I would rather Speak Five Words with my Mind . . .

One thing that I love about my life abroad @ Handong is the depth of spiritual devotion that I find in nearly all my students and faculty colleagues.  There are represented here a wide variety of faith traditions within the Church -- the Body of Christ.  Such diversity is, without a doubt, a strength of our university community.

With diversity, though, comes the potential for an unbalanced, over-emphasis on certain dimensions of spiritual life and experience.  I have recently become even more aware of this likelihood, and my heart is burdened by the possible harm that out-of-balanced teaching and practices may cause, especially in the lives of young people whose hearts are seeking after God and desiring to experience his presence and power in authentic ways.

This, however, is not the first time such a concern has arisen in my mind.  Early on in my walk with other believers, I encountered several brothers and sisters who taught that the only way to "know" that you were blessed and empowered by God to live a life following after Christ was to have a special spiritual experience where you spoke audibly in the hearing of others with ecstatic utterances -- what these teachers called "unknown tongues" -- that is, not an actual human language that one had not previously learned, but rather a series of sounds emanating from your mouth that they claimed were an evidence of God's presence and work through your physical body.

After first encountering this teaching, I asked my spiritual mentor to help me understand whether this was a pathway of spirituality that I should pursue.  As a wise mentor and guide, he pointed me to the Scriptures, and in particular to First Corinthians, chapters 12, 13 and 14.  He said this was the portion of the New Testament that spoke most directly to the exercise of spiritual gifts, including what the Bible calls the "gift of tongues."

He explained that the Apostle Paul was actually answering questions in this passage that had been previously raised by the believers at the church in Corinth.  Paul's main point in response, my mentor said, was to remind the Corinthians that all of the gifts of the Spirit of God were given so that followers of Christ might be enabled to build-up and strengthen others.  Their purpose is not individual benefit, but rather the benefit of the whole body.

He also stressed that whatever spiritual gift I may think God has given me that gift must always be exercised out of a heart of love for others.  He taught me that this is the main point of Chapter 13.  Speaking in tongues, whether they be the languages of men or of angels, is worthless unless it is an expression of love to others.  He then went on to show me that love is demonstrated when we speak in such a way that others who hear us understand what we are saying.

If I speak aloud in the hearing of others in a way that they do not understand, I am not loving them. I am not edifying them.  Only when the unknown language is interpreted and others then understand the message is there any potential for their benefit -- their edification.  My mentor also taught me that some Christians practice speaking in tongues as a private prayer language when they are alone.

He noted that there was even a mention of this type of private "prayer language" practice in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 2, where Paul describes the one who is "speaking to God and not to men."  Such a private practice of tongues, when not in the hearing of others, is consistent with the overall point of the instruction that Paul is giving in this passage, however, it is a practice that focuses the believer's attention inward rather than outward toward others.

In contrast to private expressions, in the cases where audible words or sounds are spoken in the hearing of others, my spiritual mentor said, those words and sounds should either be directly understood by the ones hearing them (that is, they should be spoken in a known, common, human language) or they should be interpreted immediately so that all may understand and benefit.  (See 1 Corinthians 14:26-33).

The aim of all audible expression among gatherings of believers should be mutual edification and common blessing.  In fact, Paul also warns that if this practice is not followed, then unbelievers who might happen to come in to the gathering would be confused and think that those speaking in expressions that are not understandable are out of their minds.  (1 Corinthians 14:23).  As followers of Christ, we are charged to pursue the well-being of others before our own individual spirituality. "So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church." (1 Corinthians 12:12)

At the conclusion of this passage, Paul reiterates the importance of doing all things that can be seen and heard by others in ways that will build them up.  He evens uses a proportional argument to show how important it is to speak in an understandable manner whenever what we say can be heard by others.  Five words that can be understood -- spoken with "my mind" -- are more important than speaking 10,000 words in uninterpreted and unknowable expressions.

The proper balance is struck when we pray and sing with both our spirit and our mind.  (1 Corinthians 14:15).  If we truly desire to be loving others as Christ loved us, then we should pursue practices that build others up with the clear and understandable proclamation of God's Word.  Let us press on to maturity as we seek to live our lives for others, even as Christ so lived for us!

Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.  Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.  (1 Corinthians 14:19-20)

"Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder"

According to one source, the Roman poet Sextus Propertius gave us the earliest form of this saying in his Elegies: "Always toward absent lovers, love's tide stronger flows."  Personally, I thought it must have been Shakespeare or Guillaume de Lorris, but no matter.  Is it true?!?!?

Does spacial separation deepen authentic love? And if so, does the greater the distance and longer the time of separation prompt an even deeper devotion? I do believe it does, and I say this not just as an intellectual contention or an emotional aspiration, but rather, based upon lived-experience.

On the 26th of August, my wife and I will celebrate the 33d anniversary of our marriage.  We will, however, be half-a-world away from one another.  Sandy in St. Louis, and me here, once again, at Handong.  But in the most true sense, only space separates us.  I've just returned to begin preparations for another semester's teaching this fall.  The wonderful seven weeks of our time together this summer during my leave in the States passed all too quickly, but it did afford delightful times of refreshment and strengthening of our relationship.

