Praying for Japan

It seems like the media is a fickle master. Is it just me or does it seem like Japan's three-fold calamities (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear radiation) are not getting nearly the kind of response and exposure as Haiti's earthquake or Libya or Egypt? Additionally, it seems that out of the three, the nuclear 'meltdown' seems to be getting all the attention (perhaps because we somehow fear that the radiation could spread over here?) One website commented on the kind of hysteria that news media outlets seem to be generating:


To say - as some news outlets have - that the Fukushima accident was now worse than the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, just shows how bad the coverage can get, and why people get anxious. Chernobyl was a Russian design without a containment vessel and the reactor core was exposed, on fire, and large quantities of the fuel itself released into the air.

The Japanese reactors are designed to prevent this ever happening; fuel is inside a thick steel vessel, itself within a containment structure that is specifically designed to prevent release of core materials even during an accident such as this. Also, boiling water reactors like the ones in Fukushima are cooled by water which, unlike the graphite core at Chernobyl, cannot burn.

Even if the 50 brave nuclear engineers and reactor staff, mostly volunteers, do lose their long battle and a meltdown occurs, this is not necessarily catastrophic. The reactor’s containment structure is designed to prevent the spread of radioactivity and - even if these are breached - it is still likely that much of the radioactive material would be contained at the site.

THE LOSS OF TENS OF THOUSANDS of lives and the widespread destruction caused by the quake and tsunami will clearly dwarf any damage caused by the nuclear accident, even if a meltdown occurs. But that's not the impression you get from the lopsided, occasionally shrill coverage.

TENS. OF. THOUSANDS. Again the question remains, "why are we not hearing about relief efforts or pleas to give to relief work? Why are no celebrities responding and advocating?" Aside from a Japan tribute album on ITunes, I haven't seen much or heard much, but that could just be me. I overheard one person saying that it's because of the general notion that Japan is a wealthy nation and can take care of itself. Really? How wealthy of a nation do you have to be to be able to cover the relief, rehabilitation, and redevelopment of a 10.0 scale earthquake, 24 foot tsunami that ate up much of your coastline, and thousands upon thousands dead and/or missing?

My own reaction has been lacking concern, focus, and prayer. I realize that perhaps there is some deep-seated animosity towards Japan in my heart. I wouldn't wish what happened to that country on anyone, but my lack of compassion and urgency definitely betrays something in my heart.

A lot of this came to a head for me when I read a blog of a Japanese pastor from Fukushima. I was heartbroken over the real pastoral ministry that this brother is engaged in. How heart-wrenching must be his ministry to his church right now! Would you join me in praying for Japan? Here are some things we can pray for:

• Pray for pastors like Akira Sato. Pray for his strength and protection. Pray for Fukushima First Baptist Church - that God would preserve them, give them strength, and unleash them to be a sacrificial instrument of rehabilitation for the community. Perhaps many will come to know Jesus through their ministry of ministry even at cost to themselves.
• Pray for the generosity of the global church. Japan needs relief aid now. Pray that the church worldwide would be eager to participate in the relief of the saints.
• Pray for the proclamation of the Gospel. Pray that this suffering would open the eyes of those who were complacently trusting in their possessions, self-made security, and comfort. Pray that the God of comfort who comforts us in our afflictions would draw close and manifest his great power and love. "Many waters cannot quench your love."
• Pray for the return of Jesus. Pray that God would continue the work of new creation, reconciling all things to himself through Jesus. Thus, restoring the created order to its rightful state. 

Would you take the time to write a prayer comment below? A short one-two line prayer to encourage and lift up the people and Church of Japan.

The Churches of Asia Minor like you've never seen them

A friend of mine from church finished these renderings of the 7 Churches of Revelation for children. I think it's a great show of artistry as well as creativity. Check it out and leave a comment to encourage him!

Culture and the Transforming Power of the Gospel [Guestblog by Sean Rubin]

[The following is a guest post by one of my college guys, Sean Rubin. These are some of his reflections and memories of the DC Spring Break Trip.]

