Keys to growth... the Jesus way.

Its been said that it can take anything from 3-35 years for an olive tree to grow from seeding to harvest. During the holiday time, a young pastor, who have been at the youth group and congregation I led at some point, made the point that strawberries takes 3-4 months to bear fruit.It is critical to know the seasons of different seeds, if we are to grow leaders.

One of the things that stand out in Luke 2: 41-52, is the concept growth “growth”. Jesus’ age is mentioned.

One could wonder, but he was a miracle child, he was the Son of God.. perhaps he was born with all his miracle power. There exist even some false gospels, which tells the stories of how he performed miracles as a child. Perhaps this could be the perception we might have of Jesus, of any-one who achieves in life…. No she just have it; she was just born with it…

Yet, we don’t get that impression in the Bible, nor in this passage.. Jesus grew intellectually, physically and socially…. but also spiritually (v52). The question is: What was the key to his growth

 

       1) Good habits

His parents followed good habits; consistency, tradition. For some "tradition" is a swearword…. Not for those who want to build good habits into their own lives and into the lives of their children and their children.
They had the habit of going to Jerusalem every year, during Easter,… Luke states, "as usual"… one could add, "traditionally".

There is value in traditions, because it shapes your identity..

     
2)  He surrounded himself with people from whom he could learn.
His parents first looked for him amongst the family and friends. There’s a saying that you cannot choose your family, but you need to choose who your spend time with. Who you allow your children to spend time with. Here one is not referring to rich and poor, well-looking or class. We're speaking of values, good habits, positive, encouraging people. You don’t need to stay in a place with people, who abuse and have habits of destruction, people who are bitter, negative and who breaks down your spirit, in the name of family.
But more so, his parents took him to places which broaden his horizon. He could speak to the teachers, the professors, the learned. The places we go must inspire us, our children to higher things. To love reading, writing poetry, to draw, to ask questions, to be smart. News papers, books, movies must inspire, draw out the beauty.

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3) He found love in His Fathers House. In Gods house. Rihanna sings that she found love in a hopeless place. Here, we find love, beauty in house of love, of hope... the Father's love. This has implications both ways: Maybe our commitment for this year should be if people ask questions about our involvement: didn’t you know that I should be in my Fathers house ?
But there is a flip-side: Our congregation should be a place where people connect with the father….It should be the “Father’s House”. A space for family, children of the father. 

     
4) Lastly he grew because he remained obedient, he remained submissive to his parents.  

  

      The key to growth starts with these reflections on the life and growth of Jesus. Maybe this is a good starting point to 2012.   

Is missional only local?

It seems as if missional church only means being responsive to God's call in local settings. Local congregations then strive to discern God's call and of course, they dwell in the Word to hear God saying something about 'their community'. Is this enough? Is it enough to draw a circle around our 'churchbuilding' and imagine all and everything within that circle to be 'our community'?


These questions are pertinent for a few reasons:
1) Is God mission, i.e. God's passionate concern and compassion only about 'our community'. What kind of theology lies behind the notion 'our community'. It might not be expressed like this all the time, but indeed, a discourse of 'our community' might be the same kind of thinking within the Jewish community, as they tried to understand and relate to God. Jahwe, became for the Jewish community, our God and of course, the flip-side is, our God or better our conceptualization or our image of God, became normative. There is a danger of idolatry here.
2) In, at least the Southern African context, 'our communities' were created artificially, It was part of a conscious strategy by the colonial governments of the past, to structure the spaces in which people live and so, it has become a strategy in social engineering. 'Our community' did not evolve organically or naturally... what's more is the fact that it is not divinely ordained. So perhaps God might want to change 'our community' and challenge us to get beyond these boundaries...borders.
3) Perhaps it is in the DNA of God mission to transgress borders. Bosch defines mission as 'crossing borders'. Perhaps missional church is by definition not simplistically local. If local means to be confined to 'our church circle', then it has failed to grasp what God is really doing.

