“People of Yangon, I perceive that in every way you are very religious."

I've just returned to Handong after spending 16 days in Myanmar -- "the Land of the Golden Pagodas."  This photo was taken during my walk through the shines of Shwedagon Pagoda, the largest Buddhist pagoda in the entire world. I felt that I had a greater sense of what Paul experienced when he walked through the shines and temples of Athens (Acts 17:16-34).  I was invited to Myanmar to help teach and train pastors, church leaders and missionaries who serve among the ethnic tribes and native Burmese.  What I found, though, was a study in contrasts.

Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) was once one of the most well-developed countries in all of Southeast Asia.  Now, it is re-emerging from third-world status that has characterized it over the past 50 years.  As a result, contrasts between wealth and poverty abound. On one street, you may find a brand-new high-rise building under construction next to a derelict, dilapidated structure.  Rather than repair and renovate them, most buildings are left to deteriorate. On one side of the river, a modern city is rising, while on the other side, the people of a primitive village eek out an agrarian existence.

But the greatest contrast of all is a spiritual one.  The vast majority of people are cultural Buddhists and over 1.8 million are monks or nuns who daily walk the streets offering prayers in exchange for gifts of rice, fruits and vegetables.  There is, though, a substantial minority of Christians who are the spiritual children of such servants of God as Adoniram Judson.  While their numbers may be small in contrast to the followers of other faiths, the devotion of believers in Myanmar was a true encouragement and challenge to my heart.

Many of these believers gather in small home churches in the villages to worship and hear God's Word.  Others meet in well-established churches within Yangon and other cities.  Bible colleges and seminaries have been founded throughout the country to form and equip leaders for the churches and workers who take the Gospel to the un-reached Burmese Buddhist in the villages.  As I visited among the believers in Myanmar, I realized that the needs of the churches in this country are, in fact, the same needs that exist in churches in all countries, whether developed or emerging.

There is first the need for servant leaders among the churches.  The church in Burma, as well as in Korea and America, already has its fill of men and women who seek to dominate and compel the obedience of others not by their Christ-like example, but by an appeal to institutional position and title.  What is truly needed, though, are followers of Christ who seek to serve others according to the pattern of Christ's life -- by bearing the burdens of others.

Second, there is the desperate need for the teaching of God's Word. All too often, ministries are started and churches are operated according to human ideas and worldly practices.  There is a sad lack of Biblical teaching beyond the fundamental truths of the Gospel.  When church policy decisions must be made, most appeal to the intuition of men rather than to the principles of Scripture. And once decisions are made, there is a lack of willingness to subject those decisions to the scrutiny of Scripture.  These two needs, though, are no more prominent in the churches of Myanmar than they are in the churches of America.

In contrast to what I've found in American churches, however, Myanmar has in abundance among its believers those who desire and are willing to follow their Lord wherever He leads without attachment to this present world.  And it is the evidence of that desire in the words and actions of these dear brothers and sisters that compels my heart to remain open to future calls for further service to the people of this beautiful land.

Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing

This is a study session I was asked to lead for our Handong students this past semester.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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.




   

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.

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.

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.

Two Weeks Into the New Semester

This weekend marks the completion of the first two weeks of the new semester.  I feel like I've "hit the ground running," as we say back in the States. But, I need to be careful in choosing my phrases when speaking with my Korean colleagues and students.  They tend to take each word quite literally.

I'm not literally running.  I'm not in that good of shape just yet.  I am, though, doing quite a bit of walking.  In fact, that is one of the prime factors that draws me to life at Handong.  Here, I can live a walking-paced life.  This morning, I walked to church, and later walked to lunch outside where I "helped" grill hot dogs and enjoyed a beautiful Spring-like afternoon with many who live on campus.

Each morning (or, nearly every morning), I get out and talk a walk-about.  I head down road toward the main entrance and overlook the valley that stretches out between Handong's campus and the East Sea.  If you look carefully at the picture above, you'll see the sea just beyond the rolling hills in the distance.  I then make my way back up the long hill and around the road that circles the entire campus before returning to my apartment.  The whole walk is nearly two miles.

After preparing a breakfast of either fruit and cereal or -- on days when I'm a little more hungry -- French toast, scrambled eggs and bacon, I take another walk, much shorter though, over to All Nations Hall, and up to the third floor where my office is located.  I usually arrive in time to check my email while listening to the latest news from St. Louis via KWMU's streaming audio on the web before making final preparations for my morning class.

After class, its back to the office for meetings with students and then off to lunch, usually with a colleague or two or on occasion, like this past Friday, I'll be invited to lunch by a group of students.  There is a tradition here where students take their professors to lunch or dinner.  It gives the students an opportunity to get to know their prof's in a more informal setting as well as being good practice with English conversation skills.

