Crusades

Today was a sad day.

As a Christian, I love to think that Christians- due to the Spirit in their lives and their wonderful privilege of knowing their great God as father- are more loving than the rest of the world. And my theology and my experience would say that in some senses they are. But today we looked at the crusades in my "History of Christian Mission" subject- and I had to face the fact that my brothers and sisters in Christ in the past made a stupid, evil mistake. I am not even assuming that all crusaders were Christians- but I think it is fair to say that at least some involved in the process were.

The killing of the Jews along the way. The threat of death to those conquered unless they were baptised. The lack of any real compassion or love for the Muslims they were attacking. Conquering and conquest under the pretence of redemption. Pure and simple racism flying behind a banner that contained the cross of my saviour.

It is heart breaking. It is sin. It is remarkable that Christ died for those misguided crusaders. It is remarkable that he died for me.

Praise the Lord for his grace- let us pray that our Jewish and Muslim neighbours would see love through Christian witness, and know that grace through Christ.

Papyrus

The theme of this week at College seems to be archeology. As we study the Old Testament, as we move (relatively quickly) through our overview of the books and sections of the Bible, we pause momentarily at various points to put what we are learning in its historical context. Much of this involves thinking about archaeology and what place it has in coming to understand the Bible. Some people find it a bit boring- but I love it! It is amazing to think about God, working in and through history to enact his purposes. Its helpful to think about what archeology can and can't prove (it doesn't-reasonably enough- always seem to want to answer the questions we want to ask)- and yet the little evidence mixed in with the Biblical account gives me comfort that God's word truly describes what happens.

But the most interesting archaeological discovery I had this week was in a lecture about Papyrus. You see, for many, many years- there was a lot of mystery as to how to understand many words in the Greek New Testament (around 760!) that only ever appeared in the Bible. People would try to work it out from context and from earlier translations- but this process was fraught with error. People even talked about "New Testament Greek" like it was a language all of its own that couldn't be compared to anything.

One of the problems was that the writings of New Testament days often did not last because the paper would rot away from connection with water- either rain or flooding depending where it was found.

But in Egypt there was a town by the name of Oxyrhynchus. Oxyrhynchus got its water from a canal off the Nile- and so unlike the rest of Egypt it was not subject to flooding. And being in the dessert- they never got any rain. So when the people of Oxyrhynchus dug holes in the dessert sand and buried their papyrus documents (everything from bills to religious documents)- 2000 years later archaeologists were able to find it completely in-tact!

The Oldest copy of a part of the New Testament was found in Oxyrhynchus- a section of the gospel of John that appears to be copied with decades of John penning the original! And those 760 Greek words that were only found in the New Testament were almost all found in the Oxyrhynchus documents- so that we can now have an even better understanding of what the writers of the New Testament meant when they used certain words- and can be more confident that our translations are correct.

Archeology doesn't seem to always answer the questions that we want to ask- and sometimes can be frustrating. But this week was a real reminder that God is in control of all of it- and provides for his people.

Sandy and Me

I was retreving photos off my phone and found this one of Sandy's visit in March and thought I'd put it up. One of the rare photos where we look alike! So strange not being in the same city as my sister- after being in the same house and even the same bedroom for so long!

Love you Sandy!

B

That priceless moment

I had a lovely day today. You know that priceless moment when someone you spend time with moves from an aquantance to a friend? Sometimes it just passes you with little fan-fare; and you don't even remember that there was ever a time when conversation was silted and barriers were up. Sometimes (oh those beautiful rare times!) you met someone and it's there from the instant you first talk- you are friends and you would always be friends. Other times it is very dramatic when pain or shared goals bring you together because you just happened to be the person there at the key time.

And sometimes you know a person for a little while and are friendish and then you get past that hurdle with a really lovely, deep, meaningful conversation. I had two of them today.

What a lovely day! Praise God.

Ministry Role Models

I don't know about you, but I am one of those people who wants to do everything. I am the one who puts my hands up at meeting, who gets excited about everything and wants to contribute to every ones projects. I'm often organising parties and social events. And when Tim says "Are you sure? You always get stressed when you organise things" I just dismiss his usually quite justified concerns.

And this was one of the reasons that I resonated so much with the story of M, my second model from mission of a ministry wife.

M is one of those really gorgeous people. I don't just mean personality wise. I mean she looks just beautiful, a knock out- it was the first thing I thought when i met her. One of those people who you met and assume she must be in her late twenties- only to find out she's got two teenagers!

M home schools her kids, which in and of itself is a phenomenal thing. Maybe in other societies where its more common its not such a big deal- but in Australia where many women go straight back to work after childbirth- or at the very least when the youngest kid goes to school- it just seems like a huge deal to commit yourself to 13 extra years of very hands on care. Not to mention the actually teaching involved. I think M got closer than anyone has before in selling homeschooling to me. Her two concerns which lead to this move were as follows. Firstly (and least importantly) she was a little concerned at the quality of schooling her kids would get and thought with private teaching from her they would be ahead (which they appear to be). But secondly when she thought about her kids and their lives and influences- she didn't like the idea that a non-Christian teacher may have more of an impact on her kids than she would. And with kids at school- by the time you threw in after school sports, homework and dinner- it left you with precious little time to read the Bible together. How much better, she thought, to have the Bible as an integral part of the way you teach? Many of these issues also come up in the Christian School/Non Christian school debate and I still have no idea about my ideas. But M, given her opinions was willing to put her boys and their faith first.

