God's Forgiveness: The Heart of the Gospel

I hope the title of the blog piece doesn't sound so spiritual or
religious that it scares you away. As we journey on further
into the Lenten season and prepare ourselves for Good Fri-
day and Resurrection Sunday, I am increasingly aware of my
need -our need- of God's forgiveness.

I recently viewed The Barbarian Invasions (2003), a hard-
hitting and thought-provoking companion movie to The De-
cline of the American Empire (1987), both written and di-
rected by Denys Arcand, a well known French-Canadian film-
maker. The context of the film is post-1966 Montreal, the year
when a majority of people fled from the Roman Catholic Church
and turned their backs on God, the Church, and hope.

The central character is Remy, a feisty child-of-the-60s aca-
demic and a frisky philanderer who is dying. His lifestyle and
philosophy of life have devastated his relationships with his
estranged wife and children. Arcand uses the visits of his aca-
demic colleagues, former mistresses, and alienated family
members to comment on such issues as healthcare, the Ro-
man Catholic Church, financial prosperity, euthanasia, mar-
riage, family relationships, and death and dying.

My overall impression of the film was that it captured the es-
sence of life in North America and Europe: of societies of wom-
en and men who live without God and without hope in the
world. When I finished watching the movie I appreciated how
well done it was, but I was also saddened and grieved by see-
ing people who chose to live their lives as if God did not exist.
I felt a sense of heavy heartedness.

As I have reflected on the film I play back in my mind a scene
that swept past me when I saw it. From the opening scene to
the last portion of the movie, there is a nun who really be-
lieves in God in the midst of a world that does not believe in
God. In one scene the nun is engaged in conversation with
Remy, the dying academic. It was a powerful scene for me to
witness, and I may be embellishing it a bit because I am re-
calling it from memory. He makes a comment about the 3000
dead on 9/11, and how miniscule that was compared to the
30,000,000 indigenous people killed during the Spanish con-
quest of Latin America. Getting more agitated he talks about
the 150,000,000 dead at the hands of the British, Dutch, Dan-
ish, French, and US imperialistic ventures. Emotionally spent,
he falls back upon his bed, exhausted by his tirade.

There is a long period of silence. Remy stares at the nun. She
appears devastated by his outburst, and she struggles to re-
gain her composure. Meekly she utters that there has to be
someone to forgive us. Then with power she proclaims that
is what she believes. Now it is Remy's turn to be devastated.
After a while, he mutters that she is fortunate to believe that.
I do not quite know for sure, but I had the sense that he real-
ly wanted to believe that for himself. I couldn't help but won-
der if he wanted to have someone to forgive him for the infi-
delity to his wife, the withholding of love to his son, the mis-
use of countless women, and the misleading of generations of
students with his take on the latest intellectual fads and isms.

I do believe that the Church, God's people, is called to address
racism, poverty, oppression, hunger, injustice, corruption, ex-
ploitation, contemporary forms of slavery, and the environ-
ment, to name but a few of the issues. But as for me, what I
yearn for most, what I need most, what we need most, is God's
forgiveness. We all have gone astray from God's way: we each
seek glory for our names, build our own kingdoms, and walk
our own ways. What we need more than anything else is God's
forgiveness. We need it more than we need air to breathe, or
food to eat, or people to love us. My heart's desire is that we
would be God's people, the community of the forgiven and the
forgiving.

I'm fortunate to attend a church in which I have the opportun-
ity to celebrate communion at least every Sunday, and some-
times more. Each time that I see the elements laid out before
me, feel the Bread in my hands, smell and taste the swig from
the common Cup, and hear the Gospel proclaimed, I sense my
profound need for the Gospel of the Lamb of God who takes
away the sins of the world. Only then do the questions of who
I am and what I do, of who we are and what we do, are put in
proper perspective and make any sense.

Shalom to you and yours, in Christ's Name.

Shaving, Crockpot Thinking, and Dissertations

For the past two weeks I have been struggling with crafting
the introduction to my dissertation. I have written nearly sev-
en chapters in rough form and there are two more to write.
Usually the introduction is written after the complete first
draft is done, but I decided to do it before I did the remaining
chapters.

