Reflections on a Godly Man

October 21, 2012 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

My uncle passed away last week. He was my mom’s twin brother and he was a great and godly man. I have many great memories of him, but I don’t want to bore you with any of those. I suppose that many of you are fortunate enough to have someone like him in your family as well. Yesterday I attended his grave side and memorial services and it is these events which helped to crystalize some of my thinking about my Uncle Doug but more importantly about a walk with Jesus.

First, I am reminded how few of us truly walk with God. I say that because when we come across someone who really “gets it,” it really is remarkable. Illustrations abound in the life of my uncle and people like him, but the short answer on this is that his relationship with Jesus colored everything that he did. Jesus was first without question. That challenges me.

Second, one element of this genuine walk with God is illustrated in consistency. My perspective of my uncle was that of a nephew who had fairly regular contact with him for holidays and birthdays, etc. My conversations with him often seemed to turn to the ministry of the church and what God was doing in his life. I felt kind of special to be able to have those conversations with him…that is until yesterday. Yesterday I found out that, of the couple hundred people at his service, just about all of them had had similar conversations about his passion for ministry and the church! I realized that he had a genuine, sincere and passionate faith in God and the work of His Kingdom. He could not help but speak of it. That challenges me too.

Third, this “walk with God” is not as complicated as we sometimes make it. We do a lot of reading, blogging, learning, debating, and preaching. We develop programs, critique church styles and structures and discuss a lot of doctrinal minutia. My uncle never owned a computer and he was not on Facebook; he wrote his prayer list on a note pad he kept in his front pocket and prayed that list every day. People consistently approached him for advice, mentoring and for prayer because he consistently modeled a life of humility and service. He was “old school” but it worked. The crowd I saw yesterday cut across generational lines. Yes, there were “old people” there, but I was blessed by the number of young people I saw there. He was trained as a school teacher, but I was blessed at how the church leadership spoke about him with incredible respect. It was clear that his influence and ministry flowed up and down the ministry chain at his church.

One place we complicate things is in sharing our faith. We all have people in our lives whom we are concerned about regarding their spiritual condition. We probably pray for them often and maybe even strategize about how we could share with them. My uncle had a similar concern for a former classmate who he had seen at a reunion. While I am sure that he prayed for this man, he intentionally made an appointment with him to ask him about his relationship with God. I am not sure whether or not the man came to know the Lord, but I am challenged by a man whose willingness to be obedient to the burdens the Lord placed on his heart supersedes the complexities we have created in our ministry strategies.

Fourth, my uncle’s life challenges me to live similarly. As I sat and listened yesterday, I was blessed by a life well-lived. And, by the way, I am blessed to be a part of a family full of people like my uncle! I have a great legacy to look upon and I am challenge to be a part of the next link in this remarkable chain.

Stepping into the freedom of forgiveness

October 20, 2012 in Forgiveness with 0 Comments

This post is part of series on the topic of forgiveness as a response the book, Caring Enough to Forgive, by David Augsburg. See the other posts under the category “Forgiveness.”

Sometimes when we say, “I forgive you”, I wonder if we really know what we are getting into. Sometimes I wonder if we understand the power of those words—that by saying I forgive you, Augsburger would claim that we are putting the other person in the one-down position, instead of saying “let’s figure this out together”. Sometimes I wonder if all forgiveness ends in reconciliation or if some roads end in reaching resolution within oneself but not actually reconciling with the other person. We will be discussing forgiveness according to Augsburger and also briefly looks at situations in which we question how we forgive. I think forgiveness challenges us to really hold a mirror up to ourselves and ask ourselves, are we being as authentic as we can be? Sometimes when we forgive another person, I think we see glimpse of them in ourselves, which makes us realize that they are not the only persons who need to change, perhaps the change instead is something that both need to take part in.

Understanding Capitalism in a Christian Context

October 19, 2012 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

2012 C. Henry Smith Oratorical Contest

1st prize winner
Lauren Treiber
Goshen College

“The Real Occupy Movement: Understanding Capitalism in a Christian Context”

To Forgive or Not to Forgive?

October 1, 2012 in Forgiveness with 0 Comments

So this post is a reflection I had to write for one of my seminary classes, but as I have been wrestling with the theme of forgiveness, I thought I would share my reflections here. Let’s enter into conversation. What do you think forgiveness is? When have you forgiven someone you didn’t think you could? When has someone forgiven you? Please share your stories.

Reflections on Caring Enough to Forgive and Caring Enough Not to Forgive

Introduction:

A little girl trapped by her father’s hands. Pinned to the bed as he traps her and does what he wants, muffling her cries with his hands, his kisses, and his continued thrusts into her. Her body shakes. He won’t stop. Sometimes he doesn’t ever seem to stop.

How does one forgive in this situation? How does one offer the token, the emblem of reconciliation and restoration of relationship when one isn’t even sure that they want that? Are there certain things that are and remain unforgivable? Is it only by the grace of God that we can choose to forgive-as an action first and then the feeling comes later? David Augsburger wrestles with what forgiveness means in his books Caring Enough to Forgive and Caring Enough Not to Forgive. He wrestles with how we need to keep striving for reconciliation in order to reestablish trust, love, and faithfulness in our relationships.

Caring Enough to Forgive:

David Augsburger’s basic premise of his book, Caring Enough to Forgive, is that forgiveness is all about community; it is about connecting with another human being and working on that relationship to reach full restoration. It is significant to understand that forgiveness is centered on trust, and when that trust is broken through conflict, shame and guilt become the foundations of mistrust, betrayal and hurt. Augsburger writes, “Shame is the sense of total rejection, utter confusion, complete exposure before rejecting others. It is the feeling of being found out, uncovered, on the spot and motivates one to hide. It is a feeling of being blamed and of needing to displace that blame onto another” (14). Giving and receiving forgiveness means that both parties have to acknowledge the wrongdoing, the part they have played in it, so that can start to build trust in the relationship and move forward again. Forgiveness is about letting go of the past and moving onto embrace the future; as Augsburger says,

The past exists only in memory, consequences, effects. It has power over me only as I continue to give it my power. I can let go, release it, move freely. I am not my past. The future is not yet. I can fear it, flee it, face it, embrace it, and be free to live now. (p. 45).