sondancing 1.5

   A Week In DC

  Terri and I were in Washington, D.C. recently for several meetings that have given us increased clarity, confirmation, and conviction as we continue the first year of our sondance journey. Here’s a synopsis of what we experienced and learned:

     • The National Prayer Committee consists of around 60 folks from around the country who have a regional or national prayer ministry of some sort, and usually meets twice yearly. One of those is always in DC during the first week of May, to coincide with the National Day of Prayer, which I will mention in more detail later.  Several of my spiritual mentors over the years have come from the NPC, and I have always enjoyed being in the same room with like-minded folks whose books on prayer line our shelves at home. This year, I think all of us arrived at our nation’s capitol with a heightened spiritual understanding of the seriousness of the times in which we live. Unprecedented political upheaval in the Mideast (more about that later, too), an unusual number of natural disasters around the world, and an unsettled national economy could together be more than sobering. But the NPC meetings were characterized by a hopefulness that comes from knowing who is in complete control of not only the spiritual realm, but also the political realm, the natural realm, and the economic realm. He really does rule over the earth and the affairs of man! This year we were also privileged to bring a guest with us:  Jeff Eckart, who along with his wife Arianna, leads a student-led prayer ministry called Claim Your Campus. God has given them great favor on secondary school campuses across the nation. 

I have found that the NPC, and intercessors in general, love young people and understand the strategic nature of praying for them, so they loved to hear from Jeff about Claim Your Campus. They also loved to hear about the Call For Prayer that I have been working on for several months with the Campus Alliance Prayer Team. As I explained the Alliance’s commitment to help mobilize a prayer covering over every secondary school in the nation, they responded with much affirmation, which encouraged me greatly regarding one of my primary ministry thrusts of the next year.

     • The National Day of Prayer is, by presidential proclamation, held on the first Thursday of May each year. There are thousands of local and regional gatherings around the country; additionally, there is a national event on Capitol Hill. We have attended quite a few of these over the years, and to be honest, at times they have tilted further to the political right than I would like. However, that was certainly not the case this year. The 3-hour program this year, with a theme of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” was apolitical and spiritually powerful, as was the reception the night before. We were greatly encouraged to hear about how God is working within our government, and to pray with and for those who serve there.  Joni Erickson Tada was the honorary chairperson and spoke powerfully at both events.

     •We also had the opportunity to go to Israel – at least in a legal sense. The NPC was invited to attend the tenth annual Israel Solidarity Event at the Israeli Embassy in DC. So for a few hours we were literally standing on Israeli territory. Being at the Solidarity Event was a profound privilege for us both. 

Michael Orem, the Israel Ambassador to the US, was one of the speakers, and his eloquent explanation of the pressures and challenges that Israel is facing today was a jaw-dropping eye-opener for me. While I have known for some time of the biblical mandate to support Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, this event was a wake-up call for me personally to take that mandate more seriously. Mark Rutland, the president of Oral Roberts University, powerfully drove home the theology behind that mandate. We were also pleasantly surprised to hear about how much the nation of Israel appreciates the support of Christians! This Solidarity Event, which was also attended by leaders from many pro-Israel Christian ministries from around the country, was in part an expression of that appreciation.

    Regarding the seriousness of the times that I mentioned earlier:  normalcy bias (a relatively new term to me) is defined as the phenomenon of disbelieving one's situation when faced with grave and imminent danger and/or catastrophe. While (like you) I did not believe that May 21 was Judgment Day, as radio preacher Harold Camping announced on the radio and billboards across the country, I do believe that there is widespread normalcy bias in our communities and nation regarding a number of issues that I will unpack in subsequent issues of sondancing. Some of the issues – prayer and fatherlessness, for example – are obvious sondance passions, but there are also others that warrant some consideration.

     One more housekeeping item . . . this newsletter is now published primarily in digital format (distributed via email) 7-8 times a year, and in paper format (conventional mail, which is also our delivery method for response/giving envelopes) 3-4 times in year. Since sondance is funded by God through the generous donations of our readers and supporters, delivery of the envelope is important to us – all the more so in this economy where donations to nonprofits (ours included) have plummeted. We are sending this issue out in both printed and digital format for the last time. If you receive only one version, that means we are missing either your mailing address or your email address. Please help us out and supply the address that is lacking by sending it to: mikehiggs@integrity.com. Thank you!

sondancing 1.4

Nard

     One of the benefits of a (mostly) digital newsletter is that I am not constrained by the amount of space on an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.  This one-page catch-up issue is about nard.  I can hear you thinking: “Hmmm.”

       John wrote in his Gospel (12:1-8) that just before He entered Jerusalem for the last time (Easter Week), Jesus attended a special dinner given in His honor. Lazarus, recently raised from the dead, was there, as were his sisters Martha and Mary. Guess which sister served the meal? And while she did that, Mary poured about a pint of nard, a crazy expensive perfume, on Jesus feet and wiped them with her hair.  Clearly, perfume marketing was not up to today’s standards, because I can’t think of many worse names for the spendy liquid than nard. And clearly, Mary’s act of devotion caused quite a stir. Judas Iscariot, who John rightly labels a thief, selfishly objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” In what seems to be a parallel account written by Matthew (26:6-13), the other disciples were described as being upset as well. But Jesus rebuked them all, saying that Mary was, in fact, anointing His body for burial.

