The Good Lament

Of all the days of Holy Week—between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday—Good Friday (today) is the darkest. So why is it called “Good?” According to etymologists, it comes from the obsolete sense of using that word to mean “pious” or “holy,” such as calling the Holy Bible, the “Good Book.”

But the actual events of that day, experienced by Christ and his followers were anything but good. The horrific sequence of Jesus’ betrayal, fake trial, mocking, torture, and crucifixion, so graphically portrayed in Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of Christ, help us today get a glimpse of just how opposite of “good” that day was.

The moment of that Friday, two thousand years ago that interests me, however, is when it was all over—when Jesus was still hanging on the cross, now just a dead human corpse and the farthest possible thing from the conquering king the crowds of Palm Sunday had imagined. Scripture doesn’t dwell very much on that moment. Matthew and Mark simply let us know that there were some women still watching from afar. John moves right on to assure readers all he had recorded up to that point was true. Only Luke gives us a hint about the emotion felt by some of the people at the crucifixion event: all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts (Lk 23:48.) My study Bible notes tell me that’s another way of saying they were experiencing anguish and grief.

It is anguish and grief that are exactly what interest me this particular Good Friday. As I write this, (on April 10, 2020) the United States is just about to reach a peak death rate statistic thanks to the devastating impact of the coronavirus. Personally, I don’t have the capacity to grasp the anguish of some 2000 families in my country who this very day will experience the loss of a loved one—let alone the other 3000 who will experience the same thing around the world. Then there is the grief associated with loss of jobs, diminished savings accounts, missed graduation experiences, or of depressing isolation. How are we to grapple with the immensity of such incredible global pandemic impact such as this?

One of the things that strikes me about the events of Holy Week, is that for some reason, God decided that the resurrection should not occur until the Sunday after Good Friday. How come? Why not the very next morning? What was the point of having to go through all of Saturday and Saturday night carrying all that anguish, grief, and hopelessness when the whole point was to “conquer death” anyway?

I think the answer to that question has something to do with the importance of lament. This is a word that I have never really understood before. Of course, I’ve been aware that many of the Psalms are expressions of lament and that the Old Testament has the entire book of Lamentations. But why does the biblical account feature this aspect of lament so much and what does it have to say to us today?

Example of Kintsugi art piece

This past week, I heard an online discussion on the Veritas Forum (http://www.veritas.org/) that helped me learn for the first time why lament might be so important—why lament might actually be GOOD. During the forum, the well-known artist, Mako Fujimura used the Japanese art form called Kintsugi to illustrate how people might need to process what we are currently experiencing with COVID19. Kintsugi is the art form of taking a broken piece of pottery and reassembling it using gold or silver lacquer in the cracks to cement the pieces back together. The result is actually something that can be more beautiful and valuable than the original unbroken piece. But the key, says Mako, is to differentiate between simply fixing something as opposed to crafting and transforming it with new beauty and purpose. In the Kintsugi tradition, in order to make something new that is truly a new work of art, you literally must hold on to the broken pieces for a significant amount of time to study them and get to know their shapes well before proceeding. Making the link with real life, Mako went on to suggest that is exactly what lament is—a period of time to embrace and fully grasp the brokenness that exists.

I have to admit this idea is very foreign to me. I’m a fixer. I like to repair things in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Just ask my wife about the countless times in our 43 years of marriage when she shared a hurt or an emotional wound and instead of identifying with her and trying to feel her pain, all I wanted to do was fix the situation as quickly as possible. That’s why the idea of taking time for lament is not natural for me. Nor do I think it is natural for our modern society in general. Most of what I hear in response to this pandemic (besides who to blame for it) is how to “fix” things as quickly as possible so as to get back to “normal” again.

However, just like at the first Good Friday, there may not ever again be a “normal” the same way we thought there should be. And maybe the “new normal” that will result is going to force a totally new way of thinking about ourselves and our world in order to carry on.

It’s easy for us with our historical hindsight to quickly pass over the anguish, grief, and lament that Jesus’ followers experienced during the hours that immediately followed the crucifixion. We love to shout out that phrase, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!” because we love to focus on the glorious image of Easter morning with the empty tomb and the victory over death it represents. After all, why wallow in despair and darkness when we know the joy and brightness of the “end of the story?”