These thoughts remain critical for our engagement of trying to understand and live by what God is doing today and where God is taking his church. Being missional is embodied in small communities, in real relations, but it is more then a repeat or entrenchment of man-made borders. It cannot only be local... it is beyond.

churchplanting revisited

The word churchplanting is not found in the Bible. The metaphor is however legitimate. The idea is noble. Some-one else might be difficult and ask: but do we need to find a verse where the word 'churchplanting' is there in English. (Afterall, the Bible was not initially written in English)

These comments might sound flippant. Its not. The various translations of the Bible does bring a bit of intepretation. Metaphors can become absolute and, yes there are times when concepts and practices, can become holy cows. ('Holy cow', is also not in the Bible, by the way.) We have to allow ourselves and what we do to be tested and critiqued ever anew in the light of Scripture, but also in the light of the impact of what we do. What God revealed on Singapore or in Bristoll, might not be appropriate for Rwanda or Stellenbosch.

So, church and the growth of church must not follow the patterns of imperialism or empirebuilding, where a multi-national company, supported by loads of cash come and plant their plant in a new context, with all the bells and whistles, the trappings of the homebase.

What the bible speaks of is obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit where growth is about quality of life, about a deepening of our communion and a deepening of our care for the 'least of these of my brothers'. One also read of the fruit of the spirit, but its not about the globalisation of agriculture, not competition and expansion; its about love, peace, patience, kindness. That's what the world needs. The world doesn't need a spiritual Bill Gates or Donald Trump. So plants and growth can be legitimate metaphors, but it remains limited to the meaning we attach to it. Just don't worship the metaphor, the image. That's is idolatry.

Mother Monster Jay Z and Pentecost 2011

In the past week, I’ve been blessed with various encounters ‘on the mountain’, so to speak. This has not only been informative, it has also been formative. I commend the speakers, especially our ministries for their earnest seeking of the word of God and for taking on the challenge In particular, I thank our members for preaching, for praying, for leading the encounters.In a sense I speak wrongly. It wasn’t our ministries and their members who led the encounters. They merely facilitated and created the space. It was the Holy Spirit who led us to the encounter on the mountain. [Now, I have to remind myself that mountains, is not something for which Joburg is known-for. If I say this, its simply because, a member of Riverlea reminded me, ‘Dominee, hier is mos nie berge nie’; No names mentioned] This comment, is critical because it does point to 2 things: context and communication.

1) context, or what some people call contextualisation; and
2) communication or better translation, meaning, we need to translate the message in symbols, language that connect, Holy Spirit language, fire language which creates the space to visualise, to imagine.

This morning, I simply want to make some comments, side comments at most, on these readings of Matthews 28:16-20. Let me make a general comment, which strikes me as I listen to a lot or sermons, the last few months:

Most of our preachers work hard with the text; they do research and read widely, for what some call ‘a deep understanding’. I appreciate that. I observe that some of you are making notes. That is great! It challenges me to try and go deeper, then merely trying to throw out slogans, and platitudes, clichés. It seems to me that there’s a need to get beyond biblical clichés. Whilst some people that do not know this congregation might scold us for being too quiet, it seems to me that there is a lot of depth that is developing, as I listen to members of our ministries. I will come back to this.

Back to the text that ran like a golden thread through the whole week; the well-known verse namely Matthew 28:16-20. The danger in speaking and preaching about with a ‘well-known’ text; is the deception that we ‘know it all’. This leads to ‘know-it-all’ preaching. What is the problem with ‘know-it-all’ preaching? ‘Know-it-all’ preaching is love-less preaching. It’s preaching that doesn’t love, nor respect the audience. More importantly for my little contribution here, it doesn’t love and respect the text of the Bible itself. The counter for know-it-all preaching is not ‘know-less’ preaching, meaning to strip your sermons of content, that alternative leads to a false humility, which despise and run down scholarship. This alternative also doesn’t love nor respect the sisters and brothers around the text. That’s not the alternative or the opposite of ‘know-it-alls’. The opposite of know-it-alls, is people who go deeper into living with and deeper into their understanding of the texts. The alternative is the painstakingly difficult living of the text, the patient love and respect for the audience, but also for the complexity of the texts. The opposite is ‘live-it-alls’, or better ‘love-it-all’ preaching. So let’s take serious our context first to live it all (that the text requires)

