What do 6000 people do in a power failure? They worship of course. The power went out this morning at the MWC conference in
Asuncion, Paraguay so we worshiped in English and Spanish because we couldn’t do anything else. It was great.
We have been challenged to work together to take on the social justice issues of our world and particularly our developing world. Last night Nzuzi Makawa from DR Congo challenged us to tackle third world debt which handcuffs poor countries to the whims of rich countries. He challenged us to take up the cause of women in places like Congo were they are systematically raped to shame them into submission.
As a person from the affluent west I/we need to consider what our responsibility is to our faith families around the world. Money isn’t the answer to every problem but it sure can help. The place to begin is relationship with those who are suffering so that we can address the issues with heart, intelligence and compassion. We need relationships in the developing world because faceless issues are much more cut and dried and issues experienced through the lens of relationships. Most of us won’t sacrifice for strangers. We won’t inconvenience ourselves for those we don’t know.
This morning Antonio Gonzalez gave us a passionate plea to break from the world and to walk in the glory of Jesus by participating in the life of Jesus. We can receive the glory of Jesus without relationship with Jesus—a growing, dynamic relationship with Jesus. Jesus rejoices in us and has shown us the love the father and our life and service is in response to that outrageous love. But the love of Jesus is not simply for our own sake so that we can feel good about ourselves. John said that to know Jesus is to participate in eternal life today. This is expressed by knowing Jesus and making him known. Jesus calls us to identity, passionate intimate relationship with him and service for him. Life with Jesus is all encompassing—being and doing together.
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