Today our fellowship studied Romans 12 with it's wonderful word-picture of what Christian community is to look like.

Afterwards, it occurred to me that since the section starts with a call to "not be conformed to the world" that the positive commands that follow are probably setting up the contrast with what "the world" might say is the way to live. So, in the spirit of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters*, here is my version of what "the world" might suggest as the way to live if "it" wrote a note about how to live in contrast to Romans 12:3-23:

"Above all, remember the status you have achieved and how hard you worked to get it (and how much more you would have achieved by now if those others hadn't blocked you).  Keep watching out for yourself since no one else will; you are responsible for your own destiny. Don't let others get in the way of your goals.  Remember that relationships are valuable only in so far as they are useful for your ends.

Learn to be pragmatic. What works is more important than worrying about obtuse issues of  right and wrong. Be focused on your goals and make connections with the people who can help you achieve them. Make connections with those who can make you look good and don't waste your time with others. Be driven, move fast, and trust only yourself.  Don't worry about other people; let them take care of themselves. 

Make sure you get back at those who oppose you so everyone knows they can't use you. Beware when others are rejoicing because it probably means they know something you don't.  When others are having a hard time, that's the time for you to smile because you can benefit from that.  Remember that the important thing is to get your way.  Take advantage of your status, look for ways to manipulate circumstances for your ends, and don't hesitate to use underlings for your purposes. You are #1; you are superior! 

If someone messes with you, get back at them fast.  Make sure everyone knows you won't be pushed around.  As far it depends on you, don't hesitate to stir up trouble if it can help you gain power.  When your enemy is down, that's the time to pounce and crush him so you come out on top. 

Whatever you do, don't be overcome by "kindly sentiments" but suppress them in order to get what you want."

Thanks be to God we are called to a different vision!

*http://www.squidoo.com/screwtape-letters?utm_source=google&utm_medium=imgres&utm_campaign=framebuster

The Time Has Come

Last night the Yale Graduate School Christian Fellowship had our first meeting for the new academic year.  As part of setting the context for who we are and what we are about, we looked briefly at Mark 1:15-17:

"The time has come,” Jesus said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”  As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said,“and I will make you fishers of men.”

There were two main "take aways" for us from that.  

First, in a time of transition, it's important to remember what is foundational. For Christians, that foundation is that we believe that in and through Jesus the reign of God is breaking into the world such that the long anticipated promises for renewal, restoration and redemption are coming to pass in the world. To "repent and believe" in this context is not a matter of what we often think of when we hear the word "repent."  It's not about stopping doing something bad and/or feeling badly about what we've been doing. No,in this context to repent is a call to align ourselves with God's purposes - to leave behind lesser loyalties and get on board with what God is doing.

That is borne out in the next two sentences. Jesus calls the two fisherman to follow him and then makes a promise to them.  As they follow, they will become "fishers of men." They are called to follow and they will be sent on a mission.

And so are we.

These two fisherman had no idea what Jesus was actually up to, but they saw and heard enough to know that they wanted to be part of what he was about. We too don't know just what it will mean to follow Jesus here at Yale.  But the call to them and to us is to align ourselves with God, follow the way of Jesus, and see what he will do in and through us. 

One other point we considered last night. This call was to "you" in the plural.  As the story goes on, Jesus gathers a community and keeps sending them out.  We have a fellowship so that we can learn together how to follow Jesus in this place and so that we together can be agents of God's work here and now, blessing others and reflecting the reign of God in how we live.  

Welcome to the adventure!

What's Next??

In 2008-09 I REBUILT my sister in law's house. Some parts required tearing out from the sills on up and the studs on in.

These days, I am RESTORING four kitchen chairs we have had for 20+ years. The finish was fading and peeling from exposure to the sunlight over many years.

I am also RENEWING our recently purchased condo which was probably last updated in the mid-80's.

Those three words are the words the prophet Isaiah used to describe the ministry God's people in Isaiah 61:4 where he writes that those who are delivered by the Lord's Servant will go on to

"…rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.”

