mbjones

• Found this to be a helpful post on eating well in the midst of poverty. There are simple things to do that go miles.

• eBible.com is under new ownership, and launched a new version. It would seem they are looking to compete with YouVersion.

• Neoliberal economic theory, and it’s grip on American Politics is something I’ve found disturbing over the past few years. This is a pretty good article on it (and some of the reasons why I’m not much of a fan).

• In the web-startup-world, Lanbito appears to be an interesting competitor to Wufoo. Like the pricing, but don’t yet like the feature list. Add some things, and I’d consider migrating over.

• If you are on facebook, then you’ve at least heard tell of a the forthcoming changes. Here’s a good round up of what to expect. It doesn’t appear that they are changing pages much yet, just profiles (this is important if you are managing several).

Well this seems like a good enough roundup for now. Hopefully you can find some good reading material there!

VC Camp 2011 from Brandon Jones on Vimeo.

This is a video I recently produced detailing a camp we helped put on.
Specifically, the video tells the story of one of the young women
involved (whom my wife has spent quite befriending) and how her story
impacted the kids.

So there is a big news story going around involving the country in which I currently live. Some folks are up in arms and others…aren’t.

Essentially, a South African pastor started off a sermon series stating, “Jesus was HIV+”.

However, as Pastor Skosana told those gathered in the modest Luhlaza High School hall for his weekly services, in many parts of the Bible Jesus put himself in the position of the destitute, the sick and the marginalised.

“Wherever you open the scriptures Jesus puts himself in the shoes of people who experience brokenness. Isaiah 53, for example, clearly paints a picture of Jesus who takes upon himself the infirmities and the brokenness of humanity,” he told the BBC.

He is also quick to emphasise that he is using the metaphor to highlight the danger of the HIV/Aids pandemic, which still carries a stigma in South Africa’s townships.

“Of course, there’s no scientific evidence that Jesus had the HI virus in his bloodstream,” says the pastor, whose non-denominational Hope for Life Ministry is part of a growing charismatic movement in South Africa.

“The best gift we can give to people who are HIV-positive is to help de-stigmatise Aids and create an environment where they know God is not against them, he’s not ashamed of them.” (from this BBC Article)

From the same article, local pastors here have reacted quite strongly:

“The subject of my Jesus being HIV-positive is a scathing matter,” he says.

“I believe no anointed leader with a sound mind about the scriptures and the role of Christ in our lives would deliberately drag the name of Christ to the ground.”

And foreigner pastors, bloggers, and others have reacted in a like manner:

De-stigmatising culture and sin is a dangerous thing. Don’t think this is too outlandish. This is happening here in the states as well; particularly in the area of homosexuality.

Making Jesus the poster child for your cause will never work.

Here’s an idea. Why don’t we stick to what Jesus actually said rather than try to conform him to our personality, bad habits and sin? (from here; google and you'll find more)

I’ll be honest, the headline is a shocker — Jesus was HIV+. But once you get past that headline into the substance I don’t quite get the outrage.

The pastor is explicitly not saying that Jesus had HIV in a scientific sense. He identifies the statement as metaphor. Not only that, he outlines from where he got such a notion in the Bible: Isaiah 53.

He had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him. He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant. But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain; even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done.

I would throw into the mix a few other passages as well:

God made the one who did not know sins to be sin for us, so that in hims we would become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-10)

Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. Wet saw his glory – the glory of the one and only,t full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. (John 1:14)

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’ (Matthew 25:35-40)

With the context of the Isaiah passage, and these other passages, in mind I don’t really get the outrage. There are a couple of things about the outrage, in fact, that trouble me.

One of those things can be highlighted in the blogger passage above: the general equation of HIV+ status with sin. This is actually incredibly troubling to me because being HIV+ does mean one is sin. HIV often results from sin but this isn’t even always the case particularly in communities where its instance is so high (you have to take into account sanitation, available medical care, family history, etc); in many circumstances it can be of no general fault of the individual (many are even born with it). But this equation of HIV with sin has produced much of the stigmatization that the pastor in Khayelitsha is reacting against. It promotes an atmosphere where (a) people don’t talk about HIV at any level as it is shameful, (b) those known to have it are actively discriminated against and (c) those that have it feel shamed and as if they need to stay away from things like “church”. And it’s worth noting to whoever reads this that we work in Cape Town in a community often referred to as “Little Khayelitsha” and often see the stigmatization that Pastor Skosana talks about. The reality is that HIV is a sickness. It can be likened to the lepers of Jesus’ time. His response to such a people was love and compassion, and in the strictest sense of the incarnation we see in the above listed Bible passages, identification.

