a few more years shall roll

An historical event last evening at my church . . . for the first time to the best of our knowledge, a sermon was preached in a foreign language and translated for the congregation. It was a beautiful testimony to the worldwide body of Christ, as we were exhorted and encouraged by someone who spoke powerfully, although in another tongue. I mentioned to the speaker and the translator later last night that hearing a sermon piece by piece as I waited for the translation allowed the content to soak in more deeply for me. Also, because the sermon was translated, they had to winnow it down to a much shorter version than their original, which meant that no words were wasted. I would not necessarily desire a translated sermon every week, but last night’s sermon, and the entire service was a taste of the life to come where every tribe, tongue, and nation will sing before the Lord.

I also had the thought as I was talking to some friends after the service that so often American pastors or workers go to preach to other nations and use translators (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), but what a privilege to have the nations come to us. And what a privilege to learn from our brothers.

And, yes, I did sing along with the doxology which was the benediction for the service.

So, in the ten minutes before I leave for choir practice, I thought I’d write a quick announcement.

Life as I know it is shortly going to change. I’ve been working for the past (almost) seven years at Penn, where I also spent four years as an undergraduate. In some ways, this campus feels like home. I enjoy my job, I appreciate my colleagues, and I have grown professionally here.

Yet, I’m leaving. I announced to my office co-workers on Friday that I’ll be starting a new position at my church in November. The official title is Missions Coordinator, and I’ll be working closely with the Missions Pastor both in communicating with our workers overseas and educating the congregation about work going on in Philadelphia and around the world. (there are a few other pieces to the job description–but for now, that will do). It’s an exciting opportunity, a huge challenge, and a complete change from my current work.

That’s the brief version. I’ll write more when I don’t have choir practice to run to!

I spoke as part of the short term on Sunday at a luncheon at Tenth. Here are some notes I wrote up from that talk. I’ve edited it for content on a public website, so sorry if areas are vague.

Last year, I was able to go on Tenth’s Journey of Grace to the Middle East with nearly fifty other members of Tenth. During that trip, I saw and learned so much about the nation we visited, I was able to meet and get to know believers, and I knew I wanted to return. But, I wasn’t really sure what to do with all of those things. I did know a few things: I knew that Tenth had made a commitment to focus on that area. I knew that we were part of a group of churches who are partnering with the American workers and the national believers, believing that we can accomplish more together than we can separately. I also knew that relationships were key to the partnership.

In many ways, the JOG prepared the way for this year’s trip. It allowed our brothers and sisters to know that we at Tenth cared for them, that we wanted to be with them, that we loved them. Relationships were developed during last year’s trip that helped make this year’s trip a “success.”

But, this year’s trip was also vastly different in scope and intent. Our team of fourteen learned a great deal and we are compelled to share what we have learned with Tenth. The team has a term that we became quite familiar with—greeting well. Greeting well was our assignment for this trip. Greeting well involved honoring the culture we entered, observing, listening, spending time, asking questions, but avoiding assumptions, coming into a completely different culture while recognizing our own American-ness. Before we can “do” anything, we have to enter into to a culture and greet the people well. We were really learning a new (for us) approach to missions.

So, going in, we didn’t know what to expect. We weren’t sure what the next day would hold. But, we asked God to help us, to teach us, to give us grace.

How did he answer our prayers? What did he teach us?

He used his Holy Spirit in our lives to change us, to open our eyes, to draw us to Christ. I am using a broad category to encompass what he did—He humbled us.