It should come as no surprise that the things that are most important to (“popular”) culture show up whenever people come together. What is astonishing, however, is the transformation that can occur based on whether the gospel is present.

Take food, for example. Historically speaking, food has always been a prism into the balance of power — a tipping point between those who have and those who have not. While many regard it as little more than legend in its accuracy, take the story of Marie Antoinette and her response to the plight of the poor in France as they’ve run out of bread. The infamous remark “Let them eat cake” scoffs at the hardships the impoverished had to face. It takes little more than a moment’s insight to see how I am just as guilty of indifference to the empty stomachs in the world. Some two thirds of the world lives on less than two dollars each day, and here am I, fattening up as I can spend a whole week’s worth of that wage on a single meal. I’m continually taught more and more about just how precious food is the more I see God’s love for those who are desperate.

This last week in D.C., I’ve eaten foods from some wildly varying global cultures and I was taken aback at the discovery that the food budget of the trip was a mere two dollars per head, per meal. After the trip concluded I was graced with the opportunity to sample Korean bar-b-que, and a Maryland shellfish dinner that would leave my brother bed ridden with gout (inside joke). The combined cost of these two meals alone could’ve easily covered my food allocation for the other five days. In the end, whether it was Salvadorian pupusas, Indian tandoori, Korean beef spare ribs, or a bowl of cold cereal, I cherish the experiences for the people who experienced it with me. Some day we will gather again, around a table (perhaps with wine [another inside joke]), and remember how God brought us together then and again and just how good He’s been to us… And one day further the table will be big enough for all the nations of the world, and it is available for those who seek only to take a seat and partake in the communion of the gospel.

Still another juxtaposition forms around the world of sports in America. Take just a quick glance at the work stoppage in the NFL and you’re faced with 32 billionaires at odds with 1700 millionaires over how to divide a 10 billion dollar industry. How magnificently futile it all is. Fandom spreads like a plague as egos are fed from the richest of owners all the way
down to the viewers at home. All along the way separations are made and classes are formed around the different levels of success that are achieved. We build mountains as smooth as glass and delight as we watch player after player, team after team, strive to reach the pinnacle only to forget about them as soon as they are overthrown. There’s always another height to scale and never a moment’s rest for those who dare to challenge the summit, especially now in the age of Twitter.

I wasn’t there to experience it directly, but my pastor played a game of stickball in a D.C. suburb that included the presence of the gospel. He already wrote a detailed blog about the experience, but just the nature of a gospel driven competition… Where players and spectators alike strive to be inclusive at every turn; where seeing a challenge overcome is met with cheers from the hometown favorites and visitors just the same… I encourage you to read his thoughts here: How a Game of Stickball Could Change the World.

The music industry is yet another that is stifled by the effects of greed and glamour. Popularity is based on the number of the records sold, and little attention is paid to the artistic value or message of the music itself. So many of us fail to recognize the difference between what is good and what is popular, and we are bewitched to believe that a work is good solely because it plays on the radio. The worst part is that we forget what music was intended for. As we lose our ability to discern the soulful from the superficial we also lose the purpose of music - to bring us together. The quality of the sound isn’t supposed to be as important as the people producing it, and if you’re with friends this should be all the more true.

What could possibly bring 15 young people who have never met before, together into a little bedroom and cause them to sing to their hearts' content without fear of what the others would think of them? A guitar and the gospel. Music alone might bring people together, but without the gospel, people will tend to shirk back at the notion of actually joining along. Several years ago a man leading a worship session for fifty high school kids said something I’d never forget: he said to “be selfish” in our worship. Up to that point I was always hesitant to sing as loud or as full as I could in worship for fear of distracting someone else… but what way is that to worship? To come to God and praise His glory with timidity and fear? That’s no way to recognize the transformation of the gospel, and we had that power with us in D.C.

