Weeping for RIT.

My Servant Leaders (the student exec team) and I have taken on the practice of spending 15 minutes of our weekly meeting to study and discuss a Bible passage.

As you can imagine, 15 minutes is not a lot of time to study a Bible passage.

To combat that a little bit, I've asked the leadership team to spend the entire week prior to the meeting in that passage during their quiet times with Jesus.  They can study it however they want.  They're encouraged to pray through whatever comes to the surface for them.  They're expected to come to our meeting having spent much more time with this Word on their own than we're able to do so together, armed and ready to share what came up for them during the week.

We're going through the book of Nehemiah, and this past week we went over the first chapter, where Nehemiah hears about the tragic state of condition of Jerusalem and Judah:  "The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.  The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire" (Nehemiah 1:3, ESV).

Like I said, 15 minutes is not a lot of time to study the many layers of scripture we could unpack.

So we focused on one point - how Nehemiah responded to the news.  Here's what we found:

He immediately wept and mourned for days.  Nehemiah must have cared deeply enough about Jerusalem and his people that it brought such grief into his heart, as one would if someone very close and dear to them had passed away.

He fasted and prayed.  Nehemiah is brought to his knees, but not only that, he does not pray a prayer of, "Please help and deliver them, Lord!" or, "Why must my people go through this suffering?".  Instead, he interestingly prays a prayer of confession.

He identifies with the good and the bad of his people.  Not only does Nehemiah pray a prayer of confession (weird), but he identifies with his people in their sins!  "We have sinned against you," Nehemiah 1:6b says.  "Even I and my father's house have sinned."  He doesn't try to put the blame on anyone else.  He doesn't distance himself from his confession; even though he seems like he has the right not to involve himself.

He wasn't physically there.  This was in response to news that someone had brought to him from afar - he hadn't even seen the state of his community with his own eyes.  Either Nehemiah was super touchy-feely and sensitive, or he cared so deeply and identified so deeply with his community that he was moved deeply by this tragic news, even though he was miles away from the desolation itself.   

As we discussed these observations in our mere few minutes, one question kept coming to mind:

Why don't we respond to the brokenness on RIT's campus the way Nehemiah responds to Jerusalem's brokenness? 

It was a question I posed to the Servant Leadership team.  I asked them to imagine if they had gotten some news from someone during the winter break that RIT's campus was in shambles, would they react the way Nehemiah did, in weeping and mourning and praying prayers of confession on behalf of the sins we as a community committed?  Definitely not, we all agreed, myself included.

But why not? I wonder.  And what would it take for us to get to a point where we did identify and care so deeply with the RIT community that we wouldn't hesitate to respond to and lead out of the spiritual shambles we face everyday?

Ambition is the name of the InterVarisity conference Nathan is currently attending in Florida.  It's for both staff and students who desire to learn more about planting ministries.  I'm kind of bummed I decided not to go, but I figured it's probably also good that I'm not traveling anymore after the craziness of this last month.

But I'm still very excited for Nathan and all of my other friends and colleagues who are attending.  I'm praying and hoping that God will peel away any distractions and soften any hardened hearts so that they can be ready to receive a Word from Him.  I'm hoping it'll instill a renewed fervor to reach the lost and participate in the work God has invited them into.  I'm praying that the speakers, conversations, seminars, and environment will be helpful and significant for moving God's mission forward.  I'm hoping God will bless them with courage despite fears or hesitations they may have about the planting work God is sending them to.

While I'm here back in Rochester, I've been thinking about my own 'ambitions' in this ministry.    

ambition

noun

1.

an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor,  fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment:

Too much ambition caused him to be disliked by his colleagues.

2.

the object, state, or result desired or sought after:

The crown was his ambition.

3.

desire for work or activity; energy:

I awoke feeling tired and utterly lacking in ambition.

What am I striving for?  Yeah, I can quote InterVarsity's vision statement in my sleep, and I know the components of our purpose statement.  I know it all in my head.  But is it truly what I'm seeking after?  What does that look like?

When I think about it, I think it's easy for me to get caught up in the circumstances.  I'll start off with good intentions to participate in the work God has called me to, and then when things don't go the way I expect them to, or I don't know what to do, I start striving towards getting back to solid ground or even just getting the minimum done to survive the day.

Nathan and I have been going through Joshua in our personal studies.  These verses have been weighing on me:

Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.  I will not leave you or forsake you.  Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

It's helpful to be reminded of God's presence and his exhortation of courage out of the confidence that God does not turn back on His promises.  It reminds me that God has definitely called me to this ministry at this time, and He does not turn back on His promise to be with me in answering this call.

I pray for and with my friends and colleagues at Ambition for the very same strength, courage, and presence as we encounter the Lord in these next few days and as they return with all that God has given them to bless others.

Blessing to the nations.

I'm reading, The Mission of God's People:  A Biblical Theology of The Church's Mission, by Christopher J. H. Wright.

This is an excerpt from page 72:

Election is not the rejection of the rest, but ultimately for their benefit.  It is as if a group of trapped cave explorers choose one of their number to squeeze through a narrow flooded passage to get out to the surface and call for help.  The point of the choice is not so that she alone gets saved, but that she is able to bring help and equipment to ensure the rest get rescued.  "Election" in such a case is an instrumental choice of one for the sake of many.

In the same way, God's election of Israel is instrumental in God's mission for all nations.  Election needs to be seen as a doctrine of mission, not a calculus for the arithmetic of salvation.  If we are to speak of being chosen, of being among God's elect, it is to say that, like Abraham, we are chosen for the sake of God's plan that the nations of the world come to enjoy the blessing of Abraham (which is exactly how Paul describes the effect of God's redemption of Israel through Christ in Gal. 3:14).

Reading this book has been a slow-going process (because I read slow, not because of the content), but it's constantly reminding me of why I'm doing what I'm doing and all the things I'm trying to remind or instill in students at RIT.

Our mission is to be a blessing to the nations, not to bring comfort to ourselves.