Most of my time has been spent struggling to shape a concise
thesis statement that would provide shape and structure to
the whole dissertation. I anticipate that the thesis statement,
if done well, will help me write the final two chapters and shape
the other chapters. As I had expected, writing my thesis state-
ment has been a time- and energy-consuming process. I tend
to do a lot of pacing when I'm doing hard mental work, and for
the past ten days I have done a lot of it.

Then there are times when ideas or words plop themselves down
in my mind when I least expect them. This happened this morn-
ing while I was shaving. The day before I had been very pleased
with the way my thesis statement was coming into focus. I don't
want to share it with you at this point, but know that it was ten
well-chosen words that communicated clearly and effectively
what I wanted to say in my dissertation. I was pleased, but there
still seemed to be something missing and I didn't know what it
was.

I had just woken up from a good sleep and I was shaving, some-
thing I do every morning. Somewhat lost in my thoughts, I was
enjoying the way the thesis statement developed. All of a sud-
den, as if out of thin air, one single word plopped into my mind
and into the thesis statement. In my mind I put it at the very
beginning of the statement, and it made a lot of sense. I could-
not contain my excitement! I finished shaving and then wrote
a single word on a Post-It note. My mind was racing, making
sense of whole sections of several chapters and connecting
them with the overall thesis statement. It really made my day!

Wishing you all the best.

It's a Small World After All

During my two decades in Boston, a city some people call the Hub of the
Universe, I had amazing opportunities to meet people from all over the
world. But only since coming to St Andrews have I had opportunities to
share daily life with a good number of people from other nations. All that
I can say is that my life has been ennriched and blessed by sharing com-
mon living space and/or meals with people from all over the globe, espe-
cially Africa, Asia, and Europe. My closest friends still come from the USA,
Canada, New Zealand, England and Australia-and one dear friend from
Germany. But over the past three years a number of people from other
countries have also richly blessed me with their friendship.

Earlier tonight while I was preparing my evening meal, I chatted with a
graduate student from Rwanda who was also preparing her meal. In pre-
vious chats I had been struck by her radiant smile and her joyful Chris-
tian faith. She was sixteen when the Rwandan genocide took place. I felt
awkward asking her more questions on that, so I asked what other lan-
guages did she speak besides English. Even though she was comfortable
using English, she found it difficult. Her language in school in Rwanda had
been French. And then she told me with a laugh that she apoke Chinese
because she did a university degree in finance in China. Now she's here in
Scotland doing a masters degree in the same subject. I found it hard to
imagine myself doing university studies in Chinese.

But there are a considerable number of Chinese women and men doing
university studies in English here in St Andrews. There are many grad-
uate degree students from China here in my residence hall, and it seems
that the majority of them are studying finance, marketing, or manage-
ment. I find that many of the Chinese students are so eager to chat that
they take the initiative to converse with me. I remember the first conver-
sation I had with one Chinese graduate student in finance. As we prepared
our meals and sat down to eat he expressed his fondness for anything that
had to do with the National Basketball League in the USA and American
TV shows that he downloaded from a Chinese website. I was amazed that
he knew so much about NBA teams, players, and standings, and the latest
TV shows in the States.

Then there was the time I was in the kitchen eating my dinner when
a tall Chinese doctoral student in financial management introduced him-
self to me. I guess it had gotten around that I was a Christian minister.
He stood on the other side of the table from me and started asking me
questions about God, Christianity, and the Bible. As I answered his ques-
tions and shared with him about God, the Bible, the Cross, forgiveness
of sins, what happens during a church service, and what a minister does,
he gradually worked his way around the table, slowly moving ever clos-
er to me, and finally pulling up a chair to sit very close to me, looking
directly into my eyes. He asked question after question and seemed
so hungry to take in whatever I had to say. It was really a special
time for me.

I often pause to remember friends (many of whom have returned to
their home countries) with whom I have shared living space and meals:
men and women from Germany, Italy, Spain, Scotland, Japan, South
Korea, Singapore, Portugal, Slovakia, California (just kidding), Argen-
tina, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, England, Australia, the
Netherlands, Canada, Cambodia, South Africa, and the USA. I have
been blessed by these friendships and they have enriched my life
here.





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Blessed to Be a Blessing

One of my heartfelt desires is that people would someday speak of
me as blessed by God and, as a fruit of that, a blessing to others. This
would mean that God the Father would have so blessed me in Christ
Jesus, the Son, that the Spirit of God would have flowed through me
blessing others. That I would be blessed by God to be a blessing is
what I yearn for.

