Apr. 13, 2007

Facing The Questions

God asks many questions in the Scriptures. These questions begin in the garden after the Fall when God asked Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" after they had disobeyed him. The Prophets are filled with questions. In Isaiah God asks the prophet, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for me?" (6:8). And Jesus does the same thing. He continuously asks his disciples and the Pharisees questions. He asks the Samaritan woman at the well a question (John 4) and the blind beggar (Luke 18) and the bleeding woman who touches him amidst the crowd (Mark 5). And he asks Peter at the end of the Gospel of John three direct, difficult questions in a row (ch. 21). In Acts 9 Christ asks Paul, "Why do you persecute me?" (v. 4).

This letter is not an attempt to try an exegete these passages mentioned above or to explain why God interacts with humankind like this. We say this to bring up what we have been trying to process while being here in Romania for almost two months now. We are trying to listen to what God might be asking us as a couple and us as the Word Made Flesh community here in Romania. For we are realizing that it is in hearing the questions and attempting to answer them honestly that we begin to find ourselves and learn what it means to live within the world as followers of Jesus Christ.

It seems in every occasion that God asked his child or children something in the Scriptures it required a serious response from the person or persons. The questions are not asked just to start up conversation or as if God doesn't know the answer. For example, God's question "Where are you?" may be directing Adam and Eve to question themselves and the serious decision they just made. In the Prophets, it seems the questions are posed to encourage the people of Israel to wake up and embrace who they were meant to be—the people of God, who would eventually bring about the salvation of the world. And Jesus, in simple interactions with the people around him, seems to be making people ask themselves who they really are and how they are living. In all these, God's overarching question to his people is, "Who are you?"

We sense that in this season God is asking us this question through the children we work with. Lately we have been learning many of the stories of these children…stories of alcoholic fathers, of horrifying abuse (sexual, physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual), of societal injustice. Deep wounds mar these precious lives. As we hear the stories, we become aware of our own brokenness and wounds—these wounds which manifest themselves as busyness, as a lack of joy, as wanting to be noticed and seen, as materialism, as apathy, as judging others, as thinking we are better than others, as envy. These revelations of our brokenness lead us to question "Who are we?" How do we define ourselves? Why do we so much seek to be accepted and seen? Why aren't we following Christ more seriously? What are these excuses that keep us from this healing process that allows us to love more fully, to listen more intently, to walk more joyfully, to weep more compassionately?

As we work among the poor in Galati, we trust that our Father is bringing salvation (healing, resurrection, life and love) to the 30 precious children who come to the center and to the guys and girls who live on the streets. We have hope in this because we look at our own lives and see how God is bringing healing in us. And our prayer is that through our healing we can be those agents of reconciliation who help these children to hear the questions God is asking them.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."
                                   -Apostle Paul's second letter writing to the church in Corinth (5:17-20)

May we all be reconciled to God in Jesus Christ, allowing ourselves to hear the questions being asked and answering them honestly so we as children of God can be agents of love, of joy, of hope and of healing

In the One bringing about redemption,
Joshua and Robin

 

For Prayer

-Continued language learning
-Romania yearly staff retreat: April 21-28 – Pray that this would be a renewing time.
-Guidance for the fall WMF Servant Team
-Those boys living on the streets – that they would be filled with hope and be given the strength to take the difficult steps off the streets.
-That trauma would be transformed and healed – Please pray that our community will find ways to help the children process trauma as well as help staff healthily process the traumatic stories we hear.

 

P.S. We started a blog at www.lifeinromania.blogspot.com that includes some photos, reflections, and day-to-day happenings of our life in Galati. We hope that it helps you to feel more connected to us. Also, we enjoy keeping in touch through email: joshandrobinfowler@yahoo.com