written by Stephan Joubert
Have you noticed that Jesus preferred not to use any form of transport while he was amongst us? Apart from the times when He crossed the Sea of Galilee on a boat, He always walked to wherever he wanted to go. That day when Jesus entered Jerusalem at the beginning of Passover on the back of a donkey, He used it as a symbolic means to illustrate his own humility and the true nature of God’s kingdom, not as a form of transport. The rest of the time Jesus used his own two feet to get wherever he wanted to go.
Jesus brought the kingdom of God into our world at walking speed. At a ‘staggering’ two miles per hour He transported God’s amazing grace into grace-less territory. Jesus never hurried to where He was going. He always had time on hand. As a matter of fact, He waited nearly thirty years before he even officially opened his mouth to proclaim the good news. Jesus quietly spent his childhood years in the small Galilean town of Nazareth. There He helped his father and four brothers in their carpentry shop. Perhaps He even traveled with his father, Joseph, to work in Sepphoris, a new city that was built at that time a few miles to the north of Nazareth.
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written by Stephan Joubert
Life should be about a challenge or a mission so big that it fills us with constant new energy, passion and hope. We should be hijacked by a grace quest. Do you know that song from the Musical and the Film: Man of La Mancha, The impossible dream? The lyrics (by Joe Darion), that deal with a quest, are amazing. In this song, Don Quixote explains his own quest and the reasons behind it:
The Impossible Dream
This is my quest, to follow that star …
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far …
To fight for the right, without question or pause …
To be willing to march into Hell, for a Heavenly cause …
And I know if I’ll only be true, to this glorious quest,
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm,
when I’m laid to my rest …
And the world will be better for this:
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach … the unreachable star …
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written by Stephan Joubert
When we are challenged by new ideas, opinions or ways of seeing the world, we often give up current beliefs and learn new ones. Obviously, unlearning is very difficult — otherwise the world would have been a totally different place! It requires the realization that our mental models are deficient or in need of serious updating. Then we have to change or adjust them, which, in turn, implies dismantling our present world and replacing it with a new one. We now have to make sense of a confusing array of new information, impulses and objects. Through a process of continuous learning, new mental models are built inside us to make sense of our world in a fresh new way! But unlearning is critical in this regard. “If we don’t learn to deconstruct the models that shape our worlds, we may have a very difficult time in creating new ones. The old worlds will keep coming back to haunt us.” (Jerry Wind & Colin Crook, 2006. The Power of Impossible Thinking. Transform the Business of your Life and the Life of your Business, Wharton, p. 162).
In order to relearn to live a life saturated in God’s grace, we need a quest. We need a new way of doing life in a grace-based relationship with God and others that will provide ultimate purpose, direction and passion in our lives.
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written by Stephan Joubert
Much of our lives are spent in auto-pilot mode. We live detached lives. We constantly plan for tomorrow and save up all our energy for that big somewhere on the other side of the rainbow. This auto-pilot lifestyle leads to a highly structured, routinized way of life. In many churches you’ll also see this happening with all those well planned programs and religious events, but with no spontaneity or passion. No wonder so many people in church and elsewhere experience stagnation, fear and anxiety. They feel spiritually empty and numb as the world around them becomes more and more dull. They become bored, cynic and skeptic. Nothing excites them any longer. Not even God can surprise them because they have already planned his next moves, renewals, revivals and his final return in the finest detail.
We need to attune to every moment God grants us in curiosity, openness, acceptance and love. In this way, through our constant awareness of God’s graceful presence, a deep sense of compassion will be nurtured inside us through his Spirit and begin to flow out of us to others around us. The distance between God and us and between ourselves and others will be crossed time and time again as we become more aware of God’s grace.
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written by Stephan Joubert
I cannot but fully agree with Leonard Sweet (The Church of the Perfect Storm, 2008) when he writes the following:
“When we organize around honoring technology as our major God — it is more than crazy; it is suicide.
When we organize around business making money as the ultimate good — it is more than crazy; it is suicide.
When “Mother Nature” is fated to lose her maternal reference because of the wrath we are unleashing in her from our abuse, neglect, and matricide — it is more than crazy; it is suicide.”