At the last Summer Fellowship gathering this past Friday, I shared with the group pictured here that this mission is one that we, along with all of God’s people, inherit as part of what it means to follow Christ. We are to use the resources, the education, the talents and the passions that we have to bring out the fullness and goodness of the places and institutions which we inhabit. That’s part of the even older calling of God to Abraham to be a people through whom “all the world will be blessed.”

As the school year resumes at Yale and other schools around the country, may this be the mindset with which Christian students, faculty, administrators and staff approach their work. We are not just to “use” this place for our own purposes. We are not to try to “escape” from this place because of the problems it has. We are not to “avoid” people here who are difficult for us. Instead, as Christians we are called to bless and be a blessing; we are called to contribute to the rebuilding, restoring and renewing of wherever we find ourselves.

What that means in our context and how we go about it is surely a matter of discernment and prayer and none of us will be able to do all that is needed. My examples above of rebuilding, restoring and renewing are all short range, clearly defined projects; the restoration of the world to reflect the glory of God is quite a bit more ambitious! But… we have a part to play; according to Isaiah, that’s the purpose of God’s people!

As we start a new academic year, let’s pray and work towards this end with the energy and insight that God’s spirit gives us.

Our God,

who blesses your people with the call

to rebuild what’s broken,

to restore what’s been lost, and

to renew what’s been ruined,

may we respond to your call,

turn from other loyalties and distractions, and

commit our energy, creativity, talents,

education and power

to your purposes in the world.

In the name of Christ we pray,

Amen.

This will be my last posting for a while. This summer was a time for reflection on the “why” of grad/faculty ministry; now is the time to put those reflections into action!

Systems Witness

Years ago I was introduced to the concept of “family systems.” In summary, what that means is that families are not just a collection of individuals, but a unit in which the actions of each member impact and influence the whole. When a member of the family seeks counseling for some presenting issue, it often leads to the whole family being changed. We are not autonomous individuals but rather live in a “web of relationships.” Society as a whole is like that too. We live in a network of systems which either enhance or diminish our lives personally. They can be agents of"good news" or "bad news."

I’ve been thinking of this because of two gatherings this weekend.

One was on Friday night at our Summer Fellowship gathering. Enping (pictured here with his permission!) shared about why he has chosen to study medical engineering, designing the tools doctors need to advance their work. Right next to Enping was Mike, a PhD candidate in economics whose focus is on models for reducing health care costs. Two seats away from Mike was Samantha who is in medical school. Across the circle was Evelyn, a recent Nursing School graduate whose story I shared in an earlier blog. Together, these four are all working in the same system though in very different aspects. Yet the work of each will impact the others… and all the rest of us as well!

On Sunday, I was at a reception for new students entering Yale’s School of Management. We had met some of them at a Welcome Weekend last April so this was a chance to invite those who had expressed interest in the Christian fellowship to meet one another during their orientation program. As they talked about why they have come to Yale, I was struck with the vision several of them have. Two want to be involved in financial systems that will benefit poor urban communities. Another spoke about her desire to better serve social service organizations.

The common denominator between these two gatherings is that these Christian students are involved in “systems witness” in that they are seeking to incarnate the values of God’s reign in the context of their work. As Enping said, what he sees himself involved with is a ministry of physical healing that echoes the ministry of Jesus. The focus of Mike’s health care cost study is what happens when an adversarial model of dealing with medical mistakes is replaced by a model that actively seeks to amend the situation (i.e. reconciliation rather than litigation!). Samantha and Evelyn seek to bring compassion as well as competency to their work. Personally, but even more so collectively, they are bearing witness to the reign of God to the whole system of healthcare. Likewise, the School of Management students are positioned to bring their witness to God’s priorities into our economic system. In other words, they want to make these systems carriers of "good news!"

Evangelical Christians most often think of witness in terms of “personal witness,” verbally sharing one’s faith with somebody. That’s a critical aspect of our witness, but the call to impact institutional systems with the values of God’s reign is likewise critical since it displays the working out of God’s shalom to the whole of society.

