La Limonades, LDP, and 1 Cor 3

We had the opportunity to visit another Compassion project site yesterday. By project, I mean a local church that Compassion partners with. This one was much different than the previous church. It was in a red zone of Guatemala City called La Limonades. This area is known for its extreme gang activity. The area is such a hot zone for criminal activity that we were advised to put all valuables out of sight, to not walk outside the church building in the community, and to travel quickly in one large group when going between buildings.

Needless to say, tensions were pretty high, and all of us were a bit nervous. I wasn't sure what we'd see, and when we arrived at Iglesia de Restoracion, I was blown away. The church, in the middle of this rough neighborhood, was huge. We were greeted by about 20 volunteer staff and three of the pastors of the church. We met some of the students, their parents, and were able to get an under-the-hood look at the operations of what goes into monitoring the development of students.

Each student had a file that tracked his/her progress spiritually, socially, economically, etc. I was very impressed by the level of detail and the intentionality that went into each child. In fact, I was so impressed that I was convicted that I didn't do such a thing for my own students!

After this tour, we had lunch with some of the college students in the Leadership Development Program of Compassion. These were college students who had grown up through the Compassion child sponsorship program. All of these students were the first from their family to go to college, and some were the first from their entire villages! It was amazing to be around these students who were the products of Compassion's holistic development, and I get downright giddy thinking about the kind of influence they will have on their nation.

Finally, we traveled in the rain to La Antigua, the old city about an hour outside of Guatemala City. It's a beautiful place and I can't wait to explore! This morning, I was reading 1 Cor 3 and thinking about what's next when I get back. Verse 11 stuck out to me most. Paul says that no one can lay a foundation other than that which was already laid in Jesus (his interpretation of Isaiah 28 is pretty mind-blowing). It was a good reminder that God has already laid the foundation! The work I will do today can't be another foundation, it only builds on what God has already done and continues to do. What an encouragement to go about the work of God knowing that he continues to work out his purposes in the world whether in Guatemala or Chicago or anywhere else.

Reflections on my first day in Guatemala

There's so much I could say about yesterday's travels in country. I could start with the beautiful land - the mountains, the active volcanoes,the lush countryside filled with every shade of green imaginable. Instead, I'll share about some of my own reflections about what God is showing me.

1. Active obedience is what the Lord requires. It seems that the theme of the day was obedience. My devotions yesterday began in 1 Cor 2 as Paul describes the kind of Spirit we have received. I left thinking to myself, "how do I live more in tune with and dependent on, the Spirit?" The first pastor we met at the Compassion Project spoke about calling his church to greater obedience to the Lord. During the chapel, the preacher call the children to come to Jesus and be obedient to the Lord. Yesterday, my friend, Wayne, posted on my FB that all that matters is obedience to the Lord. I think there is a theme developing! It's got me really thinking about how my family needs to be more actively obedient to the Lord in very concrete and tangible ways.

2. Racism is alive and well. It was a hard day in the sense of wrestling with the perceptions that as a Korean-American, I don't look "American". There were small, but impactful moments throughout the day where I felt the discrimation and attention of not being Caucasian, both from within my team and from the natives. I know that not one of them meant any ill intent by it. It was coming from a disregard and ignorance of what it's like to not be white, yet American. In some sense, maybe that's why it hurt? I think it's when we are so ethnocentric that we don't even consider that there might be other expressions, other life experiences, other ways to live - I'll call this amicable racism. I spent the morning thinking about and processing these episodes, wrestling with my own flesh to not keep a record of wrongs, but also not to forget (or should I?)

