Worldly Holiness

muslim-prayer, originally uploaded by papalars.

I was talking with my pastor, Eugene Cho, recently and he asked me what I thought about joining Muslims for prayer, especially during Ramadan. Apparently, Brian McLaren was getting some intense fire on the Blogosphere for joining Muslims during Ramadan for prayer. [Two helpful links to give more context: "Driscoll: McLaren's Ramadan Fasting Observance is "Insane at Best" and "Muslims Find new Ramadan fast Partners: Christians"]. Maybe those voices didn’t know I was doing the same thing. I didn’t blog about it either. Maybe I’m a coward. Clearly, I must not have the same profile [tongue deeply inserted in my cheek...oops, I'm leaking] as Brian McLaren. LOL.

Anyway, the point for me on whether to pray with Muslims or only for them is this–If I retain my identity as a Christ follower, why not join Muslims for prayer during Ramadan? The criticism from some is that by doing so we send the wrong message. We are compromising the Gospel they say. I don’t get it. Did Jesus compromise his identity or his message by hanging out with the tax gatherers and sinners? Who is my model when I go to the mosque, Jesus or these contrary voices? What is the wrong message being sent by being with those we seek to serve and share the Gospel with?

My objective when I go to the mosque is to bear witness to Jesus Christ. I’m clear that I follow him. I seek to share the Gospel in appropriate ways. I engage Muslims on their terms, seek to deal with their issues, concerns and questions, not mine. As evangelicals we are too often guilty of getting our words straight, our doctrine correct and we want to deliver our message without engaging life.

During my last visit to the mosque, I gave a gift to my Imam friend and stayed late to participate in their prayers. It was a profound time. I was impacted by the deep pathos with which my friends were seeking God’s mercy and favor, and their corresponding sense of unworthiness. There supplications sounded very much like the Pslams of lament. As I was leaving the mosque, the Imam took me aside to ask for advise. He was a little troubled by some aggressive Christians who came to his mosque the week before to do some “evangelism.” Some of his people were traumatized by the experience. I’m sure these people had a “praise report” back in their church, but the flavor they left in the mosque was anything but sweet. I’ve come to learn that for Muslims, the Mosque has a distinctive spiritual function. It is the place which rekindles the Muslim’s spirituality, and which provides a sense of sanctity, calmness, and inner peace. That is something we should respect as we join them and learn from them.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 2 Cor. 2:14.

Muhammad, originally uploaded by papalars.

Muhammad became my special friend during our recent work project in Morocco. He was the consummate host, a great helper and encourager. We clicked despite the cultural and linguistic gaps, which are significant. I discovered near week’s end that we were the same age. Wow. That surprised me but as I learned more about his life it didn’t. Muhammad took special interest in my well being during the project. Maybe because he felt that geezers need to stick together. As I seemed to be wilting under the afternoon heat he would find a shady place under a tree and lay out a mat for me to rest on. That was cool. We did not speak each other’s language but in a way we did…if that makes sense. He was very kind, helped us learn a few expressions, crushed fresh almonds for us to eat, poured mint tea and was overall the elder host of our team.

One afternoon he saw me actively taking pictures of the area and asked me to take a walk with him. I wasn’t sure what he wanted at first. Remember the language barrier. In our limited way, we communicated. I valued him, was interested in his life, his family and culture. He saw me as a friendly guest, someone who had come to help his family and people. As we walked he took my arm and said, “Ma-rock, Americk,” then flashed me a big smile and two thumbs up. Occasionally, well actually every other minute, we would reach the end of our verbal lexicon and just laugh.

On the second to last day, it was apparent that my stomach had succumbed to the new germ environment. I was losing energy quick and also worried about where to escape when necessary. Muhammad once again laid me down under a tree. Soon after that he motioned me to follow him on another little walk. I was very curious, maybe a little nervous. Here I was in a strange country, taking another walk with a man I just met, whose language I did not speak. We wandered off the beaten path on that little hill in rural Morocco. It was a place that had kind of become home for a week.