Now, I'm looking ahead to the third semester that I will be here teaching in the absence of my Beloved.  But periods of separation from family are not uncommon in these present times.  Last semester, Sandy would often remind me during our Skype calls that the men and women who serve us so faithfully in the military are frequently duty-bound to lengthy times of separation from their loved ones.

Our good friends, Kurt and J.Sun, with whom we enjoyed wonderful visits in Seoul last year, are even now separated due to Kurt's one-year deployment in Afghanistan.  And just this past Sunday, I met Seth at our Pohang International Community gathering.  He has begun a six-month tour of duty here with the U.S. Navy and will be separated from his wife and three young children for that entire period of time.

When country calls, soldiers and sailors obey.  Would it be any less the duty of a follower of Christ to heed his command even though it meant parting from loved-ones for that time of service?   Jesus has promised his followers this: "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life." (Luke 18:29-30).

But he gives more grace, and by God's grace and mercy, I'm continuing to learn each day the truth that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder.




   

Campaign for a Balanced Life

I've undertaken a campaign.  Its not a political one, nor is it military, nor even a campaign for social or economic justice. Each of those may very well have their own time and place and possibly an appropriate demand for my attention, but the campaign that has gripped me especially during these last weeks of the semester here at Handong is a campaign for living a more balance life.

The busy-ness of life, especially in the life of students and professors alike, has been advancing with menacing force over this past month.  The campaign I have undertaken is my small attempt to thwart this advance. And how might you ask am I mounting such a campaign? What tactics and strategies am I employing?  My chief weapn is the camera function on my mobile phone, and my subjects are the flowers of the field.

As I walk about campus each morning, I purposefully search out beauty -- the beauty Jesus taught us to behold when he said, "Consider the lilies."  When I find beauty, I photograph it.  And then as I go about my day, I display the photo I have most recently taken on my mobile's wallpaper and simply ask the student or professor I have encountered along the way whether they know where on campus this object of beauty may be seen, and when seen considered. 

If they know, they have already joined the ranks of my campaign.  If they're willing to search it out, they are well on their way.  If, though, they do not know nor care to discover, then they have been overcome by our common enemy -- the tyrany of the urgent.  I seek to persuade them that a life balanced with the pursuit and appreciation of beauty might actually enhance their performance of those duties that they seem so burdened to fulfill.  It might just help to lift that burden that has so captured their attention that all around them seems a haze or what's worst, a grayness.

Here are a few of my recent photo's of the flowers that have caught the gaze of eyes that have been gracious opened by the belief that one thing is necessary and when we choose it, we will have chosen the better part of life -- a more balanced life.

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

My Korean Birthday . . .Quite An Auspicious and Lengthy Day!!

What can I say? I think Sandy put it best in her email to me, "Koreans really know how to celebrate!"  And so began the celebrations this past week on Tuesday evening with a "Pre-Birthday Pizza Party" @ one of my students' favorite spots -- "Mr. Pizza"  That's a Hawaiian Special with the candles atop it in front of me.

After enjoying our pizza and endless salad bar feast (the true attraction here -- all you can eat salads!!), we played a hilarious game of "Pictionary" using words and phrases from the case these Law & Advocacy students are preparing for Mock Trial in a couple of weeks.  So, what picture would you draw if the phrase you were given was "in loco parentis" ?

But, the celebrations didn't end there, even though that would have been an amazingly fabulous time.  No, from Mr. Pizza we all walked down the stroll through Yukkuri (the downtown shopping and entertainment district) to what you in the States would call a karaoke club, but what is here called a noraebang (singing room).

That's right, each group that comes in gets its own room equipped with an amazing karaoke machine housing literally tens of thousands of favorite songs from all generations and genres! I'm told this is the number one form of party entertainment in Korea.  I was happy to join right in.  It was my birthday, right??  Well, pre-birthday, at least!!  Ms. YeEun Han, Mr. Vu and I crooned "My Heart Will Go On" together.  What a blast!

The pre-birthday party was so overwhelming that I had to take a day of rest on Wednesday!  Several students stopped by my office during the day, though, to drop off wonderful little gifts and cards.  One, Ms. Ha, even presented me with some home-made rich dark chocolates!!  Couldn't even eat half a bite without a glass of milk!! Amazing!

Another student, Ms. Grimi Kim, brought me two small cactus plants for my office.  Each gift was accompanied with a beautiful card containing more than just the ordinary "Happy Birthday" wishes you find on American cards.  Every card conveyed a hand-written expression of good wishes and prayers.  Then, about 9:30 Wednesday evening I received a call from Ms. Shin, the president of our Law & Advocacy study group asking if she and another student might drop-off "something" at my apartment later on that evening.

"Later on" turned-out to be nearly 11:30pm and the two students turned into over a dozen carrying with them a cake, presents and a large decorated envelope full of birthday cards.  They sang the "Happy Birthday" song twice as the midnight hour approached, and we all enjoyed pieces of the delicious cake.  At the stroke of the new day, they all became the very first to wish me "Happy Birthday" on the Fifth of May!  What amazing students I have!!

