As I have continued my quest to understand what it means to be a disciple today, I have spent a great deal of time learning about the history, geography, culture, politics, economics, and religious practices of Israel in the First Century AD so that I can best understand and interpret the meaning of the Scriptures in their original context.  I truly believe that one cannot properly interpret the meanings of the Scriptures for us in our day and in our culture if we do not first understand them within their original context.  If we try to jump to the final stage of proper Biblical interpretation (i.e., the application of the Scriptures to our lives today) without first performing the difficult and time-consuming steps of understanding the historical and cultural background of the texts, we are prone to coming up with interpretations that may misunderstand the true meanings of the passages.  Tragically, our interpretations can sometimes completely contradict the original meanings of the texts.  Accordingly, I have felt compelled to take the necessary time to acquire at least a basic grasp of the geopolitical and sociocultural conditions that existed in Israel during the life of Jesus Christ. 

I was initially inspired to commence a study of the Scriptures in their historical context as I read the excellent and extensive writings of N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and an outstanding biblical scholar.  His three-volume study, Christian Origins and the Question of God, is an exhaustive examination of the historical Jesus.  The second volume, Jesus and the Victory of God (1996), opened my eyes to new interpretations of key Scriptures that were based upon understanding the existing historical milieu of Israel in the First Century AD.

Since then, I have been introduced to other authors, scholars, pastors, researchers, and theologians who are similarly trying to understand the message of Jesus in the context of his day and, more specifically, its ramifications on what it means to be a disciple in the 21st Century.  I have not agreed with all of what these authors have discovered and published, but each one has offered new and valuable insights and interpretations that have changed the way I understand the message of Jesus.  Some of these authors and their publications include:

• Alan Storkey, Jesus and Politics: Confronting the Powers

• N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is

• Richard Horsley, Jesus and Empire

• Richard Horsley, The Message and the Kingdom

• Warren Carter, Matthew and Empire

• Wes Howard-Brook and Anthony Gwyther, Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now

• Albert Nolan, Jesus Before Christianity

• Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus

• Brad H. Young, Jesus The Jewish Theologian

• Brad H. Young, Meet the Rabbis: Rabbinic Thought and the Teachings of Jesus

• David Bivin, New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus: Insights from His Jewish Context

And perhaps most noteworthy is teacher and scholar, Ray Vander Laan, whose website Follow the Rabbi and DVD series Faith Lessons examine the Scriptures fully within their historical, political, cultural, religious, and geogrpahic contexts.  I strongly recommend the website and DVDs to anyone who desires to pursue this topic in greater measure.  Author and pastor Rob Bell has utilized the teachings of Vander Laan extensively in his sermons and in his book, Velvet Elvis.  It is also clear that Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, in their challenging (or, more accurately, worldview-exploding) book Jesus for President, and Brian McLaren, in his outstanding work The Secret Message of Jesus, make every effort to interpret the life and teachings of Jesus in their historical context.

Over the next year, I am going to attempt to place many of my recent discoveries about discipleship on this blog.  I hope to be able to post one entry per week.  These entries will describe my beliefs as to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus today.  They will, of course, pay great attention to the historical context behind the Scriptures.  Further, I will try to capture as many personal testimonies as I can of trying to put into practice “out in the field” the very insights that I have gleaned from my studies.  If our insights consist only of “information” or “head knowledge,” they are not very useful for discipleship which, in essence, is the practical following of Jesus with our lives.  I also plan to include some personal observations and commentary concerning the decline of discipleship in the contemporary Christian church in America. 

I will close this blog with a quote from N.T. Wright’s The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is.  As I have mentioned above, Wright is the man who inspired me to begin my own personal quest to understand and emulate the historical Jesus.  He correctly concludes that disciples of Jesus today must properly understand Jesus’ redemptive ministry in the context of his day if we are to correctly be a redeeming force in our world today.  He writes, “What Jesus was to Israel, the church must now be for the world.  Everything we discover about what Jesus did and said within the Judaism of his day must be thought through in terms of what it would look like for the church to do and be for this world.  If we are to shape our world, and perhaps even to implement the redemption of our world, this is how it is to be done” (p. 53). 

Yesterday, the nation celebrated the life and accomplishments of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.  Each year, the town of Reston, VA conducts its own celebration and remembrance of Dr. King with six days of speeches and concerts, culminating with a Celebration March through the streets of Reston by elected officials, faith leaders, and local residents.

This year I was honored and privileged to be asked by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Planning Committee to emcee the short program that takes place annually prior to the March itself.  The program included remarks by Catherine M. Hudgins, Hunter Mill District (Reston) Supervisor, Sharon Bulova, Braddock District Supervisor and Vice Chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and Stu Gibson, Hunter Mill District (Reston) Member of the Fairfax County School Board.  In addition, leaders of several local faith communities shared their thoughts on the significance of Rev. King’s life and legacy.

Below are the remarks that I shared with the crowd prior to the March.  As you will see, I felt led to emphasize the central role that Jesus played in the inspiration and motivation of Rev. King.  Unfortunately, through the years King’s faith in Jesus has been diminished, if not altogether ignored or forgotten, in the mostly secular remembrances of his life and accomplishments.  Reverend Joseph Lowery, former co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1957 and arguably the closest living acquaintance to King, shared these observations with the Washington Post last week: ”They have made Martin a glorified social worker, and they have almost made our young folks believe that all Martin did was go around dreaming.  He was a nonviolent militant. He was a Christian radical” (Washington Post, January 14, 2009, C1). 

I concur.  More than anything else, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a follower of Jesus, a disciple who desired to be ”covered with his dust.”  King realized early in his ministry that true change in the nation and the world could only come about by disciples faithfully following and imitating the life of their “Rabbi,” Jesus.  And thus, King adopted the very methods of Jesus — standing with and for the poor and oppressed, loving one’s enemies, praying for one’s persecutors, proclaiming truth in love, and using only non-violent means — while he challenged the many injustices present in the nation and world, such as racial oppression and segregation, the existence of poverty, and warfare.  As the radical ways of Jesus transformed hearts and changed the world forever, so too the radical, Christ-like ways of King transformed hearts of many and changed the nation forever (perhaps seen most clearly now in the election and inauguration of this nation’s first President of African-American descent).  And their radical lives of self-sacrificial love resulted in both men losing their lives.

And so, my words of tribute to the Christ-loving, Christ-following, and Christ-imitating disciple, Martin Luther King, Jr. that were shared with the Reston community:      

“Welcome everyone to Reston’s annual Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration March.  My name is John Moyle and I am the Senior Pastor of the Oakbrook Church located here in Reston.  I am so happy to see you all here this morning.

I sense that you who have come together today may be marching for several different reasons …

Some may be marching to celebrate and remember Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s great achievements in civil rights (e.g., eliminating segregation – in schools, buses, and restaurants or gaining African-Americans the right to vote; his pursuit of peace; or his quest to end poverty.  Others may be marching to remind the community of Reston, at the very least, that Dr. King’s work is not yet finished and certainly his dream is not yet fully realized; that there is more to do in eliminating systemic injustice in this community (for example, addressing the needs of our hurting homeless individuals and struggling Hispanic immigrants come immediately to mind) and in this nation and around the world.  As the slogan of this march asks, “Are we keeping the promise?”  Even others of you may be marching to celebrate the recent election and tomorrow’s inauguration of an African-American man as the next President of the United States and remember the paramount role that Dr. King played forty years ago to help make such an historic occasion possible.  Maybe some of you are here for all of these reasons.

One thing is certain – we are all here together to remember and celebrate the life, the work, and the sacrifices of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. – and I feel blessed and privileged to march with everyone of you.

My reasons for being here might be a little different.  Being a man of faith, Rev. King has impacted me in very deep ways.