On two separate occasions, the music began and we just sang and sang and prayed and sang. Some of the members of the other groups came and joined us and we were happy to invite them in. In the end we were selfish enough to praise God like we meant it, and yet selfless enough to look beyond the human imperfections that came up in each other’s technique. The gospel gave us the courage to sing like we meant it, and the love to allow others to do the same…

Why does pop culture seem to break people apart far more often than bring people together? Without the gospel pop culture becomes a display of power and control—of money and greed, but when the gospel is allowed to infiltrate people’s hearts it also influences their response to cultural rifts between us. Things like food, sport, and music were designed to bring people together, and yet we taint them with self-centeredness. Allow the gospel to transform your heart, however, and you’ll see culture for what it was made to be: an avenue to get to what’s really important. The community that God desires for us should be the end result, and we can get there only if the gospel is at the center of our lives, our culture, and our community.

Jude and the 'Keeping' of Spiritual Integrity

Jude isn't a book of the Bible that makes my teaching schedule very often. Maybe it's the esoteric references to the archangel Michael and his contention with the devil over Moses' body (although I think my junior highers would love a message on that), or it could be the fact that in 25 short verses, the writer makes about a dozen references to OT salvation history! For one reason or another, Jude is often neglected, and I must say it's to our loss.

One of the words that repeats throughout the book is the word 'keep'. Now you won't see it translated that way every time, but it's there in v. 1, 6, 13, 21, and a synonym in 24. The word is sometimes used in the sense of obeying something - like keeping a command. Other times it's used in the sense of protecting, guarding (like a prisoner), or safeguarding something. Interestingly, in Jude it's always used in the second sense. Here's why the word is important.

Jude begins his short letter by stating his original intention - to write about our common salvation - but he departs from this because of the things going on in his recipient's lives. Bad teaching was resulting in rationalized sin, ungodliness, and perverse living. Jude gives several examples from the OT of similar events. Then in v. 20, the flavor changes. It shifts from the opponents to the recipients. The main command comes in v. 21 - keep yourselves in the love of God. The response that Jude's audience was to take, their action, was to keep themselves in the love of God. And guess what kind of 'keeping'? Yep, safeguarding, protecting. How were they to keep themselves? By building themselves up, praying, and waiting for the mercy of the Lord.

At first, I found it puzzling that Jude devotes so much of his letter to describing the dangerous actions and consequences of these bad teachers, but so little verses on how we are to respond (v. 20-25). As I thought about the ideas in the letter, I began to see something so marvelous.

As I said before, the entire letter is held together by the idea of keeping. Verse 1 tells us that we are kept for Jesus Christ. In v. 6 and 13, the evil spirits are kept in prison. Then, v. 21 tells us to keep ourselves in the love of God, and the entire letter ends with one of the most famous benedictions in the Church, v. 24 - now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy... All through this keeping, God's power and his righteousness loom huge in the background. He's the one who kept us for Jesus. He's the one who keeps the evil spirits imprisoned. It's his love that we are to keep ourselves in (not his law and commands, mind you). His keeping is the cause of great praise and glory. Jude doesn't have to devote a lot of attention to our response because God keeps his own!

Here's the point. So often I think of spiritual integrity as the thing I must maintain, that I must watch out for. Verse 21 can be so burdensome in that view. How am I supposed to keep myself in the love of God when enemies of God and bad teachers abound? And the answer is in the keeping. I keep myself in the love of God as I am kept for Jesus (v.1) by the one who is able to keep me from  stumbling (v.24 - here Jude uses a stronger word to convey the image of God protecting us like a guard). Now there's the power in spiritual integrity. God's got to keep me. He's got to sustain. He's got to protect, and he's got to purify. Let's not forget who does the keeping, friends, and may it lead to a life of even more integrity. Jude, you may be in the white pages of the Bible, but we hear your message loud and clear, and we're grateful. 

The Ordinary Life of Adolph Hitler

These photos of Eva Braun from Life magazine (girlfriend and short-lived wife of Adolph Hitler) are eery to me. They present a semblance of normalcy behind the horrific aura that is Hitler and the Nazis. Note especially the photos of Hitler - reminds us that he was just a man, even if a messed-up one at that. Here's a few from the gallery.