Their presents included a beautiful orchid plant for my office and a jar of hard candies that one very special and preceptive student had noticed I particularly enjoy.  They do not miss a beat!!  When I started to open their cards, though, everyone said that I should wait until after they left.  I think they knew that when I read them I might very likely start crying.  And, after they did all depart around 12:30, I read them all and I did.

So now, I have been given a "pre-birthday" party and a strike-of-midnight birthday party, but the celebrations are, in fact, still just beginning.  On the morning of the fifth, I awoke to a beautiful day and took my regular break-of-dawn walkabout campus and was serenaded by some of the most unusual bird songs I have yet to hear here in Korea.  Could it have been that my birthday made me a bit more attentive to their tunes??

By eight,  I was seated on the sidelines of the soccer field with students and fellow colleagues to watch our Law Department men engage the Engineering Department on the pitch.  Unfortunately, our men could not engineer a sufficient number of successful shots on goal, and this one went into the books with disappointment.  It was, though, a hard fought match, and after all, that is what we are daily called to give!

At eleven, I joined with my dear friends from the Pohang International Community core group and we journeyed the short distance from campus to Chilpo Beach, and what a beach party it was!!

We cooked-out and enjoyed a great meal together with the sea breeze blowing in our hair and the sun
beaming down on us!

 Pastor Richie's son, Joseph, presented me with one of my most precious birthday gifts -- an original picture drawn and colored by Joseph to remind me of our day at the sea. (It has now been posted to a prominent spot on my refrigerator).

I even tried to convince Richie that it was a great day to join me in taking a swim in the ocean, but my powers of persuasion were not (fortunately for him and me) sufficiently potent on this occasion.
But wait, . . . . it was my birthday!!! . . . .  don't I get to do what I want to do on my birthday???   Rest easy Sandy!  I didn't end up going swimming, but I did have a thoroughly good time with the best of friends on an amazingly beautiful day at the beach!!  I even jumped for joy!!  Thanks, Boyeon, for convincing I could!!

And, you might think the celebrations had reached their zenith, but you would be wrong!!  We're not done yet!! After returning to campus, cleaning off and out the sand I brought back in my clothes and on my legs and feet, I enjoyed a nap.  Well, it was my birthday, right!  I had to rest because I was due to meet my TA, Ms. Juyoun Han, and three other students for a birthday dinner at Hyoam Restaurant -- the nicest restaurant on campus.

Daniel & Hojong

While it was much more reserved and definitely less rowdy (for Ms. Han would have no other way) than my midday celebration at the beach, we did enjoy our fair share of laughs as I tried to give Daniel and Hojong, who are now both law students at Handong International Law School, some pointers on wooing women.  

I don't think they thought my idea of a first-date walk in the cemetery was all that helpful, though.  Yet, they could not dispute that it at least worked for me.  Just goes to show you how loving and caring my dearest Sandy was and continues to be!  So, as Daniel practiced his French to himself ("mon chéri amour"), Hojong wasted no time in getting closer to one of the fairest young ladies on campus, Ms. Shin, who had also joined in my celebratory dinner.

Hojong, you should really smile a bit more! I know your brute handsomeness is your strong suit, but a winning smile can go far toward melting her heart!  

At the end of the dinner, the four disappeared for a few minutes only to return with a birthday cheesecake adorned with several candles less than 52 -- they would have needed special permission from the fire marshal for that!  It topped-off an amazingly fun and delightful evening.  But wait, there's still more . . . .

After departing Hyoam, we walked across campus to the playing field to cheer on our Law Department girls' wild horse team in their match against the Design Department.  Wild horse is a game combining the intensity of American football, the speed and agility of soccer and the ruggedness of rugby (sometimes). The  team presented me with a great present -- a thoroughly decisive victory!  Go Law!!

So that was it!  I barely made it back to my campus apartment before collapsing!  Although completely exhausted as I was, I couldn't have been happier to have enjoyed such an auspicious day! Sandy was indeed right:  Koreans really do know how to celebrate!  I only wish you could have been here to join in on all the fun, Honey!!

Living More AND Less

(I wrote this brief piece about ten years ago.  I'm recently finding, though, that I need to take heed to its "suggestions" even more so during my life abroad this semester @ Handong).

A common reply to the everyday question “How are you doing?” is often, “Well…okay…more or less.”  Most of us find our day-to-day lives to be somewhere in between the “more” and the “less” of health and wellness, spiritual wholeness and, if we are honest, mental sane-ness. 

May I then make a few humble suggestions to encourage us all to live “more and  less” as a means of growing beyond the “more or less” of life?  I offer these as suggestions, not reproofs.  I readily admit that the biggest beam resides in my own eye as I regularly fail the more’s and much too often practice the less’s.  To some, they may seem trite and clichéd, but I trust to others they may prove helpful in some small way.

With that said, may we all be living by doing . . .