Following lunch, an afternoon walk tends to keep my energy level up and helps to ward off the drowsiness that might otherwise tempt me back to my apartment for a little nap.  Just a couple of days ago, I noticed another sure sign of spring when walking across campus.  Some of the trees are already starting to blossom out.

Eventually, a whole host of cherry and pear trees across campus will be filled with delicate blossoms.  Some will be white and others pink.  It's an absolutely gorgeous sight!  By then, I'll be walking even more since the temperatures will regularly be in the 60's and the rainy days of the late winter will have passed.

The afternoons are filled with classes on Monday's and Thursday's, a faculty seminar on Wednesday's and a lively round table discussions with other international faculty on Friday's.  My days are very full but not hectic. These first two weeks have begun to settle me in to a pattern and flow that I trust, by God's grace, will be both meaningful and productive as I seek to encourage my students to grow not only in knowledge but also in responsible service to others according to the callings on their lives.

May I Talk to You about My Plans?



All Nations Hall


This is a question that is posed to me by my students several times a week.  I've found that the typical Handong student is much more inclined to be thinking about her or his future than the run-of-the-mill student in the States.  That's not to say, however, that I didn't have many exceptional students during my days of teaching at both Fontbonne and MBU who were quite serious about making their lives count. 

But, in general, I'm finding that the vast majority of students here think about making a difference in the world in the -- to borrow a phrase from Brother Bonhoeffer -- "the concrete realities of life in here and now."  As a result, I've had many students visiting my office (on the 3d floor of All Nations Hall -- my window is the first one on the wing that extends off to the right of the corner tower), even within the first week of classes this semester, to talk about the plans they have made or are seeking to make for their studies and future roles of service. 

Quite a number of them are interested in discussing whether the major in U.S. & International Law ("UIL") would help to equip them for positions in government or non-governmental organizations within their home countries or in developing third-world countries.

In fact, just I was started composing this post yesterday afternoon, I had a knock on my office door and a freshman came in to discuss this very question.  All the freshman here at Handong start as "Global Studies" majors, and then within their first two semesters, they are required to declare two specific majors they wish to pursue through their studies.  That's right, every student at Handong declares two majors! Many of the freshman are stopping by my office to discuss the UIL major.

Often, students will tell me of a personal "vision" they have for their lives.  They describe the positions they imagine themselves occupying in leadership roles within major international corporations or political parties.  Others have a strong commitment to developing countries and during their university studies use holiday breaks to work in Cambodia or Kyrgyzstan rather than travel to the sunny beaches of Phuket. In nearly every case, though, they have carefully thought through their plans and are looking ahead with very specific expectations.

After recounting to me their plans and expectations, these students will then sit quietly with a slight smile on their faces as they await my comments.  What should I say?  Do I affirm their plans?  Should I suggest alternatives? Should I encourage them or try to dissuade them for their proposed path, if I think it might be unwise?  Because the Asian culture puts such a strong emphasis on young people respecting the advice and guidance of their elders, I'm put in quite a precarious position.

I don't have any fixed answers for them.  I don't offer any formulas for success, nor do I try to tell them what God's will is for their lives.  Instead, I feel like the Korean Buddhist monk, well-known for his silence and meditation, who when he was asked for a "word of wisdom" by his students told them, "Never trust the word of a monk."  So rather than try to offer them specific counsel regarding their plans and choices, I encourage them to seek out the path where they can best serve the purpose to which they have been called.

I suggest that success in life can only be found as we, individually and with others, seek to discover how we have been designed and equipped to serve others, and then start doing that service now in the midst of the concrete realities of life.  Plans for the future can provide guidance for the way we live out today, but what is of even greater importance is living fully in the present -- making the most of each opportunity to serve that we are provided today.

"The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."  ~ Proverbs 16:9

An Emerging Korean Call

Today marks my second full day back on the campus of Handong University in Pohang, Korea. When I departed from here last June, I expected to be coming back sometime in the future, but not so soon.  I had returned to Missouri last summer first and foremost to be close to my mother whose health was failing.  I also returned to resume my teaching position at Fontbonne and to continue PhD studies at Concordia Seminary, both in St. Louis.

At that time, I believed that there would likely be a position opening on the full-time faculty at Fontbonne and the PhD studies were helping to bolster my credentials for that hoped-for appointment.  In early November, however, I learned that the position would not be available and so, I suspended my graduate studies at the close of the fall quarter.  Within days thereafter, my mother's health took a decided turn for the worse.

I spent most of December and January caring for my mother through three hospitalizations and intervening home convalescences. Earlier this month, Mom's time on earth drew to a close, and she entered her eternal rest on the 4th of February. Earlier in December, I had spoken to my mother about possibly returning to Handong and, even as her own health was fast fading, she was still encouraging me to respond to God’s call.

