Being light & salt in the world we are in but not of...

Kuala Lumpur is the bustling and ever developing capital city of my beloved Malaysia. Its a melting pot of the world as on the streets we can see people from different corners of the world represented here. I hate the heat and the traffic and the pollution but am fascinated by the people.

So, once in a while so to keep in touch with humanity at large I will go downtown during the weekend, that’s when everybody comes out. After few hours of window shopping and walking through the busy, crowded and noisy city center its time to head home as the evening draws in and as usual will get stuck in the rush hour crowd waiting for the LRT train.

That's the best time to find a place to sit and draw in the sights and sounds around me. As I look at the skyline of metropolis KL against the slightly red and grey evening sky a prayer of thanksgiving went up to God as I contemplate the wonders of this relationship I'm so privileged to enjoy with Him. This relationship gave me the reason for my existence here in this complicated world.

As I look at the people around me I wonder how many have known or is experiencing this relationship with the One who's arms and heart is always open to receive, forgive and love His fallen creatures! At times when I feel that life is heavy and losing its meaning the thought of Him brings me back to the reason and meaning of who I am and moving on purposely with living.

I can imagine a world without God, my world without God...hopelessness, helplessness, brokenness, meaninglessness... that was the world that I came from. For 16 blurry years of my childhood and younger days life was just a meaningless and empty existence! I never want to go back to that life ever again! As I think of my family, my work and calling, my social and personal life...it all makes sense because God is in it. God at the center of everything keeps my life whole and functioning as it should. I'm currently rereading the Gospel of Matthew in the translation 'The Message' by Eugene Peterson and reading this version is so much today...the frame of mind and yet still so true to its original meaning! I can attest that Eugene Peterson is one of today's godly and faithful, pastor, scholar and theologian! I have been so much challenged and blessed by his numerous books especially one called 'Subversive Spirituality' that calls the Christian to affect transformation in his/her world from the inside out which I no doubt Peterson gleaned form his years of studying and teaching the Gospels both as pastor and lecturer.

I'm challenge daily by the way Jesus lived out His Kingdom life and values boldly and unashamedly in a generation so much like ours...with the same spiritual environment and needs. Jesus called His disciples to do the same, not mere religiosity but living the kingdom life, the God life, the zoe life! Indeed, any era through the ages would have been senseless and meaningless without God's presence directly there. Yet, when we look at the biblical account of our world we 'see' the Creator God present and actively working out His salvific plan for mankind.

Through the Incarnation the presence of Immanuel became forever tangible and now through the Holy Spirit is forever etched in the hearts and lives of those who believe in His saving grace. Yes, though the world at large do not want to believe or acknowledge Him it doesn't change the fact that He still cares dearly for His creation and is fully in control even when the world thinks otherwise. As I and others who loved Him seek to live our lives as Kingdom people this old world will never be without God because we are the dwelling for His direct presence at all time until He comes!

Dating Jesus
[When 'lover of my soul' language goes too far.]

Agnieszka Tennant | posted 12/06/2006 08:43AM

God loved the world with an extravagant tenderness. He spun into our genes a strand of divine DNA. Imago dei, this God with us—it's an astonishing intimacy.

The Bible shows it from various angles: God is a hen, and we are the chicks. God is a Shepherd, and we are the straying sheep. God is a Bridegroom, and we, his church, are the bride.

We can see God draw near, and it is dizzying.

But does all this closeness mean that Jesus is the personal boyfriend of Christian women? That God is my fiancé? That the First and the Last is my husband? That he and I are dating?

So it appears to some.

In a popular book, I learn of women who set up date nights with Jesus. Christie enjoys her Friday nights by going to Barnes & Noble "to drink coffee with the Lord and to read whatever book from the Christian living section he guides me to" or by cooking a wonderful meal and setting the table for two, then "talking to God as if he is actually sitting there at my table with me, because I know that he is."

The author of this book calls women to "prayer, praise, and pampering" retreats: "Although God certainly loves us even with unshaven legs, no makeup, and a bed-head hairdo, he also deserves to occasionally have his princess sit at his feet while she is looking and feeling her best." She casts these retreats as exciting dates. "You are running away with your Lover, not confining yourself to a convent."

In another book, the author assures her readers that "you are the one that overwhelms his heart with just 'one glance of your eyes,'" quoting from the Song of Solomon. "His gaze is fixed on you," she writes. "He is captivated by your beauty."