We are celebrating Pentecost, today, at a particular time. For us, this is youth month. Whilst others might want us to disappear into speaking in tongues (languages) that I do not understand, I am however haunted by stories of young men, single-mothers, breadwinners of families, who, like so many others have lost their jobs; by the desperation of drugabuse amd alcohol abuse and the suicide a week or so ago, but (so I am told ) one of the finest, most promising youngsters in our community, a suicide. What drives a young achiever to throw himself, in desperation in front of a train? What drives desperation in our communities?

LenkaBula shares the testimony of ‘Rosemary, the tailor’.

My name is Rosemary van Dyk. I am a women of mixed descend, known in South Africa as Cape Coloured. I worked in a clothing textile company for nine years, but the company was closed down because it could not compete with the international textiles that are being imported into South Africa. The Cut and Trim Company in Khaye Litsha sometimes call me when they have contracts from local clothing companies. In my pervious job, I had a permanent position as a tailor I had medical benefits, a pension fund and contributions to an unemployment insurance fund. Now, I am a casual labourer, I work for long hours and I am paid very little. I just wait to be called when there’s work to be done. Work has ceased to be meaningful, and there are many people competing for few jobs (LenkaBula 2002:164)

In the midst of what economists often call, ‘jobless economic growth’, there are people like Rosemary, who are called by the Centre for Development and Enterprise, South Africa’s ‘Door Knockers’ (2008). The report concludes,

Youth unemployment is very extensive, and dangerously entrenched. In fact, South Africa’s level of youth unemployment is among the highest in the world. Only small numbers of young job-seekers are successful, and many do not seek jobs for long before becoming disillusioned. (2008:5)

During Pentecost, as we were driving home, we listened to KhayaFM, interviewing a representative from LOVELIFE. She spoke on teen sexuality amongst others. She commented that we are living in a time where young people have a ‘high risk tolerance’. What does that mean, its means, she explains, young people can tolerate more risk, they are leading lifestyles that are risky and that OD on adrenaline. If drugs and risky sex is not the ultimate high anymore, then cutting might (at least) make you feel pain, alive or potentially dead. Young music artist are willing to play with this line, of risk. That’s what artist like Madonna, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye did in the 70’s and 80s, that’s what Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born 1986) Mother Monster and Shaun Corey Carter born in 1969, better known as Jay Z are doing and connecting to a fanbase, who are playing on this thin line.
Mother Monster, or Lady Gaga speaks of one of her latest songs, Born This Way, that its written for all her litte monsters out there, who like she was laughed at, ridiculed for being odd, for being different. With her big nose and way of looking at life, her childhood experience in a Catholic school was like hell. She states, that many young people (her little monsters) feel like monsters, for being born different.The song for her is about being different and celebrating it. Millions of youngsters get that message, they love her, their ‘Mother Monster’.
Jay Z writes in his latest book Decoded, that many people are too lazy to go into the real meaning of his songs. As an artist he plays with words, with metaphors, he grapples, in his view with the struggles of young people ‘in the hood’, young people who have experienced violence, the crack-generation, thegeneration who makes it for themselves, in the ghettos of New York, there where dreams are made off.
Of course, I don’t agree with all there is in pop culture, and I certainly struggle with the hypercapitalism and the fact that art has become a commodity. My point is that we have to ask the real questions to get real answers. This is not easy, yet we cannot pretend that easy answers will be enough for an audience, who grapple with serious questions. We might make mistakes on the way, but listen, ‘if you’ve never made a mistake in life or never failed, then you’re not trying hard enough’ (author unknown). Context, as the community member from Riverlea reminded me on the ‘mountain issue’, is crucial. The message of Matthew need to be read in context of our community, today and that I missed. The church is not our only context. God didn’t call us to be churchpeople, he called us to be the salt and the light of the world. Out there, in the mess, in the real world, not in here competing, falling over our feet to be centre stage.