But is it possible that experiencing a season of true lament is actually needed in order to more fully appreciate and embrace whatever “new normal” the future may hold? Just like the longer a Kintsugi artist holds the broken pieces of his pottery, the more beautiful he or she will be able to transform it into new work of art, so should we fully grasp the brokenness of this coronavirus moment in order to consider how we could emerge more sensitive, caring, and more fully human than ever before.

So, if there is anything that the story of Good Friday has to say to us on this particular April 10, 2020, it’s that lament can be GOOD after all!

Palm Sunday, Crowns, and the Coronavirus

Today, on this Palm Sunday, I have been asking myself this question: Why did Jesus plan and go through the triumphal entry experience commemorated by this day? Was it because he wanted people to have an opportunity in recognizing him for who he really was – the Messiah, the King, their Lord? Or was it because he wanted to do something that would finally tip the scales with the religious authorities and trigger the ultimate events of Holy Week? 

Perhaps these are both correct. But, might there be an even deeper significance to this day that God wanted to use in order to contrast two very different perspectives that resulted from Palm Sunday versus Easter Sunday?

Consider the following:

• ·         The people welcoming Jesus on Palm Sunday were doing so because they saw him as the Messiah—a savior and a solution to their political bondage and frustrations.  They were ready to offer him a crown of a ruler in the way they understood the concept of kingdom. It was to be a kingdom where they (as common people, Jewish citizens, etc.) had everything to gain and nothing to lose. In a sense, they wanted to offer Jesus a crown while keeping the crowns of their own private, personal kingdoms. No wonder they were excited: It would have been all gain with no pain!
• ·         In contrast, God unfolds his Eternal plan of salvation through circumstances very different from those expectations. His Son is betrayed, maligned, rejected, and ultimately crucified. The sign nailed on the cross "King of the Jews" is put there not in honor, but in derision. Instead of the type of crown the people were ready to give Jesus on Palm Sunday, he now wears a crown of thorns--a symbol of the price paid for experiencing the horrific rejection of both mankind and also, for a time, of God the Father.
• ·         On Easter Sunday, however, exactly one week later, Jesus rises from dead as the true King, not only of the Jews, but King of Kings. In stark contrast to the hope and expectations people had a week before, now to acknowledge his Kingship, as well as his being Messiah and Savior, there is a cost involved. Another way to say it is in order to crown Jesus with the crown he deserves as King of Kings, one must first experience the costly acknowledgement of personal sin, repent of that sin, and humbly accept the forgiveness, redemption, and restitution he offers. In other words, one does indeed have much to gain, but only first by experiencing the pain of losing his or her own personal crown.
• ·         Therefore, a Palm Sunday "Messiah" seems to represent a two-kingdom solution to what was a temporary, local dilemma, whereas Easter Sunday’s "King of Kings" represents a one-kingdom solution to mankind's ultimate dilemma of sin and eternal salvation.

Relating this to the Coronavirus

 

Wikipedia offers this following definition: The name coronavirus is derived from the Latin corona, meaning "crown" or "halo.” This is due to the crown-type appearance of the virus when viewed under an electron microscope.   

It is interesting that in the midst of this current pandemic, the coronavirus has indeed taken on the symbolic crown of a "king" that has totally dominated the world and ruthlessly exerted its power of life and death over all mankind. As we witness how most people view these events, it seems evident that most would simply like this situation to go away quickly so that all can go back to normal again. It’s easy to see how people don't like how the coronavirus has exerted a one-kingdom domination forcing them to give up their own personal "crowns" and kingdoms of comfort and self-reliance in order to be subservient to laws of isolation, containment, and survival.

The displeasure of being de-throwned from their personal kingdoms is further illustrated by the popular  tendency to 1) try to find who to blame (Chinese, Trump, federal government incompetence, etc.) and 2) wanting to get back to "normal" as quickly as possible. All of this is evidence of desperately wanting to maintain a two-kingdom world.  In other words, God or the coronavirus can do whatever they like, as long as it doesn't overly impact my own personal kingdom.

In 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 God says to his people: When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, IF my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Is it possible God has sent this world-wide plague in the context of 2 Chronicles 7? Is it possible He wants to get the attention of people who are so caught up in their two-kingdom worlds that they can't possibly conceive of the fact that God created the universe to run as a one-kingdom system? Like C.S. Lewis says in his book, The Problem of Pain, is it possible God is using the pain of this coronavirus pandemic as his “megaphone to a deaf world?”