Rev. King was inspired by his love for Jesus in everything that he said and did.  And thus, his faith and his work were and are inseparable.  Rev. King resolved to live his life following the ways of Jesus, imitating as best he could his Master, his Teacher, his Rabbi.  And thus, he resolved to stand with the hurting and the oppressed, the poor and the disenfranchised, the ostracized and the marginalized, the sinner and the sinned-against. 

He, as we well know, stood with and for African-Americans, oppressed in this nations for centuries.  But he also advocated for the rights of the white poor of Appalachia, and Hispanic immigrants and migrant workers in Florida, and Native Americans living in poverty on this nation’s reservations.

His hopes and goals were not first and foremost to change laws and influence legislation (though these things certainly came to pass and were supported by Rev. King).  Rather, King’s methods and intentions were to encourage and facilitate change in the hearts of men and women – to replace hate with love, violence with peace, prejudice with respect, exclusion with inclusion, and the fist with an embrace.

As a struggling follower of Jesus myself – born in the same year that King was killed – for me Rev. King stands as a modern-day example of what a true disciple should look like and act like …

• Love – to love God, to love one’s brothers and sisters, to love one’s neighbors, and to love one’s enemies
• Peacemaking/reconciliation – King understood that we must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means if true lasting peace is to be achieved.
• Nonviolence – King knew that trying to overcome evil with evil would sow the seeds of more evil; that the spiral of violence when countered with violence would only lead to more violence.  But nonviolence resistance (as Gandhi had pursued) would expose evil, draw it out, but then absorb it and defeat it.
• Prayer – King prayed for those he walked with and those who persecuted him.
• Compassion for others – seen perhaps most clearly in King’s life in the eulogy that he gave following the deaths of four young school girls in 1963 when the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL was bombed
• Giving – King realized the truth in that it is better to give than to receive
• Forgiving – King knew we each must be able to forgive others to free ourselves from the weight and bondage of bitterness, animosity, and unforgiveness
• Sacrificing – his time with his family, his time for comfort and leisure, his rest
• Suffering – physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually
• Dying – King was ultimately willing to lay down his life in love

Yes, Dr. King is an example to Christians of how to faithfully follow Jesus; but even more, he is an example for all people of all faith traditions and belief systems, all races and ethnicities, and all socio-demographic levels of society how we should love one another and live in peace and harmony with one another.”

Following the close of the opening program, twenty-five members of Oakbrook Church joined with many others from the Reston Community for the commemorative march.  Below are several photos from the day.  The last two photographs are of my two sons, Matthew and Samuel, participating in the children’s program that followed the March. 

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I receive weekly an e-mail newsletter called “SojoMail,” described by the Sojourners organization as “a weekly e-mailzine of spirituality, politics, and culture.”  It often includes excellent insights and commentary on emerging and existing social justice concerns in America and around the world.  Yesterday, SojoMail included a prayer by Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President, titled “A Prayer for a New President and a New America.” 

I feel that it is a beautiful prayer, one that truly reflects the heart of Jesus as well as our calling as disciples “to be the light of the world.”  Personally, I would change the title of the prayer to the very cumbersome, but more accurate, ”The Prayer of a Disciple of Jesus Trying to Faithfully Follow His Rabbi.”  Or, perhaps better, and even more cumbersome, “The Prayer of a Disciple of Jesus Trying to Be Covered With His Dust While Living In America.”  I am including his prayer in this blog for your edification.  I encourage each of you to pray this prayer with me.

For those of you who regularly read this blog, you must think that I have fallen off the face of the earth since I have not posted an entry for over a month.  This has been an extremely busy month for me both in my personal life and in the ministry.  First, I traveled up to Rhode Island for a weekend to serve as the Best Man in my brother’s wedding.  Rob married Jennifer Duhamel in a beautiful service along the Narragansett Bay.  It was a privilege and an honor to be able to serve Rob and Jen in this way.

Then, on Tuesday, September 23rd my wife, Jenna, gave birth to our third child, Kaylin Rose Moyle.  She weighed six pounds and three ounces at birth.  Both Jenna and Kaylin are doing very well.  Kaylin was born on the 70th birthday of her grandfather, John S. Moyle (my father), who lives in Kingsport, Tennessee.  He said that Kaylin, his first granddaughter, is the greatest birthday present that he could have.  Kaylin’s big brothers, Samuel and Matthew, absolutely love having a baby sister.  I have included several pictures of her below.

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Unemployment rate at 80%.  Alcoholism present in 75% of homes.  The average lifespan for females is 46; for males just 41.  Teen suicide is three times the national average.  Extremely high rates of elementary and high school drop outs.  Depression, despair, bitterness, and an absence of hope. 

Where can such a low standard and quality of life exist?  In Third World city slums?  In a war zone?  In the aftermath of a natural disaster or famine?  No …

It exists today inside of the wealthiest nation the world has ever known.  These statistics describe the plight of the Native Peoples of America … also known as the American Indians. 

For the many good things that the United States has done during its existence, our nation’s history is also littered with a number of atrocious acts.  The capture and importation of Africans to be used as slaves in the New World, the oppression of peoples of African and Chinese descent for decades, and the use of atomic weapons during the Second World War quickly come to mind.  But arguably no act could be more brutal, more egregious, and more tragic than the systematic destruction, oppression, and subjugation of the Native Peoples of America over a period of 400 years, first by European settlers and then later by the government of the United States itself.

As American citizens, I think that it is sometimes easy to forget that this nation has expanded and prospered at the expense of the Native American peoples.  In 1492, when Christopher Columbus journeyed to the New World, more than 5 million American Indians lived in the continental United States.  Over the next 400 years, approximately 50 million Indians died from war, starvation, and European diseases.  In the process, 66 original Indian tribes were completely exterminated.  The history books document over 125 separate massacres of unarmed Indian men, women, and children.  The names of Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Washita River, Bear River, and many others remind us today of the atrocities that U.S. soldiers and militia committed against Native Americans. 

Over the years, the U.S. government forced defeated Indian tribes to sign treaties that ceded ownership of their tribal lands to the United States.  The U.S. Government broke these treaties again and again as the expanding nation needed more and more land for its rapidly growing population (see an example of a land advertisment at right).  Many of these treaties required the forced removal and relocation of thousands of Native Americans, resulting in exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their destinations.  The most famous of these, called the Trail of Tears, saw the forced relocation of the Choctaw, Seminole, Creek, Chickasaw, and Cherokee indians from the American southeast to the Indian Territory (modern day Oklahoma) in the midwest between 1831-1837.  Thousands of men, women, and children died on the journey.  Other tribes, including the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Apache, and Delaware Indians were also forced to move into the Indian Territory.  However, these lands promised to the Indians by treaty were also taken from them over time.  Today, the remaining Native Peoples of America mostly live upon small reservations scattered across the midwestern and western United States.

Over the past century, subsequent generations of Native Americans have suffered from the traumatic wounds inflicted against their ancestors in the past.  The poverty, unemployment, short life expectancy, alcoholism, and illiteracy endured by the Native Peoples are not caused by certain genetic conditions or negative character traits among them as some misled scientists and anthropologists have proposed.  Rather, it is believed that these problems are the symptoms of deep spiritual, emotional, and relational issues faced by Native Americans such as unresolved bitterness, anger, and hatred caused by the past treatment of their ancestors and the harboring of unforgiveness towards those they hold responsible for this treatment.  

This past Sunday (August 17th), Oakbrook Church was visited by Negiel Bigpond, a full-blood Yuchi (Creek) Indian.  Dr. Bigpond is the President and Co-Founder of the Two Rivers Native American Training Center in Bixby, Oklahoma, a school established to provide quality leadership, Biblical training, and resources to equip missionaries, evangelists, pastors, and other leaders to be sent out to minister within the communities of the Native Peoples of North America.  Negiel has visited and ministered on over 140 different reservations.  He has spent much time in Washington, DC testifying before the U.S. Congress on the immense challenges faced by the Native Peoples living on the reservations.

