I have an ongoing issue with the muscles in my back. Sometimes it’s in my upper back, sometimes it’s in my lower, but on occasion, the muscles will completely freak out and knot up so tightly that I’m immobilized for a few days. When this happens, I end up needing some form of treatment, be it physical therapy, massage, chiropractic, acupuncture, or cupping (another form of Traditional Chinese Medicine), to get the muscles to loosen up so I can return to my daily life.

Anyway, a few months ago my back had me out of commission and, on this occasion, because there seemed to be something going on that was more nerve based than muscular, I ended up going to a chiropractor who, after a couple visits, also added in massage treatment. Now I’ll be the first to say that I love alternative medicine, not only because I appreciate how the practitioners are focused on restoring health over eliminating symptoms, but also because those who work in these kinds of practices typically aren’t Christian and we get to have some really good conversations as God uses their hands to bring healing to my body … which is exactly what happened with my massage therapist.

I’m not sure what got the whole thing started, but I’m sure it began with a question about what I do for a living.

I’m a pastor.

You don’t look like a pastor.

What’s a pastor supposed to look like?

I don’t know, but not like you.

Well, I guess I’m not the kind of pastor you’re used to meeting.

I don’t think you’re the kind of Christian I’m used to meeting either.

While we had a number of conversations over the four or five massage sessions, one that sticks out in my mind concerned sin. I’m sure it began with her asking my thoughts about some specific sin issue and me, as I typically do, changing the flow of the conversation a bit.

You see, for the most part, I’m really not interested in creating a list of sins and then pointing fingers at people who are guilty of them. Yes, lists can be helpful if we want to discuss the formation of a healthy society, after all, killing your neighbor is worse than not returning his lawn mower, however, when what we do or don’t do becomes the basis of our relationship with God, and Christians begin to think they’re better off that the person down the street who does, well, whatever it is that they do, we’re in trouble. So, rather than making a list of sins and then ostracizing people who don’t see those things as sinful, I find it more valuable to talk about the nature of sin … or better yet, our sinful nature.

What do you mean by that?

Well, some people argue that we do certain sinful actions, you know, the stuff that shows up on “sin lists”, and those actions make us sinners. I think that’s the wrong order. I think there is something corrupt in our very nature and because we’re completely jacked up from the start, that we do any number of things that appear on people’s “sin lists”, as well as a whole litany of other things that aren’t on those lists, because we are sinful and self-serving.

So you think people, from the start, are completely messed up?

Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, I love people, I just think we’re innately selfish, so much so, that even the good things we do, are done so we can feel good about ourselves or so somebody else will think good things about us.

That’s kind of negative, isn’t it?

That’s kind of negative, isn’t it? I’m not sure where the obsession with being positive about everything began, and I’m sure it happened long before Oprah began pushing it to her millions of followers, but whatever the origins, I for one believe it’s time to reconsider our emphasis on always being positive about ourselves and our abilities. Let me offer a few reasons why:

• It devalues the gifts of others. Perhaps the easiest example of this was when schools stopped giving first place ribbons for kids at field day, and instead, gave everybody a ribbon for trying because they didn’t want kinds to think bad things about themselves. The truth is, some kids are good at sports and should have positive thoughts about their athletic performance. Other kids, like me, well, we suck in those kinds of competitions and to give us the same reward as the kids who are talented, well, it just makes a mockery of their skill.
• It promotes dishonesty. Just as the field day ribbons devalues the achievements of those who are truly gifted in a certain area, it also promotes dishonesty in those who are rewarded without achieving.
• It’s a setup for disappointment. You know those kids who audition for American Idol and they’ve been fed all kinds of positivity by their family and friends about their ability as a singer, only to get in front of the judges and become the nation’s laughing stock? That’s the extreme version of something that happens day in and day out where people do the best they can and think as positively as they can, only to fail. They get crushed by reality because they’d been told to just think and be positive, even if the objective was beyond their skill level.

For these intertwined reasons, I think our obsession with positive thinking has done a great job of creating a disillusioned and unhealthy society.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not supporting the idea of just giving up and walking away from everything, rather, as you might guess from above, I’m just talking about being honest, which begins with admitting that positive isn’t the right word for what we’ve been feeding ourselves, rather, the word to describe what we’ve come to believe is deception, and therefore the antonym isn’t negative but honesty. In theory, being honest shouldn’t be exceptionally difficult in areas like athletic prowess, intellectual aptitude, or vocal abilities, however, when it comes to who we are at the core, being honest means admitting that we are selfish, and that’s hard, near impossible.

To jump back to my conversation with my massage therapist, that’s the key issue in sin … as much as some people like their lists, it’s not about the specific things we do, it’s about who we are, and who we are will often have us doing things that outwardly look fine, but are inwardly all about us. Sin is about us putting ourselves in the center … it’s about us treating ourselves as if we are God, even if we’re too pious to be honest about it. Oddly, this is where the power part of the equation initiates.