My decision to return, though, did not come in an inspiring vision nor a challenging dream. Instead, it has been developing over the past eight years from my first meeting with Professors Lee Kuk-woon and Lee Hee-eun at an academic conference in the fall of 2003 all the way through my months of service as a visiting professor just last year. It has been an emerging call that has, in turn, both gripped my heart and puzzled my mind.

Having once again left behind in the States those who are most precious to me, I am, none the less, now more convinced than ever that this is the time and this is the place where I have been designed and equipped to serve others through the gifts God has given me. So I’ve come in response to what might aptly be described as my emerging Korean call. May God’s sustaining grace keep and fortify me for each day. Classes start tomorrow!

Living to Teach Rather Than Teaching to Live

As I ponder the possibility of returning to teach at Handong University in Korea, I have been revisiting the Analects of Confucius.  One in particular is especially applicable to anyone who senses that the calling upon their life is a call to teach.

Of his own role as a teacher, Confucius said, "For anyone who brings even the smallest token of appreciation, I have yet to refuse instruction."

This responsibility to the one seeking instruction was again impressed upon me when I read this morning these verses in The Wisdom of Solomon: "The beginning of wisdom is the most sincere desire for instruction, and concern for instruction is love of her."  So when one is met with a request from those who are sincerely seeking instruction, the one who has a call to teach must give the most deliberate consideration to responding.

This type of thinking challenges me to confront the question:  Do you teach to live or do you live to teach?  Another way to put the question would be to examine whether I am accept the offer to teach primarily and principally as a means to make a living, or do I view the opportunity to teach as an open door through which God is directing me to proceed in faith depending upon him and him alone to provide for my earthly needs?

Am I taking no thought for tomorrow, anxious over what I will eat or where I will live or how I will be clothed?  Am I willing to follow on trusting the one who is my Guide, not only to make the way clear, but also to provide all that will be needed for me to progress along that way?  Here Bonhoeffer instructs: "The only way to win assurance is by leaving to-morrow entirely in the hands of God and by receiving from him all we need for to-day" (Discipleship, 178).

"Watch and Pray"

I find myself in a time of waiting. As I ponder the options that are before me, I continue to wait on the responses of others to clarify what opportunities are presently open to me. While prayer is always essential to the one who seeks to follow Christ, I'm realizing even more how necessary it is during these times of waiting.

Bonhoeffer's comments on the petition "Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth" are particularly poignant as I seek to practice living a submitted, singular and sacrificed life. He writes: "In fellowship with Jesus his followers have surrendered their own wills completely to God's, and so they pray that God's will may be done throughout the world. No creature on earth shall defy him. But the evil will is still alive even in the followers of Christ, it still seeks to cut them off from fellowship with him; and that is why they must also pray that the will of God may prevail more and more in their hearts every day and break down all defiance" (Discipleship 166).

Psalm 40 echoes this theme -- "my delight is to do your will, O Lord!" -- and so may my heart and mind! Show me your way, O Lord; lead me in the path you have set out ahead of me. Again, Bonhoeffer speaks to the heart of the matter: "It is always true of the disciple that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and he must therefore "watch and pray" (Discipleship 170).

Practicing Mindfulness

A few weeks ago I learned that a teaching opportunity that I had been told would be opening for me in St. Louis within the next academic year will, in fact, not be opening. The door to that opportunity seems to be closing or is actually completely closed now. I had been planning on that position, but now it appears that I have a much greater need to practice daily mindfulness rather than living so much for an imagined future whose fulfillment was and is completely out of my hands.

In the midst of this time of searching for guidance and reflection upon my calling to teach, I have started to read Thich Nhat Hanh's little book, The Miracle of Mindfulness. Thich Nhat Hanh had a substantial impact upon Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King even nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the movement for peace in Vietnam during the 1960's.

I was first introduced to the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh by my good friend and colleague, John Han, when I served with him on the faculty of Missouri Baptist University. As I have read, I have been challenged by Hanh's insights in to living a whole life. In this little book, he writes: "Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves. . . it is the miracle which can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life" (21).

Thich Nhat Hanh's instruction on the practice of mindfulness echoes the theme of "single-mindedness" that pervades the New Testament. More than merely a self-discipline, single-mindedness is very much a gift of the Holy Spirit as he is at work forming within each follower of Jesus the mind of Christ. Paul exhorts the disciple of Christ to do whatever your hand finds to do heartily as unto to the Lord (Colossians 3:23) and to do all things to the glory of God. This is practicing mindfulness.

May I be living more wholly in the fullness of my present calling today that I may know and practice such mindfulness in each moment that is granted to me.

Study*Practice*Teach

Today, I launched a new blog where I'll be posting my reflections, from time-to-time, along the way of studying-practicing-teaching.  Together with the direction I received to return to teaching at Fontbonne in St. Louis, I've also sensed a renewed call to engage this path more deliberately now and in the coming days.  By God's sustaining and empowering grace, I'll seek to follow the pattern of the ancient Ezra who "set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes." (Ezra 7:10).