These teachings have spread into churches. My friend's mother took part in a "tea with the Lord," during which she and the other women wore their wedding gowns—those, at least, who managed to squeeze into them—and fancied themselves as brides of Christ. An influential Kansas City church teaches thousands of people the so-called Bridal Paradigm, which encourages a quasi-romantic relationship with Christ. And who among us hasn't detected an eerie resemblance between a contemporary Christian song and a pop diva's breathy rendition of a sensual love ballad?

But such eros-laced sentiments directed at Jesus aren't a new trend. Neither is reading the Song of Solomon and other biblical passages as erotically charged letters addressed directly to the reader.

Several of those whom liturgical Christians call saints considered themselves wives of Christ. Catherine of Siena received a vision in which Christ married her and gave her a ring. It was made from foreskin left over after his circumcision. Before you laugh, consider this: After this event, Catherine devoted herself to the sick and the poor.

According to Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia, edited by Margaret C. Schaus (Routledge, 2006), medieval nuns used to participate in marriage liturgies as brides of Christ. The tradition continues in various forms today. The bridal imagery "presents explicit erotic content, yet also extols celibacy and pronounces the inherent sinfulness of sexual desire (concupiscence)."

Some men, too, managed to see themselves as brides.

The great poet John Donne besought God in the often-quoted sonnet:

Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

I don't question the devotion of anyone who says she loves Christ intensely, whatever language she uses to express it.

But I have little patience for taking biblical metaphors too far and giving one's relationship with God an air of irreverent chumminess. Somehow, the scenario in which "his princess" shaves her legs for a date with Jesus seems to leave little room for fear of God.

And consider how unhelpful this misreading must be to single women who are hormonally awake. The cruel message they get is: If Jesus is really your husband, what's your problem? Be satisfied!

The Bible is replete with breathtaking metaphors that hint at God's love for us. Thank God, we don't always take them to illogical ends: I've never heard a preacher take the Good Shepherd image to mean that God raises his children to ultimately kill and eat them.

So, yes, in addition to being the Shepherd, the Bread of Life, and the Vine, Jesus is, poetically speaking, the Bridegroom. And we—the church—are his bride.

But that doesn't mean I'll be getting into my wedding gown anytime soon. Not that it would fit.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today.

My response...

Kudos to Agnieszka for writing such a thoughtful article on a subject that I have been having the same thoughts on. It is very true that we need to put a boundary so that we do not push biblical metaphors too far and taking them or understanding them in the way the world looks at a lot of things. I agree with her contention that if such metaphors are taken too far off it will create an unhealthy air of 'chumminess' with God that will most surely create an attitude of irreverence.

And when that happens we put ourselves at an equal standing with God which is NOT right! We must learn to respect God for who He is and remember that though the relationship we are called into with Him is intimate but it never should compromise the place of God as God. The intimacy must never be confused with what we understand as human intimacy per se. God uses metaphoric language to help us understand things but with Him it always connotes a higher level of understanding, things that are spiritually divine and never humanistic nor perverted.

A person I consider a shining example in seeing herself as 'married to Christ ' is the late Mother Theresa that devoted her entire life to give dignity to the dying poor of India. I think this is the fruit of such 'divine marriage' of the heart to Christ that one is willing to lay down one's life for the high calling of following in the footsteps of Christ and not just expressing such love in abstract language of almost erotic so called worship songs.

James clearly stated in his epistle that faith without action is dead and so our Christian spirituality demands that our faith becomes real in a real world. And so being a single woman the struggle will always be there, the struggle with emotional loneliness and sexual frustrations, the struggle with society's expectation that a woman MUST have a man to validate her worth, the struggle of learning to be interdependent (despite the pull to be more independent) and the plain struggle of learning to embrace the gift of singleness and celibacy with joy and not getting stuck in the doldrums of being a desperate and overly emotional woman in her forties.

I myself have thrived on the fact that I am already married in my heart to the One who is the Eternal Groom, but after years in the Bible Seminary I have come to understand this truth in a more Christ centered biblical and theological way. Even more I believed that I'm sustained as a person, a woman who has gone through a lot of emotional turmoil from young that has tore at the very fabric of who I am a woman, because of the extravagant and exquisite love of God not only for me in the context of the human race but as an individual created in the image of God.

To this day I wear a silver ring on my 'married' finger as a personal symbol to myself that my heart is already taken and therefore I have and I am devoting my entire life to serving Him in the calling that He has given me. Therefore this is why I strongly feel, think and believe that to be married is penultimate and the ultimate thing is to become more and more Christ like, being changed from glory to glory.