We were humbled:
 By our mistakes and misinterpretations within the culture. We didn’t always greet well, we were very American at times, and things went completely over our heads at other times. But, God was gracious and allowed us to learn from mistakes (our own and each other’s), so that perhaps by the end of the trip, we were making fewer.
 By learning our great need for grace. We learned that when we tried to make things happen (conversations, interactions), we were often unsuccessful. We had to learn to rely on God’s grace and to know that a good conversation was no more a result of our ability than a bad conversation a result of our inability.
 By our study of the Word. Each day, and sometimes twice a day, we were led to the Scriptures to learn about humility, life in community, grace. This allowed us the proper framework for our daily activities, and gave us immediate application as we went out into the streets.
 By the worship services, where we were conscious of the presence of the Holy Spirit as we worshipped with a multi-ethnic, multi-national church.
 By the faith of our brothers and sisters. We shared meals, nights out, sightseeing, etc with different members of the church and we were encouraged by them. Seeing them hold so tightly to their faith spurred us on in our own faith.
 By the attitudes of the American workers we spent time with. We saw them serving in a very behind the scenes way, putting others first, building relationships, confessing sin, asking for forgiveness. This humility guided us as we then interacted with each other and the people we met.
 By being part of the team. We saw God’s grace as we interacted with each other—we faced some major challenges from the start of our trip, but God used them to draw us to Him and to each other. It was encouraging for me to see the members of the team seek out ways to serve each other, to really keep an eye out for the other team members. We were given a glimpse of real life in the body of Christ.
 By the overwhelming hospitality and friendship of strangers. Certainly we want to be careful not to idolize a culture and to recognize that every culture is fallen, but we were taught by non-Christian strangers how to live hospitably in a more Biblical fashion, as they welcomed us into their homes, lives, and businesses. In coming back to the US, many of us are still wrestling with how to better integrate hospitality into our lives in Philadelphia, as well as how to deepen relationships we already have.
 By recognizing the importance of community and family. We tend to live individualistic lives as American Christians, seeing relationships on a 1 to 1 basis, rather than in the context of community. We could see the potential for Christianity, with the basis of community already in place. We know that we are called to live in community, so it was humbling to see others who do not know the Lord doing this well. But, we also recognized the difficulty that such a community-oriented culture could be for those who turn to the Lord and might be forced to leave that community. We could see the importance then of a strong Christian community for the believers, and also gained an understanding of how our relationship with them could encourage them that they remain part of the community of God.

What are some of the results of this “humbling”?
1.We see less of ourselves. We see more of others, and more of Christ.
2.We are put in a receiving position: learning from others, receiving hospitality, instruction, friendship, and a taste of the Lord’s work.
3. We are given a new perspective on the work of the kingdom as a partnership.
4. God is better able to work in our hearts. To let us see new pathways for service, either right where he has already placed us or where he might be moving us.
5. We want to maintain that attitude of humility as we work with the church there. We want to submit to our brothers in the Lord, so that we can grow and be a part of the Lord’s work.

Pictures

I tried to give some commentary, so you can follow along on the journey.

I’m having some difficulty readjusting to life here–America feels lonely to me.

I sent this email this morning to friends and family . . .

I’m at work, so trying to catch up on emails and a fairly heavy workload,
but I wanted to try to express in a small way how God answered the prayers
of you who were back here praying. His answers were in no way small. In
fact, they are above any expectations I (or anyone else on the team)
had. Our team of 14 truly functioned as a community. We had our devotions
from Colossians 3 and Philippians, and the Word became real as we lived out
our lives together. We learned together a great appreciation and respect
for the culture, and we are all changed. We learned that God is
doing an amazing work in that land and that the potential for the gospel
there is far above what we imagined. And, if others on the team are
anything like me, they are going through some serious withdrawal symptoms
right now (both from the place we visited and from each other).

I am still processing much of what happened, and it may be a little soon to
say, but I do think that some changes will be coming in my life. It was a
week of intense experiences and conversations, especially regarding the
relationship we as Christians in Philadelphia have with the work there and how that
can be built up. I think one of the biggest things we learned was what it
means to be in relationship, what it means to be part of the body of
Christ. We need the body of Christ, whether the members are in the US or
elsewhere. We need to learn from them, to be willing to put aside our own
agenda. I think we began that process on this trip, but we are now facing
the challenge of continuing it.