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written by Stephan Joubert
Did you know only about $20 billion is needed to substantially help the poorest of the poor throughout Africa and to stimulate sustainable economic growth? Is it really that difficult for the world to extend grace to their neighbors in a not too distant continent? While people in the US spend about $72 billion annually on diet foods, half of the world population has to survive on less than $2 per day. About $17 billion is spent on pet food annually in the United States, $50 billion on tobacco products in Europe and a chilling $105 billion on alcohol by European countries.
For crying out loud, people even spend more on ice cream in the United States every year than the meager $20 billion needed to gracefully alleviate Africa’s most basic needs. Anup Shah (3 July 2007, http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.asp) writes the following:
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written by Stephan Joubert
You cannot see faith, but you can see the footprints of the faithful. We must leave behind ‘faithful footprints’ for others to follow — Dennis Anderson.
Yep, God created us in his image. The Greek word eikon that the New Testament uses for the term image is probably familiar to some of us. At least we know about icons on our computer screens and about icons in those impressive Orthodox Churches, but the original meaning of eikon is captured beautifully by Scott McKnight:
“When God made humans, he gave them hearts, souls, minds, bodies and wills to make them individuals; God gave them other individuals just like themselves so they could live in community; and He gave them a world in which to live. Into this world God set Adam and Eve to be Eikons, to be visible bodies that reflect the glory of God.” (2005, Embracing Grace, A Gospel for All of Us, SPCK, p. 17)
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Let’s continue with our intellectual question — How did the apostle Paul’s understand reality and history in Second Corinthians? Well, Paul knew that:
(1) The present world is rapidly passing away, soon to be replaced by a new cosmic order (4:16-5:10). History is swiftly moving towards that fateful day when evil will be finally destroyed and the righteous vindicated. This will happen on the Day of the Lord when all people will appear before the judgment seat of Christ (5:10). The world as people know and experience it will then be transcended. From this triumphant perspective on the imminent parousia, Paul knows that the present with all its problems and crises work for the future glory of the Lord (6:1-13).
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written by Stephan Joubert
What about a different question for a change: How did the apostle Paul understand reality (and history)? Let’s explore this question today and next week by focusing on his Second Letter to the Corinthians. Hopefully, the following picture will emerge:
(1) God is in total control over the heavenly realm and the earthly sphere. The suffering of the righteous at the hands of the wicked, including Paul’s own tribulations (2 Cor 1) does not in any way diminish God’s absolute control over all facets of reality. To the contrary, in a paradoxical way his divine power is actually revealed in the weakness of Jesus on the cross (13:4), but also in the ministry of his apostle (12:1-10). Therefore, suffering serves a divine purpose. It’s part of a cosmic drama. In an ironic way present hardships, such as that of Paul, point to the presence of God’s power. On the last day when God will visibly triumph over all powers of evil, and when his universal rule will be finally established, all the pieces of this divine plan will fall into place. The scales will be overturned. God will then bring a final end to the suffering of the faithful.
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written by Stephan Joubert
After hearing that S.O.L. (same old line) for the umpteenth time that people are tired, overworked and fed up this time of the year, I catch myself actually believing some of them. Apparently, this silly season also gives people a valid excuse to be rude, ill-mannered, aggressive, insensitive, etc. But then I realize that I’m not really on the moral high-ground here. To be honest, I’m not Mr. Loveable myself. Right now I’m probably just as short-tempered and unfriendly as many others around me. I wish I could explain this strange phenomenon, or conveniently shift the blame somewhere else. But it won’t solve anything. Really, it won’t!
Blame shifting doesn’t work… well at least not since the beginning of time. If you don’t believe me, just ask Adam and Eve. They were the first pro’s who started this highly destructive game. Fortunately, God didn’t buy into their game. God has the full picture. He knows that our lives will have a radically different outcome (here and now, and forever!) when we constantly exercise ourselves in the spiritual discipline of accepting full responsibility for our emotions, words and deeds. Blame shifting seems like an easy way out. It seems so much easier to blame the past, the present, the economy, the government, or the church than to get involved. It seems easier to shift the responsibility to this time of the year than to focus on our inability to deal with stress. But in the end we pay a very high price for all of this. We slowly but surely begin to disconnect from our true self. We deceive the one and only person with whom we share our lives — ourself. What a high price to pay!
