in our country were dealing with malaria in our country because of our type of climate...I wept because girls who love to play soccer don't just worry about their homework at night after practice, but instead worry about falling asleep and exposing themselves to the bite of an insect that could end their life as it has others in their immediate families...I wept because the people interviewed just assumed we were going to help end malaria when asked about it...I wept because this disease that is completely preventable is keeping almost each of the millenium development goals from being achieved...I wept because we were able to raise enough resources to provide over 1000 desperately needed nets with just a bit of work and energy from some middle class college athletes and globally minded students on a Saturday in September when for millions of people a net would make the difference between life and death...I wept because only 20 students or so will come see this documentary about creating a future for people without one and over 200 will go watch a film made over 25 years ago about an actor's make believe past and future...I wept because I don't worry about even sleeping under a bed net in Africa when I go because of the preventative medicines I take while traveling...I wept seeing the privilege it will be to hand a net to a family that will sing and dance for joy in response this summer as I walk dusty roads in a nation I've grown to love...and I wept because of the fact that I honestly believe with all my heart that millions of my fellow Christ followers are missing out on great joy and meaning and intimacy in relationships with amazing cultures and peoples and Jesus Himself because their faith hasn't made room for the reality of a global God who has blessed some so they may bless others and bring life, truly abundant life to each and every person made in His image on this planet no matter what global crisis or issue they are facing...

And perhaps most of all, my tears fell because I know that God still longs for me to do more...He longs for me to invite more students in this generation to be the church that loves their neighbors near and far in our world...and He longs for me to use my gifts, my influence, my voice, my loves to help do things like end malaria by 2015...because that's His calling and His passion for me in this moment of my walk with Jesus...and so often I don't cry like I should and love like I should and live like I should in light of what I know to be true in Scripture and in our world...

So tonight as I finish writing and head to bed where a mosquito is the last thing on my mind as the night has come to Grand Rapids, I am glad for a film that makes me weep again...and am praying tonight with my CU student friends with such open and compassoniate hearts that our tears will lead us to repentance and acts of restoration as the church of Jesus Christ that will wipe away the tears and the fears of our African friends as malaria disappears in the villages and homes and lives of those in a place where God has not left and has so much more to do in the days to come...

Wiping Away the Tears in my Eyes Because of the One Who Brings Light and Life Even When the Night Comes to All of Our Lives...

4 Views of God

Here's a posting from Kara Powell at Fuller Seminary about some recent research on how people view God in our culture...some interesting stuff...

A friend forwarded me this “USA Today” summary [1] of some research on Americans’ views of God conducted by a few sociologists at Baylor University. I thought their 4 categories for views of God, while not necessarily never-before-thought-of, are nonetheless helpful. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Froese and Bader’s research wound up defining four ways in which Americans see God:

•The Authoritative God. When conservatives Sarah Palin [2] or Glenn Beck [3] proclaim that America will lose God’s favor unless we get right with him, they’re rallying believers in what Froese and Bader call an Authoritative God, one engaged in history and meting out harsh punishment to those who do not follow him. About 28% of the nation shares this view, according to Baylor’s 2008 findings.

“They divide the world by good and evil and appeal to people who are worried, concerned and scared,” Froese says. “They respond to a powerful God guiding this country, and if we don’t explicitly talk about (that) God, then we have the wrong God or no God at all.”

•The Benevolent God. When President Obama says he is driven to live out his Christian faith in public service, or political satirist Stephen Colbert [4] mentions God while testifying to Congress in favor of changing immigration laws, they’re speaking of what the Baylor researchers call a Benevolent God. This God is engaged in our world and loves and supports us in caring for others, a vision shared by 22% of Americans, according to Baylor’s findings.

“Rhetoric that talks about the righteous vs. the heathen doesn’t appeal to them,” Froese says. “Their God is a force for good who cares for all people, weeps at all conflicts and will comfort all.”

•The Critical God. The poor, the suffering and the exploited in this world often believe in a Critical God who keeps an eye on this world but delivers justice in the next, Bader says.

Bader says this view of God — held by 21% of Americans — was reflected in a sermon at a working-class neighborhood church the researchers visited in Rifle, Colo., in 2008. Pastor Del Whittington’s theme at Open Door Church was ” ‘Wait until heaven, and accounts will be settled.’ “

•The Distant God. Though about 5% of Americans are atheists or agnostics, Baylor found that nearly one in four (24%) see a Distant God that booted up the universe, then left humanity alone.

This doesn’t mean that such people have no religion. It’s the dominant view of Jews and other followers of world religions and philosophies such as Buddhism or Hinduism, the Baylor research finds.

The Harvest is Past... and We Are Not Yet Saved

A great piece from a partner in Zambia with Jubilee Center about justice and courage in Zambia...hoping to visit their ministry with student this May back in the mother land!

We argued last week that Evangelical and Pentecostal leaders are a major force on the Zambian political scene. Our leaders receive invitations to the State House; and public media outlets: the ZNBC, the Times of Zambia, and the Daily Mail quote Pentecostal and Evangelical leaders more than any other religious constituency. We also noted that during the election candidates will be appealing for our votes and the votes of those we lead. How much difference do we make in how our members vote? Leaders do influence their people, but in the absence of quantifiable data we are not sure how many Evangelical or Pentecostals vote or what other issues we care about apart from the “Christian Nation” clause.