More Reading, Less Watching  
Good books are a treasure.  Search them out!

TV (films, the web) can be a trap.  Watch, above all, your step.

More Listening, Less Talking

Do I really listen?

Or, just wait to talk?

More Walking, Less Sitting

What wondrous things we can see and ideas ponder on a daily walk!

But, oh how stresses seem to weigh us down as we sit.

More Drinking, Less Eating

Water, that is.  Cool, clear water!

Food, yes, food.  Start by reducing portions.

More Helping, Less Hounding

“How may I help you?” is a wonderful way to encourage someone.

“What can you do for me?” is an attitude that often prompts us to pound someone.

More Asking, Less Accusing

Seek to understand before expecting to be understood.

Attribute the best motives to others, rather than accuse them of the worst.   

       

More Giving, Less Keeping

Remember Jesus said that you will be happier by giving than by expecting to get.

The less things we hold on to, the less hold things have on us.

More Thanking, Less Expecting

In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you.

The way we thank others reveals whether we truly thank God.

So, see the acts of others as their gifts to you, not as efforts to fulfill your expectations.

More Singing, Less Sighing

When a song is first in our heart, then it authentically resounds in our voice.

Sighing, however, is a true downer wherever it resides.

More Conserving, Less Consuming

The good things in life are few – they are to be savored.

The fast things in life are plenty – they favor by fattening.

More Serving, Less Summonsing

Jesus summed-up his life’s purpose in the words: “to serve and to give.”

Don’t expect someone to wash your feet; take up the basin and the towel – today.

What a Wonder a Walk Can Be . . . When Only We Open Our Eyes and Look Up!

Ordinarily on Thursday's my lunch hour is spent with faculty colleagues, but this week's midterm exams prompted the cancellation of our regular departmental meeting.  I was delighted, then, to receive an invitation to join two of my best students for a relaxing lunch on the patio of the campus restaurant.  We sat outside to enjoy the sunshine and the increasingly warmer temperatures that have finally started to make their way to the eastern coast of Korea -- a bit later this spring than usual, I am told.

As our lunch progressed, though, the wind started to pick-up and even blew some exam review papers from the books on our table.  I had to make a quick dash to dab them before another gust took them over the wall and into the woods.  It also started to get a bit darker as some clouds rolled-in.  Today's forecast is calling for rain tomorrow, but it appeared now to be on its way to making an earlier arrival.

Following lunch, one of my students accompanied me on a walk back across campus.  We continued the conversation from our time around the table as we walked.  Then, all of a sudden, she stopped and said, "Professor, look up!"  As I did, I saw what can only be described as a broad brush stroke of blazing color across the clouds.  It wasn't a rainbow.  Yet, the full spectrum of light, from violet through every hue to red, was flowing over the clouds that had gathered above.

We were both stopped flat-footed, awestruck.  It was as if the Aurora Borealis were dancing in the midday sky.  As we stood gazing into the heavens, a few other students came walking by.  Some passed by without a pause, but a few wondered what we were looking at.  As they turned and looked-up, their mouths dropped open.  What a sight!  And, it didn't disappear in a few moments.  It lingered as the clouds moved slowly across the sky.  This "floating rainbow" stretched out its waves of brilliance.

Had I stayed in my office today and done what I ordinarily do -- focused my view on what is below -- the demands of the day -- I would have entirely missed the beauty that was shining above.  I'm thankful I was invited to take a walk.  I'm thankful I was urged to open my eyes and look-up!

In one of his most precious songs, Michael Card sings to his children and tells them of his prayers -- a father's longing for his children to see increasingly the wonder of life that will bring the sunrise of their smile.

Now close your eyes so you can see,
Your own unfinished memories,
Now open them, for time is brief,
And you'll be blest beyond belief,

Now glance above you at the sky,
There's beauty there to blind the eye,
I ask all this then wait awhile,
To see the dawning of your smile.

Looking ahead to Easter morning's sunrise, may I always be reminded to glance above me at the sky!

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.   ~ Colossians 3:14

If I Stand, Let Me Stand Upon the Promise . . .

Something dawned on me the other week.  Actually, it has hit me like a ton of bricks!  I'm at Handong this semester teaching without Sandy.  She's back in the States continuing her nursing studies -- and doing quite well in them, I might add.  When we thought about me returning to teach here this semester, we thought that I could once again make it through a semester even though we would be separated by half a world's distance.

That expectation was based upon the fact that I've done it before.  In 2009, I taught here for a semester while Sandy was still back in St. Louis.  When I returned over the Christmas break that year, Sandy then joined in our return to Handong for the new semester that began in February 2010.  But, there is a big difference now.  Why it hadn't struck me before, I will never know.  But, I know the difference now.

My first semester's hermitage here at Handong in 2009 was during a Fall term.  This time I'm here in hermitage during the Spring!  You know, that time of the year when trees blossom, flowers bloom and birds begin to sing.  On top of the seasonal impact, there are also the many vivid memories of times Sandy and I spent just one short year ago exploring the Korean countryside and culture together.  Consequently, I find myself "longing for my home" a whole lot more these days than ever before while I've been here.