Let’s go to the text: The text has been used as a foundation for the so-called ‘Great Commission’. This we take for granted, we don’t question this anymore. The danger is ‘buikspraak’ (what is that in the Queen’s language?) Buikspraak is when a performer gets on the stage with a puppet. We all see it’s a puppet, it looks like a puppet, its mouth goes like puppet’s mouth and yet he speaks, as if its his own mind. We know in our minds that this is not the puppet, its the puppeteer, yet we continue to be enthralled by the act…at some point, as children we start to speak… to the puppet. Well, folks, this is not for real. It’s a puppet. When Matthew 28: 19 is simply saying the same thing over and over again then we have to worry. Mission theologian, Bosch states,
The gospel of Matthew reflects an important and distinct su-paradigm of the early church’s interpretation and experience of mission. Howeve, in missionary circles much of the discussion about Matthew has, unfortunately, been obfuscated by the high prominence given to the …so-called “Great Commission” at the end of the gospel. He continues, Interestingly enough, NT asholarship for a long time appreared to have been very little inretested in thie passage.

Sugirtharajah (2003: 17) explains, that before the 18th century, Matthews command, was an unfashionable, under-exegeted, often absent, texts. It was William Carey (175101834) the Baptist missionary pioneer, who reactivated it as a missionary command for the modern period. For Sugirtharajah, this text was used to allow the white missionaries and colonialists to speak and justify their plundering of regions like India, Africa and Latin America. We need to remember that Africa was the place of refuge for Jesus, before the missionaries came. Simon of Cyrene/Libya, helped to carry the cross of Jesus, Acts speaks of the government official from Ethiopia, the first theological school, the bishops of the first church came from North Africa, so the myth that the gospel came with the white missionaries need to be killed. Most of the times these missionary texts used Matt 28:19 as a puppet.

It seems as if we need to ask the question what is the real meaning ? or Robinson and Combrinck, the text is the key to understand the whole of Matthew. Here we have linked from vers 16-20 the pulling together of all the texts in this gospel.
We must remember, when Matthew wrote the gospel, he had in his mind a particular audience, who he loved and respected. It was a first century community, who formed around the Jewish pay preacher, called Jesus from Galilee. They saw themselves as a part of the Jewish community, and like Jesus the real fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies. They were a ‘venuwingsbeweging’ yes, they followed jesus radically, yes, but still they were part and parcel of the Jewish community. The role of Mathew, the author and Mark and Luke, etc, was to recollect the sayings, acts and story of Jesus, after his ascension. The book evolved as people shared their recollections, they had no Dictaphones ofr note pads, laptops, BlackBerries or IPads. They were telling these stories… in the midst of their own struggles. What were these ?
We see a stronger control, fundamentalism in the Jewish community. The Rabbis were to be the only interpreter of the law. ‘n bitter battle started to rage between the Pharisees and Jewish followers of jesus. Around 85 AD is was declared, Let the Nazarenes and heretics be destroyed in a moment…’ (Bosch 1991:58)
In this context Matthew grapple with the question, who are we… in the midst of tests, in the midst of being given a tough time, who are we.
His book/gospel states, that they are the true Israel, the people of God, no longer a small sectarian group, but a small yet, called community. Jesus is the new Moses (his flight from the new Pharao and his time in Egypt); his 40 days in the desert, in the transfiguration.
For Mathew, the congregation must gain self-confidence in their calling, and need to embrace a new future, which radically renew the Old, taking it beyond what they could evey imagine

This is what discipleship means, this is what it means to follow Jesus, it’s a life long journey of renewal of growing deeper, not growing fatter or growing more lazy, its growing in depth, in refining who we are in ever new contexts. Its being creative, in being imaginative, it in integrating the old and the new, it’s a remix…. A lifestyle of remixing…ever new revelations, in our context, to a new audience,