When she and her husband arrived at the church, she felt a fair bit of pressure because J (see last post) had been doing so much. And she simply couldn't. If she was going to keep homeschooling her boys- she couldn't be as involved in the ministry. She couldn't do everything she would have liked to do. She leads a young Mums Bible study, and helps out with music ministry- but she struggles with feeling like maybe she should be doing more.

Its a strange thing, isn't it. Its so easy to think that doing as much normal 'ministry' as you can is always the best thing. But at her stage of life and her situation- her priority was the learning and godliness of her boys- and she priorities that no matter what other people thought about it. That kind of perseverance really encourages me- who often is too busy trying to do everything to think about what is best! In some situations in all our lives we must step aside from ministry we love best to do ministry which might not be as exciting but at the time is the most important for God, his gospel, and the people he has intrusted into our care. How inspiring was it to get to know M and watch her play it out. Praise God.

love B

Ministry Role Models

Dear Friends,

I was looking over old posts and I noticed a line on my post about mission "I also got to meet two very different but great models of a ministers wife- but you will hear about them on my next post!"

Naughty Belinda! You forgot! So here is my post about the first model J (name removed for privacy sake), and I'll write about M on Wednesday.

J is an empty nester who decided when her children started school, and also when they moved away from home- that this was a fabulous opportunity to have some extra time for ministry. So she made the decision not to go back to her old job of being a school teacher- but to use the extra time to teach the Bible instead. In her early Christian life she had some mixed models of what it means to be a ministers wife- for several years she tried to talk her husband out of ministry because she thought she wasn't a suitable ministers wife. They played the piano and made sponge cakes and she wasn't any good at those things! All the while she was using her teaching gifts to bring up her children reading the Bible, and running some scripture classes. Eventually she was persuaded that perhaps those things were just as useful- and they moved into ministry.

J is a dynimo! She teaches several scripture classes (including some at a school for the disabled), runs a uni-aged girls Bible study, organises country womens Christian conferences for her area and coordinates an evangelistic kids club at the church. But one thing that stand out for me is not the amount of stuff she does but her attitude. She cares about kids becoming Christians and so she very passionate throws herself into the ministries that involve getting amoung the community. And she believes that the way women can grow is by getting stuck into the Bible- so stuck into they get under her wise council.

The other thing that stands out to me is her hospitality. Some other minstry models she had seen involved a policy of not letting church people into the house because it got in the way of the family. And while J is protective of her husband and her time (and I assume was protective of the kids when they were at home)- she doesn't do this by closing up her house. Infact, Js policy is one of an open house. One of the women from our mission team who was a former resident of the church can attest to this. New to the town- she arrived at the church and was very quickly aquainted with J. J invited her to come round to her house that day for dinner. The next day she was over at J's again for her girls Bible study. That welcome has had such an impact on this women- the warmth and welcomeness and the feeling of being imediately being swept into the church family- it had a huge impact on her life and ministry.

When I asked J what advice she had about being a minsters wife she said the main thing was to be what God had made you to be. People will always have things that they think you should do, simply because of who you are married to- and you will not serve God properly if you spend your time trying to please everyone. But if you have a ministry that you are gifted in and passionate about- then do it!

So rather than being overwhelmed that I would never be like her (my initial temptation), I was encouraged to think of what I could be like, and to follow her example of putting God and her husband first. Praise God! A real Titus 2 moment for me (look up Titus 2 if you aren't sure what I mean- it's great!)

I'll let you know about the other model on Wednesday.

love Belinda

Inclusivism

Back at College today!
It was very nice to be back, catching up on what people have been doing and learning some more. Poor Tim was sick today so he had a day sleeping at home. Please keep him in your prayers- sickness doesn't agree with him and he'd love to be at College.

One of the more fun subjects I've been doing at College (all subjects are good, but you can't for example classify Greek as fun...) is World Religions and the Gospel. The title is pretty self explanitory. Over the next two terms we will be looking at Buddhism and Islam and a Christian response- but over the previous term we've looked more generally at what is the gospel and what kind of framework do we go about thinking about other religions.

Today we were talking about Inclusivism. Perhaps the best way to first define it is to say what it is not. It is not Pluralism, which says that all religions are the same and every Religion leads to God. Inclusivism generally says that Jesus is the way that people are saved. However, it is not necessary to know the gospel to be saved- other people are included. Depending on the line you take, that can be particular subgroups of people- it might be those who haven't heard the gospel, those who are devoted in their own religion, those who are good, or even everyone.

I found this particular lesson facinating because I've always had a secret sympathy for inclusivism. I love it when I see people become Christians but for everyone who accepts the gospel, you usually see a fair few who reject it. It does seem hard that I get access to the Kingdom and others who just happened to be born in a different time/place don't.

But there are a few things that I found particularly helpful today. The first was to do with the usual argument that undercurrents this view- that if God is fair then he must save those who haven't heard. But underpinning that argument is the idea that we have the right to tell God what is fair and what is not. What God does say is that he is just, that people who trust in Jesus are saved and others are not, and it is all under his divine control. To then try to twist God around to say something else that we feel better about is to create our own god. Rather we should pray that God helps us to trust him and his faithfulness and justice and to worship him for who he is not what we want him to be.

The second point that I found helpful is what I need to be reminded always, that as humans, particularly in his time where it is so shoved to the background- we down play the seriousness of sin. Do I deserve to go to hell? Yes. Why won't I go there? Because of Gods mercy and grace and justice in his son. Sin is deserving of judgement. So no one is "lost through no fault of their own". Rather "no one is saved through their own merit".

A hard lesson but a helpful one!