When I get into one of these increasingly more frequently-occurring "down" times, I have resorted to listening to my favorite musicians as a means of encouragement and comfort.  One particular concert given by Rich Mullins and his band back in the late 1990's is available in its entirety on YouTube.  His songs have become favorites and reliable sources of strength in these days when physical weariness only compounds a deeper psychological and spiritual disheartenedness (if that is even a word).

Here's one of Rich Mullins' songs that has been a special blessing to my soul during these cloudy days.  "If I stand, let me stand on the promise that You will pull me through . . . . "


. . . and if I weep, let me weep as a man who is longing for his home."

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 


In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.   (1 Peter 1:3-8)

Playing the Fool . . . and Teaching, too

I'm always trying to engage my students through new approaches that I hope will prompt them to examine different perspectives on the persistent questions of life.  So, this past Friday I thought I might take a slightly different approach to April Fool's Day.  I came to class dressed in a brown Franciscan-like habit and without my glasses or shoes (and sockless, too!).

To say my students were taken aback would be putting it somewhat mildly.  Now, you have to understand that in Asian culture in general (and Korean culture in particular), students are taught to accept what their teachers present to them.  That being said, many were still trying hard to suppress their laughter.  Has professor gone completely crazy?  Has separation from his wife and family driven him mad?  Does he really think that he has become a monk?

None of those questions were expressly stated, but you can be sure most of them were puzzling more than one student's mind.  So what was the point of this first of April performance?  I wanted to do for my new students at Handong what I had first done for students at Missouri Baptist University seven years ago on another April fool’s Day.  In the attire of a follower of Francis of Assisi, I told them his story and how he came to be known as Francis the Fool.

I had been assigned the responsibility of giving the message for the student chapel service at MBU on the first of April.  Earlier that year, I had read G.K. Chesterton's Life of St. Francis.  Chesterton's portrayal of Francis challenged me to think more deeply about what it means to follow Jesus fully.  Francis sought to live as Jesus lived and to love as Jesus loved.  He reached out and touched the leper just as Christ had done.  He left behind the wealth and security offered him by his family in order to find the fullness of life as he took seriously Christ's teaching to consider the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

Having been so challenged by Francis' life, it was quite obvious to me that I was meant to tell his story in that chapel service on the first of April seven years ago.  I thought it would make a more memorable impression if I told the story as Francis himself.  So, now here at Handong, I wanted to continue the tradition and pass along the lessons from the life of the one who was called "Francis the Fool" -- a name that I'm sure he did not resent since he was seeking to follow the one who many had regarded as "God's own Fool."

Evidently that chapel message seven years ago was memorable.  When one of my Handong student's posted the picture above to facebook during our Friday morning class, one of my former students from MBU, who was on-line at the time, commented within minutes: "I remember that robe!"  I guess, playing the fool can sometimes be an effective means of teaching.

A Most Delightful Place, A Sacred Place, My Favorite Place!

Do you have a favorite place?  A place that you would go if you had the opportunity?  A place that brings you joy? A place of delight?  A place that brings you refreshment?  When my wife Sandy and I first began traveling abroad in the summer of 2001, we tagged along on a mission trip sponsored by Missouri Baptist University where I had been teaching, by that time, for a number of years.

We traveled to England and spent two delightful weeks doing physical labor as we worked on the rehab of a 16th century manor house that had been transformed into a youth camping center.  That place -- The Oakes -- became one of my first favorite places.

Sandy and I were able to return there in May of 2004 and see first-hand the on-going development and growth of a wonderful community led my our good friends, Dan & Billie Thaw. We experienced a true sense of joy as we visited the Oakes and met even more people who were continuing to contribute to its renewal. It has become a special place where the light of truth is being shared with many young people from across the entire United Kingdom.

On that same visit to the UK, Sandy and I were also able to travel to Ireland for the first time.  There we spent a delightful time touring in Dublin, Bray and the surrounding Counties.  One place, though, completely captured me.

It became my favorite place in all of Ireland (granted, I have been everywhere in Ireland, but I'm quite confident that this place will be hard to beat if I ever get back to the Emerald Isle).  The place is called Glendalough -- the valley between the two lakes.  It is the site of an early Celtic Christian community founded by St. Kevin, who lived in the generation just after Patrick.

Later during this tour of the UK, Sandy and I were invited to visit friends in Brecon, Wales.  Our hosts took us out for a day of sight-seeing in the South of Wales.  We drove along the Wye River Valley and came upon one of the most sacred sites in all of Wales -- Tintern Abbey.  It was just above and overlooking this Abbey that Woodsworth wrote his "Few Lines . . ."  My heart had been captured my yet another special place.

Though the Oakes, Glendalough and Tintern Abbey remain my favorite places in England, Ireland, and Wales, my fondness for them has, I must confess, grown somewhat dimmer these days.  Having now returned to the East, one place in all of Korea has become and I'm sure will continue to remain, my most favorite of all.  I first visited this place in July of 2004 when the students who were taking my short summer course at Handong International Law School (HILS) suggested that we take a break from our studies and enjoy a Saturday touring sights in a nearby town.