When Mat 28:16-20 is written then it forms part of this whole. These verses itself has a structure, which we cannot simply abuse:
A: Authority: To me has been given
a: go to the whole world
B: Make disciples (the only imperative)
b: baptising (deelworde)
c: teaching (deelwoorde)
A: Authority: I am with you

We need to make more of the authority announcement: I have been given and I am with you…
Jesus is not simply the Lord of the Church, he is the Lord of heaven and earth. He is the one who fulfil the Old Testament promise of God being the Creator, Sustainor Giver of all life… his reign is not simply in church, but in the world, its bigger then the community of disciples. His is the real new Human, who embody Love, Gods character. His authority is not domination, exploitation or violent; its not manupliative, his authority is (Matt 5-6) love your enemy, care for the weak, love your neighbour, his authority is in giving up himself… in dying, in rising up, so that we might have live
His authority is about the real world, school, work, bread and bgutter issues, about employment, about Rosemary van Dyk, Noordgesig, Syria, about the real life. Its about Lady Gaga’s songs,. About Jay z, its about the drugs, the sex, the violence… Its here that love is the key. You don’t need to be a good singer… be a real lover;

When we connect these to the rest of the book, it seems as if discipleship/deep growth is about the stuff in Math 5-7, its about emobodying the lifestyle of Jesus, serving, healing, caring, …. compassionate loving. Discipleship is about growing deeper into his live…discipleship is fallinf on love with Jesus; its about wanting to spend time with with him talking about him all the time and dreanming, imagining, Jonathan Butlet falling in love with Jesus
Its about knowing his is with us

Let me stop here and say this: Jesus is with us today, through his Holy Spirit. Remember that. He promised it… even when some doubted, even when Judas wasn’t wih them any more, even through they were only 11…. He was in their midst. Pentecost, Holy Spirit means God is with us, as we spread this presence, this live presence//

Any questions ?

The lens of the Resurrection and suffering

How can one still believe in the Resurrection in the face of all the bloodshed and evil that surrounds us? This is a very difficult question, which is part of an ongoing debate. The key question is how we understand suffering, not how we understand the resurrection.

For many, a worldview which suggest life is one integrated whole, informs the idea that suffering is an abberation from life. Yet when one looks at the life of Jesus Christ, it seems that he lived in the midst of suffering. One could say that for him, suffering was part of life. Of course this doesn't mean that suffering is the aim, or the over-aching theme of life, or that one should be on the lookout for suffering. What it does mean is that one should rather remain conscious of the dynamic tension between the coming reign of God and the allready present reign of God. Within this tension there will remain fragments, moments, periods of pain, suffering and loss, yet these seasons are to be viewed within the reality also of Gods presence in the midst of pain.

Yet there is more. We are also responsible for many a choice and habit which leads to suffering and pain. Whilst the ressurection mean, for Christians, that death has ended and that Evil is conquered, one need to remember that the personal and corporate life of faith is a critical dimension to make this new creation a reality. Adrio Konig, would state that evil and suffering is indeed conquered by Jesus Christ, but we must remember that it is only in Jesus Christ, that we can overcome evil.

Indeed, do we see suffering and the bloodshed and evil through the lens of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, do we see it through the lens of faith? That's the question.

Is Benny Hinn good news ?

Apparently he is on his way to Cape Town. The miracle man, in the white suit, arriving in his private jet. Is he good news ? Or is it a case of just another stop on a whirl-wind, world-wide tour.

Benny Hinn has of late, been embroiled in a few controversial situations and certainly amongst some commentators, he is perhaps not the most appropriate embodiment of the message of Jesus Christ. If Jesus came to proclaim liberation to the oppressed, sight to the blind and the good news to the poor, i.e. radical socially relevant messages, what are we to make with the image of a millionaire religious tycoon, whose aim seems to be to make a buck, out of the faithful, i.e. fleecing the flock, so to speak.