3. God loves Guatemala and the church of Guatemala is a beautiful picture of new creation. After observing the Compassion program in Tecpan, Guatemala, and seeing the number of children impacted and influenced for the Gospel, I realized how foolish it was to think that the only way these kids would hear the Gospel is if an American team came and did VBS! Everyday there are lay people in this church pouring into the lives of these kids. On of the Compassion guys said it best, "it's like having a VBS every week of the school year." Yet these volunteers do it - day in and day out because they love their people and they love Jesus. After spending time at the project, we had dinner with three heads of the Compassion Guatemala (all natives). Although I was tired, I had the privilege of hearing a presentation about the history and unique needs and strengths of the Guatemalan church. They presented a portion from the Lausanne congress report that will be shared in October. My interest in global theology was reignited as I got to hear from leaders of the Guatemalan church about the unique expression of Christ that is Guatemalan. Unfortunately, combined with the dark lighting, long day, and full meal, I think I was the only one interested (even got a few comments about not asking any more questions).

So I continue to process. What I thought would be a challenge to social justice and compassion instead has been an inward reflection on obedience, identity, and Amerocentrism. I hope these thoughts will cause you to reflect as well.

Compassion International

Well, I'm off to Guatemala today to see some of the on-the-ground projects of Compassion International. Compassion is a fantastic organization that is responsible for international development in the area of children. They focus on alleviating poverty by providing food, education, health care, and spiritual care.

Over the past two months, I've been doing some advocacy work for them, and I along with about 20 other pastors from around the nation have been invited to come see firsthand what they do. It should be a fantastic trip. Please pray for courage, boldness, and open eyes and heart as I observe, engage, and consider what God is doing through compassion. I'll be blogging the experience as I can.

Changing the culture

A friend pointed me to an article in USA Today about youth leaving churches because they were no longer relevant. Interestingly, the article wavered between talking about programming and numbers being down while "experts" forecasted that teens wanted to be a part of something radical, that teens actually wanted substance and Scripture!

My reaction to this article is particularly strong because I just came back from the first of two days of training with LEAD222. I'd been involved with LEAD in the past, but recently recommitted to being an active member of this community. Basically, LEAD is about changing the culture of youth ministry by calling youth pastors to accountability and mentoring. The aim is to call youth pastors into community with each other all the while challenging one another to watch our lives and our doctrine closely. Members of LEAD engage with each other by sharpening one another professionally, encouraging, keeping one another accountable to integrity both inside and out, and calling one another to love our families. It's a neat organization based on relationships.

As I think about the men and women gathered tonight, I know that none of them would think that pizza parties or entertainment will bring in these kids. I love the fact that when we are together, there is no pretension. It's not a chest-puffing contest to see who can outdo whom, or who has the biggest group. Rather, it's about being together because we know that we are like-minded in reaching students, and loving Jesus. They know that students will be reached by authentic, passionate, and skilled youth ministry workers who are mentoring, empowering, and equipping others to do the same. The article reminds me that more than anything, these kinds of circles are crucial if we are going to change the culture of youth ministry and reach a generation.

Welcoming the Stranger

This past Thursday, I had the opportunity along with about 150 other church and non-profit leaders to attend a conference on the issue of immigration. The conference was centered around three questions (supplied by the video series of Urban Entry):

1. Am I thinking about this as a Christian?
2. Do I have my facts right?
3. Do I know any immigrants?

Several presentations were given each addressing these questions/topics. For the first, Dr. Daniel Carroll, author of Christians at the Border, (a straightforward book about the biblical issues involved in the issue of immigration) shared a biblical theology (of sorts) of immigration. Here is a quick summary.

Usually when immigration is discussed, it is first done so in the context of economics. If we were to think about this biblically, how would it change the tone, direction, and content of the conversation? Most Xians are often hard pressed to cite biblical passages that speak about immigration. Most conversations start with Romans 13 concerning submission to government authorities, but perhaps this is where we should end, not begin.

A good place to begin is to talk about the image of God (Gen 1:26-28) in both an ontological and functional sense– ruling on behalf of God. There are several implications for immigrants: instead of seeing them just as a burden, we begin to think functionalyl – how do we position, harness them as resources? I had some questions here because such a perspective can easily be skewed into a post-industrial assessment that a person's worth is based on function - what they can do vs. who they are intrinsically and relationally.