Dr. Bigpond shared with the Oakbrook congregation about legislation that is currently before Congress that calls for a formal apology from the United States government to the Native American peoples for the gross mistreatment they have received over the centuries.  The Senate and House Joint Resolutions of Apology are meant “to acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the United States Government regarding Indian tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States.” 

If it passes this bill, the U.S. Congress would be [1] admitting fault and wrongdoing by the U.S. government in its dealings with Native Americans throughout history; and [2] offering a public apology to all Native Americans on behalf of the people of the United States “for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States.”  Further, the bill urges the President to also acknowledge the wrongs committed by the United States against the Indian tribes “in order to bring healing to this land by providing a proper foundation for reconciliation between the United States and Indian tribes.”  To be clear, the current legislation mandates no monetary reparations, nor does it authorize or support any legal claim against the United States.  It is simply a “first step” toward reconciliation, healing, and restoration of honor toward the indigenous Native American Peoples.

Tex Hall, the President of the National Congress of American Indians, remarks that ”… this apology resolution to me is a giant and historic step to move towards apologizing for those wrongdoings, those ill-fated policies of what happened to the Indian nations, and really begin the healing.  Because you can’t begin the healing unless you say formally by the U.S., the Senate that authorized war against the Indians, or that forced removal, that uprooted tribes from their homelands.  It has to come to this level for the United States government, for the Senate and the House to do that, to make this apology real.”    

I personally believe that this is the right and honorable action for the U.S. government to take, an action that is supported Biblically.  True reconciliation can be forged between divided people or parties when the “sinner” shines the light of truth on its dark past, confesses its sins personally to the “sinned-against,” and offers an apology for these wrongs.  The word “confess” means to “admit” or to “acknowledge.”  In this circumstance, the “sinning party” - the U.S. government - appears, in humility, to be willing to acknowledge publicly its past sins and offer a personal apology to the “sinned-against” - the Native American tribes.  Such an action has the potential to “liberate” Native Americans from their bitterness, anger, and hatred against those who have sinned against them by opening a window of opportunity for the granting of forgiveness.  Unforgiveness acts like a giant weight upon the backs of those who bear it.  It is an evil root that produces the bad fruit of bitterness, anger, and hatred in the lives of those who harbor it.  George Kallappa of the Makah Nation states that “we have carried this thing [bitterness, hatred, unforgiveness] so long and we have found out that it has hurt us more than those we have been angry with.”  It is the bitterness and hatred that have pushed so many Native Americans into depression and low self-esteem which so often result in the tragic by-products of alcoholism, unemployment, poverty, and poor health.

What a great example this would be for all of us … the United States Government, perhaps the greatest of “the powers that be,” humbling itself in apology for its past acts of wrongdoing against Native Americans to begin the process of dialogue, reconciliation, and healing.          

I fully recognize that this legislation will not solve the problems and challenges that Native Americans face daily.  However, God has created each one of us in His image as relational beings.  We have been made for rich, rewarding, and intimate relationship with Him and with each other.  When our relationships with God and with other people are fractured, we are incapable of living the beautiful lives that God intends for each of us.  And thus I believe that the Joint Resolutions of Apology before the House and Senate offer a first step towards reconciliation between the peoples of America, a first step towards forging new life-giving relationships and beginning the healing process for so many Native Americans.  In future years, I hope that there will be opportunities for the members of Oakbrook Church to personally reach out in love to our Native American brothers and sisters to build loving and lasting relationships in Jesus Christ.     

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), the principal sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, sums up the bill’s purpose the best.  “This is an apology that attempts to start the reconciliation process.  It doesn’t end the wrongs, but it does acknowledge them.  It doesn’t fix everything, but it starts the dialogue.”  Dr. Jay Swallow, a Southern Cheyenne and Co-Founder of the Two Rivers Native American Training Center, concludes: “It is time to be healed, to get rid of this pain.”

Such an apology by the United States Government could serve as a wonderful and powerful testimony to the government of Guatemala which is also guilty of numerous atrocities against the indigenous Mayan peoples in its nation.  During the Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996), thousands of Mayans were massacred by the Guatemalan Ejército (army).  Many Mayans suffer from similar spiritual, emotional, and relational wounds as the Native Americans of the United States.  A similar public confession and apology by the Guatemalan Government could begin the reconciliation and healing process there as well. 

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Hello, everyone!  I am sorry about not posting anything for a few weeks.  I just returned from a nine-day, short-term mission trip to Guatemala with eleven other members of Oakbrook Church.  This was my sixth trip into the northern highlands of Guatemala to work with the indigenous Mayan people of this region.  As those who know me can testify, I have fallen in love with Guatemala and the Mayans.  God has been using this special place and these special people to reveal Himself to me over the years and to teach me more and more what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  Every summer I am able to escape from the day-to-day struggles of local church ministry in the United States to pursue Jesus through the dusty streets of Guatemalan cities and villages.  At no other time in my life or ministry do I feel as close to Jesus as I do when I am in Guatemala.  I truly feel as if I am being “covered with His dust” as I follow Jesus into homes, streets, markets, schools, jails, and hospitals and learn how to share His love with other people.

I do not have the time or space to describe the entire trip for you, but I do want to share some highlights.  As Guatemala has become a great passion for me, these “highlights” may be many!!!

As with each of our previous trips, Asociación Equipando de los Santos Internacional (ASELSI), the teaching and equipping ministry of missionaries John and Sharon Harvey located in Chichicastenango, Guatemala prayerfully planned, organized, and coordinated the trip with me.  Following extensive prayer and discussion, we agreed that God was leading our group to the town of Sacapulas which is located in the heart of the Department of Quiche.  Sacapulas served as a launching point for some of the government’s military campaigns against the guerilla forces during the horrible Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996) which took the lives of over 200,000 people.  Located just to the north of Sacapulas over one range of mountains is the region of the Ixil Triangle (composed of the three towns Nebaj, Chajul, and Cotzal).  The government forces massacred hundreds of Mayan men, women, and children in Nebaj and Chajul, two of the most tragic episodes of this horrible war.  Thus, there still exists - even twelve years after the suspension of hostilities - lingering and unhealed wounds among the people of this region.  Today, the town is very poor and marked by gang violence, specifically between two gangs, MS-13 and 18th Street, which are also prominent in Northern Virginia.  The Maya in this area speak both Sacapulteko (one of the 22 indigenous languages of Guatemala) and Spanish.

During our three days and nights in Sacapulas, we were the guests of the Iglesia de Dios, pastored by Elías Merida, a very warm, gentle, and loving man.  Throughout our stay we were able to build some special relationships with Elías and his leadership team (both men and women) as we ministered alongside of them.  These relationships were developed during home visits with widows and the sick, meetings with active gang members, ministry programs in elementary and high schools, evening services in the town plaza and church, and praying and evangelizing in the streets. 

     Iglesia de Dios in Sacapulas, Guatemala.                            Raúl and Pastor Elías Merida perform at Colegio.

One of the best “descriptors” of our visit to Sacapulas would be “ACCESS.”  God providentially opened so many doors to us.  Following an opening night service in the town plaza before hundreds of people, the local Police Department invited our team to pray over each of its on-duty police officers.  We prayed that ”the peace of God” would come to a city whose people still bear the physical and emotional wounds of civil war, whose walls are covered with the graffiti of rival gangs, and whose population is rigidly divided between evangelicals, Catholics, and those who practice the traditional Mayan costumbres.  We also prayed that the fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23) would develop more and more in the lives of each officer.  The very next day we were invited by the alcalde (the town mayor) to meet with him and his staff.  We ended this meeting by praying for the entire group.  The day after this we met with and built relationships with members of the rival street gangs.  We prayed for God’s peace to be with them and that reconciliation would come between the gangs.  We met with and prayed for students of all ages, widows, the sick and poor.  We felt as if we had the “key” to the entire city, and clearly God’s favor was with us.  He gave us access to people that we could never have met on our own.

