Partnership: An Exercise in Inter-dependence November 19, 2006
Posted by Chris Gnanakan in bible study.add a comment
Jesus appointed “the twelve” as apprentices primary to be with Him but eventually to be sent out as His ambassadors to reach all people with the gospel (Mark 3:13-14). The context reveals how Jesus Himself with respect to His own mission was taken for granted and insulted by folks in His hometown (6:1-5) . What was Jesus’ response? He commissioned these disciples and sent them to minister to the poor and those who had not heard of his kingdom. Let’s consider how these workers were to accomplish Jesus’ mission. We will discover that the main lesson Jesus’ followers were to learn was to trust and demonstrate this in their working together (6:6-13). There are three areas, perhaps four, in which he teaches them and us today, the vital need, intrinsic value and importance of partnership. (more…)
The Arrangement in “Love” Marriage November 18, 2006
Posted by Chris Gnanakan in pastoral.add a comment
The word-association test cannot be applied to define “love” marriage due to its rapidly changing meanings. During my teenage years it was about romanticism and we talked about “falling in love”. Then sensuality took over and the phrase “making love” was in vogue. Today, the “sexy” image sells and, have you noticed how eroticism rules most marketing strategies!
John, in his letter to the early Church, talked about love, an Anglicization of the Greek word agape. This word he chose from at least four words available and he uses it over fifty times as a verb or a noun. Yet, he is not imprecise nor is the essential nature of Christian love open to misunderstandings. The model is clear: “This is how we know what love is… Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1Jn 3:16). This as basis, believers in their relationships can “know and rely on the love God has for them” (1Jn 4:16). (more…)
Compassion, Charismata and Healing November 4, 2006
Posted by Chris Gnanakan in pastoral.add a comment
Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care! Compassion, from the Latin, meaning “with” and “to suffer” is at the heart of pastoral care and an indispensable part of what it means to be a Christian…
As a pastor, I find it a difficult challenge to allow someone else’s suffering to open up for me, in a real sense, an encounter with God. Christian ministry reflects a God who in Jesus is not dispassionate but cares enough to reveal his loving presence in and through human acts of kindness. McLaren notes, ‘we can experience God in us as we show compassion and we can also experience God in the person who receives our compassion’. We need to know suffering as much as ‘claim’ faith for ‘miracle’ healing. We can allow our woundedness to be at once an experience of God as well as a source of healing for others. Pastors, at best, are wounded healers!
Two aspects of compassion bring healing. The first, typically ‘Pentecostal’, prayerfully intervenes often in spectacular ways seeking mercy for the sick and at times, justice for the poor who are without life’s basic needs. The second, though passive is preventative and profoundly pastoral. It is about ‘being there’ to offer hope to those who suffer. Christlike compassion is the true source of all spiritual charismata and must be central to charismatic praxis: to preach the gospel, prayer for the sick and deal with demonic oppression.
Pentecostal power in and of itself can easily be destructive to genuine faith. But, the opposite is true when the Spirit’s healing charismata (1Cor. 12:8) are accompanied by compassionate care which reflects the Spirit’s fruit or graces (Gal. 5:23). Spiritual gifts and the fruit of the Spirit are interlinked, and the virtue of compassion or practical love should serve as a rudder to direct the proper use and prevent the misuse and abuse of charismata
Christian compassion possesses an intense empathy for others who suffer and uses spiritual gifts to alleviate, not agitate pain. Pastors ought to exemplify such a vocation. Often, a more powerful remedy for defeating a vice, spiritual, social or otherwise, is to develop a virtue. Compassion, rooted in agape and modellng Jesus’ ministry, is the overarching virtue in true ‘charismatic’ ministries, where ’super-human’ charismata stem out of the grace of compassion. Without the latter the former is pointless and powerless to create lasting transformation: dangerous wind for a ship without a sail.