I have to admit that during most Palm Sundays, I have focused primarily on the joyful image of Jesus riding on a donkey, prophetically portrayed as our future King and highlighted by children marching into church waving palm branches and singing “hosanna” songs.  I have not ever thought about it as a possible object lesson God might have planned to contrast my preferred gain-with-no-pain, two-kingdom world with his gain-through-personal-repentance, one-kingdom world of Easter Sunday.

And since this particular Palm Sunday occurs smack in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, what additional lesson does God want me to learn from the way He could be using the coronavirus as a personal call back to a 2 Chronicles 7 response of humility, prayer, and confession?  

I guess I definitely have no excuse about having enough time to think about answers to these questions!

Advent Adventure

Last Sunday, Anita and I had the privilege of initiating the Advent season at our church by lighting the first candle of the Advent Wreath with the special help of all four of our grandchildren. Before the official candle-lighting, I had the chance to review with our congregation some of the history and meaning of this tradition.

Most remember that the roots of today's Advent tradition go back to the early days of the Reformation when Martin Luther and other church fathers sought practical ways to make the Gospel message clear and meaningful, especially to children. Along with the Christmas Tree, the Advent Wreath was a great way to teach such things as the circular wreath being a symbol of Eternal Life as well as a royal crown for King Jesus, the prickly holly a symbol of His crown of thorns, the pine cones of rebirth and new life, the candles of God's Word lighting the darkness, etc., etc.

But as I reviewed what to share at church, there was a new aspect that I had not thought about before. It had to do with the Latin word from which we get the English advent.The word is adventus which means arrival or coming. What I learned, however, is that the etymology of adventus shows it is actually made up of advenio (arrival) and tus (a suffix that turns it into an action noun.) This means that the concept of advent is not a ho-hum type waiting, like waiting for the school bus to arrive. It is a much more active involvement, like sitting on the edge of your seat with great expectation. Think of the word adventure, which is also derived from the same Latin root. You embark on an adventure with great expectation that something exciting, unexpected, and remarkable might lie ahead.

Another great way to capture this concept of active waiting is to think of the five candles on the Advent Wreath as similar to a NASA countdown toward a rocket launch: 5-4-3-2-1. . . Every second ticked away brings you closer to the exciting climax of a BLASTOFF! In the case of the wreath, the five candles count off the weeks toward the celebration of the most remarkable event in all of human history--the arrival of the Christ Child, Emmanuel, God-with-us! And just like NASA uses countdowns to remember critical action steps in a rocket launch sequence, so too, the five candles provide important reminders of what Christ's coming means to us. The first candle is the Prophesy Candle with a focus on the Hope the prophets told us about. The second is the Bethlehem Candle with a focus on God's Love demonstrated by the incarnation. The third is the Shepherd's Candle with a focus on Joy, since they were the ones who heard the "tidings of great joy." The fourth is the Angel's Candle with a focus on Peace, from the announcement of "peace on earth, goodwill toward men." Finally, the last one is Christ's Candle, lit on Christmas Eve when we celebrate His coming as God's Light to a dark world.

Just like the Advent Wreath is a great exercise in waiting expectantly for the celebration of Christmas, it is also a wonderful reminder that we all still live in the tension of waiting for Christ's Second Coming which is still in the future. May all of our waiting for that ultimate event be an active adventus-type waiting with readiness and great expectation--since without doubt, God definitely has more ADVENTURE waiting for all of us ahead!

Merry Christmas
Jon Lewis                          

Strengthening the Foundation

One of the most amazing stories of impressive church growth has been documented in the book by Jerry Trousdale called Miraculous Movements. Utilizing a methodology called Disciple Making Movements (DMM) that results in planting small house churches even in tough, resistant communities, the book tells about explosive church multiplication in various countries of Africa and Asia. I have actually been using this book as one of my required texts for the class I teach at Whitworth University on The Global Christian Movement.

I recently sat down for coffee in Addis Ababa with an Ethiopian friend, who shared some insights about how this strategy is faring now years later. As former director of a church planting organisation intimately involved with DMM, he and his staff have used it to plant literally thousands of small, house churches during the past ten years. According to him, it was some of these very "miraculous movements" that Jerry used as powerful illustrations in his book. 

He explained that most of those church plants are doing just fine, but that there were some, as might be expected, that have not stood the test of time.  "What do you think those that have not lasted were missing?" I asked. "I can't  give you a definitive answer yet," he told me, "but I believe it involves five key elements that were not present or emphasized enough. Today, as we continue to plant churches especially in larger urban areas, we are making sure that those five things become an integral part of the life of those churches with the hope it will help them be sustained indefinitely."