They drove me to Gyeongju -- the ancient capital of Korea -- and then up the mountains surrounding Gyeongju to a place called "Bulguksa" -- a Buddhist monastery. The experience I sensed upon walking up to the central structures of this place was much like the feeling I had had at Glendalough and Tintern Abbey -- I knew that I was venturing upon a sacred place.  Interestingly, Bulguksa's founding dates back to about the same time as the founding of Glendalough -- around the 8th century.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of making my fourth visit to Bulguksa.  Each time I've been there, I've seen something new.  This time I paused along a path and looked back toward the main stairway that leads up to the central worship area.  I took the picture you see here.

On my three previous visits, I followed the guide book and stopped at a point well to the far west of this main stairway.  This is the perspective you see in all the photo's.  Its a beautiful sight, no doubt (just take a look below), but I now realize that this view does not convey the fullest sense of the beauty of Bulguksa -- the beauty that shines as you see how the structures built there are so carefully balanced with the surrounding natural setting.  I had unknowingly limited my perspective by just looking from the well-known perspective.

What I needed to do was to look at things from a new perspective.  When I did, the wonder and beauty of this place only expanded in my mind.  It has become my favorite place in all of Korea in a new way.  The early blossoms of Spring hint at a coming beauty that will explode across the hillsides as more and more of the cherry trees bloom.

As you walk along the paths that lead you through the grounds, the delight and beauty of this place only become more and more apparent.  Each time I visit, my spirit is lifted and I feel a sense of refreshment that is much more that just what comes from a vigorous walk on a brisk day.  It is more than a physical rejuvenation, it is truly soul sustenance.  In fact, it is difficult to put it into words, because words in themselves seem a too limited means of conveying what the whole of my person experiences in this place.

Simply put, it is now my favorite place. I can't wait to go back!

Truth is Truth whether from the Lips of . . .

I look to C.S. Lewis as one of my model teachers. The portrayal of Lewis' tutorial with his students in the film, Shadowlands, is one of the finest displays of formation-in-process that I can point to in contemporary culture. He challenges his students to explore the significance of a rose as a metaphor for desire. Through a series of questions, he guides his students to ponder a persistent question: "What is desire's one essential quality?" When one of his pupils shrugs-off the answer proposed, Lewis exhorts him into a deeper debate. The student though, at this early point in their relationship, is reticent to take up the gauntlet.

Now, I don't know if Anthony Hopkins' Lewis is an accurate portrayal, but it is an authentically inspiring one to me, and I think it is quite consistent with the Lewis we come to know in his books, especially Mere Christianity and his essays contained in God in the Dock. Lewis' thinking (and his teaching, I would imagine) was significantly formed by the works of the Scottish pastor and novelist George MacDonald. One of the books by Lewis I ever purchased after reading The Screwtape Letters in my high school years was a little paperback entitled, George MacDonald: Anthology. In the preface to this collection, Lewis wrote: "In making these extracts, I have been concerned with MacDonald not as a writer but as a Christian teacher" (14).

Though he had never met MacDonald, Lewis recounts how his works and life, as told by MacDonald's son in the biography he wrote of his father, substantially shaped his approach to writing and to living. One of the most telling quotes that Lewis includes among the 365 extracts (most coming from MacDonald's sermons) composing this little volume is this: "Truth is truth, whether from the lips of Jesus or Balaam" (27). From the very first time I read that line nearly 35 years ago it was indelibly impressed upon my thinking. MacDonald's words have continued challenged me to listen carefully to many speakers, to read thoughtfully many authors, and to watch observantly many actors.

The search for truth -- true truth, as Francis Schaeffer has called it -- will take us in a variety of directions. I was reminded of this just last evening. As on nearly every Wednesday evening, I was engaged in a discussion of the Scriptures with some of my fellow colleagues here at Handong. Our focus was the first chapter of James, and someone pointed out how this passage emphasizes the need to look into the Scriptures as a mirror that can reveal to us our true selves. This comment led another participant in the study to mention a book entitled The Man in the Mirror. When I heard that phrase, my thoughts turned to a pop song with the same title from the 80's by Michael Jackson.

And being the sort of "quick to speak" guy that I am, I told the group that Jackson had written a song about the "man in the mirror." The mention of the "king of pop's" name must have struck a dissonant chord though, because another of my colleagues promptly declared, "But Michael Jackson got it wrong!" I replied, "Did he? Didn't he just express what Gandhi had said -- "Become the change you wish to make in the world"? Well, my mention of Michael Jackson and Gandhi in the same sentence seemed to be quite enough to alert the group's leader that we (read "I") had now gone way too far afield in our discussion. It was a Bible study for heaven's sake!

But hold on! Truth is truth, right? Whether spoken from the lips of Jesus or Balaam, right? Whether spoken from the lips of Gandhi or sung by Michael Jackson? -- Well you tell me. Did Jackson get it right or not? Here's what he sings:

"As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favorite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See Their Needs
"A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere To Go
That's Why I Want You To Know

"I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself,
And Then Make A Change.

