Ohhh...it's about relationship!

I am completely and staggeringly dumbfounded right now. I would say speechless, but that would be a lie since I’m writing this... But something I read in Francis Chan and Mark Beuving’s book ‘Multiply’ has blown my mind. Quite literally my thoughts are flying about inside my head making millions of connections and implications and applications. It’s awesome!

I’m sure what I just read is something I should have known by now in my walk of faith, but I guess I missed it along the way, and so this very moment is the time that my eyes have been opened to an amazing truth. I’m sharing it in case anyone else also missed this tiny detail that actually changes so MUCH!

So, Francis and Mark (I like to think we’re on first name terms) have been going through and explaining the main points of the Old Testament. Some interesting stuff, but mostly I’ve been reading going yes, I know that or yes, I remember learning that. Until… we get to God’s Covenant with Moses on Mount Sinai and the giving of the Law. I’ll try and summarise the point and not quote the whole two pages.

Basically, their point is that, the giving of the Old Testament law appears to be so that God’s people can be made right with Him by rule-keeping and good deeds. BUT that’s wrong: “there is nothing in the Law that tells the Israelites that they will receive ultimate salvation if they perfectly keep every aspect of the Law. In fact, the Law itself assumes that the Israelites will fail in keeping it – that’s why the sacrificial system was included… the Law was never intended to give the Israelites a moral ladder they could climb and thereby earn God’s favour by showing what good people they were. Instead, the Law was about maintaining a relationship with God. The Law solved the problem of how a holy God can bind Himself to a sinful people.”

That’s it. The slightest change in understanding that God’s people were never under the ‘saved by works’ kind of faith. The Israelites’ salvation (in a practical way) was already accomplished through the Exodus, and God was renewing and extending His covenant (following on from the one with Abraham) with this nation He called out, this time giving them more specific instructions on how they could continue in relationship with Him as His chosen people.

And it’s HUGE! Because, personally, I struggle with reconciling the freedom that we have in Christ and all the commandments that come up in the Bible; salvation by grace and faith versus salvation by works. But now I realise it’s not about salvation by works at all. Never was. It’s about the relationship. We are redeemed by Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection and have the opportunity to enter into a relationship with God through Him. And so the commandments that Jesus gave, and all the teaching in the New Testament is like the giving of the law in the Old Testament. It’s not about us working our own way to salvation, even though we already have been saved, it’s about us maintaining a relationship with God.

So I don’t need to keep trying harder to be perfect like Jesus. And then become crippled by the weight of guilt when I constantly let Him down. But I can feel upset about how my sinful nature (as highlighted in the New Testament) gets in the way of a relationship with my Father, the God of the Universe, my Lord and redeemer, Jesus Christ, and my comforter, the Holy Spirit as well as everyone else around me. And that my daily, hourly and second-ly sins keep my eyes from looking to Jesus and knowing His love for me so that it naturally overflows in my life to everyone and everything around me. And I can want to change that.

Simple, hey?! But life-changing I believe…

Why I'm so passionate about mentoring

Watched this video with my girls in Red Hill last weekend and because of where I am in the midst of life and LifeXchange, some things jumped out at me:
http://vimeo.com/46266589

The core of mentoring in LifeXchange is discipleship and the similarities between Jesus' calling of his disciples and the LX process struck me. In a few weeks' time, some of us will be going into Ocean View to the blokke and go up to some of the most dangerously 'hopeless' youths to tell them that they have been chosen to be part of the LifeXchange programme because we think that they have great potential. Then, it's their choice if they want to 'Come, follow us'. That's the start of their unique journey for both mentee and mentor.

We want Christian mentors specifically because we know that only God can bring true transformation (and how can you bring someone into a relationship with God if you don't know Him?). But obviously we are not Jesus, so for us the discipleship journey is more like when Paul writes, "follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." (1 Cor. 11:1) The thing I find really exciting in this, as I mentioned in my last post, is that none of us is perfect. And this creates the space for learning and transformation in both mentee and mentor through the relationship.