As I continue to consider what is similar and what is different in terms of ministry to undergrad and graduate students, this is surely one of the differences. By virtue of where they are in life, graduate students are positioned to have impact on systems that deeply impact us all. Part of our calling in ministry to graduate students is to keep encouraging them to let their Christian faith shape the way they do their work such that the reign of God becomes more and more visible in the world.

I read somewhere that C.S. Lewis wrote the Narnia Tales at least in part to create an imaginary world for children that would open their hearts and minds to receive the gospel when they heard it. “Systems witness” is like that; as we contribute to the formation or renewing of systems that are healthy and just and life enhancing, it contributes to the believability that indeed God is at work answering the prayer that his will may “be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

What do you want me to do for you?

“What do you want me to do for you?” Luke 18:41

I’ve been reading through Luke’s gospel this summer and today came across this question by Jesus to a blind man. The context makes it pretty clear why the man came to Jesus so it caught my attention that Jesus actually asked him the question. Jesus doesn’t ask that question in other healing stories.

“What do you want me to do for you?”

I’ve been thinking about that question today. My first responses ranged from family concerns to “your kingdom come.” I also got focused on work issues and thought about what did I want to see happen in the various fellowships etc. I think I was reacting to the question as though I had obtained Aladdin’s lamp and needed to make sure I got the three best choices!

“What do you want me to do for you?”

Soon the “…for you?” became my focus. We are certainly called to pray for God’s kingdom to come and wanting the best for the fellowships is fine, but there is a personal tone to this question. “What do you want me to do for you?” What do I really want God to do in my life? Not in my family, not in my work, not in the world...but in me.

“What do you want me to do for you?”

It’s mid-afternoon now and I’m still working with question. The opening prayer in the Episcopal worship service comes to mind:

“…cleanse the thoughts of our hearts

…that we may perfectly love you,

and worthily magnify your holy Name.”

A clean heart would be good.

The closing prayer of the service also is also impressing itself on me:

“…Send us now into the world in peace,

and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you

with gladness and singleness of heart.”

Strength, courage and joy would be good too.

How about you. How do you respond to Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Maybe we aren’t even limited to just three wishes either!

Persistence!

Romina, a friend I knew from Bates College, is working on a PhD and recently posted on her Facebook page, “Sometimes, like today, I wonder what the heck I'm doing in academia. So much work, and for what? ...really. Are we really making that much of a difference?”

A couple days later I read in Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World by John G. Stackhouse,

“We see the marks of the Kingdom of God…wherever light penetrates darkness, wherever good makes its way against evil or inertia, wherever beauty emerges amid ugliness or vapidity, and wherever truth sounds out against error or falsity.” (p. 21). Kindle Edition

We could extend that as well to say that whatever leads to the well-being of people and the creation as a whole, whatever brings joy, beauty or a more truthful understanding, and whatever increases our scope of insight about humanity, nature and culture are also marks of the extension of the reign of God. This infuses meaning into the whole realm of studies and projects.

As Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:20-21, truth, for the Christian, is best represented not by principles or statements, but in a Person, namely Jesus. Anything that is in accord with his creative, redeeming, renewing character is worth our pursuing…but, as Jesus’ own life exemplified, it’s not always easy!

Given the number of “likes” generated by Romina’s post, it’s clear she is not alone in wondering whether the effort, money and time expended in gaining a PhD is worth it! I suspect she may have more of an activist’s than a researcher’s bent, so this stage of her work may be particularly frustrating for her, but Stackhouse talks about the need for us not to get distracted by visions of making rapid transformation (“cultural conquest” is what he calls it), nor to throw up our hands and withdraw from efforts to bring about social change. Instead he calls us to embrace a “cultural persistence” that works realistically with the opportunities and challenges before us.

The Christian grad students I have met are seeking God’s reign; they want the world to “be blessed” because of their work but sometimes it is hard to see how it will lead to that either because of obstacles they encounter or because the work itself does not seem immediately relevant. But persistence presses on in faith that there is more going on than we can see at the moment.