"I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No Home,
Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not Alone?
"A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
They Follow The Pattern Of The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With Me

"I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself,
And Then Make A Change."

That's what Michael Jackson sang. Here's what James wrote:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. ~ James 1:22-25

If truth is truth no matter from whose lips the message is spoken or from whose pen the words are written, then it would appear to me that a question of first importance is indeed: Have I made a change in my life?

They Could Not Keep Their Eyes Open

During my morning readings a few days back, I came across this phrase.  It suddenly dawned upon me that Jesus' students encountered the very same struggles that students today face. 

At one of the most important times in their life, when they had been asked specifically by their teacher to stay alert, they were found falling asleep!  And we're not talking about one of the stragglers at the back of the class.  No, these were Jesus' three top students -- the inner circle -- the creme of the crop -- the "summa cum laude" guys -- who couldn't keep their eyes open!

So, if that was the case with Peter, James and John, this poor teacher should not be surprised nor offended when even some of his most diligent students occasionally can't seem to keep their eyes open during class.  Now, I try to provide some incentive for them to stay awake. 

Rather than standing in one place at the front of the classroom (which I have observed seems to be the norm among many of the local prof's here), I try to infuse some variety into the discussion by walking about through the aisles and even sometimes taking a place at the back of the room in order to challenge the students to adjust to a new posture in order to engage a new perspective. 

In addition to these peripatetic tendencies, I also take some pains to restrain my natural inclination to speak up and so try to lower my volume a bit.  As you might imagine, though, this strategy tends to have the opposite effect than the one I'm seeking.  So, those short periods of soft tones are usually followed by an abrupt exclamation or the invocation of some Latin maxim whether it is application to the legal issue under consideration or not. 

But you might be asking at this point, why is it that my students are having such a struggle to stay awake.  Am I that boring???  Well --- I’ll let you ask my students to answer that one.  I will only say that I'm trying to be ever interesting and engaging.  I'm trying to talk less and ask questions more -- to encourage dialogue and eliminate monologue.  That said, though, there is another possible cause. 

You see, students here are very conscientious about their studies that they will often stay up quite late diligently studying in preparation for the next day's classes.  They study so much, that when they come to class, the struggle to stay awake -- not because they're uninterested in the subject under discussion or just bored -- they're EXHAUSTED!

Since that is indeed most often the case, I just might start bringing a couple extra pillows to my classes and offer them as rewards (not to be used during lectures, however!) to the most diligent disciple who, like Peter, James & John, find that they "could not keep their eyes open."

The Breastplate of St. Patrick

I bind unto myself today

The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.
By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;*

I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the cherubim;
The sweet 'well done' in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

There Arose a Reasoning Among Them . . .

Bonhoeffer & his students

In every community of faith and learning there come times of conflict.  Conflicts arise because these communities are composed of humans who are finite and fallen.  At every university where I've taught over the past sixteen years there have been conflicts – conflicts between students and faculty members; between faculty and fellow faculty; and between faculty and university administration.

A university is in many respects like all other human communities that experience conflict from within among its members.  Universities founded upon a common faith are no less prone to experience conflicts since, like every church fellowship, such a university is made-up of humans.  So it should come as no surprise that a Christian university, especially one that is in its early years of growth and development, would experience conflict between some of its faculty and its administrative leaders.

Brother Bonhoeffer knew the reality of conflict from within a fellowship.  During his days leading the Confessing Church’s seminary at Finkenwalde, he experienced it.  When he wrote about this experiment in Christian community in his little book Life Together, he began the fourth chapter with this warning:

“'There arose a reasoning among them, which of them would be the greatest’ (Luke 9:46). We know who it is that sows this thought in the Christian community.  But perhaps we do not bear in mind enough that no Christian community ever comes together without this thought immediately emerging as a seed of discord.  Thus at the very beginning of Christian fellowship there is engendered an invisible, often unconscious, life-and-death contest.  ‘There arose a reasoning among them’; this is enough to destroy a fellowship” (90).

Bonhoeffer’s insight exposes the root cause for many, if not most, of these conflicts in our communities.  It is the human desire for greatness or ascendancy over others.  He continues, “It is vitally necessary that every Christian community from the very outset face this dangerous enemy squarely, and eradicate it.  There is not time to lose here, for from the first moment when a man meets another person he is looking for a strategic position he can assume and hold over against that person.”

Bethge & Bonhoeffer - student & teacher

“There are strong persons and weak ones.  If a man is not strong, he immediately claims the right of the weak as his own and uses it against the strong.  There are gifted and ungifted persons, simple people and difficult people, devout and less devout, the sociable and the solitary.  Does not the ungifted person have to take up a position just as well as the gifted person, the difficult one as well as the simple? . . . Where is there a person who does not with instinctive sureness find the spot where he can stand and defend himself, but which he will never give up to another, for which he will fight with all the drive of his instinct of self-assertion?”