In the beginning of Matthew 18 Jesus’ disciples come to him with the question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Now, if we still believed in lists I’m sure we could come up with a lovely set of characteristics and behaviors that would exemplify someone who’d achieve standing as the greatest, but we’ve already disbanded this notion, which is good, because if we were holding onto it, we’d find ourselves disappointed with Jesus’ answer. Jesus, as he does so often, answers the question through an illustration, one that begins with placing a child in the middle of the crowd, a move that must have prompted people to begin to wonder what was about to happen. Then come the immortal words from the mouth of Jesus, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” The crowd must have been in shock.

Become like children?

Did he really just say that?

We’re supposed to be dependent for everything?

Is he really saying that I’m weak and insufficient?

But children are incapable of doing anything on their own!

And that’s exactly Jesus’ point … and that’s exactly my point. Being honest, even if the world tries to convince us that it’s negative thinking, puts us in the position of being the child that Jesus is talking about. Being honest results in us admitting that, when it comes to our relationship with God, we have nothing to offer because even our best is an attempt to move ourselves into his throne. Being honest unseats us and puts us in a position to receive the kingdom of heaven and all the good gifts that God desires to give us. Let’s think through some of those gifts:

• Freedom from the past. We all have dirt in our lives. Regrets. Failures. Those disappointments that resulted from all our positive thinking letting us down. Jesus offers us freedom from those things by inviting us daily to leave yesterday behind and start anew. What’s happened is done, and in the cosmic picture it’s gone, so don’t let what happened then define who you are today. You’re free from your past!
• Confidence to live today. As you look at today, you don’t have to worry. Step out, do your best with what you’ve got, and know that Christ is in control. If something wonderful happens, something beyond your ability, praise him because he’s the one who made it happen. If you fail, in the grand scheme of things, Jesus has already won, so there wasn’t any pressure on you anyway. Just live today!
• Hope for the future. God uses the crap of life as fertilizer, so when things seem hopeless, trust that out of brokenness God will grow something beautiful … even if we never get to see it or understand its beauty. Beyond that, when things are good, enjoy it know that as good as it is, it’s nothing compared to what Christ has in store for you. Wherever you are today, God has perfection awaiting around the corner!

Think about that, a well-rooted and unshakable freedom, confidence, and hope. There’s the power of negative thinking … and the results are very positive.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen! (Revelation 7:9-12)

As I sat in the over-crowded tent with 2,000 other people, shaded from the hot African sun but not freed from it’s heat, I couldn’t help but think that I was sitting in the middle of a precursor to what the Apostle John witnessed in it’s full glory in Revelation 7. The languages being spoken around me included Zulu, Tswana, English, and German. Moments before, as we had marched through the streets of Mofolo North in Soweto, South Africa, the national flags of each country represented were held high … flags from South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Nigeria, Liberia, the Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Germany, and the United States. We sang and we danced to the praise of our common God, we heard his Word spoken and proclaimed to us, and the Lamb who was slain gave to us his very body and blood in the Lord’s Supper as a foretaste of the feast to come.

When I think about what happened in the tent that morning, as Revered Doctor Wilhelm Weber, a white South African of German ancestry, was installed as the third bishop of the predominantly black Lutheran Church of Southern Africa by the outgoing bishop, the Reverend Doctor David Tswaedi, a black South African of Zulu ancestry, I can’t help but think that this was one of those moments where the Church on earth lived as those who have repented and believed … as those who are embracing today what they will have by virtue of their baptism for eternity.

To further emphasize the significance of what happened inside that tent, the rest of South Africa around us was remembering the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, where, just 50 miles south from where we sat under the tent, 69 unarmed blacks were killed by white police officers during a peaceful protest of apartheid laws (they’d actually gone to the police station with the intent of lining up and being arrested for not carrying their identification cards). As the tragedy of the sinful world was being remembered and relived around us, a world where hate and fear run rampant and people are dehumanized because of their skin color, their language, gender, or their country of origin, inside that tent, while we held many differences, in our standing before God we were equal and one as we will be for eternity; as the Apostle Paul writes:

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:27-29)

However, the story goes much deeper than just the brokenness of our world and the Church getting it right because, all too often, the Church has also gotten it wrong, and the backstory to the Sharpeville Massacre is just one of many examples of this. For those who don’t know the history of South Africa, the Dutch first established what is modern day Cape Town as a trade company refreshing station in 1652. In 1809, Cape Town was made part of the British Empire. In the 1820′s, Dutch, Flemish, German and French colonists (who together form the Boers), along with British colonists, began to expand their territory, bringing them into conflict with native Africans. This expansion was, in part, justified using Scripture. Slavery was seen as acceptable because there are slaves in the Bible. Killing natives to take over new lands was justified because Israel killed the Canaanites to take possession of the Promised Land. The dehumanizing of blacks was considered acceptable because their skin color was “the curse of Ham”. If nothing else, because colonization brought the Christian faith along with it, the Westerners considered their claiming of lands justifiable because they were saving the heathen as they went. All of these things, in varying levels, clash with the true message of the gospel.

So how did South Africa, at least this one small pocket of it, get from where they were to what happened inside a tent in Mofolo North on that Sunday morning? While there is still repeating to be done, the continual process is rather simple.

