Category: Bruce Posts (Page 35 of 211)

Over the past 48hrs in Ukraine, a heat wave has moved in reminding us that yes, there are in fact 4 seasons in this part of the world. After a long snow-less and rather dismal winter, I’m once again reminded how blessed we are to have a couple air conditioner units at home!

The weather is not the only thing heating up. Watching from afar via social media, it seems our dear friends in America have moved from incubation to public protest. Are we watching the unraveling of the western narrative? What will our homeland look like a decade from now? Ideologies are fascinating things, imperfect and dangerous at the extremes, I put little faith in humanities ability to sustain a happy middle. We’ve known peace, us comfortable westerners, we’ve grown to assume it as a humanity, perhaps oblivious to histories unkind alternatives.

The crowds are returning to our little town, even the beach was rather full over the weekend. While the corona thing has continued to impose laws, the general public seems rather fed up with the lack of information, and general ‘no end in sight’.. plus when the news is flooded with mass protests (most not wearing masks) it tends to signal conflicting messages yeah? Anyway, we’re happy to see life edging towards a normalcy here – our cafe is open, and new faces inside enjoying the space once again!

We met last night (lighthouse community), it was heartfelt, focused on deepening our love through governing our words, avoiding gossip, and building up one another. Its a difficult thing to cultivate in a culture where trust is broken so early as most families are broken, many grew up without both parents. Add to that the mentality of a small town, where everyone knows what you ate for dinner, it’s a deep burden in prayer to see a new culture, a culture of trust and refusal to undermine the character of those who are found on our lips. We talked about loving through direct communication, if necessary and finished with some prayer together and commitment to grow in this area.

“But we will never understand injustice and justice until we open our hearts and lives to the suffering of others” (97).

The four steps  of communicating, advocating, relating to, and educating for justice as provided in Kim & Hill’s “Healing our broken humanity” seem to each coincide with the act of solidarity. Until we intentionally come alongside an injustice, get our heads, hands and hearts dirty with the brokenness of others, our supposed Christian orthodoxy is little more than superstition. Our faith, as an integrated faith, should be blind to the politicized social constructs of our day, resisting their forms as we shine the discomforting light of Christ on all evils. We should do this however through suffering love, rooted in the commonality of human suffering because of our collective sin and brokenness.

We must be wary of the self righteous tendency of the human heart to identify with anything other than the undeserved mercy of just and justifying One (e.g. Social Identity Theory: Tajfel & Turner, 1986, Chavous et al., 2003).  For example, I’ve felt at times ‘justice’ has become a trendy western evangelical focus in response to politically charged accusations of apathy. This type of response only further alienates the sufferer and injustice from resolution as ‘christians’ get caught up in being attempted hero’s rather than fellow sufferers (much like the response to global mission). To partner isn’t ‘us’ helping ‘them’, but rather a collaboration alongside for the pursuit of change.  Additionally, victims of injustice are not exempt from the forbidden fruit of self-righteousness as they can also lose sight of their own need for a Savior as they become lost in acts of justice and belonging to the ‘right’ group.

In my context, the lack of a middle class, though slowly emerging, represents a majority population in Ukraine as the marginalized, powerless, poor. By creating our leadership ‘spaces’, using ALD and elevating diverse personality, leadership as divested authority, we are undermining these forces by sowing vision and hope into the fabric of culture.

Yesterday I sent out an update on our orphan internship project, and some neat updates on widows care and RazomGo.com platform. You can read it clicking here.

It’s been a wild time for so many of us. Life’s rhythms feel more like heart palpitations. I have been busy writing and reading the past two weeks, taking two courses at Fuller essentially doubled what I had been used to.. but I survived! I’ve never read so much in my life.

This past month I finished around 8 books and 30 some articles averaging 10-30 pages each. I am not a reader, or wasn’t, so it’s a small miracle I stayed the course. I really enjoyed most of them, to the point that I moved slowly and digested as much as I could. I’m getting faster with speed reading, so when something isn’t as interesting I can motor pretty nicely 🙂

I will be posting some more of my writing soon. I’m still trying to find my own writing style. The more I read, the more I am appreciating the crafted word. Words are powerful when conveying ideas that move the heart, open the mind to new realities. So many words flying around social media, so many useless and cruel ones as well. I’ve stepped back from reading or posting for the next season. I have found it liberating to be incubated inside Fuller with the 20 or so journeying classmates, the safety of a community of learners, debating, caring, listening, unpacking and reconstructing our ideas has been an enormous blessing. It’s given me hope and vision for cultivating more of this in our context as a family and among our local and international community.