Dr. Carroll then worked through several OT examples interpreting them through the lens of immigration. Abraham - immigrated from Ur à Haran à Egypt à Canaan

• Interpreted Abram’s move to call Sarai his sister (in Egypt) through immigrant eyes à wiling to take a risk to feed his family, to do whatever it takes to survive

Joseph – forced immigrant, trafficked. Episode of Potiphar’s wife – falsely accused and imprisoned b/c he is an immigrant. Never forgets his mother tongue or his culture.

Naomi/Ruth – Naomi decides to return after her father and sons die. The entire process of gleaning the fields is a provision of the sojourner.

• Ruth is never recognized when Naomi returns to Bethlehem.
• Boaz wonders who Ruth is. She is labelled as the Moabitess, the hard-worker. She is not named!
• The entire book ends with the genealogy connecting Ruth’s story to the larger story of David.

Dr. Carroll then did something very helpful not just for understanding immigration, but also the Scriptures (he is an OT prof after all). He began to talk about the Law's usefulness for us today.

The Law: the current Marcionite conception of the OT puts Christians at a real loss when it comes to reading the OT and its voice to shape how we’re supposed to think about society.

• Nature of the law – more than just dealing with sacrifices for sin! Much of the law has to do with civil regulations and culture-forming.
•  We must think about what values are reflected in the laws! Law reflects the heart of a culture. What are the implications for other cultural hot-button issues such as homosexuality? Can we just claim the law as culturally-informing when it comes to immigration?
• Key question: how does the law treat the vulnerable?
• Vulnerable because of a lack of extended family. In the ANE, extended family was the societial vehicle by which social services were provided. B/c no land – land was everything!
• Law provides for food, labor: rest and wages, justice, inclusion in worship, expectations. Love your neighbor- the ultimate test is to love the one different from you!
• Motivations to obey the laws
• Historical memory – you were once a sojourner. Remember how you were treated in Egypt. Don’t forget where you came from (socio-economic, political things that happened).
• Once you forget the story of the hardship, you will repeat the same mistakes with the next newcomers.
• As a reflection of the personal character and commitment of God (Deut 10:17-19).

His homerun point was that once you begin to see how the theme of sojourning (immigration) permeates the OT, the metaphor of being a sojourner really begins to apply to the journey of being a Christian in the world. Christian faith cannot become an American ideology – the land loses its strangeness, and we forget we are sojourners.

Another good reminder for me was that when most people think of undocumented immigrants, we think of - let's be honest - Mexicans or other hispanics - crossing a river, scaling a fence, running through a desert. The truth of the matter is that although Mexicans make a good deal of undocumented immigrants, there are PLENTY of Asian undocumented as well, and there are plenty of undocumented immigrants who entered the country LEGALLY and overstayed visas thus making them undocumented. All things to consider as we face our own prejudices and biases regarding this hot-button issue.

The next teaching session had to do with facts and figures concerning immigration and the history of the U.S. immigration policy. It was an eye-opening presentation dealing with a lot of myths and misconceptions about undocumented immigrants, and their effects on society. I'll post a summary of that if there are enough comments/request to do so.

A confusing grief

I just found out yesterday that a friend that I met back in January was one of the aid workers who was killed in Afghanistan last week. Even though we weren't the closest of friends, our short time together forged such a strong sense of partnership that when I found out what happened I was left with a great sense of loss. I remembered reading the article about an attack earlier last week only because since January I have been interested in all things Afghanistan. I simply scanned the location of where the attacks happened and when I saw it wasn't in any of the cities I knew of, I quickly moved on. This is case in point Neil Postman's critique of our modern age of information - it allows us to scan and receive information wihtout context and thus without response.