• For those who did wrong, be honest about the past.
• For those who were wronged, give up a legitimate right to revenge.
• Having learned from past mistakes, move forward together with God’s Word, correctly read in light of the Gospel, as your guide.
• Repeat … repeatedly.

How about in your own life, relationships, or congregation? Where do you see the disfunction of this world tearing people apart? What would it look like for you to be honest or to give up the right to revenge and move forward together with God as your guide? Could you too, someday, find yourself sitting in the future, even if it’s just a dim reflection and only for a moment?

Over the past couple weeks, I took time to sit in on the Theology of Mission course that was being offered at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Tshwane where I’m currently serving as guest professor. The class, which was taught by Detlev Schulz, author of Mission from the Cross: The Lutheran Theology of Mission is essentially, as the book would suggest, an exploration into the missional nature of Lutheran theology. Given that I’ve been fleshing this out in my own mind and teaching what I’ve been discovering for the past 6 years, it was good to hear that someone else in the Lutheran circles I run in has come to many of the same conclusions.

One day in class we were discussing one of the biggest challenges for any Christian who seeks to be missional … syncretism.

syncretism – an amalgomation or attempted amalgomation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought

The challenge stems from the reality that, while the gospel is timeless and above culture, it is always expressed in and through culture. This means that anytime you seek to take the gospel from one culture to another you have one of two options:

1. you take people out of their native culture and move them into a culture where you already have a faithful translation of the gospel
2. you learn a new culture and faithfully translate the gospel for that culture

For many years, missionaries chose the first option, much to the detriment of both culture and the gospel. Be it through colonialism in Africa or the early Lutheran efforts to reach out to Native Americans in Frankenmuth; imposing Western culture on non-Western groups not only created resentment towards the West (including Christianity), but it also resulted in indiginous people never fully taking hold of the gospel and remaining dependent on foreign missionaries. One example of this would be the aforementioned Frankenmuth outreach which lasted for decades but only resulted in only two Native Americans attempting seminary education (both dropped out) and the complete abandonment of the Lutheran faith when the Native Americans were forced onto reservations.

So, having learned from the failures of previous generations, missionaries are now working on option two. The problem is, whenever you try and explain something new, like the gospel, you have to work within people’s existing mental framework, in other words, you have to start with what they know and take them to what they don’t know. This brings us back to the challenge of syncretism, because what people already know often becomes blended in with the new gospel teaching.

Now, in Africa, syncretism is rather blatant, because it typically happens as the animistic tribal religions are blended with Christianity. So, for example, the rites of the liturgy aren’t something designed to point you to Christ and his work for you through the cross and empty tomb, but they are things that you do to appease God (which, oddly enough, has a Medieval Roman Catholic sacramental vibe to it). However, in the United States, syncretism is much more subtle because there isn’t a native religion (except for on the aforementioned reservations) to syncronize with Christianity, rather, various elements of popular philosophy have managed to penetrate their way into the Christian thought and left people clinging to something less than the gospel. Let me offer a few examples:

• Materialism: The most blatant expression of this would be your health and wealth preachers who boldly declare that, if you have faith and do the things that God wants, then you’ll be blessed with material wealth. In contrast to this, the gospel is intensely sacrificial in nature and isn’t about getting, but giving.
• Individualism: This version has God being all about you, your salvation, and being the best you that you can be. This stands in stark contrast to Scripture which doesn’t focus on the individual, but the community.
• Consumerism: By nature, consumerism views people as objects and works to get them to buy into your brand. Many churches have, in the name of Jesus, objectified people which devalues them and therefore stands in contradiction to the gospel.
• Conservative Politics: The Republican Party, especially under the leadership of George W. Bush, co-opted the Christian vote by highlighting select issues. However, in the process, many Christians wed themselves to the parties entire platform, including those elements that are contrary to the gospel.
• Liberal Politics: As part of a backlash to syncretism with conservative politics, some Christians who want to see an emphasis on care for the poor, disagree with Bush’s war philosophy, or want a government to serve as a check and balance against the sinfulness of corporate American, have now gone to the other extreme and embraced a pure liberal political stance.

So, how do Christians work to avoid syncing their faith with the very culture we are part of and seek to share our faith with? Here are a few guidelines I’ve come up with:

• Repent: The truth is, we’re all syncretists. Realize that there is no human culture that is in complete alignment with the gospel and we’ve all read elements of our culture into the gospel story. Admit this, ask God for forgiveness, and ask for the Spirit to guide you as you move forward.
  
• Get Out of the Water: Much like a fish doesn’t realize it’s in water until it finds itself on land, we don’t realize how much we are a part of our culture until we step out of it. Go somewhere and experience something that’s radically different … force yourself to look at home with new eyes.
• Stand Under the Bible: All too often, when we study the Bible, we read it through our cultural eyes and in such a way that it makes God like the people we like and hate the people we hate … we conform God and Scripture to our image rather than allowing it to transform us. You will never understand the Bible until you stand under it and allow it to change you.

So, what am I missing?