We Never Outgrow Our Need for the Gospel

A friend (thanks Shelby!) passed along this short interview with Jerry Bridges, author of the books I gave away at the end of October.  He's 82 years old and still "preaching the gospel to himself every day."  I am so thankful for God's work in Bridges' life and how He has used it to change mine.  Things get pretty bad in my heart and around me when I try to do life any other way than beginning and continuing in the gospel.  Please take a few minutes to give this interview a listen.

I'll leave you with a quote from an Advent reading about Jesus becoming flesh and dwelling among us.  Christmas is all about the Good News!

'From the creche to the cross is an inseparable line.  Christmas only points forward to Good Friday and Easter.  It can have no meaning apart from that, where the Son of God displayed his glory by his death.' 

Grace is a person; Truth is a person - Jesus, come to you in the flesh. 

~Joseph "Skip" Ryan (quote from John Donne's Book of Uncommon Prayers) 

Dr. Mary Poplin and Finding YOUR Calcutta (part 2)

As promised, here are other thoughts Mary shared that have stuck with me:

• We're all slaves to something. Paul often referred to himself as a bondservant of Christ - Christians are slaves to Jesus!  Mother Teresa lived this out.  Based upon Matthew 25:31-46, she cared for the poor, but her primary service was to Jesus.  So when she was looking into the face of an untouchable - feeding, bathing, or hugging - it was as if she were feeding, bathing, or hugging her Lord.

• Her advice to a young speaker and writer:
• study people who are doing what you'd ultimately like to do, for me Beth Moore and Joyce Meyer types.
• think about who you can help - this is likely "your" best target audience
• think about what grieves you most - that's likely your Calcutta

• On abortion:  In her book, Mary shares about her own abortion experience and the process of accepting God's forgiveness.  I mentioned how I really appreciated that she included that.  Then, she shared a story of a woman who came to her after a talk distraught because, while Mary was not a Christian when she aborted, this girl was and "should have known better."  Mary said the Lord immediately brought King David to mind - the man after God's own heart, God's anointed king of Isreal - who committed adultery and had the woman's husband murdered in battle.  He knew God; God forgave Him.  Profound.  Is our God not full of mercy?

I loved being with Mary.  Her heart is so warm, her mind so keen.  I most appreciate her understanding that all of us Christians need each other, the Presbyterian needs the Pentecostal, the Catholic needs the Baptist, the Eastern needs the Western, and vice-versa on all of those!  Her heart is open to learning more and God has used this to shape her life/ministry (I have to write it that way, for they are one, as per Ephesians 4.)  In her book, on a chapter about the Church she says, Isn't it a magnificent thing to be a molecule in the body of Christ.  No mater where we live in the world, we are instantly joined to a larger body. p. 138

I'll leave you with this final teaser if you want to get to know more about Mary and her experiences with Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity, from her book Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service.

At night, [after her time in Calcutta] I would lie wake and reflect on the various stories of miracles among the Missionaries, the healing of Babloo, his love for the picture of Jesus, the bottle nipple that arrived just in time, the Indian money, the special help to the Delhi Plane, the entry into the cloistered monastery, the voice from the icon ... So many experiences rolled around in me with nowhere to put them.  I hardly had any categories that could accommodate my experiences.  My old categories of coincidence and serendipity crumbled under the weight of new experiences and understandings.The Lord was resurrecting something that had long laid dormant in me, and I was beginning to come more alive.  I felt like a child allowed into my Father's study for the first time to experience certain secrets.  I was seeing things t I had never noticed before.  Like a child, I was pointing to them and waiting for him to give me the word.  p. 146

Dr. Mary Poplin and Finding YOUR Calcutta (part 1)

With tea steaming in a teapot, banana muffins arranged on a plate, and  pencil and paper by my seat, we were ready for Mary and Tom's visit last Friday afternoon.*  Upon their arrival, we got the kids settled in front of a Mr. Rogers DVD and made our way into the kitchen for adult chatter.

From small talk about Mary's travels and her impressions of Pittsburgh (she got to spend a little time in a beautiful neighborhood called Shadyside and loved it), we moved into my questions for her.  They weren't really questions at all, I suppose.  All morning I had agonized about how to best use those 45 minutes.  Finally, it occurred to me to pray.  (I'm a slow one!)  So while ironing, about an hour before they arrived, I got some inspiration, praise the Lord!  Rather than ask specific questions, I would simply ask for her thoughts on four things and how they relate to the Christian: community, the Holy Spirit, prayer, and scripture.

I didn't record our interview, as it was more of a conversation, but I want to share Mary's thoughts (quotes in italics), as best I can from my notes.  She began with Scripture and went from there.

SCRIPTURE:  Read the Bible as what you are, so you can serve best where you are.  For example, Mary is in education.  She once read through the Bible paying attention to words like understanding, knowledge, wisdom, learning, etc.  Then she was thoroughly equipped to filter thoughts about education through the Scriptures and better serve as a teacher and researcher.  For me, she suggested paying close attention to what the Bible says to and about being a mother or wife.

PRAYER: nothing happens without it.  She went on to share how critical prayer is for the Christian.  We need people praying for us and with us.  Mary is firmly convinced of the power of prayer and the covering it puts over us.  In her experience, it's often people who are not where she's speaking who are those that cover her speaking engagements in prayer.  And she practices what she preaches, she and friend pray together every day - even though they live in different places.

HOLY SPIRIT: has been "lost" in the West with the rise of secularism.  She also stated that pantheism (Buddhism) has moved in where Christianity has vacated.  Meaning that the Eastern religions with their "spiritualness" are appealing, because Western Christians have left out the Holy Spirit: that there is a God at work in supernatural ways, in our world, right now.  The gospel spreads quickly and we hear more of miraculous stories in poorer nations, because there's something about lack of self-sufficiency that enables us to believe in the Spirit's work.

COMMUNITY: only a part of Christ can really get along with others who are different.  The Christian Church is the only true multi-cultural faith, not bound by any specific culture.  Anywhere a believer goes in the world, he can find others believers.  But for this to happen, there has to be a common head.  For the church, that is Christ.  Sadly, we hate authority, so submitting to Him as head challenges us, particularly here in the West.

I really appreciated Mary's thoughts.  Throughout her Christian life, God has had her on a journey  integrating her faith into all of life, even life in the academy.  What a good reminder that the Lord rules not only in our life when we're in a church pew, but also in our kitchens, our offices, our bedrooms, and our shopping centers.

As Jesus said, "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."  John 15:4-5

Mary shared a few more things that I'd love to share.  Stay tuned for Part 2!

*Please read here to get the story on how I came to meet Dr. Poplin.