Next steps in facing injustice and slavery

Two weeks ago I was invite by my friend Nathan Oates of Emmaus Church Community (also in Lincoln... look collaboration in the same town... I will resist to comment further). It was a really honor to share about our journey as a faith community into the places of injustice, oppression, and need from Cambodia to Lincoln, CA. The context of the interview was primarily around the brokenness of our lives, communities, and systems. This past summer I had the chance to have a front row seat for the heinous, heart-wrenching and soul splaying evil of human trafficking, namely sex slavery of young girls. Many asked after hearing all the brutal and disturbing stories, what can I do. Here's my attempt to answer that here in suburbia.

Dear Emmaus Church Community,
I was deeply blessed and inspired by your willingness to address the uncomfortable and disturbing topic of human trafficking a few weeks back. It is a tragedy that shakes us to our core when we really stop and
realize what is truly wrong with the world (and us). The emotions can be very awkward, raw and somewhat surreal. We do not see often (if ever) this evil up close and when we do it still seems far away from our suburban lives. Yet, for so many around the globe (and even in Sacramento) it is a daily reality. But with all the emotion and even anger, what’s one to do? I mean, really do about these heart-wrenching stories of injustice and abuse? Here’s a few places to begin.
Pray: It’s always the first and best response to the oppression of people. God heard the suffering of His people and it moved Him to action (called Moses out of comfort and hiding to dangerous engagement).
Support: Whether its financial or relational support for those who are on the front lines of this battle. Please check out AIM4Asia.org and International Justice Mission online.
Go: It might be that God is placing a burden on your heart to actually go and work along side these amazing organizations and leaders. Feel free to email me at onelifechurch.org about traveling to Cambodia in summer 2010. Also, I know Emmaus will have global missional opportunities as well. Go for it.
Seek: This is perhaps the hardest and potentially dangerous responses. Read the local communication sources (Lincoln News Messenger, Sacramento Bee), surf online for local and regional issues related to human trafficking and seek a way to get involved. There are local coalitions that seek to be a transformative force in our region.
Share: Tell others about what you are learning and experiencing. Share the move of God in your heart and the restlessness of not being idle as so many are oppressed and used in our world. Who knows God may do a work in their hear and they seek to get involved.

Lastly, Jesus spoke about the “least of these”. He talked about the over-looked, the ignored and the avoided (communities, tribes, or people groups). His heart went out to them, he pursued them, engaged with them and touched them. He even said that the Kingdom was for them. To be like Jesus is to be in the places and with the people he was. You’ll find the life that is truly life (1 Timothy 6:17-19). Grace and Peace, Troy

Prayer of Surrender

On the first Sunday we launched Recovering Life, we faced the reality that we are not God and that our attempts to control our lives has made them uncontrollable. Our attitudes, addictions, bad habits often trap us from going forward and growing in life. We shared together in a time of surrendering prayer. Kent, penned a Prayer of Surrender, inspired by Paul’s brutally honest confession in Romans 7. Here are the words we prayed aloud together as a faith community:

My Lord and my God, I come to you in my weakness,
knowing that living life my own way leads to destruction.

I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
For what I do is not the good I want to do,
but I keep on doing the very evil I do not want to do.

I ask you now to take my weakness,
pain and brokenness
and replace it with Your
strength, healing and wholeness.

Increase my faith,
and rid me of my pride.

I surrender to Your love.
I surrender to Your grace.
I surrender to Your mercy.
I surrender to Your will.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Amen.

Don’t just sit there, do something!

But do they walk the talk? Put up or shut up! But what abut the needy, the poor and the under-resourced? These are all question or statements that originate from those of us who are primarily Athletes. Athletes work hard. We have an internal motivation that does not allow idle, lazy or lackadaisical response in life. We live it. We make a difference. We make things happen. If not, who will? We honor God with integrity and we dispel hypocrisy when we act according to our beliefs. Jesus, after all, did not come to be served but to serve. We can rest when we die. That might sound a bit strong but, the desire to help today and not wait until tomorrow is deep in the soul of the Athlete. Much gets done, in the name of Jesus, by those who are willing to get their hands dirty. Truly helping another is enough reward and the soul is strengthened when we do this as often as possible. Do good today. These are the tireless servants among us, until they finally burnout. The tension here is not to either burn out or rust out for Jesus, but to find a rhythm that is effective in the long-run. Sabbath rest are a part of God’s pattern of life. It even shows up in His “Top Ten” (Ex. 20:8). Those of us who primarily engage with God in the tasks of serving and helping have a unique challenge. Can we love God by acts of service and good works alone? No. He recreated us to be sons and daughters not slaves and servants. Our service is to spring from our gratitude for His service to us, namely the sacrifice of His Son. He wants to “be with us” as we go.

