Faith From Hearing
There are a lot of messages competing for our time and attention, some good and edifying, some not so much. Thankfully in our local communities we regularly hear about how the Lord is working in our members' lives and get to encounter the Lord in life-giving worship. But even in our most vibrant communities there is not always a strong exposure to what's going on beyond our local community reality. There are a lot more people, a lot more stories, and a lot more things that the Lord is doing to heal, strengthen, minister, and send.
The idea of a podcast came up as a means to share about God's work. Each month, our hosts Jon Wilson and Bridget Bonenfant catch up with a member of the Sword of the Spirit and have an in-depth conversation about the Lord, community, and the ways that we are being built into the living bulwark.
The first three episodes are out now with a new episode coming out each month. In our first few episodes you can hear about how our hosts initially got involved with the Sword of the Spirit, hear from a couple who have a unique mission amid community life, and hear about how one community navigates our intergenerational realities.
A Joyful Noise
The Lord has also blessed our communities with a rich worship life that's been bolstered by many talented songwriters and musicians. A variety of songs have been written in order to help us worship in the environments and in the ways that the Lord has given us.
It sometimes takes a while for new songs to make it to our local community environments so we created a site to make new music more readily available. At worship.swordofthespirit.net you’ll be able to find sheet music which is available to download as well as listen to full recordings of songs on the site, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music.
How Will He Get it Done?
Personal reflections on Christian unity by Dave Hughes, Regional President
From time to time I like to read a good mystery. It’s not my favorite genre as I always feel like the author is playing with me—he is holding back some cards, not telling me some key facts—but it can be diverting. Inevitably I reach a point in the story where the question rises unbidden in my mind—“how will he get it done”? The protagonist of the story appears to be trapped in an inescapable situation! He’s painted himself in a corner from which there is no exit! Of course I know that soon the author will reveal the clever twist and all will be well.
I’d like to apply this question, this lens, to the question of Christian unity. How will the Lord get it done? The situation seems irresolvable; the obstacles and difficulties appear to be interlocked in such a tangle that there is no good exit. How will he get it done?
Before addressing this question directly, I’d like to consider 3 subordinate questions as a way to clear away some underbrush. The 3 subordinate questions are:
- Can he actually do it?
- Does he have the will to do it?
- What do we mean by ‘it’—that is, what form of Christian unity are we talking about?
Can he actually do it?
Of course the simple answer is ‘yes’—he can do whatever he wants. Yet I think the question is still worth spending a moment on.
Often when we consider the divisions amongst the Christian people and the theological, cultural and historical issues that separate us, it is easy to despair. It seems the positions taken and defended at great cost are irresolvable. Many theologians and leaders of good will have worked and continue to work on the puzzle, yet it seems the kind of tangible unity that would make the world sit up and take notice lies beyond the horizon. It just seems too hard…
Here I think it is helpful to reflect that the Lord does not approach the issue as a theologian but as a king. Kings like to have their way. This is certainly true for weak and limited human kings. How much more true for our King, who actually has the power to achieve whatever he desires.
When I worked as an executive at GM I had a boss who liked to remind me I had the total resources of General Motors at my disposal to achieve my assignments. “Whatever it takes!” he would tell me. It’s laughable in retrospect, I faced all kinds of real limitations…but the phrase was memorable—“Whatever it takes!”
Similarly for our King: he will do whatever it takes to achieve the desired end. What shaking of the world will he shrink back from? What shaking of his people will he shrink back from? What theological, cultural and historical positions will he not overturn if they stand in his way? Wisely Psalm 2 counsels us to “Kiss the son”, to get aligned with his ways, before facing his wrath.
So, yes he can do it.
Does he have the will to do it?
Here too the simple answer is ‘yes’ but again some reflection may be in order.
First, what is the difference between the question of ‘Can he do it’ and ‘Does he have the will’? The first question speaks to ability; the second to desire. We can have the ability to do something but lack the desire, the motivation. I am able to take out the trash to please my wife but do I have the will to do it?
Here we need to reflect on what motivates the Son of God. He has revealed this inner motivation quite clearly in the scriptures. A typical sample from John 4:34: “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me”. Jesus has the unique ability to focus exclusively on pleasing another, to orient his entire life to delighting his Father. In my better moments, I can briefly summon the will to think what I can do to please my wife. Yet most of the time, my focus is centered on my own needs and concerns. Jesus has no such limitations. He is riveted, single-hearted on the Father’s desire.
What then is the Father’s desire? In John 17 we are invited to listen in to a dialogue between the Father and the Son. It’s important to see that the words in John 17 are not addressed to us. Rather we are allowed to overhear the Son echoing back in prayer the desire of the Father: “make them one”. The Father has a plan ‘for the fullness of time to unite all things in Christ’ (Eph. 1:10); his desire is clear.
So yes, Jesus not only has the ability to do it, he has the will to do it. Whatever it takes to please the Father will be done and nothing that the Father desires will be left undone.