                                       Praying for the sick in Chichicastenango and Sacapulas, Guatemala

God also gave me an opportunity to teach the local church on ”Relational Evangelism.”  To my alarm the church had received very little training and instruction in evangelism.  Typically, members of Pentecostal churches in Central America make little effort to build relationships with non-believers.  There is a legalistic belief that the reputation of the church will be tarnished if its members associate or socialize with non-evangelicals, especially Catholics and Mayans who practice the costumbres.  And thus, church members have become withdrawn and separated from the very people of the community that they are called to reach.  When they do interact with non-believers, church members often will use evangelistic techniques that focus on God’s judgment and an eternity burning in the flames of hell.  Seldom is the love of Jesus Christ shared with the non-believer.  This is unfortunate.  It suprised us that our friends from Iglesia de Dios use a similar means of evangelism since we felt only great love coming from them during our visit.  Thus, it was clear to me that it was not a lack of Christ’s love that exists within them, but rather a lack of understanding how to release that love to people outside of the church. 

Preaching at night church service at Iglesia de Dios         Teaching church leaders on “Relational Evangelism”

During our stay in Sacapulas, I was able to teach the church leaders and cell group leaders about extending the love of Jesus to their community through building real, loving relationships with all people … evangelicals, Catholics, animists, and atheists alike.  I was able to teach them to minister to the whole person … not just their souls, but their bodies, minds, and relationships as well.  And most importantly, the team was given multiple opportunities to model the love of Jesus with actions, not just speak about Christ’s love during a seminar.  We built relationships and shared the love of Jesus with all people … policemen and gang members, the alcalde and alcoholics, rebellious teenagers and traditional Mayan widows, the healthy and the sick.  They are all precious in the eyes of God, and I believe that we were able to be a positive example for our friends from the Iglesia de Dios in Sacapulas.

At our final service together, Raúl, one of the emerging leaders of the Iglesia de Dios, provided me with one of my “highlight” moments from the trip.  He announced to the entire audience that he had learned something very important during Oakbrook’s visit.  He learned that he needed to be more relational in his evangelistic efforts and that he needed to spend time building real human relationships with people who do not follow Jesus.  In essence, he concluded that he needed to love people as Jesus loved people.  I had a huge lump in my throat and tears in my eyes as he spoke.  Initial signs of good fruit from the seeds that had been sowed. 

We did meet a great example of Christ-like love for the “unlovable” within the Sacapulan church.  Francisco Adrián Melchor is a policeman who has an active ministry and cell group fellowship with youth and young men in Sacapulas.  Many of the young men are active or former gang members of MS-13 and 18th Street.  Often, these men will fall away and return to the gang life.  But Adrián continues to maintain relationship with these men … loving them, serving them, and caring for them as Christ did for the unlovable of his day and continues to do for each of us.  A policeman and gang members living in close, loving, trusting relationships.  I love it …   Some of the young men who had fallen away from Christ in the past year rededicated themselves to following Jesus after our ministry with them.  We were so privileged to be used by God as reapers of this harvest.  But Adrián had done the hard work, the work of sowing the ground for many years before we ever came to Sacapulas.  We reaped the benefits of his labor (see John 4:34-38; 1 Corinthians 3:5-8).  I commend Adrián for imitating this critical aspect of the life of Jesus.  He has motivated me to be more intentional in building relationships with marginalized people in my own community here in the United States.  My sense is that this will be illegal immigrants living in Reston and Herndon. 

Pedro, Juan, and Pedro (“en fuego” youth for Jesus!)       Talking with Pedro about sharing Christ with friends

As I reflect on the trip, I am so excited about the great personal relationships that Oakbrook Church developed with our new friends in the Iglesia de Dios.  We really connected with these people and have developed a foundation upon which we would like to build in the coming years.  I felt that I was able to establish the beginning of special friendships with Pastor Elías and his wife, Alma.  We were impressed by the dedication and servant’s heart of Benjamin, the leader of the youth and children’s ministries, and other church leaders such as Maria, Adrián, Jesús, Zenaida, and Oswaldo.  We were amazed by Raul’s many different giftings (worship leading, singing, guitar, drums, keyboards, etc.).  He is clearly a future leader of the church.  The Iglesia is blessed to have a large youth ministry filled with “en fuego” youth for God.  We will always remember the passion for Jesus that Pedro (#1), Pedro (#2), Juan, Daisy, and so many others have there.  I really look forward to watching them grow in their love for Jesus and extending the kingdom of God in the Sacapulas area.

Speaking to young men at the Colegio in Sacapulas.               Sharing a devotional with the ASELSI students.

         Teaching ASELSI Leadership Students.                                 Preaching in nightime service in Sacapulas plaza.

Lastly, I would like to share with you a prayer request.  One night in Sacapulas I was asked to pray for a young, single mother named Isabel and her daughter, Sandy Wendy.  Isabel is eighteen years old.  Two years ago she was pressured into having sexual relations with her boyfriend at the time and became pregnant.  Her boyfriend immediately left her and moved to the city.  Sadly, Isabel’s father, being ashamed of his daughter, banned her from his home.  Little Sandy Wendy, only eleven months old, has developed hydrocephalus which causes great swelling in the cranium.  Already, the swelling has caused blindness and will eventually lead to deafness, convulsion, paralysis, and likely death if left untreated.  Through my relationship with ASELSI, I have arranged for Isabel and Sandy Wendy to travel to the National Hospital in the capital of Quiche, Santa Cruz, for a medical examination later this week.  It is believed that doctors can relieve the swelling through the placement of surgical shunts that will drain the fluid from her head.  it is unknown at this point what permanent impairment would remain following the procedure. 

                                                                  Isabel and Sandy Wendy

I consider young Isabel to be a “widow” in every sense of the word.  Although she was never married, she is a woman on her own trying to take care of a disabled infant.  Isabel has been abandoned by the father of her child, and now has been ostracized by her family.  I believe that the church must come around her and Sandy Wendy to provide for them in every way necessary. 

When I look at Sandy Wendy, I remember my own son, Samuel, who was born with craniosynostosis (fused cranial sutures preventing proper skull growth).  As Samuel’s head developed an increasingly abnormal shape and the intercranial pressure increased to an unacceptable level, it was clear that he would require reconstructive cranial surgery.  Our insurance did not cover the craniofacial plastic surgeon needed for his surgery.  Amazingly, God raised up a person (people?) - to this day their identity remains unknown to us - who financed his surgery completely.  Jenna and I have always vowed to return the favor to a child in a similar place of need should we find one.  We believe that this child is Sandy Wendy.  Please pray with us that the doctors in Guatemala will be able to surgically treat Sandy Wendy’s disorder, that she will suffer no permanent impairment, and that she will be given an opportunity for a full and enjoyable life.  Thank you.

Below is a six-minute video montage of the mission trip.  Thanks to team members Peter Parkinson for shooting most of the footage and Jason Le for building the video.  Great job, guys!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

At the very end of my last post, I mentioned that peacemaking is a ministry and spiritual discipline that must be taught, practiced and learned, just as every other ministry or spiritual discipline in our faith must be taught, practiced, and learned. Today I would like to expand upon this thought using one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies as a reference point. The movie is Gandhi, the 1982 masterpiece starring Ben Kingsley in the title role that won eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (Kingsley), Best Director (Richard Attenborough), Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.