Inviting us to a way of living that is not given to the Enlightenment pride of human prowess nor to the Postmodern despair of the denial of any ultimate meaning, Stackhouse calls us to a Christian Realism wherein “We must not assume that we can completely remake anything in our world, but we also must not assume that things must remain as they are. Instead, we must make the best of them, neither in proud confidence nor in slothful acquiescence, but in hopeful faithfulness to, and in, the command and power of God.” (p. 105).

“Hopeful faithfulness” is a great posture for students to take as they go about their work. We don’t know ahead of time what the results will be; no farmer is guaranteed crops and no PhD student is guaranteed to find the ‘breakthrough” that radically alters her discipline or clearly impacts the world. But as we persistently move on, working and praying, our effort, offered to God whether it looks successful or leads to a dead end, is enfolded into the ongoing work of God.

Thanks to Romina for permission to share a bit of her story!

A Question from Hong Kong

Last week I received this email from a School on Management student working in Hong Kong this summer. He wrote:

“….the root of the spiritual conflict I feel here is that Hong Kong represents the apogee of modernity. Consumerism, materialism, secularism, the surrender of individual liberty to state power, it’s all been essentially perfected here. Luis Vitton and Prada stores displace sandwich shops in my neighborhood because rents are so high, personal worth is intimately tied to salary, parks once filled with people studying the Bible are empty, and substantially all rights to local sovereignty have been eroded by Beijing. And basically no one cares, because they’re rich. Or they hope to become rich.

I realize that this modernity is the enemy of souls, but what’s the alternative? Modish post-modernism has shown itself equally destructive. The vanguard of people who tried to blend post-modern ideology with evangelicalism [McLaren, Tony Jones] have basically ended up very uncreatively re-treading the road liberal Protestantism wore out 120 years ago. The reactionary response of my Catholic and Orthodox friends doesn’t seem viable either since modernity has meant longer lives, less suffering, and substantially more freedom for human beings. It doesn’t make much sense to go back to medieval guilds and the divine right of kings/czars.

So (as I think about coming back here to work after graduation) what really makes me sit and think is the question of ‘What good can I do here?!’”

How would you respond to this question by a committed Christian who wants to be an influence for Christ in the setting of global business?

This note highlights two out three alternatives often presented as to how Christians should interact with the prevailing culture:

- Accommodate by letting the culture set the agenda for us

- Resist by trying to ‘take back’ what has been lost

- Witness through creating a counter culture that embraces Christian values

I’ve thought a lot this week about this note and how I have responded to the challenges of our society’s values. Mainly, I have at least theoretically opted for the third alternative.

The first alternative gives up too much of our Christian particularity.

The second option looks to be too concerned with gaining power to enforce Christian values.

The third alternative is what I profess, but in actuality I confess it has led me and others I know to not so much bear witness by embodying an alternative vision, but rather to more or less withdrawing from the struggles of the day in favor of being involved in our Christian community. The fact that Jesus came into the world and dwelt among us tells me that this is not the way he wants us to live.

A different vision is set forth in a book another friend put me on to this week called “Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World” by Jonathan Stackhouse. It’s about Christians living in the midst of the difficult challenges and opportunities of the day. He even refers to the business environment of Hong Kong as an example as he questions how to counsel a Christian businessman required by the nature of such jobs in that city to work long hours six days a week regarding the Christian values of a healthy family and church life.

Stackhouse also rejects the options of accommodating to the culture, attempting to conquer the culture, or withdrawing from it, but, by reviewing the thought and life of C.S. Lewis, Reinhold Neibuhr and Deitrich Bonhoeffer, he advocates for what he calls a revived Christian realism. This is a call for us to do what we can to work for the shalom of God’s kingdom in light of the actual realities we face.

It’s a long, rich book but since its focus is on how we are to integrate our faith, life and work, it’s very relevant to our ministry with graduate and professional students. It’s also speaking to me so I’ll be sharing some quotes and reflections on it over the next couple of weeks!