I got an email update from friends in Cameroon today. They talked of how difficult it is to communicate with people from totally foreign culture. Talking in Baka is hard enough, but even when they communicate in French, they come away confused.
As I was reading in Isaiah this morning, I felt the same way. The words made sense, but I knew I wasn't really getting the full gist of the passage. I began to think about how my understanding of the scripture is tainted by the culture that I live in. I am not Hebrew, and I don't think like a Hebrew, so I don't fully understand all of the context of many Biblical passages in the same way that the original audience did. Soon, I will be trying to communicate scriptural truths to yet another culture with a completely different contextual understanding of the way things work. In some ways, I am sure that the Baka will have a purer and more complete understanding of scripture. However, there will be obstacles to hurdle as I try to take what I have learned, lift it from my cultural foundation and lay it back down in front of the Baka.
Thank God that He is bigger than our ability to communicate!!!
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Thursday, March 16, 2006
The Maribo
Please lift up the Baka team in prayer. Here is thier latest email prayer update:
The Maribo (The healer):
Several nights ago a woman came to our door asking if I would give her and her family a ride to the Baka encampment just down the road from us. I knew that her son was very sick with Tuberculosis and, in reality, couldn't endure the 3 kilometer hike so I said yes.
Soon I realized the reason for the trip. A man who is well known for his ability to heal was there. I was asked to give money so that he could start treating the boy.
My first intuition was that this man was no ordinary doctor. I asked a few questions to see what the course of the treatment might be. It didn't take long before I learned the information that confirmed my suspicions. The man is a seer as well as a healer. He is supposedly able to determine whether sorcery is the cause of the illness and who might be at fault. I declined to give money- saying that I am not at liberty to give money for this because I am under the authority of the one true God.
I returned home and throughout the night we could hear drums reverberating from the camp as it was a clear night. We wondered what was happening, as this continued until very early in the morning.
The next morning we heard that the 'healer' had successfully pulled something black out of the boy's stomach. Also all of the people were asked to reach their arms over the fire to determine if anyone played a part in his sickness. We were also told that the ritual would continue that night and that we were invited.
The hardest thing that we were facing was the support the 'healer' has even among those that frequent our small church on Sunday mornings. They were confused at our reluctance to give our support; one even saying that this man is given his powers by God. So we had a decision to make- to go or not to go. We discussed it as a team and as families and prayed together over the decision, knowing that this matter was of significant importance.
Part II in a couple of days.
For His Glory,
Barry, Desma, Brianna, and Brendan
The Maribo (The healer):
Several nights ago a woman came to our door asking if I would give her and her family a ride to the Baka encampment just down the road from us. I knew that her son was very sick with Tuberculosis and, in reality, couldn't endure the 3 kilometer hike so I said yes.
Soon I realized the reason for the trip. A man who is well known for his ability to heal was there. I was asked to give money so that he could start treating the boy.
My first intuition was that this man was no ordinary doctor. I asked a few questions to see what the course of the treatment might be. It didn't take long before I learned the information that confirmed my suspicions. The man is a seer as well as a healer. He is supposedly able to determine whether sorcery is the cause of the illness and who might be at fault. I declined to give money- saying that I am not at liberty to give money for this because I am under the authority of the one true God.
I returned home and throughout the night we could hear drums reverberating from the camp as it was a clear night. We wondered what was happening, as this continued until very early in the morning.
The next morning we heard that the 'healer' had successfully pulled something black out of the boy's stomach. Also all of the people were asked to reach their arms over the fire to determine if anyone played a part in his sickness. We were also told that the ritual would continue that night and that we were invited.
The hardest thing that we were facing was the support the 'healer' has even among those that frequent our small church on Sunday mornings. They were confused at our reluctance to give our support; one even saying that this man is given his powers by God. So we had a decision to make- to go or not to go. We discussed it as a team and as families and prayed together over the decision, knowing that this matter was of significant importance.
Part II in a couple of days.