I also watched the film 'Chasing Mavericks' at the cinema last night, and loved the way they explored the relationship between Frosty and Jay. Especially the way Frosty had to realize that there was a relationship between them, and he could bring some good influence into the boy's life if he chose to be active in the relationship. And then look at how both of them grow over time, because of the relationship they had and the input that both of them brought to it. Really, for me, all mentoring comes down to is intentional relationships. And I suppose the same is true for discipleship; an intentional relationship with God.

Going back to the Nooma video, I was particularly challenged by one of the discussion questions we explored after watching it. So I'll leave it with you as well:

Would you consider yourself to be a disciple?

Losing Our Saltiness?

A quick chat this morning with a co-worker sent my thoughts spiralling off, so in an effort to bring my world into some sort of order again I'm writing this out. It's something that's been resonating with me for the last week or so, and I guess this morning was the nudge that's dropping the penny! Here goes...

LifeXchange, the organization I am now serving with, is currently looking to recruit mentors (specifically men) in the local area. After targeting several prominant churches and other networks in the Fish Hoek Valley, they have struggled with a lack of response and are currently sitting with maybe three potential applicants. Already behind schedule, we have decided to give it another month to try and get at least seven more, before making decisions about going ahead. Given the desperate need for mentors to walk alongside and disciple the troubled youth in only one set of streets in one community in this corner of the Cape Peninsula, it's disappointing that only three people have responded to the call.

We were discussing whether targeting churches for mentor recruitment was the right approach. Because, if we want to disciple the youth - following Jesus' example - where else can we go? However, we realize that the people who are most likely to respond are those who have a heart for giving and serving, which means that they are probably already over committed to things within the church and cannot take on something else. And it was sad to hear that in the past LifeXchange has had more people showing interest in being mentors from within the secular world, where those who are interested in 'giving back' may not have an avenue for doing so. But again, we go back to the point that this ministry is about discipleship.

So, what's going on, church? Luke 14:15-34 is ringing in my ears! Is it wrong for me to conclude that congregations are made up of a few givers and a much larger majority of takers? Or is it fear of people from the townships, and the community itself, that's an obstacle? Or is God's still, small voice lost in the raft of louder voices, thoughts and ideas that come from the multitude of things that we fill up our time and life with? Or maybe it's an even more devious distraction, where we are pursuing holiness and building each other up until we are 'ready' to do God's will? In the words of Erwin McManus (Seizing Your Divine Moment), "We have a lot of great assemblies that we call churches, yet the very word church means 'to be called out.' No football team has ever won a Super Bowl on the strength of the huddle. It's what happens after the 'ready, break' that brings the victory ... like Israel's army, you cannot win a war until you leave the assembly and engage the battle. It's not enough to assemble; you also have to go to war. We have a propensity towards assembling for our own good without being moved to serve the good of others..."

I don't want this to be a rant, which is always so easy to do when it comes to the church. I know that we are not perfect and pointing this out over and over again isn't going to help any! But realizing that God has not abandoned us in our imperfection, nor miraculously granted us perfection from the second we receive salvation is a first step. We are all in the beautiful tension, being worked or fashioned together by the mostly invisible Holy Spirit, chosen by God to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him. Or are we?

I guess I'd like to ask the question 'What's happening to our saltiness, church?'

Or more importantly for myself, 'What can I do  to be the change I want to see?' Well, for me, the answer to bringing change is relationships. So, crazy as it sounds, I have decided I need to be on mission to church! Everything I am learning about mentoring and discipleship I can put into practice with my own congregation (or community group at least) and through relationships hopefully stir up hearts that have gone cold or are still dormant. Maybe that's the role for all of us? After all, the beauty of mentoring is that people on both sides of the relationship, mentee and mentor, are changed. Is that what Christian community is all about?

It's that time again...

1.       Happy Birthday Mandela (for Wednesday)! 94 and still going strong! And the whole country celebrated by doing 67 minutes of community service projects in their area. At Living Hope, we had some navy guys and school students come through to spruce up our grounds and the Health Care Centre gardens. It’s looking so good.