It is not well-known that Mohandas Gandhi was a trained, expatriate lawyer who began his career advocating for the civil rights of the small Indian laborer community in South Africa between 1893-1914. It was during this phase of his life that Gandhi theorized, practiced, demonstrated, and then advocated the creative, nonviolent resistance measures for which he would become more famous in his native India some years later. Importantly, the teachings of Jesus Christ, especially those that Jesus announced in His Sermons on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and the Plain (Luke 6:17-49), were primary influences on Gandhi’s life, beliefs, and teachings. The words of Jesus, along with the Hindu concept of ahimsa (”nonviolence”), served as sources of great inspiration for Gandhi as he developed satyagraha, a method of holding to the truth using passive resistance and extending nonviolent, suffering love towards one’s oppressors and other sources of abusive power. Gandhi believed that satyagraha was an effective resistance measure to be used by all oppressed and persecuted people in any socio-political situation in any geographic region.

In the aforementioned scene from Gandhi, an Anglican priest named Charles (”Charlie”) Freer Andrews accompanies Gandhi through the streets of a South African town. As the two men enter a narrow alley three South African street toughs (one played by a very young Daniel Day-Lewis) stand directly in their way and begin to taunt Gandhi with racial slurs. Andrews sees the street thugs and nervously tries to voice his desire to change course …

“Perhaps we should ummm …” mutters Andrews.

But before he can finish his thought Gandhi interrupts, “Doesn’t the New Testament say if your enemy strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the left?”

Andrews replies, “Well, I think perhaps the phrase was used metaphorically. Uh, I don’t think that ummm …”

Gandhi once again cuts Andrews off, “I’m not so sure. I have thought about it a great deal, and I suspect He meant you must show courage to be willing to take a blow, several blows, to show you will not strike back nor will you be turned aside. And when you do that it calls on something in human nature, something that makes his hatred for you decrease and his respect increase. I think Christ grasped that and I have seen it work.”

At that moment they reach the three thugs. Gandhi and the lead thug are face-to-face. Gandhi, with a smile, offers him a polite and genuine “Good morning.”

The thug responds crudely, “Get off the pavement you bloody coon!” The others join in. “Yeah, get off! Kaffir!” (an Afrikaaner term equivalent to the N-word in English)

Gandhi, unflustered, looks the main thug in the eyes with love and replies, “You’ll find there is room for us all.” Gandhi and Andrews then step through the boys and continue on their way.

Please click on the image above to view the aforementioned scene from the movie Gandhi.

A beautiful scene … one that truly does put a lump in my throat each time I watch it. But the scene does more than just move me emotionally. It reminds me of the fact that many Christians today, just like Charlie Andrews in the movie, do not understand the true meanings of Christ’s words on peace, peacemaking, and nonviolence. Even though we mouth the words, we do not appear to believe Jesus that we can realistically and practically “love our enemies” and “do good to those who hate us” and “bless those who curse us” and “pray for those who mistreat us” and “turn the other cheek” and “not resist evil.” The words seem too difficult to live out and therefore must be “metaphorical.” If we do believe the words, we try to diminish their importance by claiming that they were only pertinent for the twelve disciples or that they only apply to personal relationships and not between nation-states, racial or ethnic groups, socio-economic classes, or even rival gangs. But nowhere in the scriptural text does it allow us to make such conclusions. It is certainly clear to me that we have not grasped the central point of Christ’s message for us … that when we put these words into practice, our very lives will reflect Jesus Himself and that our self-sacrificial, suffering love will begin to transform and redeem the hearts of our enemies.

Unfortunately, as Christians have retreated from the teachings of Christ, we have increasingly adopted the flawed wisdom of the world. Many Christians in America openly advocate the use of military force, violence, and even torture to counter the various security threats that our nation faces. In my belief, such a stance reveals a personal allegiance to the kingdom/empire of America that directly conflicts with our allegiance to the kingdom/empire of our God. Some of these are very visible politicians, military and intelligence officers, and statesmen. Others are high-profile clergymen, including a good number of evangelical pastors. Others still are the rank-and-file members that attend our nation’s churches each Sunday. Then there are those of us who, though personally opposed to the use of violence and warfare, demonstrate our complicity with the violence by refusing to speak out against it or failing to raise the awareness of other Christians to our call to be faithful, nonviolent witnesses of Jesus.

We, as the followers of Jesus, have been co-opted by a world system that promotes power, control, oppression, and violence. We have succumbed to the daily bombardment of pro-violence messages, doctrines, and advertisements that our culture delivers: the patriotic, nationalistic, saber-rattling rhetoric of politicians, military personnel, and even pastors; the more subtle, yet extremely deceptive, philosophies of “redemptive violence” and “just war” criteria; and not least, the movies, television programs, video games, and advertisements that force feed us war and violence as the normal way of dealing with our problems.

Gandhi himself noticed the false witness being given by Christians as he observed the ostensibly-Christian British imperialists oppress the people of India and as he watched many of the western Christian nations clash in two, highly destructive world wars during his lifetime. He determined that, despite his love for Jesus and his admiration for His teachings, he could not call himself a Christian because he rarely could find a faithful witness to the self-sacrificial, nonviolent Jesus among professing Christians! He wrote, “That’s why I call myself not Christian, because I do not hold with the system that you have set up based on might.” On another occasion he recalled, “As my contact with real Christians increased, I could see that the Sermon on the Mount was the whole Christianity for him who wanted to live a Christian life … It seems to me that Christianity has yet to be lived.” And lastly, he critiqued the religion and its adherents which he deemed to have denied Christ and had acquiesced to the violence of the world system: “Christianity is no Christianity in which a vast number of Christians believe in governments based on brute force and are denying Christ every day of their lives.” Gandhi considered himself a follower of Jesus, but could not come to call himself a Christian because of the flawed Christian witness in the world.

In the Book of Revelation, the saints are revealed as those who are the true and faithful witnesses of Jesus (see 1:9; 2:13; 6:9-11; 12:7,10-11; 13;10; 14:12; 17:6; 19:10). When the purported followers of Jesus support the use of violence, either explicitly or implicitly, we are putting forth into the world a false and misleading witness of Jesus. When we shrink from death and love our lives too much to faithfully follow Jesus and live as He lived, we are falling short in our witness. How can we change this trend? How can we enable large numbers of followers of Jesus to once again faithfully reflect Christ’s self-sacrificial, suffering love for the world … a love that includes God, brothers, neighbors, AND enemies?

I believe that Christians who believe in Jesus Christ’s nonviolent witness and in our calling to faithfully imitate His ways must begin to proactively “teach peace” in our churches. I believe that “peacemaking” is a ministry skill that must be learned, embraced, and then practiced until it becomes a part of who we are. A peacemaking “curriculum” ought to consist of several different features. First, there must be a rigorous study of the New Testament texts that reveal Christ’s love of neighbors and enemies, his nonviolent witness, and his self-sacrificial death. Other key texts, such as Romans 12:9-21 should be examined as well. Second, peacemaking classes should spend sufficient time in discussing how creative, nonviolent responses serve to absorb evil from the world and prevent it from multiplying and escalating.

Third, it is important to review the writings of the early church fathers (including Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Athenagoras, Tatian, and others) that reveal the unanimous witness of the early church in favor of nonviolence and opposition to military service and participation in warfare. In addition, it is important to understand how the witness of the church changed significantly for the worse once Christianity became the official religion of Rome. Fourth, it is essential to examine the lives of great peacemakers throughout history to understand more clearly how creative nonviolence and peacemaking practically has played out in real world situations. Certainly, the lives and ministries of Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and others should be examined. Fifth, the writings of important theologians ought to be considered to gain greater depth in our understanding of peacemaking. The contributions of John Howard Yoder and Walter Wink certainly come to mind, as well as the edgy writings of Shane Claiborne.