Others might see Hinn, as a man of God, for he moment. That's why they invite him, pay for his expenses and let him loose on their flock. He is an instrument in Gods hand and brings healing, miracles and salvation to the sick, the lost. For them, Hinn embodies what God can do, for us all. Secretly they pray to God for a miracle...just to be like evangelist Benny. Nothing wrong with that, one should think.

Perhaps it would be wise to monitor the situation and try to study the impact of his ministry, his teachings and see whether Benny Hinn is good news. After all, the Bible teach us to 'discern the spirits'

Japan, Libya needs our prayers

Will prayer help Japan? This is the question from Johan Swarts, in his most recent post for News24. His answer is honest, and, I suppose provocative: 'I don't know. What I do know, is that no-one's pleas stopped the ongoing disaster and that the words, "Japan is in our prayers" is beautiful, but it sounds empty when you make the effort to look at Japan.'

One should ask the question, why Swarts would write such a post? Is it an honest quest to understand spirituality and the role and function of religion in times of crisis, or is it another subtle jab at the stupid religious lot, who still pray, in the air. Perhaps for these thinkers, the disaster in Japan is a welcome opportunity to prove, again, to this simple lot, the futility of prayer and religious observance in general. It would be fair to concede that religious people would also see human tragedies as an opportune moment to cash in on the vulnerable space where people are.

Swarts is correct if he wanted to point out that religious platitudes is certainly not helpful in the face of the magnitude of the destruction. He spends a lot of space describing the scale of the disaster. Indeed, it boggles the mind.
Perhaps this is exactly the point where one should take issue with Swarts. It does boggles the mind. When humanity and all our brave and often breathtaking feats, are taken as the final word on 'our world' and we try to put what's happening around us only through the filters of our 'mind', then we have reduced reality to what we have sensed. Our senses, informing our minds, becomes the final arbiter of what's actually happening in the world. Yet, this disaster and a possible nuclear meltdown, and many other disasters today (like what is happening in Libya) paradoxically shows the limits of a positivist rationality and worldview. It shows indeed that humanity, cannot control the much bigger forces of nature, let alone the cycles of birth, life, death... In fact the ecological disaster, we find out now (and which most industrial nations still deny), is caused by our own human technological advances. Does this now mean that the human mind are to be discounted as a critical capacity to make sense of these realities and to co-create lifespace? No, it does mean that sensemaking is much broader then a simplistic rational process. What happens in our world (as we know it for now), many times boggles the mind, because we have more capacities to make sense and to be able to 'survive' this reality. It's not about a God who cause this or that or stops the consequences of this or that, its about an awareness of a bigger interconnectedness, a spiritual reality, if you wish.

It is here that the capacities of the spiritual, the non-sense of prayer becomes critical. The sense-making role of prayer, at periods of transition, the spaces between the possibility of painful birth and death, the attempt to invoke deeper meaning, in the community's stories and traditions, cannot simplistically be scoffed at. Whilst the people of Japan and Libya needs blankets and fresh water, as well as engineers to stop a nuclear spill or military protection, they also want to find a deeper reservoir of hope to keep on, to fight nihilism and despair. These critical capacities of hope, nihilism and despair can not be measured on a richter scale, but does that means that it doesn't exist? Does this mean that we must teach or shock people to abandon all the avenues they have, to build these sensemaking capacities?

At the end of the day, its the spirit of a people, which cause them to go back to find more under the rubble, to eat the snow, to rebuilt Hiroshima and to able to survive in the midst of the catastrophe. And to build that spirit, that hope, some might light a candle, walk around a tree and others might sit in a circle chanting and mumbling, 'Japan is in our prayers' , whilst they eke out a living, with their own human disasters. For many this is an affirmation that we don't know all the time; the prayer becomes a 'I don't know....' yet I will not give up trying to make sense, to live. That's what we all need. And that's what our sisters and brothers in Japan and Libya need, right now.