       Most of us read these accounts, dismiss Judas as a traitor, and mentally berate the disciples for being cheap and/or shortsighted. But we’ve read the end of the story, while the disciples didn’t even know they were in the story of stories, much less how their story would play out.  They were lodging legitimate, “good stewardship” objections. “Hey Jesus, it sure doesn’t seem to us like good stewardship of God’s resources for Mary to pour all that Chanel No.5 on Your feet. We could have sold the bottle and supported the Jerusalem Gospel Mission soup kitchen for close to six months! And You just got done telling us the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30) – wasn’t she listening?”

       Extravagant love is sometimes expressed in extravagant ways.  Extravagant devotion is taken to extravagant extremes. Extravagant obedience can go far beyond the letter of the law. Sometimes our love, or devotion, or obedience, doesn’t make common sense. It is not good stewardship.  It is not wisdom.  It is not good time management. Sometimes, however, stewardship and resource management evaluations are made according to the standards of the Kingdom of God, which can differ greatly from those of the world.  God sees what we have done. He smells the “nard” of our love or devotion or obedience. And He is greatly pleased. After all, right after Mary poured out her nard on His feet, Jesus poured out His blood on the Cross  . . . extravagant, foolish love - to the extreme. Happy Easter. He is risen!

sondancing 1.3

Tearing Open Heaven

     If espresso, Red Bull, or some other super-caffeinated drink was in existence during the time of Christ, the author of the Gospel of Mark was clearly an early adopter. His account of the life and message of Jesus is the shortest of the four Gospels, but it is arguably the most frenetic.* He rushes from one story to the next, making liberal use of the word “immediately” as well as similar phrases such as “at once,” “without delay,” “as soon as” and “just then.” And it is widely believed that Mark was describing himself in his account of Jesus being arrested: “A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.”  It that is true, it fits my perception of this Gospel writer.  Both Matthew and Mark include the account of Jesus being baptized by John, but while Matthew states that “heaven was opened” when a dove descended on Jesus and the Father expressed His approval, Mark was more intense and direct: he said heaven was “torn open.”  That description caught my attention the other day, and I like it. It reminds me of Isaiah’s prayerful plea: “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down!” (Is. 64:1)

     After many years of ministry to kids as youth pastors, God shifted Terri and I to LINC Ministries in 1992, where our mandate was to advance the Kingdom of God in some fresh ways, and primarily among those who work with youth. Over time, we became increasingly aware of the “three sharp arrows” God put in our ministry quiver:  calling youth workers, and youth ministry, to growth in character, unity, and prayer.  Now God has shifted us once again, to sondance, and while it remains to be seen how much we use the “three arrows” imagery in the years to come, we feel even more passionate about character, unity and prayer. One could make the argument that we are borderline frenetic about these three “arrows.” Why? Because they are critical to the success of the American church (or any church, for that matter) in tearing open heaven. And the future of our nation, and of the emerging generations who grow up among us, will be dependent on this tearing.

     That is, admittedly, a pretty bold statement; let me try to back it up. “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is a prayer for heaven to be torn open so that Kingdom life may pour out, so to speak, and be increasingly manifest on earth.  The Kingdom of God is not only a place in our universe or reality, beyond the reach of our telescopes, where we will reside once our life on earth is complete. It is the realm in which were created to live in eternal communion with our Maker, and a reality that is being restored, in increasing measure, in own realm ever since the Fall separated the two.  Jesus was and is the Divine Accelerator of that restoration, and He has commissioned us to follow His example. Habakkuk says that one day “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2:14)  As we join God in bringing forth that day, we are to pray down, and incarnate through our living, Kingdom life now.

     The following illustration comes to mind: if the earth is a submarine and the Kingdom of God is the ocean, the encroachment of the ocean on life in the submarine can be subtle, as in a pinhole leak, or it can be catastrophic, as in a massive breach or tearing open of the hull. If you are an air-breathing creature in the submarine, you have problems. But if you were meant to breathe water, and your breathing of air has just been temporary, you are in good shape – perhaps better than before, since your original design was to breathe water.  I know my submarine metaphor here breaks down eventually, but I hope you get the point: the Kingdom of God is the realm in which we are created to live - eternally – and we don’t have to wait until we die to experience it.

     A friend and I were recently talking about a burden we share for the fatherless. For both of us, father wounds seem to surface everywhere we turn. I have made this point before: fatherlessness is arguably the biggest challenge in youth ministry, in the church, and in society in general today. While physical, emotional and/or spiritual fatherlessness may not be the cause of all wounds, depression, brokenheartedness, fear, anger, dysfunction and psychoses, it is certainly behind much of it.  And as my buddy Rus put it, bringing tangible solutions to this challenge feels, at times, like “spitting in the ocean.”  If our solutions are limited to the resources we have used in the past – counseling, therapy, medication, self-help  - we will, indeed, be merely perpetuating our ocean-spitting. There are simply not enough antidepressants or therapies or counselors or self-help books in the world to deal with all the problems, Similarly, where is the wisdom needed to bring resolution to millennia of conflict in the Middle East? Is there a solution to America’s multi-trillion dollar deficit that will not be chewed up and spit out by relentless partisan political squabbling? It is really possible to build completely earthquake-proof buildings and tsunami-proof coastal communities?

     The Bible tells us, clearly, that God can – and will – pour out real solutions to these problems, and others like them – as we cry out for heaven to be torn open (prayer) and the fullness of the Kingdom to be poured out, and as we together (unity) live holy, consecrated lives (character) that qualify us to the “great works” that Jesus promised we would do. Healing, deliverance, restoration, hope with a word or with a touch are practical realities when heaven is torn open. No more spitting in the ocean.

*frenetic |frəˈnetik| adj. - wildly excited or active; frantic; frenzied