We are learners. That’s what a disciple means. To learn. In our world, I think we’re losing the art of unlearning, and relearning. We’re not containers of facts or right thinking, we’re learners of Christ, His ways, His heart. This is a posture of ongoing learning and formation. It’s fun to learn, but it’s hard at the same time. I was reading the other day how the brain literally releases pain chemicals when we’re learning something new.. as if we’ve stubbed our toe, but in a mental straining sort of way. There’s a reason we like to stay, to stop motion in the brain, its a muscle that doesn’t voluntarily want to flex. Much easier to watch TV, there’s a reason why we call that ‘vegging’.. .the electrical energy and impulse all but stops when we just receive and don’t exercise our thoughts, process, wrestle and consider other options. Lord help us stay learning, malleable, willing.

Spring weather is, well wet and chilly these past few days.. few bursts of sun break through, but so far truly Spring. The kids are jumping on the trampoline each day, playing with the dog, and recently Tucker has been learning to play the drums. We grabbed them a few weeks ago during Covid quarantine.. may as well get some use while the Cafe is closed. He’s really picked it up.. And Noah is now taking electric guitar lessons.. he’s also doing well learning several chords and learning to play songs from either video games.. or most recently Clearance Clearwater Revival – we introduce the kids to classics and many genres.. can’t have them return to US and not know good music 🙂

Battery is almost dead. Deb and I just went for a walk, we walk about a km, but we need more. I do not like being 45, it feels as though I’m getting much too stiff, too quickly. I also can’t eat as much as I used to, especially at night. I heard about this, but how can it be so quickly. My dad always said he never felt older than 18.. I’d say 25 (thus I act older than my dad).

About to rip up old wood from our aging and now dangerous 2nd floor deck over our garage. It lasted about 10yrs not bad, but now I have a mess on my hands. Also down at the big house, most of it is rotten. The cafe deck is still doing ok, but probably only has 2-3 yrs left. Why do we use wood for things? I now see the purpose of cement and tile. It’s a handful keeping 3 properties up to date.. Monday we have a guy coming to pour a sidewalk at our house because its cracked and water is getting into our foundation. This house stuff has been put off for too many years, staying home this much as allowed me to recognize it and no do something about it… I plan to have the boys help so we can all learn this cement ritual.. in Ukraine if you can’t mix cement you are the village idiot. (cough cough).

To the materialistic western individual, the Gospel ‘gives’ us eternity, forgiveness, and abundant life. To the majority world, the good news is liberation, as the incarnate Christ left the comforts to rescue and free the oppressed. Which do you identify with more? (The following are my notes from Fuller discussions on viewing the Gospel from the lens of the poor).

As a white male, Rah challenged me with the question, “How can those of us who operate under the theology of celebration connect with those who live under the theology of suffering?” (146).  As a westerner, I have access to the currency of mobility. That mobility detracts my  capacity to appreciate the suffering around me.  My constant motion and freedom to choose to look away from the difficult situations around me has the effect of “the dulling my senses and increasing my disconnect with suffering” (148). In other words, I may choose to express my power through the singular lens of “celebrating” the good news of Jesus but be inadvertently looking away, or closing my ears to the plight of the oppressed, poor, and marginalized. The gospel is a different kind of good news to those without power – it’s a liberation from the oppressor, a hope that in this world there is a kinder, more just love than what one experiences from fellow humanity.

In my Ukrainian context, though I’m a ‘middle class’ American by American standards, I may as well be Bill Gates in my small village. We are reminded of this regularly with each walk downtown, passing the gardens being tilled by grandmothers out of survival more than hobby.  Houses are a patchwork of material, some just holding on, others caved in from time. A few months ago I saw a body laying on the ground near the fountain in our town’s center. Within a few minutes, police were there, another statistic of rampant alcoholism. 

Suffering is all around us, but if we’re not intentional, our own ministry can become selective in what we feel comfortable focusing on. It’s cute to minister to children, to feel the warmth of their bright smiles. It’s rewarding to take packages of food to lonely widows. There is a wretchedness of sin however lurking beneath the poverty, robbing, crushing, and challenging our human capacity to care. To enter this suffering, to come alongside the “powerless and immobility of the have-nots” (151) is to embrace the other half of the gospel and perhaps the common celebration of our liberator. Maybe the western celebratory focus is a misnomer.. a reflection of materialism on the altar of idolatry. Perhaps there is truly only one theology that reflects the nature of divested suffering love; a suffering Gospel is the the only good news.