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It's
Moving Day!
"Been there, done that, got the T-shirt!" Well, actually, I got the t-shirt, but I wasn't there. Having returned from Hungary for a summer home assignment, our schedule did not include attending General Conference 2003 in Seattle, WA. So why the t-shirt? It wasn't the color or even a sentimental attachment to Seattle. It was the paraphrase of John 1:14 from The Message on the back, "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood." That summarized the heart of all that we hoped to share in our travels to camps and churches during the summer. What is Free Methodist ministry about in the city of Budapest, Hungary? In almost every aspect, it involves moving into the neighborhood. At the most basic level, that means living here. But what does it mean at the ministry level? Exploring this question is vital to understanding how God is working in Europeans' lives to glorify His name. In the account of God's covenant with Moses in Exodus 33 and 34, Moses made a bold request. "Please. Let me see your Glory" (Exodus 33:18).* In response, God revealed His glory in a way that foreshadowed the incarnation. As Moses watched from a cleft in a rock on Mt. Sinai, God passed by in all His goodness, proclaiming, "God, God, a God of mercy and grace, endlessly patient — so much love, so deeply true — loyal in love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion and sin" (Exodus 34: 6-7a). As if with that event in mind, John writes, "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish" (John 1:14). This grace-truth dynamic in action is the leading quality of God's revealed glory on earth. Jesus Himself often referred to what He did as evidence that He and God were one. (See John 10, 13 and 14.) In like manner, our actions of "reliable, abundant kindness" — to borrow a phrase of Dr. Joseph Stowell, president of Moody Bible Institute — express and extend God's glory, goodness and grace where we are. This is moving into the neighborhood.
This day-to-day ministry that often takes place just below the surface is the foundation for church planting in Budapest. Buying yesterday's flowers from hunchbacked old women at the corner, fingers gnarled by age and cold; greeting the nearly toothless neighbor and petting the dog that is her only companion; visiting the young man, old before his time, crippled and confined to a wheelchair; thanking the grumpy cashier; attending funerals; buying rolls and milk for the homeless man, alone at dawn on the doorstep; studying and stumbling in Hungarian; listening; giving; forgiving. … How many English lessons taught, cards sent, flowers bought, calls made, coins dropped (into open hands or upturned hats), seats offered, meals cooked, cookies baked, coffees drunk and prayers voiced does it take to "move in," to "get the t-shirt"? Of course, that's not the point! Jesus' mission was to reveal the Father, in all His glory. When "the way He worked and lived among men [becomes] the way He lives in you,"** then it is our mission as well. It's moving day! * (All scriptures quoted from The Message ) |