I had no idea that someone I knew was one of the victims. Church that day was a strange experience, thinking about these deaths, but at the same time realizing that there was something very right about the way they died. This is perhaps where the concept of Christian hope and mission redefines the purpose of suffering. I think of Col 1:24 in that suffering, especially vicarious suffering, is still very much part and parcel of the Christian life and mission. Simply put, having our lives on the line and dying for the sake of Christ isn't an oddity, it's very much the norm. It's the way we should go! So while I grieve, I also rejoice because my friend was counted worthy, someone I knew died in the most God-honoring, purposeful way that I can imagine. It is people like this, the hitherto "unknown saints", who will be the greatest in the kingdom, and for that I rejoice...yet I also weep because my friend is gone. What a confusing grief!

The NY Times had an interesting take on the lives of all of the slain. The article listed of all the things that these individuals left behind to work in Afghanistan. The angle was to show how noble these people were, giving up such lucrative things as medical practices back home, $150,000 salaries, prospects of marriage, etc. However, I think that is dishonoring to their memory. I'm sure for them these were not sacrifices, but no-brainers. The article made no mention (and couldn't possibly expected to) of what they CHOSE to pursue. They weren't just trying to do kind deeds for the Afghan people, they responded to a call to be involved in a larger plan, a global mission, one that bid them come and die. You see, the world can only measure the value of a life lived by the commodities and measures of scale that it knows, it has no categories or units for an invisible kingdom that is like a buried treasure hidden in a field or a Savior whose blood is more precious than gold. What the NY Times doesn't get, I will state clearly here, "he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Sleep well, my brothers and sisters, you are precious to the Church - we miss you- but even more precious to our Lord - we rejoice over you.

Back to life, back to reality?

Well, the last of my speaking travels is over, and it was a great time. The students were sincere, the community was natural, and the partnership with the other pastors was precious. Despite the crazy heat and lack of A/C(!), it was a joy to speak and help explain to students a big picture of the theology of the Bible. 

Shortly after I returned from GA, the family and I whisked away to Mexico for a family reunion of sorts with my in-laws and my brother-in-law and his wife. We stayed at a large metropolis of a resort as part of an all-inclusive package. This basically means that everyone tries to eat and drink to gluttonous proportions in order to justify some ambiguous target amount of money that was paid to have such privileges in the first place. I found it hard though to really enjoy the resort. I don't know if it was the sheer amount of people there, or just the constant eating. I do know that all of my recent advocating and work for Compassion International has had a deeper impact on me than I realized. It was hard to see SO much food and so much food being wasted when literally right outside the walls of this fortress of food lived people in abject poverty and hunger. It's even harder to think about the fact that a small portion of these folks were serving the food to us, watching as we ate to our heart's content and left over whatever we didn't feel like eating. This hung over me at almost every meal, and I felt uncomfortable at several points.

As the Lord was impressing these things on my heart, I thoroughly enjoyed taking my son snorkeling for the first time (although Calvin didn't want to put his head in the water). He just kept pretending that I was a boat and that we were escaping a fire. Even more precious was taking my son Noah into the sea for the first time. To see the wonder in his eyes as he felt the saltwater on his hands and stomach was worth the whole trip. 

Although the trip was nearly as restful as I would have hoped for, it was a much needed time to just reconnect with my wife and kids, to just be with family, and to not think about all the things that need to get done when I'm back (which I am). 

On a final note, I read three books over the last two weeks that were more pleasure reading. I'll give you one line summaries/critiques of the books in hopes that you will be captivated more by the process of being engrossed in the story than any 'takeaway'.

"Same Kind of Different as Me": a beautiful story about how faithfulness and longevity, mixed with a ton of self-denial and humility can absolutely transform a life. MUST READ.

"The Kite Runner": depicts the drama of human life (particularly the dynamics between a father and son) and gives a snapshot of the history of Afghanistan and the human corruption that has left this country in such poverty.

"The Shack": a controversial story that attempts to deal with problem of evil and suffering. A good reminder about the love of God and his beauty, but could the same goal have been achieved without throwing some important doctrine out the window? 

Well, now I'm off to celebrate with my community the marriages of two couples who are dear to us. It will be a whirlwind of two weeks as we celebrate and worship God together! Somewhere in the next week, I will post a full review of "After You Believe" by N.T. Wright - promise!