 

I went with some friends to paint some rooms in a women’s and children’s shelter yesterday. It takes a surprising amount of organisation and planning just to paint a room! But after the usual confusion of absent staff at the shelter and misunderstandings of which rooms we were decorating (there had already been several other groups coming to serve in this way before us!), we finally got busy cleaning, and taping and painting. Sadly I had to leave at lunch time, but I’m hoping to see some pics of the finished rooms soon!

2.       I’ve just come back having had an elegant sufficiency of the yummiest lunch ever! I was visiting my gran at the clubhouse of her retirement village. We had Sunday lunch together and it was sooooo delicious. I’m salivating just thinking about it now! And I think it's the first Sunday roast I've had this year.

3.      Talking about food, I’ve definitely been spoilt this week. One of the short-term teams at Living Hope, held their annual Mexican dinner on Thursday night. This started about 6 years ago and has steadily grown in popularity so that there were over 70 people at the Teamhouse enjoying the authentic burritos and taco salad. And I should have listened to all the conversations in the office about starving/eating tiny amounts during the day so that the maximum amount of space was left in our stomachs for the food! Again, salivating right now!

4.       Maybe it’s a good thing I’ve been so spoilt this week. Because from tomorrow morning until midnight on Wednesday, I’m going to the take the ‘Live under the Line’ challenge. This is happening through the church I go to on Sunday mornings, where we are all being challenged to spend only R10 a day on food for these three days, as if we were living under the poverty line, like the 13 million of our neighbours in this country for whom this is actually a reality. I’m so excited about this challenge. It’s going to be hard, but the aim is to help us to understand and identify with those who live like this so that we can better show compassion to them, as part of living a right life before God (Micah 6:8). So far, I’ve done the shopping, which was already an eye opening experience – having to pass by pretty much everything in the shop (even the special deals!) and buy the minimum basics: apples, bread, peanut butter and pap is what I will be living on! And then I realised that this isn’t even the true situation for the poor – they have to make their R10 stretch to more than just food – what about toiletries, transport, electricity, education etc. etc.? My mind = blown! I probably would have given up before the challenge even started if we had had to go that far. Which already tells me something...

Sunday Four!

1.       Right now I’ve barricaded myself into my flat – that is as much as is possible when the balcony door and several windows can’t actually be closed fully or locked – because we have some chancy neighbours wandering around Capri. I arrived home to find this guy casually swing himself over the gate of the neighbours across the road: 

      My landlord’s dogs were going mad inside our garden. So, while I was waiting for the baboons to move on before opening the gate, I got to thinking...if it came to a showdown, who would win – baboon or boxer?

2.       Yesterday was a sort of first for me. I and 44 other people (that’s right, 44!), mostly from the States, went to watch the rugby at Newlands. It was the final game for the Stormers in the Super Rugby before the play offs stage. I’ve never been to see a game with that many people, but once the action started I hardly even noticed. We won...of course ;) Now if we can just reach the final, it will be a home game. I wonder how many people I can go with to watch that match!

3.       I’m very excited to go to MBC here in Cape Town tonight! That’s Meadowridge Baptist Church, not Mutley, obviously. It feels weird to be calling another church MBC, but also slightly appropriate because so far it’s the closest church to Mutley that I’ve found. And after the rainiest week and day here it will feel especially like home!

4.       On a serious note, after doing a lot of reading and thinking, I’ve finally woken up to the seriousness of sexual abuse and how it impacts victims’ lives in so many ways (socially, emotionally, physically and spiritually – this penny dropped after several of sermons preached on sex and marriage the last few months). This is now horrifying for me when I see and hear of so many children who are affected by this. Someone told me that in our area, sexual assaults happen every 43 seconds. And the worst part is that it has just become a part of life for people in the communities – in fact this week we caught a group of 4-6 year olds ‘sexing in the bush’ (luckily, this time it was just an innocent game of playing ‘mommy and daddy’). Hopefully, Living Hope as an organisation can start to make a stand against this abuse and help to bring God’s healing and restoration to all who need it.

