A cow grazing on grass lazily glances my way, but decides eating is more interesting than returning the gaze of his silent observer. The peculiar calls of exotic birds ring forth from the trees that dot the rural landscape, as I read the book of Job to temporarily satisfy the persistent yearning for more of God's Word. Running, jumping, and dancing through the rain suddenly relinquished from the heavens fills my very being with exuberant joy. This is solitude, for three days, where God was the only one with whom I could share my thoughts despite the presence of others.
These experiences and many more filled my first days of existence in Ejido Buenos Aires, Mexico. As expected, the way people live here is different. I'm learning how to do everyday things with the available materials. Here are a couple examples that I've personally done: cutting the grass with a machete since a lawnmower (la maquina) isn't available or simply unreliable and washing clothes by hand in tubs (with toilet plungers in our case.)
Some of the activities we've done coming out of "solitude" consist of meeting our team's host family (local residents that we'll be ministering to for the duration of our time here), visiting a children's home, participating in spiritual warfare, and searching the Gospels to form a way of living based solely on the commands of Jesus and the disciples' examples. One such command I'd come across during solitude that impacted and convicted me was Luke 6:30 - "Give to everyone who begs from you and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back." Wow.
As part of our training, we are reading the book Exiles written by Michael Frost. For the most part, it's because of this book that we're really beginning to study the Gospels. The author includes a poem in the first chapter, and I love it; therefore, here it is:
What is, therefore, the task of the preacher (or the church) today?
Shall I answer: "Faith, hope, and love"?
That sounds beautiful.
But I would say - Courage.
No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth.
Our task today is recklessness.
For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature,
The recklessness that comes from the knowledge of God and humanity.
The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets...
and when the lie rages across the face of the earth -
a holy anger about things that are wrong in the world.
To rage against the ravaging of God's earth,
and the destruction of God's world.
To rage when little children must die of hunger,
when the tables of the rich are sagging with food.
To rage at the senseless killing of so many,
and against the madness of militaries.
To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction - Peace.
To rage against complacency.
To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change
human history until it conforms with the norms of the Kingdom of
God.
And remember the signs of the Christian Church have always been -
the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish...
but never the Chameleon.
~ Kaj Munk
I pray that these words will resonate with you and challenge you like they did for me.