Anxious to hear more, I ordered another round of coffee macchiatos, pulled out my notebook, and said "OK, tell me what those five key elements are." Here was his reply:

1. People need to truly be in love with Jesus. This means a sincere desire to get to know Christ and imitate Him in their daily walk.
2. People need to learn how to study Scripture with real depth. This has to be more than just reading a passage and sharing what you think it means. It  means really digging in to learn the full truth God wants to reveal in His Word.  He also added that just listening to a preacher, no matter how gifted or popular, is also no substitute for committed personal Bible study.
3. People need to worship through singing that truly comes from the heart. It is not enough to sing songs other people think are neat. Singing from the heart, even composing personal worship songs, is a critical measure of someone's passion for God.
4. People need to develop a consistent habit of pray. It is not good enough to just go through the motions of prayer. They need to enter into a prayer experience that helps them connect personally and intimately with God.
5. People need to understand what true fellowship of the Body of Christ is all about. This cannot be for just an hour on Sunday morning, but a commitment to community that causes them to care for each other throughout the week.

As I jotted all of these down, I was struck with the fact that nothing here seemed to be earth-shaking or radical. But in every case, my friend kept emphasizing words like "truly" and "sincere." So, it appears that consistent discipleship that encourages these five habits just may be the bottom line "secret" to house church communities that are able to stand that test of time. 

I will be very interested to stay in tune with my friend and hear what reports he might have down the road about lasting impact of these efforts. In the meantime, it seems to me that all of us as Christians around the world could benefit from following the insights being learned and modeled by our brothers and sisters in Addis Ababa and the house churches they are planting.

(Note: This blog post has been rewritten from its original version and re-posted here on March 13, 2020. This is due to my misrepresenting what I had understood my friend had shared with me as well as lacking to request his permission for sharing his name and picture. For this I apologize to him and to all who read my original posting. Unfortunately, I also must delete some of the comments in order to preserve my friends anonymity.  I trust that this new edited version is now both more accurate and continues to honor my friend and his amazing work in advancing God's Kingdom through church planting.)

The Wisdom of Solomons

It’s not often that you get to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. But it is even more rare to benefit from the collective wisdom of two Solomons at the same time! Yet that is exactly what I got to do on May 4 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when I was able to introduce two friends from my past life as manager with MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship.)

Solomon Gizau was assigned to my region in the early 1990s as the first Ethiopian national to qualify as an MAF pilot. At that time, he and his family lived in Uganda, but even then, I knew his heart was set on some day returning to fly in his home country. That is exactly what he did, eventually starting the Abyssinian Air Service business with one leased Caravan aircraft and over the years, expanding it to seven Caravans, a helicopter and ten training aircraft used for his flight school. Today AAS is second only to Ethiopian Airlines as a national aviation company that trains and hires all local staff to accomplish its mission.

About that same time back in the 90s, I first met Souleymane Kouyate when I was searching for someone to recruit  for helping to open up a new program. A handsome, six-foot-plus, West Africa, Solo, as we called him, brought along two things he had picked up along the way in France—a degree in electrical engineering and a five-foot-two, blond-haired, blue-eyed wife! It’s been a pleasure watching him grow in experience and capability over the years to the point where today he serves in the same position I used to have—MAF Regional Director for Africa.

Never having met each other, I felt it would be mutually beneficial to getting these two Solomons together to see what collaboration just might arise from their collective wisdom. Finally, this last May 4^th it worked out and for half a day, along with MAF VP of Operations, Dan Whitehead

 we shared experiences, lessons learned, stories, and also some outstanding enjera wat Ethiopian food. As I expected, the insights gained were many. Here are just some of the topics we covered:

• The state of aviation regulation in Africa and how it impacts a small business start-up.
• The future use of light aviation by the church and mission community.
• The challenges of maintaining a safety-conscious aviation culture in an African context.
• The margin of profitability for a small, commercial aviation organization in Africa.
• The importance of not submitting to expected bribes by government aviation officials.
• The possibility of giving Western MAF pilots an introductory internship with AAS before beginning their ministry assignment.

 If there is anything I came away with from our time together, it was the satisfaction of knowing that despite the challenges, Africa’s future is in good hands if outstanding national leaders such as these two Solomons are at the helms of their organizations.  And, they might even have some pretty good wisdom to pass on to the rest of us non-Africans as well.