 

The Sunday Four

1. The time has come to say goodbye to Lesli, a fellow volunteer who was based in Red Hill as a Life Skills Educator. We worked together on Saturdays with our girls group. It was a weekend of sad times, last meals and laughs, and the only reason we are letting her leave is because we know she'll be coming back. Goodbye friend! Thanks for all the Mexican dinners and hilarious stories of taxi-drivers and planned bank robberies! And what an awesome legacy you are leaving behind in Red Hill, through your relationships with the team members and the kids - especially our Saturday girls. I'm looking forward to letting you know about all the fruit growing from all the seeds you've planted...

2. Since Lesli's flight was on a Saturday afternoon, it seemed appropriate to bring the regular Red Hill girls to the airport to say farewell. Thankfully, it wasn't too emotional with only a few tears shed outside security! But the experience for the girls was amazing (or at least that's what I think). For them to go somewhere that they've never been before and learn about travelling by plane, pilots, flight attendants etc. etc. was eye-opening. A chance to broaden their horizons and maybe start some dreams about their own futures and where they could go or what they could do. Such a simple thing could turn out to be life-changing! Crazy thought!

3. Lesli managed to escape just as the weather has become winter with a vengeance! There's been so much rain, the rainbow count is up to six in two days. And lots of monkey's weddings, which would be why all the baboons were out in full force on my drive to and from Red Hill yesterday!

4. I don't have anything else to update, but here is a link to an awesome news story I read this week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18703171 Enough said.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the week ahead!

Oops, three months went by...

Wow, keeping up a blog is difficult! But I have a solution (which I have absolutely stolen from one of my favourite authors’ blog): The Friday Four!

1.       My highlight of the week, or maybe even month, for our OVC programme is one of the girls from our Mountain View Club. This week we have started helping her to become formally looked after (fostered?) by a neighbour when we realised she was at risk of neglect at home. The LSEs say that she has always coloured in black and grey and dark colours, but this last week they showed me a photo of her in holiday club holding up her picture done in bright rainbow colours with a huge grin on her face! What an awesome reminder of why we’re doing this.

2.       Something I’ve been thinking about a lot this week is how we glamorize mission work. It’s so easy to say to people back home I’m going to help the poor, starving, vulnerable children on the other side of the world. We tend to think that the people out there are so oppressed by the broken systems of the world. And yet there are people and children suffering on our own doorstep. Why don’t we feel the same call and compassion for them? Why is it that Living Hope has probably more than ten times the number of volunteers and churches supporting it from overseas compared to locally? Being here and trying to untangle the messiness of family situations has shown me that yes, there are broken systems, but these people, like the rest of us, are also broken themselves. The more I’ve tried to help, the more I’ve found myself judging them for their faults. So, really, what I’m trying to say is that mission work ‘out there’ is just as difficult as mission work in our home town. The closer we are to people the easier it is to see their imperfections, and the harder it becomes to romanticise the issues. And I sympathise with anyone who feels called to minister to me!

3.      I have needed a lot of patience this week. I have two nemeses to deal with on my own doorstep...my landlord’s dogs! They are driving me insane. Every morning when I leave, I have to open the gate to drive out. And no matter what I try the dogs are just waiting for the chance to escape and run up and down the road outside. Of course, they don’t listen to me because I’m just the lodger. So I have to spend 5 minutes running around outside shouting and waving after them until they finally decide to go back inside. Grrrr. At least that's my excuse for being late a few times this week!

4.       I’ll finish with a huge THANK YOU to some special people who sent me a small package of chocolatey goodness this week! It was the best surprise on Tuesday morning when I got to work. Even if most of the chocolate had melted flat. Chocolate is still chocolate! And I pretty much inhaled one bar right then and there! What...it was a rough morning having to chase after some dogs....

That’s all for today. Hopefully catch up next week!