This also brings to mind the story of Jesus walking through a crowd where a woman, having bled for years due to what scholars say is most likely irregular, heavy menstrual cycles, touches Jesus and is healed because of it. Hers was a case similar to the HIV cases of today and is directly related to what Pastor Skosana speaks about. Her bleeding made her consistently unclean in a society that placed extreme value on purity. Any one that touched her or which she came in close contact with her defiled themselves and where likewise considered unclean. Because of this, you could liken her to an exile in her own society, not ever being able to have much close contact with people. Women saw her and thought “sin” because of purity issues but Jesus saw differently. By touching Jesus the woman was healed. And through that touch Jesus takes her condition — her uncleanliness — onto himself, becoming unclean as she was.

The other issue that troubles me about the outrage is it seems to be rooted in dualistic notions of Jesus that separate the spiritual and physical rather than seeing it as a whole thing. It’s easy to see the spiritual — Jesus as all powerful God — but we miss the heart of what happened in Jesus — God became as we are so that we might become as He intended. We don’t have salvation without the incarnation — God’s active identification with our situation. This seems to be so easy to miss, sadly, and when we do it breeds the religion that produces the stigmatization that Pastor Skosana is speaking against.

Anyways, for all those outraged, hopefully this is a little food for thought. Time prevents me from writing more now.

 

All the poor and powerless

And all the lost and lonely

 

All the thieves will come confess

And know that You are holy

Will know that You are holy

 

All will sing out, Hallelujah

We will cry out, Hallelujah

 

All the hearts who are content

And all who feel unworthy

All the hurt with nothing left

Will know that You are holy

 

 

All will sing out, Hallelujah

We will cry out, Hallelujah

 

Shout it, go on and scream it from the mountains

Go on and tell it to the masses

That He is God

 

We will sing out, Hallelujah

We will cry out, Hallelujah

We will sing out, Hallelujah

God

 

Shout it, go on and scream it from the mountains

Go on and tell it to the masses

That He is God

All the Poor & Powerless by Sons & Daughters. Download for free.

Today is loveZim day. Zim, of course, stands for Zimbabwe and the purpose of this day is to unite as the body of Christ, across denominational and cultural lines, and lift this nation up in prayer.

It is a desperate nation, where people are crying out to know something of justice and peace amidst a world of corruption. And, so it seems, as its people long for this, something is beginning to happen. There are glimmers in stories coming out of Zimbabwe. We see glimmers of this in the lives of those we meet in Masi.

It seems that every person we meet from Zimbabwe is hungry for something more in life. Not just physical needs and things such as that — they are important but it’s not the type of hunger we see most often. They are hungry for real and lasting change in their own lives and those around them. It’s led us to firmly believe that God is doing something in their nation.

In America right now it’s pretty commonplace to live in fear — we felt this in many of the areas we visited. It almost seems grossly fashionable. But we don’t really know what it’s like to live in terror day in and day out. Our friends from Zimbabwe, on the other hand, do. To give a quick snapshot of recent Zimbabwean history-

• Zimbabwe no longer has an official currency. Inflation ran rampant due to failed economic policy. At it’s height, before the dissolution of the currency, people would have to take a wheelbarrow full of money to the store to buy a small bag of flour or sugar. My wife and I have a 10,000,000,000 Zim note that, during this time, was a small piece of that wheelbarrow.

• The last “election” was in 2008. After the opposition party won the majority of the parliamentary seats, the president, Robert Mugabe, initiated a campaign entitled CIBD — Coercion—Intimidation—Beating—Displacement — run by a ruthless military which delivered what the campaign promised. Widespread, and brutal, violence caused the opposition party to pull out.

• Many of the economic problems can be traced to Mugabe’s “land reformation” programs, whereby he seizes (often violently) commercial farming land. Outwardly, it’s portrayed as an attempt to put land back into the hands of the poor of Zimbabwe. In reality it’s been shown that the land is primarily given to the elite of Zimbabwe.

So today is a day to come together and lift this nation up. The church of Zimbabwe is joining hearts and hands today to do this and we should as well, with them.

Specific Requests

• One side effect of current life in Zimbabwe is that many people have no other choice than seek asylum elsewhere. The best option from those that can’t afford plane tickets off of the continent is South Africa. Many of our friends in Masi come here because of this. The government of South Africa has generally been gracious in welcoming them in, regardless of status (many come illegally due to grave conditions at home and the impossibility of getting official papers). The government here though, from what we are hearing, are starting to revamp their asylum position. Everyone with asylum papers are being given a (sometimes very) brief window of time — generally two weeks to three months — to get official papers in order to apply for work permits. Official papers (a passport and Zimbabwean national ID) are things that many have no access to. Pray for grace with officials locally. Pray for safety if forced to return to Zimbabwe. Election season is coming up and gross violence is likely to return. Pray that our friends especially would be light where ever God takes them, whether that’s remaining here in Masi or going back to their home in Zim.

• Pray for the nation of Zimbabwe, that hearts would change. Pray that God would convict of the violence and coercion and that the will of the people would be heard in upcoming elections, free from manipulative and propaganda filled voices.