Geeks unite or Theology matters

Interesting. Thought-provoking. Intellectually Challenging. If you are the type that reads and listens to great minds and love to think discuss brilliant thoughts, then you might be a Learner. Those of us who respond best to rational and well-presented content truly need the stimulation of mind-stretching reflection and dialogue. We best connect with God when we hear, listen or read concepts that are new or challenging. Theology becomes a source of inspiration. When I hear a well presented case for some aspect or characteristic of our Everlasting God, I actually will cheer aloud. Wow! When we are engage in intelligent and interesting investigation of the Holy, we experience spiritual growth. Nuances of a passage of scripture, a perspective we had not previously seen, and revelation ancient culture, language or history, all help stimulate our connection with our Brilliant God. This does not mean that we fancy ourselves as rocket scientists. We simply enjoy the journey of thinking great thoughts about God. The perhaps, obvious caution here is to not take hold of a prideful position toward those who do not pursue God with their mind. The Pharisees and Sadduccees knew much more about the philosophical and theological underpinnings of our heritage faith than we might ever understand, yet it seems by scripture’s description, they knew Him not. Don’t underestimate the importance of our capacity for emotion that God gave. Jesus wept.

I’m not a fighter, I’m a lover

Warm fuzzies or cold pricklies? That’s the terms I was taught in grade school for my emotions. For those of us who approach our connection to God with our heart, we seek to experience His love, closeness and a deepening intimacy with our Creator and Rescuer. We earnestly desire a sense of relational depth and the genuine emotions that accompany that personal connection with another. Lovers, gauge their relationship with God with emotional language and perceived closeness.The Bible reminds us that God is love and that His primary posture to us is that of a Father longing for the return of his runaway children. Home is where we are meant to be and we are lost and homesick until we return. Mercy, compassion and grace flow from a heart enlarged by an encounter with the Great Heart. Jesus truly died of a broken heart on the cross. The caution here is to not rely on the outward manifestations of a romantic or slightly idealized connection with God. If our emotions are not rallied or heightened when we take time to meet with God in prayer, reading the Word, or journaling, we should not be dismayed or saddened. We need not ride the emotional rollercoaster with Our Father. He never changes and Paul observed, “God is closer than you think.”

Lover, Learner, Athlete – How do I really connect with God?

A few weeks back we talked about how we connect with God. We asked, “what is our preferred and primary spiritual pathway?” How do we really connect with God? This series attempted to release us from false expectations from ourselves and others about how we grow in our personal relationship with God. We often fall captive to what preachers say or friends promote or the newest and hottest Christian living book published. We struggle with a Christian walk that is full of “tips and techniques.” A mentor of mine constantly reminds me that the gospel (good news) is relational not propositional. In other words, its not what you do, it Who you are getting to know. To say it simpler, if at the end of the day we have done some Christian/holy/religious activity but have not had a meaningful encounter with God, nothing happened. Now it would take a month of blogs to investigate the adjective “meaningful” in regards to encounter with God. Let me just say briefly here that it rarely involves goose-bumps and only sometimes an epiphany or “aha” moment. Most of the time it is just being present and putting your heart in a posture of listening. With that said, here’s my take on how many of us could better connect with God. It involves a bit of reflection on how we may have in the past and how we have been wired up by God in our approach to relationships. You can be free to connect with God in a way that is natural, healthy and unique. Do not neglect prayer and reading of scripture, but how you engage in these spritual practices is the key to really connecting with our Triune God; Creator God, Rescuing Son, and Empowering Spirit. Which do you relate to best, Lover, Learner, or Athlete?