Sixth, ample time ought to be given to the hard questions that arise in regards to peacemaking and nonviolent conflict resolution. Questions such as “What about Hitler?” or “What about the God-ordained violence present in the Old Testament?” must be considered to offer a full survey of the complexities surrounding peacemaking issues. Seventh, every teaching session must be accompanied by prayer. Peacemakers must regularly come before the Lord with their petitions for peace. We must learn how to pray regularly for our enemies and those who persecute us. And lastly, our learning must become praxis. All students of peace must practice being peacemakers in their every day lives … with spouses, with children, with co-workers, with friends, and with brothers and sisters in Christ. We also must work together to find creative ways to tear down walls and build personal relationships with our enemies, both personal and national. And we must learn how to speak and act boldly in prophetic ways against the use of violence and the misuse of power by our elected leaders. Our silence in the face of evil is complicity with evil in actuality.

To close, I need to honor the true historical record and share with you the beautiful growth that took place in the life and witness of Charlie Andrews. It would be unfair to leave Andrews in your memory as the Anglican priest who was ready to falter in his own witness before the South African street thugs. Charlie Andrews, also known as C.F. Andrews, became one of the greatest peacemakers and theologians that the Christian church has ever known. He faithfully served alongside Gandhi for many years before writing some of the best works on Gandhi (including Gandhi’s Ideas [1929], Gandhi at Work [1930], and Mahatma Gandhi: His Own Story [1931]) as well as ground-breaking books on Christian nonviolence (especially The Sermon on the Mount [1942]). Andrews grew so much in Gandhi’s estimation that whenever Christian missionaries would ask him how they should bring the message of Christianity to India, Gandhi would answer, “Live it. Be like Andrews.” May we all be more and more like Andrews as we follow Jesus our Rabbi and get “covered with his dust.”

As I read the newspapers each day, I am becoming more and more worried.  It seems that the United States, Israel, and Iran are taking all of the historically-proven steps that lead to inevitable armed conflict.  Threats from Washington and Tel Aviv are followed by counter-threats from Tehran.  Frequent public comments are issued by high-ranking officials “demonizing” the opposition … which only serve to increase the fear, suspicion, and hatred that many Americans and Iranians already possess towards each other.  Media reports surface declaring that certain Bush administration officials are actively advocating for military strikes against Iran.  High-ranking flag officers, rumored to oppose the Bush administration’s hawkish stances towards Iran, are fired or forced to resign.  U.S. intelligence reports reveal Iran’s increasing role in arming and supplying the Iraqi resistance units.  Tehran continues its quest to build a nuclear arsenal.  Nuclear-armed America hypocritically chastises Iran for desiring and actively pursuing nuclear weapons capability.  Provocative military exercises are conducted by Israel and Iran in the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf respectively. 

Just in the past week tensions between America and Iran have increased.  Seymour Hersh, a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on international security issues, revealed that the Bush Administration is escalating its covert operations program against Iran (see Seymour Hersh’s ”Preparing the Battlefield,” The New Yorker, July 7, 2008).  In the past year, the U.S. Congress approved the President’s request for four hundred million dollars to be used to destabilize Iran’s religious leadership.  Purportedly, the covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations inside Iran.  They also include gathering additional intelligence on Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program.  Obviously, Iran is not so naive to think that U.S. intelligence would refrain from conducting covert operations within its borders.  However, a media leak that reveals the immense size and scope of the covert activity will certainly serve to heighten the antagonism between Washington/Tel Aviv and Tehran.

And just today, CNN reports new inflammatory rhetoric by a top Iranian official that accompanied a large scale military exercise by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf.  Revolutionary Guard official, Ali Shirazi, is quoted as saying, “The Zionist regime is pushing the White House to prepare for a military strike on Iran.  If such a stupidity is done by them, Tel Aviv and the U.S. naval fleet in the Persian Gulf will be the first targets which will be set on fire in Iran’s crushing response.”  Not exactly calming words of peace and reconciliation.

While this reckless sprint towards war continues, it is becoming increasingly clear that neither Washington, Tel Aviv, nor Tehran is taking any sincere steps towards forging a genuine and sustainable peace.  There is little mention of any substantive diplomatic activity between the nations designed to bridge the deep divides that separate us.  But this is not surprising. 

Nation-states (at least prosperous, militarily powerful nation-states) almost always feel compelled to relate with other nations from positions of power and control.  They feel that they cannot appear to be “weak” in the eyes of other nations.  Thus, if they cannot “seduce” others to support them and their policies, they quickly resort to what they have and know … power.  If the “carrot” fails, the “stick” becomes attractive.  First a small stick - perhaps verbal threats and criticism; then a larger stick - possibly economic sanctions or military exercises; and then, if deemed necessary, the big stick, military force itself.  The powerful can only understand the use of, what author and pastor Greg Boyd terms, “power over.”  Nations founded by and historically maintained by military power and violence are virtually programmed to believe that security, prosperity, and safety can only be preserved through the use of “power over” methods - threats, oppressive laws and treaties, coercion, condemnation, demonization, economic oppression, and violence.  Control must be maintained at all costs.  And thus peace can only be achieved through the domination of the adversary.  And thus, true diplomacy, diplomacy based upon the development of close, loving, and trusting human relationships between people who are different from one another, is close to impossible for the powerful nation-state.  This is especially true for the United States … the most powerful global force, both militarily and economically, that the world has ever known.

Which brings me to us … the followers of Jesus.  What possibly can individual followers of Jesus do to work for peace on an international scale?  Well, the “power over” methodologies used by nation-states should be completely foreign to the faithful followers of Jesus Christ.  We know that such methods, especially violence, never achieve a lasting peace because of a simple Biblical principle … that one reaps what one sows.  If we sow violence, we will eventually reap violence, no matter how successful military actions might initially be.  We know that “power over” forms of violence and control are never redemptive because they cannot change an enemy’s heart.  At best, violence only serves to suppress hatred and violence for a period of time, but also hardens the hearts of its victims.  Thus, the use of violence is never effective in the long term; it just effectively sows the seeds of future conflict.

But we know Jesus and His way … a radical, but beautiful way of living that He prescribed in the Sermons on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and the Plain (Luke 6:17-49) and which He modeled through His own life and death.  We understand the value that God places on every man, woman, and child.  We know the power and the freedom that come through the loving of one’s enemies.  We possess the hope and the promise that God’s way - the way of His kingdom - will be victorious.  And thus, as some of the most powerful nations on earth are rapidly advancing towards war, I believe that the people of God must begin to act … now.

The time to be a “peacemaker” is not once a war starts but in the days, months, and years preceding a potential war.  True followers of Jesus must preemptively and proactively begin taking creative peacemaking steps now … long before any shots are fired in the hope that no shots will ever need to be fired.  Well, what can we do?

Ironically, some of my thoughts were triggered by a quote from none else but the current Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates.  Instead of narrow-mindedly rejecting diplomacy and negotiation with states accused of sponsoring terrorism as many politicians and administration officials currently are advocating, Gates suggested that ”we need to figure out a way to develop some leverage … and then sit down and talk with them [the Iranians].  If there is going to be a discussion, then they need something, too.  We can’t go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us.”  And then he offered an incredibly creative and insightful (and possibly prophetic) proposal concerning America’s future relationship with Iran: “My personal view would be we ought to look for ways outside of government to open up the channels and get more of a flow of people back and forth.”  Gates went on to note that “a fair number” of Iranians regularly visit the United States and therefore “we ought to increase the flow the other way … of Americans” visiting Iran.  “I think that may be the one opening that creates some space.”  (see Washington Post, “Gates: U.S. Should Engage Iran With Incentives, Pressure,” May 15, 2008) 

Wow!  That’s awesome!  Gates is floating the idea that Americans not affiliated with the U.S. government be encouraged to travel to Iran to begin building personal relationships with Iranians.  This is not much different than Jesus breaking through the socio-political and religious barriers of his day to eat, fellowship, identify, and build relationships with those viewed in Hebrew society to be the enemies or the religiously “unclean” … the tax collectors and sinners, prostitutes and the poor, the sick and the lepers, the Gentiles and the Romans.  Jesus endeavored to “include” as opposed to “exclude.”  Nothing more effectively destroys the false myths that we may hold about other people than by developing personal relationships with those very same people. I propose that followers of Jesus ought to begin looking for opportunities to travel to Iran — not to evangelize and proselytize! — but to simply love our enemies, or at least love those that our nation calls our “enemies.”  We should seek to build bridges even if our rival governments seem bent upon destroying bridges.  If possible, we ought to bring our entire families with us.  Our children should play with Iranian children.  We should try each others’ foods and experience each others’ cultures.  We should relax together and enjoy each others’ music and art.  We should share our dreams with each other and our dreams for our children and grandchildren.  We should proactively and preemptively live out Christ’s instruction to us “to love our enemies.”