We stopped at one point on our walk. Muhammad reached down and picked some plants, dusted them off, and looked at me. He then rubbed his stomach to suggest that the plant he was holding would relieve my sickness. What to do? Could this be safe for me to ingest? Will I get sicker? What was in that dust that he shook off the plant? I was aware that many animals roamed freely over this same patch of land. Here they don’t talk about “free range” animals as a marketing scheme. It is just their reality. Who has money to build a fence? Why would you want to anyway? I paused for a moment, then just said inside, OK Lord. I trust this man. Muhammad took the plant back to his little home, boiled some water and made me a special tea. I drank it with the faith that I would be fine. Maybe I would even get better.

When I got back to my bunk, I still took some Imodium and pain relievers. But who knows what did the trick.

My 10 days in Morocco were nearing the end. I survived, even thrived. I got sick and then got a little better. I enjoyed working with our diverse team of people from Ireland, Arizona, Washington and most of all–Morocco. Muhammad was my new friend and caregiver. And somehow this is all part of the joy of serving in the Kingdom and doing what Christ calls me to. I can hardly wait to return.

“According to Jesus, there is no authentic Christianity, discipleship or Christian ethics apart from doing the deeds he taught his followers to do….” - Glen Stassen

“Life naturally provides those moments and occasions of unintentional contemplation, times when the foundations of life seem swept away and we are left with the need to see life from a different perspective. - Parker Palmer

Recently I had the chance to help with a project building a home in North Africa in a region that was struck by an earthquake a few years ago. Many in the host community lost their lives and the survivors are struggling to put the pieces back together as they put a new roof over their heads, hopefully a home that will better withstand a future quake. I volunteered with a non-profit that is rebuilding communities, house by house, making an impact on lives and families and helping the local economy by employing local tradesman for various aspects of the building projects.

It was our job to dig ditches for the foundation of a new home. Not a large home but one that makes sense for the region and fits the lifestyle of a small family. As we worked harder than I’ve worked for a long time, family members dug alongside us investing sweat equity and pride in the building of their own home. They also provided food and wonderful, sweet mint tea during breaks. The weather was intense for a guy from the Northwest and the topography did not easily yield to our intentions to dig ditches. But we made headway. A particular feature that slowed our work were the veins of rock that decided to hide themselves under the veneer of normal dirt where we drew our lines for a hole or trench. The rocks probably saw us coming and wagered on which of these white guys could break them down. Ha.

I pounded on one such rock for the better part of 30 minutes one morning. After me, another guy on our team spent yet more time on the same stone. Thought I had loosened it for him. Apparently not. One of the local workers finally came to our rescue. He got into the same hole we were in for 45+ minutes with a pick. He taped in several places, found a weak spot, pried with the point of the pick, tapped a bit more. In less than 10 minutes he dislodged a huge rock to our shame and chagrin. But were we glad. We also knew who knew what they were doing right then.

I don’t want to over spiritualize this little story but the parallels are striking. Sometimes in my inner life I try to remove the rocks myself, with brute force of will or determination. These are good qualities for some tasks in my life but generally not the inner life. The best way to become conformed to the image of God is to yield, to trust the Holy Spirit to apply his gentle hand at the inner surgery that is sometimes needed in my heart. That is not a passive, static posture. I still need to get in the ditch to uncover the rocks and use the tools given by God. But ultimately it is a work of the Holy Spirit.

The guy who unearthed the rock at our project site has a nickname. They call him “rock whisper.” I kind of like that idea when I think of the work of the Holy Spirit in my life.

“The things that come out of a man are they that defile him, and to get out of them a man must go into himself, be a convict, and scrub the floor of his cell.” - George MacDonald

I’ve just recently concluded a wonderful trip full of ministry highlights and reflections that I will share with you over the next week or so with some video highlights of various aspects of the trip as well. I will start with the incredible serendipity that came across my path the last Sunday before returning to Seattle.

