I recently finished reading an incredibly powerful book by Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that took place after the end of Apartheid. The book, No Future Without Forgiveness, offers a compelling testimony of the healing and reconciliation that took place amongst black and white South Africans after the end of the oppressive apartheid regime. I wanted to share some excerpts and quotations that had particular meaning for me:

[After recalling a particularly egregious act of violence by police officers under the old government.] Theology reminded me that, however diabolical the act, it did not turn the perpetrator into a demon. We had to distinguish between the deed and the perpetrator, between the sinner and the sin, to hate and condemn the sin while being filled with compassion for the sinner… Theology said they still, despite the awfulness of their deeds, remained children of God with the capacity to repent, to be able to change.

In South Africa the whole process of reconciliation has been placed in very considerable jeopardy by the enormous disparities between the rich, mainly the the whites, and the poor, mainly the blacks. The huge gap between the haves and the have-nots, which was largely created and mainainted by racism and apartheid, poses the greatest threat to reconciliation and stability in our country.

True forgiveness deals with the past, all of the past, to make the future possible. We cannot go on nursing grudges even vicariously for those who cannot speak for themselves any longer.

Tutu does an impressive job conveying the emotions that many South African victims felt as they worked to forgive those who had done them such great harm–both physically and emotionally.

“God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.” –C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

A few months ago I read C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. I love the way Lewis is able to distill seemingly convoluted theological ideas into easily understood analogies. I really enjoyed the book and found his analysis both refreshing and insightful. The above quote is one that really challenged me. At first it sounded like a bit of an oxymoron, but the more I thought about it…the more it made sense.

God is easy to please. Simple, but well said. God’s greatest desire is to be in relationship with us. Easy enough, right? He delights in the little things we do–in the small ways we earnestly seek Him. He rejoices over every battle won (big or small). He’s cheering us on. He’s in our corner. He wants us to succeed, and He takes great pleasure in every step we take toward Him.

But God is hard to satisfy. Here’s the catch…He created us. He knows our true potential. He knows the possibilities that lay within us, and he’s unwilling to settle or compromise. It’s impossible to say to God, ‘I’m not good enough,’ ‘I’m not strong enough,’ ‘I’m not smart enough,’ ‘I’m not talented enough,’ ‘I’m not bold enough.’ He knows us better than we can ever hope to know ourselves and He can’t be satisfied with anything less than our best.

Here’s my third (and final) post on Velvet Elvis:

“And now it is our turn. It is our turn to step up and take responsibility for who the church is going to be for a new generation. It is our turn to redefine and reshape and dream it all up again. It is our turn to rediscover the beautiful, dangerous, compelling idea that a group of people, surrendered to God and to each other, really can change the world.

…So what is a group of people living this way called? That’s the church. The church doesn’t exist for itself; it exists to serve the world. It is not ultimately about the church; it’s about all the people God wants to bless through the church. When the church loses sight of this, it loses heart… Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn’t as bright as it could be.”

In my mind, this passage sort of “piggy backs” on the passage in my last entry. Rob continues to encourage the church to be a “serving machine.” To bless people through the church, and to not expect anything in return. For me, this also emphasizes why the work we’re doing here with Paradigm Shift is so meaningful. Our goal is to empower local churches to serve the poor. We want to work ourselves out of a job and to help churches create sustainable ways of impacting the working poor in their communities. I am truly encouraged by our vision, and I pray that God continues to use us as a tool for His work. And as a tool to change the world. Why not dream big? : )

I enjoyed reading Velvet Elvis so much that I decided to write a few more entries on passages that held significance for me.

“When we choose God’s vision of who we are, we are living as God made us to live. We are living in the flow of how we are going to live forever. This is the life of heaven, here and now. And as we live this life, in harmony with God’s intentions for us, the life of heaven becomes more and more present in our lives. Heaven comes to earth… There is this place, this realm, heaven, where things are as God desires them to be. As we live this way, heaven comes here. To this place, this world, the one we’re living in.

…For Jesus, heaven and hell were present realities. Ways of living we can enter into here and now. He talked very little of the life beyond this one because he understood that the life beyond this one is a continuation of the kinds of choices we make here and now.

For Jesus, the question wasn’t, how do I get into heaven? but how do I bring heaven here?

The question wasn’t, how do I get in there? But how do I get there, here?

…Jesus’ desire for his followers is that they live in such a way that they bring heaven to earth.

What’s disturbing then is when people talk more about hell after this life than they do about hell here and now. As a Christian, I want to do what I can to resist hell coming to earth. Poverty, injustice, suffering–they are all hells on earth, and as Christians we oppose them with all our energies. Jesus told us to.”

In this brief passage, Rob reminds us that our role as Christians is to bring heaven to earth. He encourages us to lose any agenda we might have, or any ulterior motives…and to just love on people and to serve them. He tells us to do this for no other reason than the simple fact that it’s what Jesus would do. And it’s what He wants us to do. For me, this chapter in the book really reminded me of why I’m in South Africa. And it challenged me to continue trying to love and serve people in a real, authentic way.

A dear friend of mine recently loaned me Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. I had been wanting to read this book for at least 2 years, so I was really looking forward to diving in. Not surprisingly, the combination of no television and ‘unreliable’ access to the internet has provided me with an abundance of spare time to read. This is actually one of the things I’ve been most grateful for in my time here in South Africa.

As I was reading, one line in particular struck me. In a conversation Rob has with a Christian therapist, the therapist says, “Your job is the relentless pursuit of who God has made you to be. And anything else you do is sin and you need to repent of it.”

Wow. Powerful stuff, huh? My prayer for myself–and my prayer for our team–is that we all continue to relentlessly pursue who God has made us to be. In the spirit of honesty, I am really not quite sure what that will look like in my own life. But I am definitely excited to see where He leads me  : )