Worshiping with guys that write our textbooks

It's always an encouraging experience when professors and academic big wigs - like Paul Hiebert last summer and Sherwood L. this week - choose to worship in an intimate setting with the rest of us. The relationship changes - they become more brothers and fellow journey-ers than mere 'resource people.' It's encouraging to discover that the desires and passions of our hearts are located in a similar place, despite the lightyears separating our respective degrees of intellect =).

Expressions of Support and Affirmation

I don't think I was really consciously looking for it or expecting it, so it has surprised me how meaningful and encouraging all these expressions of support, approval, and affirmation of our China plans and us personally have been over the last couple weeks.

It makes sense, I suppose, that approval from people whose opinions we value highly would be deeply meaningful to us. But I've read and heard too many stories of ministers, spouses, and people in general relying too much on the approval of other people (rather than God) for their self-worth and identity.

If it came down to it, we should be willing to believe or do whatever we truly believe God wants us to regardless of what anyone else thinks. Our first graduate class three years ago brought that up, Eddie Parish spends a lot of time on that general concept in his sexuality class (which we attended for the 5th? time in May), our parents and professors have modelled this in very big ways, and even Joyce Meyer's latest book Approval Addiction was plugged last week on CNN's Larry King Live. The approval-need idea has been so especially present in my mind during all our China preparations that I guess I was avoiding seeking personal affirmation from other people, telling myself that I shouldn't need it and if I ever starting feeling like I do then I'll need to grow up and get over it. Sure, we sought all kinds of opinions when formulating our China plans, but refining our project proposal and seeking others' approval of us as people are two different things! So it's a little strange for my independently-minded (and prideful) self to receive these kinds of blessings as I should. But it's also pleasantly surprising to find these expressions of affirmation so personally meaningful (and not necessarily threatening).

We've been blessed with continual encouragement and support in various ways from D. and Dr. E. throughout our entire committing-to-China journey. But S. & E.'s heartfelt acknowledgment of us along with the award at the grad school graduation dinner came as a surprise to me - in fact I don't even remember at the moment what the award is specifically for, but I certainly remember the passion and sincerity with which he delivered it. G. & B. making a point to spend time with us this week and then arranging with S. for us to get an undivided audience with Sherwood Lingenfelter. says a lot to me. L. never misses an opportunity to let us know how excited and encouraged he is with our dedication and intentions. (At one point during the oral section of our comprehensive exams, which dealt with China-related issues, L. brought up a certain passage of text. I was getting all geared up thinking he was about to challenge a point we'd just tried to make, but instead he said something like, "Oh I agree. I just brought that up because I thought it went along really nicely with what you said." Definitely the kind of guy you want on your Comps panel!) I don't have to think very hard before a substantial list begins to form of people in our school's intercultural studies community who have made a point to communicate their sincere, heartfelt support of us and our intentions. I've left many people unnamed, as well as the long-term efforts of those already mentioned.

All this to say, I guess, that I imagine growing to gratefully accept personal affirmation and approval as a gift rather than seeking it in an attempt to fulfill a need (or fearing it) will be a long process. But right now, the support of those we respect so highly is a huge, absolutely wonderful blessing.

Experiencing the Love of Christ through Life in the Spirit

We found the messages in these passages to be particularly powerful in our network-wide worship this last Wednedsay, and last night with our church family. Mostly from the New Living Translation, emphasis mine.

John 8.31-2; 10.10
Jesus said, “If you live in My teachings, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

“The thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy, but I have come to give life in all its fullness.”

Psalm 139.1-18, 23-24
O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.

You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!

I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night – but even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me! Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Ephesians 5.1-2a, 8-9
Follow God's example in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

Ephesians 3.14-21
When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.

And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages.

2 Corinthians 3.3-6, 17-18
Clearly, you are a letter from Christ prepared by us. It is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on stone, but on human hearts.

We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success come from God. He is the one who has enabled us to represent his new covenant. This is a covenant, not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old way ends in death; in the new way, the Holy Spirit gives life. Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom.

All of us have had the veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.

Amen.