So, yes, a Christian woman can be single and sane and does NOT have to create some kind of mystical concept of having Christ as boyfriend or fiancé. If we do such things where is the sense of awe and reverence for Him as the Triune God?! Biblically Christ IS our Groom to be and as Revelation puts it we need to become (the process we go through in this earthly existence) the spotless Bride that He wants us to become. This embrace both the corporate and individual level of our lives as believers.

The Christ of Christmas

Christmas is more than Santa Claus and Christmas trees

by James Montgomery Boice

HOW SHOULD WE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?

If you are not a Christian, the best way to celebrate Christmas is by becoming a Christian, that is, by believing in Jesus, asking Him to come into your heart and determining to follow Him as His disciple. But perhaps you already are a Christian. Perhaps you already have believed in Jesus. How should you celebrate Christmas then?

The story of Mary and the shepherds and the angels gives us some clues.

First, the shepherds “spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child” (Luke 2:17 NIV). This means that they became witnesses to Jesus. That God used them to spread this heavenly message must have stunned them. Shepherds were a despised class in first-century Palestine. The nature of their calling kept them from observing the ceremonial law, which meant a lot to religious people. Shepherds were also considered unreliable and were not even allowed to give testimony in the law courts.

But the angels came to shepherds with the great message that Christ the Lord – the Savior of the world – had been born in the town of David. And despite what others thought of them, the shepherds knew that lost people needed to hear that great message. It is the same today. Jesus is the world’s Savior. And people are still lost without Him.

Second, the people who heard the message “were amazed at what the shepherds said to them” (verse 18). People today are hardly amazed at anything, but it is hard to see how anyone can understand what Christmas is about and not be amazed. Christmas is the story of God becoming man, like us, in order to save us from our sins. This truth was so astonishing that people believed even shepherds!

But aren’t you amazed when you think about what God did for us? Yes, there is much about God becoming man that we cannot understand, but even if we could understand every bit of it, we still would be amazed.

Third, Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (verse 19 NIV). What Mary did went beyond mere amazement, though she marveled too. This wonderful woman also made an attempt to remember everything that was happening to her in those days and then to figure out what each of these things meant. That is, she took time to think about spiritual things, just as we should do. Christmas is a very busy time. But our time is badly spent if we allow the business of Christmas to keep us from reading the Christmas story again and again, thinking about it.

Fourth, the shepherds “returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen” (verse 20 NIV). This means that they spoke not just to others about the birth of Jesus. They also spoke to God, praising Him for it. They saw the birth of Jesus as something God had done, and they wanted to thank Him.

Here’s a suggestion. If you are willing to try to celebrate Christmas like Mary and the shepherds did, don’t begin with verse 17, which tells us to tell others about Jesus. Begin with verses 18-20, which tell us to wonder at the birth of Jesus, to ponder its meaning, and to praise God for it. Praise God for sending Jesus. Think about why Jesus came to earth on that cold night so long ago. And marvel that, because of His birth, life, death, and resurrection, you have not suffered God’s just punishment for your sins but rather have been saved from them.

From The Christ of Christmas, by James Montgomery Boice, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, ©1983. Used with permission. James Montgomery Boice holds a B.A. from Harvard University, a B.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Th.D. from University of Basel, Switzerland. He is chairman of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy.

What my Christianity means...

After having been journeying with my Creator God and Redeemer for the last 26 years I am more convinced then ever what this relationship means to me. Born in a so called Christian family I only embraced Christianity at the age of 16 during a tumultuous period of my teenage life. My family was going through a difficult period, my parents were struggling with issues of finance and my dad's mounting drinking problem. As the eldest of four other siblings the heavy burden of 'leadership' was on me. It was at that time I was going through a bad period of teen depression which I didn't realize as depression at that time. It was so bad at times that I wish to die and became quite suicidal in my thoughts. It was that one particular night through a documentary about Billy Graham's evangelistic mission and a particular message on Jesus being the ONLY DOOR to the Father that began my journey home towards God-I finally found the door and it was opened to me so after 26 years of journey it has been a worthwhile one. All the meaninglessness of life has slowly found and is still slowly but surely finding its meaning in this faith that was birth into my heart that night I found the open door to God's heart. It's going to be Christmas soon, the so called official date for Christendom to remember the birth of the Messiah, and yes, Christmas is often associated with the negative image of over commercialization yet I always choose to 'celebrate' Christmas with the understanding that its not about the festivities, presents and social gatherings but its a time to be reminded just how much God loves us and gave us the Gift of His Son so that through His redemptive work throughout His earthly life, death, resurrection and ascension that has actually provided for us that OPEN DOOR to find our way back to the Father of us all. How marvelous...thank you, God for Your great and unconditional love!