The pattern of God blessing women and men in order to bless others
runs through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I first encounter
this in Scripture when God promised to bless Abram and his des-
cendants so that all the families of the world would be blessed (Gen.
12:2). God has blessed all the nations through Jesus, Abraham's prom-
ised descendant. By trusting in Christ Jesus we have been made sons
and daughters of Abraham (Gal. 3:7) and in Him we have received ev-
ery spiritual blessing in heaven and on earth (Eph. 1). Christ has sent
God's people who have been blessed in Him into the world to bless
others in the Name of the Triune God (Matt. 28:18-20).

I believe that Gen. 12:1-3 is a foundation for Christian mission. The
Church has been blessed in Jesus Christ to be a blessing to the na-
tions of the world. I also yearn to make the pattern of being blessed
by God to be a blessing a part of my daily life wherever I am. But I
am saddened by the reality that I so quickly forget God's blessings
in Jesus Christ. And so daily I feed on the Scriptures and pray that
the Father may grant me the Spirit so that I may know God more
deeply (Eph. 1: 17ff). I also pray that I would seek every opportunity
to do good to someone. That may mean spending time to listen to a
person or helping someone to do something. It may mean praying with
another in need or handing a person a cup of cold water or a mug of
hot coffee. It could be helping someone move to another house or shar-
ing with another about entrusting his or her life to Jesus Christ. But
the important thing is to seek every opportunity to do good to someone.

So I encourage you all who have been blessed in Christ Jesus to be a
blessing to others. Blessings to you and yours.

Mini-Sabbaths at the North Point

Every Monday through Friday, 8:45 until 9:30AM, I enter into what
has become for me during the past two years an established and sac-
red routine in my life. Most of this time is spent at a local coffee shop
writing in my journal. During this time I reflect on the past few days
and prepare for the day at hand. It is almost like having a mini-Sab-
bath each day.

On weekdays, with varying degrees of success, I try to get to my desk
around 7AM. Sometimes I get some work done, and sometimes I do
not. Around 8:35 I start walking the short distance to the University
Chapel for Morning Prayer that is hosted by the University Chap-
lain. I'll write more about that later, but suffice it to say that Morning
Prayer has become an important part of my life here at the university
during the past three and a half years. It is only ten minutes long, but
it has had a huge impact in terms of forming me spiritually and shap-
ing the direction of my life.

After prayer, I take a short walk to the North Point, a well-known
local coffee shop, for its morning Happy Hour. The hot drinks are
inexpensive during Happy Hour, the staff people are chatty, and
the place is full of life, conversation, and laughter. But what I like
best about mornings at the North Point is that they provide me with
place and time to examine the immediate past, pay attention to the
present, and look forward to the future. It offers me the time and
space in which I can journal about these things. There may be lively
conversation next to me, but I am usually lost in writing my thoughts,
feelings, and observations down on the pages of my journal. I don't go
out of my way for coffee, but I do enjoy hot chocolate, Fair Trade tea,
or Fair Trade Mocha while I sit, feel, think, remember, and write.

For many years now journal writing has been an enriching spiritual
discipline in my life. It has always been a part of my Sunday routine
after church. During the last few years I have tried to make time ev-
ery day to take short mini-Sabbath times of rest. Journal writing has
become a way in which I can take God seriously and pay attention to
what God is doing in my life. There might be lively and loud hustle and
bustle jampacked into every one of the forty or so available seats in
the North Point, but I am oblivious to it all while I write in my journal
as if before the face of God. As I write about people I have met, conver-
sations I have had, the books and articles I have read, movies I have
seen, the feelings that are within me, decisions I have to make, and the
things I have done, I am oblivious to the world around me. As I write
things out I become aware of things I hadn't noticed before, make con-
nections I had not seen previously, and gain insight and wisdom. I am
also aware that at times I find it difficult to write about something and
to bring it before the face of God. There are some things that are just
too painful or shameful. But I do pay attention to those things because
what I don't want to write about is just as important and revealing as
what I do write about. As a result of my experience I would say that
journal writing has become as important to me as writing and complet-
ing my dissertation, and perhaps even more so.

On most week days you can find me at the North Point drinking a hot
beverage, journaling about the good and bad experiences of life, and
entering into a mini-Sabbath with the Lord.