For His Glory,
Barry, Desma, Brianna, and Brendan
Prayer
Through a recent email dialog with a friend, I have realized again the power and importance of prayer. Through this and some other correspondence, I have begun to come to grips with the lack of prayer in my own life. It's silly. I have seen first hand some very amazing answers to my own prayerful petitions. I have experienced the benefit of being in the prayers of others. I have learned to really enjoy praying, both with others and by myself. Why then, do I neglect prayer?
Well, sometimes it is because I feel that I am not worthy to approach the throne of God. ...a silly thing indeed if Christ really died to redeem my life. At other times I am too busy or tired or I occupy my time with much less important things. How can I put more value on these less important things when I have seen and experienced the power of prayer?
You know, it is so amazing to me that our prayers should affect the actions of an omnipotent God. It's as if the mailroom guy is asking the CEO for certain improvements in the company. Of course, the CEO knows better how to run the company, but he waits for the mailroom guy to ask anyway. God is glorified by our answered prayers. We ask Him to work in someone's life or ministry and we can't help but glorify Him for the actions we see Him take. Our prayers adjust our vision, so that we can see God working.
I've made a new resolution to be more faithful in prayer. Feel free to keep me accountable to this decision. And pray that God would give me the diligence and resolve that I need to accomplish this.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
Romans 12:10-13
Well, sometimes it is because I feel that I am not worthy to approach the throne of God. ...a silly thing indeed if Christ really died to redeem my life. At other times I am too busy or tired or I occupy my time with much less important things. How can I put more value on these less important things when I have seen and experienced the power of prayer?
You know, it is so amazing to me that our prayers should affect the actions of an omnipotent God. It's as if the mailroom guy is asking the CEO for certain improvements in the company. Of course, the CEO knows better how to run the company, but he waits for the mailroom guy to ask anyway. God is glorified by our answered prayers. We ask Him to work in someone's life or ministry and we can't help but glorify Him for the actions we see Him take. Our prayers adjust our vision, so that we can see God working.
I've made a new resolution to be more faithful in prayer. Feel free to keep me accountable to this decision. And pray that God would give me the diligence and resolve that I need to accomplish this.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
Romans 12:10-13
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
In Dependence
After spending some time with friends tonight, I have realized again the importance of being in community. This is something that I began to understand during my last couple years of school. It became apparent to me that God puts us in situations where we really need each other. He created us to need each other. He is forming a body of believers out of this world, a body with different parts that are all dependent on the whole.
Thus, if we are not acting like the body that God is making us, we will not be doing our job correctly. That includes being honest with each other. A passage from Michael Yaconelli's book "Messy Spirituality" struck me as so strangely true. It refers to the pretending we do when we are trying to hide what is really going on in our lives, what we really struggle with, and that we are really not "OK." This is what Yaconelli has to say.
"“Pretending is the grease of modern nonrelationships. Pretending perpetuates the illusion of relationships by connecting us on the basis of who we aren"’t. People who pretend have pretend relationships. But being real is a synonym for messy spirituality, because when we are real, our messiness is there for everyone to see."
The messiness is hard, but it is necessary, because we were made to rely on each other.
I need to stop messing around with pretending and modern nonrelationships and really be intentional about being a friend to those people that God has put into my life.
Thus, if we are not acting like the body that God is making us, we will not be doing our job correctly. That includes being honest with each other. A passage from Michael Yaconelli's book "Messy Spirituality" struck me as so strangely true. It refers to the pretending we do when we are trying to hide what is really going on in our lives, what we really struggle with, and that we are really not "OK." This is what Yaconelli has to say.
"“Pretending is the grease of modern nonrelationships. Pretending perpetuates the illusion of relationships by connecting us on the basis of who we aren"’t. People who pretend have pretend relationships. But being real is a synonym for messy spirituality, because when we are real, our messiness is there for everyone to see."
The messiness is hard, but it is necessary, because we were made to rely on each other.
I need to stop messing around with pretending and modern nonrelationships and really be intentional about being a friend to those people that God has put into my life.
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