I'm working as a missionary.
The hardest part about this, literally, is asking people for money. It is so hard, that I haven't even really done it yet.
The fundraising book I was given says that one of the mistakes missionaries on "domestic assignments" make is having a target-only mentality, promoted by Galations 6:6: "And let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches."
I do not have this mentality. The people I'm serving, I serve because they have needs. Their cupboards are more empty than mine. Yet I am consistently being offered things by these people: fruit, pizza, pop, water, money for something I want to buy at the store. Sometimes my biggest struggle is to accept the gifts they offer.
Just yesterday I was sitting in my friend Sarah's living room, and she asked me what my job is. I told her that being there, helping her with her son and teaching English is my job. She asked how I get money, and I told her that I ask people for it. She asked if I got money from the government. No, I said. Sometimes I will ask churches, though. She understood that and was fairly satisfied. But then she said, "I use you too much. What if you need money for gas, or food?" And I said she fed me lunch yesterday and I was currently eating her watermelon. She shook her head, mystified as to how I was surviving.
I used to say the kids I played with after school were "my kids." Obviously that isn't really true, I have very little ownership of them. However, now I can say they are my kids. Their families are my families. Their people are my people. Not because I claim them, but because they claim me.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Not sacrifice
In Matthew 9, Jesus is doing all sorts of crazy things. Calling a tax collector as a disciple, eating with tax collectors and sinners - where the Pharisees could see Him, no less!
This is one of the places where we hear Jesus say, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." But it is the next sentence that has been on my mind this week: "Go and learn what this means, ' I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'"
I'm working as a missionary, and it's hard sometimes. Kids get attitudes, there isn't enough food to hand out at distribution, I have to tell a woman for the twentieth time that you cannot have an action (a child doesn't have playing...your garden doesn't have dig). The thing that is probably the most frustrating, however, is when people I am close to do not understand how important it is that someone is there for my friends, and that I want to be there for them.
I can't imagine how much more effective churches would be if they could learn what it means for God to desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
Our understanding of the word sacrifice might be a little bit different than the first century Pharisees, but I imagine that to them, sacrifice was akin to being "right with God". We no longer give burnt offerings to God to pay for our sins, Christians believe that is why Jesus was here. But what is the point in Jesus' death if we are simply replacing animal sacrifices with other kinds of sacrifices and still neglecting the mercy part?
This is one of the places where we hear Jesus say, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." But it is the next sentence that has been on my mind this week: "Go and learn what this means, ' I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'"
I'm working as a missionary, and it's hard sometimes. Kids get attitudes, there isn't enough food to hand out at distribution, I have to tell a woman for the twentieth time that you cannot have an action (a child doesn't have playing...your garden doesn't have dig). The thing that is probably the most frustrating, however, is when people I am close to do not understand how important it is that someone is there for my friends, and that I want to be there for them.
I can't imagine how much more effective churches would be if they could learn what it means for God to desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
Our understanding of the word sacrifice might be a little bit different than the first century Pharisees, but I imagine that to them, sacrifice was akin to being "right with God". We no longer give burnt offerings to God to pay for our sins, Christians believe that is why Jesus was here. But what is the point in Jesus' death if we are simply replacing animal sacrifices with other kinds of sacrifices and still neglecting the mercy part?
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Why Yatsar?
Why yatsar?
It's the Hebrew word for distressed, cramped, to make narrow. It's used when Jacob's brother Esau is after him with 400 men for stealing his birthright and his blessing (although, let's be fair, Esau sold his birthright).
It's used when David is about to be stoned by his people for allowing all of the women and children of Ziklag to have been carried off. (1 Samuel 30. Interesting story. Go read it.)
It's used in Job, when one of his friends is speaking about God punishing the wicked.
But, beautifully, in Genesis 2 it is also the word used to describe God creating Adam from the dirt.
And this is why I am titling my blog Yatsar. Because even though I experience distress every day of my life (some days more than others), every day of my life God is also squeezing me, pushing me from the dirt of my past into a new creation. God uses the distresses of our lives to form us. And I find that to be awesome and powerful.
It's the Hebrew word for distressed, cramped, to make narrow. It's used when Jacob's brother Esau is after him with 400 men for stealing his birthright and his blessing (although, let's be fair, Esau sold his birthright).
It's used when David is about to be stoned by his people for allowing all of the women and children of Ziklag to have been carried off. (1 Samuel 30. Interesting story. Go read it.)
It's used in Job, when one of his friends is speaking about God punishing the wicked.
But, beautifully, in Genesis 2 it is also the word used to describe God creating Adam from the dirt.
And this is why I am titling my blog Yatsar. Because even though I experience distress every day of my life (some days more than others), every day of my life God is also squeezing me, pushing me from the dirt of my past into a new creation. God uses the distresses of our lives to form us. And I find that to be awesome and powerful.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)