I am fully aware that our State Department strongly warns Americans not to travel to Iran due to potential dangers.  And I am not so naive to think that there wouldn’t be risks.  However, as followers of Jesus we must be prepared to risk danger and persecution to truly follow Him.  He instructs us to bear our own crosses, to count the costs, and to lay down our lives in faithfully following Him.  We are not to love our lives so much that we shrink from death (see Revelation 12:11).  I marvel that as Americans we are often willing to lay down our lives while killing our enemies for what we believe in (our freedom, our democratic ideals, our “way of life”), but as followers of Jesus we refrain from being willing to lay down our lives while loving our enemies.  Thus, if opportunities open up for us to visit Iran in the future, we should go … building relationships, establishing trust, identifying common values and dreams, and living in Christ’s love.  

And if a trip to Iran is financially or logistically not possible, then I would encourage followers of Jesus to journey across town to visit a local mosque or Muslim center.  We ought to proactively begin the process of builing personal relationships with Muslims - Arabs, Iranians, Indonesians, Sudanese, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, etc. - right in our own towns.  Let us, as the followers of Jesus, be “radical lovers” and reach across existing divides and begin to knock down the barriers.  Followers of Jesus are not (and have never been) limited by national, social, cultural, or religious borders or barriers.  We must be “border-blind” and “barrier-blind” and pursue relationships with those that are different than we are.  This was the WAY of Jesus, “the true and faithful witness.”  May we imitate our Rabbi and be a faithful and true witness to Him. 

Lastly, I would encourage followers of Jesus to establish ”Peacemaker Ministries” in their respective churches and fellowships.  I envision hundreds and thousands of groups of Jesus-followers gathering regularly to learn about peacemaking.  Peacemaking must be taught, practiced and learned, just as every other spiritual discipline in our faith must be taught, practiced, and learned.  Our nation and culture advertise and teach war and violence every day as the answer to conflict.  The followers of Jesus must demonstrate to the world that there is a better way.  I envision these groups teaching our children this alternative way — the way of Jesus — a way marked by peacemaking, creative nonviolence, and reconciliation.  I also envision these peacemaker groups gathering to pray about the cessation of war in every “hot spot” on the earth.    I believe that there are numerous ”power under” methods that are available to the followers of Jesus to promote peace around the world.  Lord, help us to identify more creative ways to be your peacemakers.  For you have told us, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons [children] of God.”  (Matthew 5:9)

“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.”  (Psalm 24:1)

“Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,
you mountains and all hills, …
Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.”
(Psalm 148:7-9,13)

On Monday, June 23rd, I had the opportunity to visit the town of Appalachia, Virginia, a small town located in Wise County in the far southwestern corner of the state.  My family and I (including my wife, two sons, father and mother) made the hour and a half trip north from Kingsport, Tennessee (my parents’ home town) for a very specific purpose.  We joined fifty other ecologically- and environmentally-concerned individuals on a field trip through the Appalachian Mountains that surround this small town known for its coal mining industry.  The purpose of the field trip was to see the environmental destruction caused by a controversial coal mining technique called “surface mining,” or more accurately and appropriately, “mountaintop removal.”  Mountaintop removal is a relatively new type of coal mining that began in Appalachia in the 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques.  Primarily, mountaintop removal is occurring in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Coal companies in Appalachia are increasingly using this method because it allows for almost complete recovery of buried coal seams while reducing the number of workers needed to a fraction of what conventional methods require.  I had seen many pictures of this destructive technique and had read quite a bit about it. But I was in no way prepared for what I actually saw with my own eyes on that afternoon.

The group of citizens that gathered in Appalachia that afternoon included scientists and environmentalists, teachers and lawyers, journalists and photographers, children and senior citizens, college students and professionals.  Many were members of environmental activist groups and organizations such as the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS), the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), and the Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light (GWIPL).  Some were like me … followers of Jesus Christ that love God’s creation and appreciate and understand our role as human beings to be good stewards of what He has made.  Perhaps most important were the local residents of Appalachia and other mining towns in the region who live in the daily shadow cast by the coal mining industry.  I met some of them in person and heard their stories about the ongoing devastation of the Appalachian Mountains due to mountaintop removal coal mining and its negative impacts on the people who live there.

Today’s blog will give you a sense of what I saw that day through words, pictures, and video.  I will also share with you the full extent of the mountaintop removal efforts that are ongoing in the Wise County area as well as in the rest of the Appalaichans.  In subsequent blogs, I hope to describe in more detail the mountaintop removal process, why this technique is used, and, most critically, its catastrophic impact on the environment and the health of the local populations.  Some of the information included here has been taken from an excellent website: www.ilovemountains.org.  I encourage you to visit this website if you desire to learn more about the mountaintop removal issue.

The following photographs were taken from roadside clearings along Route 160 which leaves Appalachia, heads west towards Kentucky, and scales Black Mountain.  Its summit is actually the highest point in the state of Kentucky.  At various clearings along the road the viewer can find unimpeded views of the widespread devastation caused by mountaintop clearing mining efforts in Wise County, VA.

The photograph to the left shows what remains of one mountain in Wise County.  From personal observation, mountaintop removal is a brutal and relentless process.  Before mining can begin, all topsoil and vegetation must be removed.  Because coal companies frequently are responding to short-term fluctuations in the price of coal, these trees are often not even used comercially in the rush to get the coal, but instead are burned or sometimes illegally dumped into valley fills.  Dynamite is then used progressively to tear away at the mountain to expose the hidden veins and seams of coal.  Often between 500-800 feet of the mountain elevation are removed in the process.  Coal and debris is then removed by a piece of machinery called a dragline.  A dragline stands 22 stories high and can hold 24 compact cars in its bucket.  These machines can cost up to $100 million, but are favored by coal companies because they displace the need for hundreds of jobs.

As we viewed the carnage from a clearing near the summit of Black Mountain, it seemed as if one mountaintop clearing site blended right into the next one (see photo at right).  These sites went in every direction as far as one could see.  Currently, 25% of Wise County has been destroyed by strip-mining and mountaintop removal.  That 25% figure is not a typo!!!  Every so often we heard the detonation of dynamite in the distance signaling the destruction of another layer of a beautiful mountain.  Sometimes we were able to see in the distance plumes of dust and debris ejected from yet another dynamite blast.

As I stared into the valley below, I was reminded of the moonscapes as seen in the photography from the Apollo moon landings.  Indeed, the mountaintop removal sites greatly resembled lunar landscapes.  I never expected that I would see such landscapes on earth … especially in the Appalaichans!

As we stared dumfounded at the devastation, my father observed how little coal there seemed to be in the denuded and destroyed mountains.  It was a true statement.  The visible, dark seams of coal did seem to be scarce.  Upon return home, I conducted some research that confirmed our observation.  Only 8-10% of each mountain is usable coal.  The rest of the mountain is discarded.

The waste from the mining operation, also known as overburden or spoil, is dumped into nearby valleys, burying streams. According to an EPA environmental impact statement, more than 1,000 miles of Appalachian streams were permitted to be buried as of 2001. Of course, this figure has been greatly surpassed in the years since. The photo to the right shows a small valley filled with the overburden from neighboring mountaintop removal sites.

