DBQ: Enjoying Food, Drink, and Work

“There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25). Some people see this verse as the inevitable action of the depressed hedonist, someone who has encountered the vanity of life and can do nothing but pursue a life of pleasure. I disagree with this conclusion, and believe that the conclusion to enjoy food, drink, and work is a godly and wise response to the vanity in this world. I see food, drink, and work as a gift from God, someone to be enjoyed in this life in which there is so much suffering yet where the grace of God shines through. Is this interpretation of Ecclesiastes common in your Christian church or community? Should there be a bigger place in Christian ethics for the pure enjoyment of these gifts from God?

Armonía Band

A recent joy that I (Steph) have had is working with other volunteers and students in the AIMS program to play music for our Christian gatherings here with Armonía.  I am usually on guitar, but sometimes piano.  Job plays flute.  Grace (another volunteer) plays violin.  Sotico is going to start playing the guitar soon.  And Wes does percussion.  We have a lot of fun!  One of the challenges, but fun challenges, has been to play in such a way that is Mexican, or Latino, rather than USAmerican.  It makes a huge difference in the strumming patterns, rhythms, chord progressions, etc.  I’m not trained in playing Latino music, but I’m learning by experience.

In addition to “alabanzas” (praise songs), we are also trying to work up some traditional Oaxacan music!  That is REALLY fun.  We’ll try to get some pictures or video of us playing up on here soon.  We’re quite amateur, but its fun to do this together, and to play with people across culture!

I have mentioned before that the poor and indian here in Mexico do not have the privilege of learning to sing or play music.  But many of them are very naturally talented, and it has been a joy to work with them, offering instruction where I can, and see them find a lot of joy in practicing, playing, and creating music!

DBQ: Passing the Torch

Ecclesiastes 2:18-21 speaks of the vanity of working really hard and wisely for something, and then having someone take over the work, only to make a mess of it. Many of us have had the experience of trying to pass the torch to someone, especially in ministry, and having that person drop the torch, or not grab it at all. So what can we do as Christians in ministry to make sure that the torch gets passed well? In other words, what can we do to make ministry transitions as wise and effective as possible and to avoid the vanity expressed here in Ecclesiastes?

Adopting a New Confession

The Belhar Confession is an important statement of belief adopted by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church of South Africa in 1986. The confession arose out of reflection on the struggle with apartheid in South Africa. After the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) and the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (DRSA) united in 1994 to form the Uniting Reformed Churches in Southern Africa (NGK), it served as one of their primary confessions of faith.

Since that time, the Belhar Confession has been adopted as a foundational confession by several denominations: the United Protestant Church in Belgium, the Dominican Reformed Church, and just recently the Reformed Church in American (still awaiting final ratification). In addition, the confession has just been adopted for consideration by the Christian Reformed Church and is being considered by the Presbyterian Church USA. You can read the confession and download a copy here at the RCA website.

In general, the Belhar Confession contains five main sections dealing with the following subjects:
•    Faith in the triune God
•    Unity of the church
•    Reconciliation of people in Christ
•    God’s justice and care for the suffering, and the priority of working against injustice
•    A call to confess and practice this teaching

Those who support adopting the Belhar Confession as part of denominational confessional standards usually point out that it fills an important gap in our confessions, that the content of the confession is essential to our faith, that it deals with issues relevant to the universal church, that is represents a worldwide Reformed faith, and enriches our Christian way of life.

Whereas there are many who would like to adopt the Belhar Confession as part of their denominational standards, others believe that it should be acknowledged simply as a statement of faith or an important ecumenical confession. Some who are opposed to the confession think that it has an unbiblical statement of a “preferential option for the poor” or that it deals to specifically with the sin of racism.

Among these positions, I believe that the Belhar Confession should be adopted to some degree, at least as an important statement of faith of the worldwide community of Reformed churches. What are your thoughts? What would be the reasons why the Belhar Confession should not be adopted? What are reasons why it should be adopted? I look forward to your thoughts…

Darfur and Next Door

We have emphasized on this blog that missions is not just what the church does in foreign lands, but the act of bringing the whole gospel to the whole person in the whole world, even to your next door neighbors. Recently, Relevant ran a great article entitled Why I Don’t Care about Darfur, which asked the hard question: “Why is it that so many Christians focus on social justice overseas while neglecting the need for social justice next door?” Of course, the point of the article is not that we should care less about Darfur, but that we should care just as much about the social injustices of our own neighborhoods and country than causes around the world that some are even calling “fashionable.” The point is that all of us are engaged in God’s mission, and all neighborhoods and nations are mission fields where needing the righteousness and justice of God’s kingdom.