Gypsies Singing at a Baptism in Malaga, Spain, July 12th, 2009

I went to the church in Malaga, Spain where our friends and colleagues, Eugenio & Pia Restrepo, are currently serving. One of Eugenio’s ministries is to give leadership support and theological training to the leaders of this movement of gypsies. We found out at worship that they were having a special baptismal service in the Mediterranean later in the afternoon. Long story short, we were invited to participate and enjoy the afternoon with them. Below is a video I took of the choral group that sang throughout the ceremony for the baptism. They had beautiful, powerful voices that sang with deep pathos and feeling. More later…

Tags: baptism, baptism singing Malaga Spain "Eugenio Restrepo" Mediterranean, Gypsies, story, video

Multonomah Falls, originally uploaded by papalars.

Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

- Hebrews 12:14

Wow. What a verse. This one just popped up on my twitter link to Sojourner’s verse for the day and it reminds me of my call as a follower of Christ and sadly, my deficiencies. There are three key words that strike me in this verse–”peace,” “holiness” and then “pursue.” Some thoughts come to mind on each one.

The desire for “peace” is in vogue these days. Seems we want more interpersonal, international, and interracial harmony all over the place. We seem to have cycled through the options between war and peace and have come to realize the more we lack peace, the more we war with each other, the more conflict spreads across our globe, the more we end up blind and toothless. That was the comment on a wonderful soap opera [telenovela] I used to watch in Mexico where the protagonist once made this bright conclusion to the idea of an “eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth!” Kind of obvious, right. There are other manifestations to life without peace but you get the idea.

As individuals we also want more intrapersonal peace, putting to rest the many conflicts within our soul that rob us of our inner solitude and harmony. We often seem conflicted over options about choices, priorities and attitudes. Clearly the intra and the inter are many times related even though our culture sometimes leads us to think we can separate the two. That is not my main point, however, that these two orbits overlap. What I feel we miss in this apparent universal desire for peace is the necessary work that will lead to that coveted goal of peace, both the intra and the inter. In this area, like so many other challenges in our society, we seem to think a wave of the magic wand will cure all ills. I’m overstating the point but in reality we want more magic in our lives that effort.

The next key word in this verse is “holy.” Now that one seems entirely out of vogue these days. Images of prudish conservatives who are big killjoys comes to mind. Holy is not what you want at a party. Holy is not what describes our appetite, our consumption, our media viewing. I sometimes wonder why this word has fallen so out of favor in our Western values. Is it our culture’s revulsion to fire and brimstone preachers, many of whom have been found to be total hypocrites? Is it a backlash to the religious right’s agenda that seems mostly bent on imposing certain “family values” on the rest of society? Is it the Pharisaic types who want to correct the errors of others? Well, I do think this is part of the situation, maybe even most. Holy is not good. Period.

As with many other things in my life, I like to always ask the question, “what does Jesus think about this?” Immediately I’m brought to some hopefully resolution and instruction for life. For starters, Jesus seemed very comfortable at parties and his guests and friends at those parties seemed comfortable with him. And yet, we also get from the Gospels that Jesus was very holy. Nothing impure about him. No off color or degrading comments about his enemies, his friends, his family. No verbal grenades thrown. Now he was prophetic and said some stuff that upset certain folks, especially the Pharisees and religious leaders. So clearly, Jesus was not a wimp. He could say difficult things. That characteristic is what finally lead him to the cross.

But he also said some other things that we should not ignore, especially today. Like in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount he said, “therefore be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Mt. 5:48. Then a little further on Jesus challenges his listeners to “hear these words, and to act upon them,” thereby being “compared to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock.” Mt. 7:24-27. This all deals with the second word, “holy.” He also addresses the other word, “peace.” In an important section near the end of his life on earth when the guards came to take Jesus away, he instructed Peter to put his sword back in his sheath, saying, “all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.” Mt. 26:52.

These are all part of the marvelous and important Gospel that those who claim to follow Jesus SHOULD be following. Simple. Period. The last word in this original text at the top is “pursue.” The first two words, holy and peace do not just happen. We need to pursue them. It is in the faithful pursuit that we find God, that we see him as he truly is. Many Christians pride themselves in having their doctrine straight and orthodox. I think the Bible teaches something more. In fact, I think Jesus would say that orthodoxy without orthopraxy is essentially heresy. We gotta walk our talk in other words.

Tags: photoblog