Flying High at the MAFI Global Forum

MAFI CEO, Dave Fyock, opens the Global Forum meeting

You may know all about the historic ministry work of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). But you may not be aware that today there are some fifteen MAFs around the world. Besides the MAF organizations in the United States and Canada, all the rest have organized themselves as spokes around the hub of a single flight operations group called MAFI (International) with headquarters in Ashford, UK. Every year, representatives of all these groups gather for a global forum to praise God for what is happening and discuss the challenges of future ministry service.

Challenging everyone with what the future of MAF might be

I was privileged this year to be the keynote speaker for the Forum plus spend a couple of extra days facilitating strategic planning discussions. Altogether, I come away with a new appreciation for this great, committed group of organizations and impressed with the way they are grappling with the challenges of future relevancy.

Here are a few of my observations from the past four days:

• ·        New MAF resource groups are emerging from countries that have not been traditional “players” in the mission aviation world. Gathered with us were members of MAF Italy, France, India, Singapore, and Philippines.  

  

  MAFI leadership team grappling with a SWOT exercise

• ·        Although MAF-UK has been the dominate resource entity for MAFI for both funds and technical staff, MAF Switzerland is now supplying as many new pilots for field operations as anyone. This is partly due to great marketing efforts by Hans Leutwyler, MAFS CEO, and partly to a Swiss government policy that offers to pay for half of a future pilot’s flight training.
• ·        There is a strong effort to recruit pilots for MAFI from developing countries of the Global South. A pilot training center in Australia is focusing on this right now and

  

  Board members of MAF UK, Switzerland, Italy, and Norway
  enjoy some Rhone valley red Beaujolais before dinner.

  there is even the possibility that young pilots might have a chance to build experience by being employed short term as flight instructors in Singapore Airlines' basic flight school.
•        Although everyone believes it is still a long ways off, a joint Technology Task Force headed by MAF Canada CEO, Brad Bell, is already studying future mission applications of such things as drones and electric-powered sky taxis.

I was delighted that all these initiatives of MAFI validated the key conclusions I had prepared for my plenary talk—namely that the next season of mission aviation will demand thinking in new and creative ways in order to continue “crossing barriers” and advancing God’s Kingdom around the world.

 I don’t know if I’ll ever be invited back to another MAFI Global Forum, but if they ever decide to hold it again in Lyon, France, the capital of French gastronomic cuisine, (well-proved by the chefs at our hotel!) I won’t hesitate to accept!

Insights into African Leadership

If there is any cry that I have heard loud and clear from the continent of Africa, it is the need for leadership development. And it seems that despite the plethora of courses, curricula, and consultants pouring into the African continent from the US and other nations, it never seems to quench the thirst for more help in training and preparing Christians leaders. That is why the results of the recent African Leadership Study (ALS) sponsored by the Tyndale House Foundation is such a timely resource for getting a better grasp on the dynamics of African Christian leaders.

Recently, I was sent an advanced copy of the study results packaged in the book, African Christian Leadership and its accompanying pamphlet 17 Insights into Leadership in Africa. Right away, I got a sense of the significant effort that was expended over several years to accomplish this research—a clear tribute to academic rigor. I also loved how the leadership team for the project involved 32 experienced participants, a majority of which were African themselves.

The study involved gathering input from 8000 Africans in three countries via a 93-question survey to inquire about the types of leaders and leadership qualities that have the greatest impact in the African context. Most significant to me was that the planners choose their target countries so that they represented all three major language groups of Africa: English, French, and Portuguese. Since my experience is that Anglophone regions of Africa always get the predominance of attention from the West, it was very encouraging to see this attention to better balance.

Sharing about ALS at a leadership workshop in Senegal

During my last trip to West Africa, I had the chance to share about the ALS with leader friends in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. Needless to say, there was immediate enthusiasm and interest in learning more about the study results. And, fortunately, the project is creating an interactive website in all three languages that will provide for that sort of on-going learning and dialog to happen. You can check it out yourself at: http://www.africaleadershipstudy.org/

As you might expect, however, I also heard some healthy criticism as some leaders questioned how broad conclusions about African leaders could be made from just surveying three countries. As one friend put it, “Do you think I would fully understand America if I interviewed a few people only in Maryland, Kansas, and Oregon?”  Nevertheless, my sense is that the ALS has produced a valiant effort that certainly opens the door for more discussion and learning. I believe this initiative deserves as much exposure as possible and will be a welcome addition in the continued effort to encourage the healthy development and training of the emerging generation of African Christian leaders.