Evangelicals are rightly known for efforts to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the lost. Pentecostals are known for proclaiming the message of generous giving as a way of coming out of poverty as well as for exploring new forms of worship and for building new church structures. Both groups however are still lacking when it comes to caring for the needy beyond their church community. As one who identifies with both groups I can say we also have a difficult time making disciples who practically understand what it means to be Christian citizens in Zambia and the world.

Consider the economy of England in the 18th century that was largely built on the abusing children from poor families who were made to work in coalmines and factories under terrible conditions, and on the slave trade that cruelly exploited Indians and Africans. A ruling class addicted to privilege, licentious living, and status dominated the English government. It was during this period that God raised up William Wilberforce out of a life of wealth and class, who in part was a disciple of John Newton a former slave trader turned pastor, to lead through his position as a Member of Parliament to influence his fellow lawmakers to abolish the slave trade in England.

Much of Zambia’s current leadership is no different than the 18th century ruling class that enslaved the poor and oppressed the weak for personal gain. Copper prices have soared to record highs and yet those living in poor communities are seeing little change. Our natural resources and economic future are being sold and yet the proceeds are benefitting only a small band of investors and the elite ruling class. The majority of the Zambians still lack access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation. As a result, women and children spend a disproportionate amount of time collecting water and then caring for those who have contracted water-borne sicknesses from that water. Jeremiah lamented in the scriptures, “Remember O Lord what happened to us; look and see our disgrace. Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens our homes to foreigners” (Lam.5: 1-2) He cried, “Harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?”(Jeremiah 8:20-22)

Zambia needs a John Newton who will tell our Wilberforce in Parliament that “God has raised you up for the good of the church and the good of the nation.” Do we have a Wilberforce in Parliament...someone who will forgo wealth and privilege for a higher cause? Do we have a John Newton in our pulpits...one who has the credibility and courage to speak boldly to the ruling class on behalf of the marginalized and disciple them to make a difference for good?


Lawrence Temfwe

HOLY DISCONTENT...A Key to Moving from the Head to the Heart to the Hand

Here's some of the thoughts I shared at our CU chapel closing Global Opportunities Week...they flow from my engagement with Bill Hybels' book by the same name that helped frame what God was at work doing in my own faith and life...

OPENING QUESTIONS: Why do certain people care about certain things? AND Why do people do what they do in their lives?

IDEA #1: The motivating reason why millions of people choose to do good in the world around them is because there is something wrong in the world that gains their attention.

IDEA #2: THE POPEYE MOMENT...It happens when we reach the point where we can’t “stands no more!”

IDEA #3: TWO THEOLOGICAL DRIVING FORCES: Restoration and Reconciliation

IDEA #4:Restoration…Romans 8:20-21
Against its will, all creation was subjected
to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the
creation looks forward to the day when it
will join God’s children in glorious freedom
from death and decay.

IDEA #5:Reconciliation: Colossians 1:15-20
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all
creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven
and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers
or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for
him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning
and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he
might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his
fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all
things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making
peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

IDEA #6: LUKE 4:18-22…Jesus’ Passion for Mission...He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.
Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the
Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and
recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim
the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back
to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue
were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this
scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

IDEA #7: The Kingdom Begins to Come.. Thoughts from Dave Livermore’s Cultural Intelligence...
*The “already/not yet” tension exists where the kingdom is already
present/embodied in Jesus’ life/ministry while not yet fully present…
*Jesus’ work is already present while also moving history forward to
the time when all will be made right…so we have to forever hold in
tension both the present and the future realities of the kingdom. One
without the other just isn’t possible. If the kingdom is fully future, the
church is without power. If the kingdom is fully present, the church is
without hope.
*We are a colony of the kingdom created to give people pictures of what
Jesus’ reign looks like and as a testimony of the kingdom that will one day
be fully realized. And a huge part of the contextualization process is
learning to put on kingdom sensors so we can spot where God’s reign has
sprung forth into our fallen world and where it has not yet come to bear.

IDEA #8: The Process…There develops an irresistible attraction to a specific cause that compels people to invest joyfully of their time, their money, and their energies…and it is almost always linked back to a single spark of frustration that fuels what is now a raging fire in their souls…and you become an unstoppable force for good

IDEA #9: The Outcome…You see, what wrecks the heart of someone who loves God is often the very thing God wants to use to fire them up to do something that, under normal circumstances, they would never attempt to do in their normal condition and lives.
 
IDEA #10: Scripture’s Push On Our Lives…And so we then refuse to stay just fed up…and we get fueled to action by this restless longing for the better day realities God says are coming soon. It is entirely possible to rest in God’s promise of a better day while we work our tails off to usher it in…

IDEA #11: Helpful Steps in Becoming More Discontent:
*Feed Your Frustration

*Take More Risk

*Fan the Flame

IDEA #12: APPLICATION QUESTIONS: Where Do You Go From Here?

1. What one thing can’t you stand in our present community/world?

2. What piece of God’s restoration work do you long to be part of in your life?

3. What is your next one specific step in acting on your own “holy discontent?”

IDEA #13: A FRANCISCAN BENEDICTION

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen