Adaption or transformation?

Shoib sat with me outside his house under the images of various gods.  “I am fearful of these gods” he said to me, and so I was able to share a little of my God who does not induce fear but rather a response of love.  After some time of conversation tears filled his eyes we, prayed together and he too experienced something of the love of God.  Then we shared a cup of sweet tea and a some roasted corn as we looked out at his personal shrine and I wondered to what extent Jesus might simply be just an addition to the shrine, as opposed to a complete replacement of it.  How much would Shoib’s life be changed following his encounter with Jesus?  So today I pray for those who will follow up on this encounter and seek to disciple my new brother and help him to walk the tightrope of living in his culture, while allowing his newfound faith to challenge and transform his way of life within it.

The challenge faced is put well by Leslie Newbiggin when he wrote, “How far should the Gospel be at home in a culture and how far should it resist domestication?”  The debate that has carried on since the time of the birth of the church is the battle between syncretism (the combination of different faiths) and contextualization (the adaptation of the Gospel to a particular context).

The incarnation itself is a remarkable story of contextualisation – Jesus taking on the cultural form and identity of a 1^st Century Jew to make the news of the kingdom of God relevant to his audience.  Missionaries have and continued to wrestle with this tension today.  Can someone follow Christ in a mosque?  Can they continue to retain their cultural identity?  To what extent does there need to be a radical disconnect form the religious and cultural practices of the past?

The challenge of overseas mission is equally relevant to the context of the UK today.  The gods of the West may be less immediately visible than the doorstep shrine in Asia, but they are equally captivating and hard to pull away from.  Individualism, materialism, consumerism and the enticement of celebrity culture all too often have a hold on the followers of Jesus in the UK today.  We can too quickly be critical of others without casting a searching eye over our own battle with syncretism.  Our faith can live  unquestioningly alongside our materialism and other trappings of Western culture.  We need to continue to wrestle with what it means to faithfully follow an incarnational model of Christian living in our own culture.

Murmurs in the sky

A murmuration of starlings is a wonderful sight!  This happens at dusk as starlings congregate in ever increasing numbers to dance rhythmically across the darkening sky.  It is quite amazing how they seem to do this without colliding and falling to the ground.  Staring at the sight, as I finished my digging in the vegetable plot at the end of the garden, was an inspiring end to the day.  Having been talking earlier about the nature of church it was inevitable that the two should in some way be combined. 

Firstly there is the beauty of the birds flying in unity that points to the beauty of the unity of the community of believers that Jesus prayed for and is recorded in John 17 – “I pray that all of them may be one…”  It is a beautiful sight when the people of God live in unity.

Secondly there is the sound of the birds flying together that would pass imperceptibly if it were a solitary starling.  This points to the wonderful synergy of the family of God coming together.  The impact of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts when the various gifts, talents and characters are combined.

Thirdly there is the common sense of direction as the birds move together and not in opposing directions, pointing to the common purpose of the people of God to know God and to make him known.  Serving the Lord with a shared vision and purpose is great.

Finally there is the responsiveness to change as the birds move together in one direction and then shift to another.  Changes in direction are something that the church frequently struggles with, but in doing so finds new life.

God reveals himself in creation, and I was glad to catch a glimpse of this in the vegetable patch today!