What is the form of Christian unity that he is after? What is the ‘it’ we’ve been talking about?
Here we encounter real questions: will the Lord restore some form of structural unity among his people before he returns? Will the theological questions that have divided and bedeviled the Christian people for millennia be resolved? Are we talking about a visible, structural unity or something invisible, more esoteric? Will He reveal who had the right answers to the key theological questions that divide us (and the wrong ones…) or will he lead us to new understandings---will we find out that we were all just a bit ‘off’?
These questions of course have no clear answer, at least none that I can offer.
One thought that haunts me on this question though has to do with the concept of beauty. We can see from nature, from creation, even from the better expressions of our humanity-- we serve a God who creates beauty. He creates beauty in all of his works; an aching beauty, a beauty that invokes the inner sigh of our hearts. We know it when we see it and when we see it we are given over to awe.
In my mind I think this is the answer to the breadth of unity that the Lord will achieve in the fullness of time—it will be beautiful. More beautiful that we can imagine or our hearts can conceive. We will know it when we see it and it will take our breath away. At the same time we will say both: “I had no idea it would be like this” and “Of course, it had to be. Anything less would have been beneath him”.
Some years ago I was exposed to a certain art form popular in Japan. It’s called ‘kintsugi’ and it involves taking broken ceramic bowls and piecing them back together with a golden solder. The piece is restored and the end result with the broken pieces reunited by golden seams is more beautiful than the original. Here’s a sample:
I think the expression of what the Lord will achieve in restoring his people to unity is something like this: the cracks of our brokenness and division will be redeemed and elevated to a beauty that will take our breath away…
Might our life in the Sword of the Spirit be intended to serve as a small and imperfect living model of such beauty?
So, how will he get it done?
With the introductory questions behind us, what can we say to the question we began with—how will he get it done? I think we can see that we have already answered the question…
He will do whatever is needed to please the Father. The earth will be overturned, the people of God will be shaken, anything that stands in his way will be removed—‘whatever it takes’ to achieve the goal. And the form of unity that he achieves will be more beautiful than our minds can conceive or our hearts can bear. The brokenness that has grieved us for so long will be made beautiful beyond all imagining—the haunting cracks will be made glorious. It will surprise us, it will delight us. Come King, make it so.
Support for Ukraine
There is an opportunity to join with our brothers and sisters in the Sword of the Spirit community in Bielsko-Biała, Poland (City on the Hill) who are currently very active in caring for refugees from the war in Ukraine.
As you are probably aware, several million refugees from Ukraine have already entered Poland. It is on the ‘front lines’ of the refugee crisis. Members of the community have organized a very tangible and practical way to serve the refugees by renting empty houses and furnishing them with mattresses, blankets, furniture and food.
Here’s an excerpt from a recent email from one of the leaders in the community describing this initiative:
The welcoming is very well organized, the refugees are warmly welcomed at the border by the community in Zamosc. This community organizes the transportation of refugees to other communities in Poland, also to Bielsko where houses are ready when they arrive…. These are mainly women and children because the men remain in Ukraine to defend their country. The refugees who arrive have nothing and their money isn’t worth anything as no bank accepts their currency anymore. Last Saturday when I was there, a family arrived: a grandmother, her two daughters-in-law, and five grandchildren. Thanks to the community, they could immediately move into a house rented by the community, a witness to the warm and loving heart of our Polish brothers and sisters.
To date the community has provided this level of support for more than 70 refugees and they are looking to expand the work. It will likely be a long term program as it is unclear how long the refugees will need to remain in Poland.
We are organizing a regional appeal to gather funds to send to the community in Bielsko-Biała. It is of course a voluntary campaign but if you would like to contribute, you can do so by giving through your local community. The community will send the funds to the Sword of the Spirit who will then get it to the community in Poland. If preferable, individuals can send in donations to our regional office. Please make checks out to “Sword of the Spirit” with “Ukraine Support” in the memo line and send them to:
Sword of the Spirit
Attn: Ukraine Support
1417 ½ E. Michigan Ave.
Lansing, MI 48912
To date we have received $56,000 in donations to help support this work. Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Poland and the refugees from Ukraine. We will send an update in the next newsletter.
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We'd love to hear your feedback on the newsletter! Please send us an email at swordofthespirit.nar@gmail.com.
Credits:
Created with images by Alexey Lesik - "Pouring concrete on the construction of a high-rise building" • kkolosov - "Above view of used hammer,pliers and chisel with laptop and smartphone on metal table" • Hoda Bogdan - "industrial worker, bricklayer, mason working with bricks and building house" • DiMar - "Ceramic crafts workshop master teaching boy how to molding clay pot on pottery wheel" • Marco Montalti - "Antique kintsugi, tea pottery set chawan bowl restored with gold." • Maksym Dragunov - "Ukrainian flag"