• Pray that a might move of the Kingdom of God would occur in Zimbabwe. Pray as Jesus does in the Lord’s Prayer: Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Attached you'll find our summer newsletter. You may have gotten it
via snail mail -- if not, here it is! Enjoy!

The WORD became flesh and moved into {our} neighborhood. That’s an exciting thought to consider, isn’t it? To think that God willfully stepped out of His kingdom and came to earth is an amazing thing. He came from a place of perfection that we can only imagine and entered into all of the goriness of life on earth. And in such an odd way. You would think that if God was going to visit earth and experience life as a human He start at a place of honor, born into royalty or wealth or something like that. But no — He forsook all of that, choosing the poverty of a voiceless Jewish family in the midst of imperial occupation. He chose to not even be born in a legitimate setting. Who of us in their right mind would say, “Yes! I want to be born next to donkeys and cows and sheep! Lay me in their feeding trough to rest!” What a choice this was.

This makes the words of Paul in Philippians striking:

Jesus existed in the form of God but emptied Himself of this. He took on the form of a slave. He looked just like you and me. He shared in our nature.

This WORD becoming flesh, this God becoming man, this incarnation — it’s not about who He was but about who He was becoming.

Jesus was God throughout His time on earth; if this wasn’t so, we wouldn’t have the cross and complete liberation from the works of evil in the world. What mattered though wasn’t that He was still God but that He became man. This identification is an incredible thing. It’s something I don’t currently fully understand and don’t think I (or anybody for that matter) ever will, fully. We like big words like incarnation and kenosis and theosis and the like to refer to doctrines that attempt to describe at least some of what is going on but I’m pretty sure there will always be something of a mystery surrounding it all.

And it’s well and good to sit and wonder and awe at the mystery of it all; that’s something I readily admit to doing. Recently though an element of sober reality has found itself intermixed in my wonders and awes. The WORD becoming flesh — the WORD emptying Himself of Himself and taking on the form of me, well as I said it’s incredible. It gets sobering now though: This WORD made flesh in inviting me to live as He made me to, has invited me to enter this incarnational kenosis as well: To empty myself of myself and what He has made me, and take on the form of the other.

What does that mean? Forsaking Jesus? No. Jesus emptying Himself of God didn’t mean He was any less God. God didn’t forsake God, so to speak. It does mean stepping outside the bounds of life He’s ushered me into. Jesus chose to leave heaven and enter our muck and mire — theologically speaking: kenosis. Taking up Jesus, we enter into heaven (at least metaphorically speaking; I suppose we could have theological discussion about the technicalities of this) which I find to be a form of Theosis — the filling of ourselves with what Jesus chose to leave. We are called to emulate Jesus though so kenosis must follow. Jesus set that aside, came as a man, called people into what He was (giving glimpses of it all along the way) and loved so much that He chose to die so that we might live.

That kenosis hits home to me now in ways it never did before. Life was comparatively easy back in Oklahoma. It didn’t take much effort to empty myself and become something other because the reality was that the other was more like me than I might care to admit. Now though — it’s something different. Not to long ago I found myself sitting on a wooden bench in a filthy concrete room full of junk that the attached Shebeen (illegitimate bar) didn’t have use for with my wife, teammate and the drunk homeless guy who slept there. He proceeded to spill His guts about all of life, culminating in his desire and plan to hang himself. He drank day in and day out to forget this pain he carried with him everywhere but it was getting to the point where the bottle could no longer numb him to it. Sitting there that day I experience incarnation as I’d never experienced it before. It was in love-driven desire to be somewhere I knew I didn’t belong. There it was, reaching out to someone who had drunk too many 40s to count. It was the willingness to enter his world and feel and understand and see as he did.

In an academic sense, I knew that coming here and living incarnationally would involve wading into deep and dark problems in the lives of people — issues and feelings and thoughts I’d probably never known existed before — but it wasn’t anything more than that academic sense.

And, I wouldn’t have it any other way. You see the incarnation produces something incredible. For where kenosis happens theosis is soon to follow. Jesus came as man and presented something more (His kingdom), and many back then, and you and me now, entered and where filled with something more. So to for people like this drunk homeless man who wanted to give up on life in the worst possible way. That day about a month ago was incredibly sober. Today though His story is something different. He’d never had someone tell him that they loved him. And for it to be a white guy from America — that blew his mind. It made him stop and think. And when he found out why (Jesus in me, my wife and teammate) it made him reach out for something more. We did a lot of sharing and a lot of praying with him that afternoon and God filled his heart with a joy and with a peace he had never known before. We came back the next week to find him sober and smiling. The next week he was outside playing soccer with kids. Two weeks ago he excitedly shared of his new job — something he hasn’t had in quite some time. Last week he brought us a friend who had seen his transformation and wanted it in his own life.

This has been long and rambling and probably won’t make much sense to anyone but me; I just needed to get the words down and the thoughts out, to be mulled over and considered further.