DBQ: Little Children

In Matthew 11:25, Jesus prays to the Father saying, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.” Some commentators will interpret this verse to mean that the Father reveals himself to those with simple faith, childlike faith, but I think we also need to take this verse literally. Literally speaking, the Father was revealing himself to children and Jesus was drawing children to himself, and the children believed and loved him.

Something I have observed about many Christian communities and churches is that they value having childlike faith, but children do not play a central role in their community. There may be children programs and special activities for children, but the adults in the community are not really learning from the children as they participate in the community. Something I have learned during our time with Armonía is that children should have this more central role, especially since they are exemplary in the faith. Do you live in such a community or go to such a church? If so, how does your community or church give children a central role and treat them as unique and special members of the covenant community? In addition, should this emphasis on little children lead us to welcome them to particpate with the community of Christ in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, as with everything else?

Sorry for the lack of blogging

We realize that we have not been blogging very much recently.  The reason for that has been because we have been very, very busy this summer so far.  Far busier than we could have imagined since so many groups canceled their summer visits!

Most of our days start at 8:00 AM and end around 8:00 PM.  Occasionally we work until 10 or later.  Wes has been doing a lot of office work – fundraising, communications, preparing for the coming groups.  I have been working long days at the community center and helping Wes with office work when I can.

We have also recently been hit with a whole host of paper work – our appointment to apply for a visa to move to Scotland is tomorrow morning.  My visa to be in Mexico expired today and we have been trying to get my later departure date approved.  It has all been more demanding and tiring that we expected.

So, we continue to ask for your prayers – strength, fortitude, endurance, joy, and ability to trust the Lord with many worries – these are all things to be praying for.  Thanks!  We’ll try to post more again soon.

DBQ: Mercy, not Sacrifice

By quoting a passage from Hosea 6:6, Jesus continues the prophetic theme that we have seen again and again: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Mt 9:13). I think it is interesting that Jesus urges his listeners to “go and learn what this means.” So what do you think? What is Jesus trying to communicate with this phrase? How is related or how is it different from the core prophetic message?

DBQ: What the Lord Requires

Micah 6:6-8 is one of the most well-known passages in Scripture. But this same theme is repeated over and over again in the prophets, especially in Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Here are the verses in full:

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

What is the main point of this passage and others like it? The main point is that what God requires and desires is others-centered routines rather than self-centered rituals. God would rather see justice, mercy, and faithfulness in his people’s lives than liturgically correct worship services and never skipping a quiet time. Liturgy and rituals can be crucial catalysts to lifestyles of justice, mercy, and faithfulness, but when they are not, God abhors them. Do you feel like there is this crucial connection between litrugy and lifestyles in your own Christian community? If not, how could these be connected in an integral way?

Robust Oaxacan Music

On Tuesday we went to the city to greet a group that will be serving with Armonía for a month, and also to provide them with some orientation for their time here.

After doing that, we had the pleasure of attending a concert at UNAM (largest university in Mexico, and one of the largest in the world) which featured a philharmonic band of young people from Oaxaca, playing traditional Oaxacan music.  It was amAzing.  And even more so considering that most of the members of the band were under 18!  There was one boy that I think was no more than ten!  In the U.S. he would certainly be considered a child prodigy, but in many villages in Oaxaca it is very common for young children to be extremely proficient at brass instruments.  The music of Oaxaca is exciting, intricate, and very vigorous.  The rhythms are complicated and the melody lines very involved.  One neat thing about the concert is that some very famous solo musicians joined the band for certain featured numbers.  It was truly a fiesta oaxaqueña!

Armonía is obviously very involved in supporting the indigenous people of Oaxaca with their scholarship program.  It was neat for us to see, however, how much people appreciate and are beginning to truly lift up the culture and people of Oaxaca in a more secular and public platform.  The students in the band made introductions in their indigenous mother tongues, which was really neat!

Below is a clip of the last song they played.  You can see the crowd (made up of mostly Oaxacans) is really getting into it.