The mined coal is washed and treated in local plants before it is loaded on trains. The cleaning plant pictured to the left is located on the outskirts of Appalachia.

The excess water left over from this process is called coal slurry or sludge and is stored in open coal impoundments. Coal sludge is a mix of water, coal dust, clay and toxic chemicals such as arsenic, mercury, lead, copper, and chromium. Impoundments are held in place by mining debris, making them very unstable.

Unfortunately, we were unable to see one of these slurry ponds during our visit to Wise (see stock photo at right for an actual sludge pond). Sludge dams represent the greatest threat to nearby communities of any of the impacts of coal mining. Impoundments are notoriously leaky, contaminating drinking water supplies in many communities, and are also known to fail completely. A sludge dam breach in Martin County, KY, in 2000, sent more than 300 million gallons of toxic coal sludge into tributaries of the Big Sandy, causing what the EPA called, “The biggest environmental disaster ever east of the Mississippi.”

Evidence of the coal industry is everywhere in Wise County. Tractor trailers hauling coal to the coal-fired power plants fill the roadways. We saw numerous trains, each consisting of hundreds of coal cars. Some were load to full capacity with coal. Others were empty and returning to pick up a new load. Above left is a photo of my sons Matthew and Samuel watching an empty coal train pass through Natural Tunnel, VA on its way to the coal fields of Wise County. Above right is a full coal train waiting to depart from the stock yards of Appalachia for coal-fired power plants located along the eastern seaboard of the United States.

As mentioned earlier, 25% of Wise County has been destroyed by strip-mining and mountaintop removal. Current permits and USGS estimates show that even more mountains (up to a third of the County!) will be leveled as long as mountaintop removal is legal. I have found a video on youtube.com that reveals the existing devastation of Wise County through mountaintop removal using a computerized “virtual flyover” simulation.

The map below depicts the existing strip-mine lands in southwestern Virginia as well as land that has been released for future mining activity (”New Permits”). Wise County is the county covered with red. Black Mountain is in the westernmost portion of the county right on the border of Kentucky.

God loves His creation. He delights in it, and He has called those who are made in His image to be His stewards of the world He has made. As I gazed over the wide expanses of barren rubble that had once been the mountains and valleys of Appalachia, and as I pondered the clogged streams, the flattened forests, the leaking toxins from sludge ponds, the interrupted bird migration routes, and the threatened ecosystems, I could not help but think of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The earth is defiled by its people” (24:5). I also thought of the oppressed people of Appalachia whose water is polluted by mercury, arsenic, and chromium that leaks from the sludge ponds, whose foundations and wells are cracked and ruptured by dynamite blasts, and whose hunting forests and fishing ponds disappear at an alarming rate. And I couldn’t help but think about 3-year old Jeremy Davidson, a young boy of Appalachia, who was killed in 2005 by a half-ton boulder that became dislodged by a bulldozer working the mountaintop removal mine on Black Mountain. The boulder crashed through his home and crushed him while he slept.  I saw what was left of his family’s home.  The rest of the family moved away, the reminders of the tragedy too great to bear.  I am learning more and more that the common people, especially the poor, have little or no voice at all when it comes to confronting big government, big money, and big business. Dominion Virginia Power, the big coal companies, and the politicians in the Commonwealth of Virginia are not so much about the people of Virginia, but about themselves and satisfying their greed and political aspirations.

But that said, I spent the most time thinking about myself and my own personal role in this tragedy. How can I change my life to make some difference in the struggle to preserve the beautiful Appalachians? How can I stand in solidarity with the common people of Appalachia who have little voice and little power to confront “the powers that be?” What can I do as a follower of Jesus to serve these people? What can I do as a follower of Jesus to be a faithful steward of God’s creation? What changes can I make to reduce my usage and demand for electricity? What can I do to promote alternative forms of energy that are renewable (obviously the mountains are not renewable!)? What can I do to educate my congregation and peers about the tragedy of moutaintop removal?

I admit that I do not have answers to all of these questions. But I know that I can start doing the little things: [1] testifying before my congregation about what I saw in Wise County; [2] working harder to reduce my usage of electricity — turning off lights, changing the thermostats, using compact flourescent bulbs, paying for renewable energy sources, etc.; [3] praying for the people of southwestern Virginia … and West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee for that matter. But in my spirit I know that there must be more that I can do, especially in coming alongside the people of Appalachia and assisting them in creative ways and advocating for a ceasing of the destructive mountaintop removal process.

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:19-22 that “the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed … in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” May the true “sons and daughters of God” be revealed, those that want to faithfully do His will and reflect Him, and His heart, and His character throughout the earth. Brothers and sisters, creation is groaning and waiting in eager anticipation for us to do, and be, and act like the true people of God. As we do so, the entire creation is increasingly being released from its bondage to decay.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Don Heatley, a pastor in New York, gives a working definition of “heresy” for many Christians today:  “things I didn’t already think about God.”

I think this is true … and worrisome.  As one who has been labeled a “heretic” or charged with preaching “heresy” on more than one occasion, this quote certainly resonates with me.  Most Christians in America are loathe to rethink and reconsider what they have learned about Jesus and the church.  We do not want to think differently because we do not want to change.  We do not want to have to think differently about things like Babylon/empire, violence/warfare/ peacemaking, loving the least among us (e.g., immigrants, homeless, etc.), caring for God’s creation, giving and sharing hilariously, laying down our lives self-sacrificially, and suffering for the Gospel.  When someone opens up one of these issues, they are often times labeled a “heretic” … or at least a “liberal” (which in their minds is akin to an apostate backslider in fear of losing their salvation).  We like a faith that promises us heaven in the future and gives us Babylon today.  As a result, in America we have created a Gospel and a church life that completely fits in with enjoying the American dream.  Faith in Jesus is comfortable and costs us little, if nothing.  We look to government and laws and the military and our capitalist, free market system to give us prosperity and security (everything we think we need!), but refuse to imitate Jesus because that would cause us to have to leave Babylon. 

More and more, I fear that we are the many who have found the wide gate and the wide road that lead to destruction.  Remember that Jesus shared these words at the close of the Sermon on the Mount in which He revealed that the kingdom way is the way of loving (God, neighbors, AND ENEMIES), peacemaking, praying, serving, forgiving, extending mercy, and laying down one’s life as we follow in the way of Jesus.  He did NOT share these words after expounding on our great future in heaven if would only “believe” in Him (as those verses are often interpreted).

I think God wants us always to be growing in our faith by “thinking anew” or going through the “changing of our minds” (the real meaning of “repentance” – metanoia in the Greek).  He wants to chisel away the mental strongholds that blind us to the true way of Jesus which He calls us to imitate.  These are most often strongholds that Babylon/empire have built into our everyday thinking and understanding of the world.  God wants us to come out of Babylon and refuse to trust in the ways of the world – the ways of violence and oppression, the ways of control and manipulation, the ways of wealth and status.  He actually wants us TO DIE to these things.  He has presented to us a “new way,” the kingdom way.  He wants us to not worry about the “heaven after we die” or about “who’s in and who’s out.”  Instead, we are called to focus on following Jesus on this earth, imitating Him and being Him in His absence (we are the incarnation of Christ now that Christ is ascended), coming out of and opposing Babylon, offering the world a creative, life-giving alternative, and suffering and sacrificing as necessary to love the world.  In essence, live for Jesus and for the establishment of His kingdom … ON THIS EARTH.  This is the true way of Jesus – the way of AGAPE love. 

May each of us who follow Jesus endeavor more and more to imitate Him with our lives.  May we look more like Jesus in word and deed and less like the world.  May we repent — truly change our minds and worldviews — as much as is necessary to look and act more like Jesus.