“All this can occur in the most polite or even pious environment.  But the important thing is that a Christian community should know that somewhere in it there will certainly be ‘a reasoning among them, which of them would be the greatest.’ It is the struggle of the natural man for self-justification. He finds it only in comparing himself with others, in condemning and judging others.  Self-justification and judging others go together, as justification by grace and serving others go together “ (91).

If this then is indeed the case, how may members of a community who are presently experiencing such conflict eradicate it?  Bonhoeffer offers a potential path in the remainder of his chapter.  There he addresses seven “ministries” that we owe to one another in community.   Each bears upon me and my colleagues here at Handong if we would be peacemakers and ones who are committed to the growth of our community of learning into wholeness and mutual blessing that flows to all.

 

Those within our Handong community who would advance and seek to protect  the students’ “right to learn” owe the ministries Bonhoeffer commends to professors, students and fellow administrators.   Those, on the other hand, who uphold and see to maintain the professors’ “right to teach” likewise owe these ministries to all others within the community of learning.

Rather than dispute over issues of control and authority, the ministries that Bonhoeffer teaches us to engage express avenues of service that lead toward mutual edification and the ultimate achievement of the goal of our community – the forming of whole persons who act responsibly in the service of others according to God’s calling upon their lives.

The first of these ministries, as Bonhoeffer describes them, is “the ministry of holding one’s tongue.”  “Often we combat our evil thoughts most effectively if we absolutely refuse to allow them to be expressed in words” (91).    We are admonished in Scripture to be “slow to speak” (James 1:19), so we would do well to hold our tongue and think thoroughly we express comments, especially when they are criticisms of others.

Bonhoeffer advises that “where this discipline of the tongue is practiced right from the beginning, each individual will make a matchless discovery.  He will be able to cease from constantly scrutinizing the other person, judging him, condemning him, putting him in his particular place where he can gain ascendancy over him and thus doing violence to him as a person.  Now he can allow the brother to exist as a completely free person, as God made him to be” (92-93).

The second ministry is meekness. “He who would learn to serve must first learn to think little of himself” (94).  This is not self-loathing, but rather a proper view of self.  “Only he who lives by the forgiveness of his sin in Jesus Christ will rightly think little of himself” (95).  Such a perspective, Bonhoeffer acknowledges, leads to a challenging conclusion: “To forego self-conceit and to associate with the lowly means . . . to consider oneself the greatest of sinners. . . If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. . .  He who would serve his brother in the fellowship must sink all the way down to these depths of humility” (96).  

Holding one’s tongue and meekness lead naturally to the third ministry we owe one another in community – that of listening. “Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren [i.e. for others] is learning to listen to them” (97). To be an effective listener, though, is a skill we must be devoted to developing. Our tendency is merely to “wait to talk” when in conversation with others. What we need to be doing is authentic listening. Bonhoeffer warns that “he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God” (98). 

By listening we are enabled to understand the needs of others and so reach out to them with the ministry of helpfulness. “This means, initially, simple assistance in trifling, external matters . . . Nobody is too good for the meanest (i.e. lowest) service. One who worries about the loss of time that such petty, outward acts of helpfulness entail is usually taking the importance of his own career too solemnly” (99).  

The next service we owe is the ministry of bearing. “’Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal. 6:2). . . Bearing means forbearing and sustaining. . . The Christian . . . must bear the burden of a brother. He must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated” (100). As we extend this service, Bonhoeffer calls us to bear both the freedom of the other person as well as his sin through regularly practicing forgiveness. 

The thoughtful engagement of these first five ministries – holding one’s tongue, meekness, listening, helpfulness and bearing – provides the only sure foundation for the next – the ministry of proclaiming the Word. This ministry is not the “preaching of the Word” but rather “that unique situation in which one person bears witness in human words to another person, bespeaking the whole consolation of God, the admonition, the kindness, and the severity of God” (103-104). “We speak to one another on the basis of the help we both need. We admonish one another to go the way that Christ bids us to go. We warn one another against the disobedience that is our common destruction” (106).  

Bonhoeffer concludes with the ultimate service we owe -- the ministry of authority. This ministry, however, can only be exercised by those who have first fulfilled the all that come before it because “Jesus made authority in the fellowship dependent upon brotherly service” (108). “Every cult of personality that emphasizes the distinguished qualities, virtues, and talents of another person, even though these be of an altogether spiritual nature, is worldly and has no place in the Christian community . . . The Church does not need brilliant personalities but faithful servants of Jesus and the brethren” (108-109).  

Indeed, no community of faith, no community of learning, needs brilliant personalities. What we need are faithful followers of Christ who seek daily, by His grace, to serve one another according to the call of God. What is needed to eradicate the attitudes and actions that destroy our community of learning are men and women possessed with the mind of Christ that seeks not their own interests and rights but those of others. Such an approach to sustaining our community of learning and faith will not pit the right to learn against the right to teach. Rather, it will serve others by taking seriously the responsibility to teach and the responsibility to learn as we seek together to obey the call of Christ and serve the needs of others in the here and now.