Are the mountains bigger in Cusco, and does Jesus walk more slowly?

On the face of it, of course the mountains are bigger in Cusco – bigger than in most places. We are living in the Andes, 3,300m above sea level. The summit of the mountain behind our house is 1,000m higher than the city in the foothills below. I was writing to a friend recently, talking about the beauty of the surrounding countryside and the way the mountains display the amazing creative power of God and then, in the same paragraph, describing the ‘mountains’ of poverty, spiritual evil, institutional corruption, dishonesty and mistrust that we struggle with. Living cross-culturally perhaps I see these types of ‘mountain’ very clearly, more so than if I had grown up here. I wonder if people moving to Britain see other mountains that we British don’t see?

Anyway, the current climb, which we started about five years ago, is adoption paperwork. We pray, our families pray, almost everyone we know prays, but we see only very slow progress. Sometimes there is no obvious progress for weeks on end. Is that because the mountain is so huge – a human construction which contains a complex, slow and frustrating system influenced by corruption and mistrust? Perhaps. Or does Jesus walk more slowly in Cusco?

That question brings me to something Jesus said about his burden being light and his yoke, easy. It is currently ploughing time in the little fields around our house. A few people now use a tractor but most still use a pair of oxen. I was reading recently about Jesus’ use of the word ‘yoke’ and about oxen learning to plough.[1] When Jesus spoke of a yoke he was almost certainly thinking of the wooden beam used to join two ploughing oxen. The word ‘disciple’ comes from the word for learner, which is the same word used for a younger ox learning how to plough from an older ox. So when Jesus spoke of us taking his yoke upon us, he is imagining each one of us as a young ox walking alongside himself, the older, experienced ox. Apparently, when a young ox begins to plough he will tend to go too fast and wear himself out before the day is out. But joined by the yoke to an older ox he will have to go at the correct pace. He can’t wander off and plough a different field. He won’t plough wobbly furrows. He won’t charge off and cause damage. He gets to rest once the job is done.

To me, this signifies that we need to learn to walk at Jesus’ pace through life, in the ‘field’ that he chooses. He will set the right pace, walk in a straight line and help us get the job done that he has in mind for us. (Did you ever read in the Bible a section that says: And Jesus rushed off. He was in such a hurry that he decided to leave his disciples at home that day ...) We may think that a faster pace would be better or that another field looks easier or more interesting. We might think that ploughing all through the night is a good plan. We might consider the idea of charging off on our own somewhere - but who knows what damage that may cause! I wonder if sharing Jesus’ yoke with him sounds restricting? Prior to this, Jesus had said, ‘Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.’ He was thinking of our best interests, not trying to hold us back in life.

In many aspects of life, Jesus may walk more slowly than we would wish. Maybe an illness, a house move, learning a new language, teaching a child with additional needs or a job hunt seem to be never-ending. Begging him to hurry up is perhaps not the answer. Asking him about the pace, and what we are supposed to be learning and enjoying on the way, is perhaps more productive.

From my perspective, the mountains are higher and Jesus does walk more slowly in Cusco. But it is better to struggle over the mountains than give up, and to walk with Jesus than without him. However, I’m still hoping that we’ll reach a downhill section soon ....

‘When you stop trying to control your life and instead allow your anxieties and problems to bring you to God in prayer, you shift from worrying to watching. You watch God weave his patterns in the story of your life. Instead of trying to be out front, designing your life, you realise you are inside God’s drama. As you wait, you begin to see him work, and your life begins to sparkle with wonder. You are learning to trust again.’

 Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life, NavPress 2009

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[1]  p30 Building a Discipling Culture, Mike Breen, 2011

Christmas in the Dark

Christmas in Cusco mostly happens in the dark. Mass, the big meal and the opening of gifts all happen in the middle of the night as the 24^th December ‘explodes’ into the 25^th (fireworks are traditional here on Christmas Eve!). There are many cultural differences between Christmas in Peru and Christmas in the UK. It is nowhere near as big a festival as it is in Britain, at least in the commercial sense, and that can be an advantage, leaving us free to celebrate Christmas as we wish, rather than being bombarded by the advertising, the TV Christmas specials and the parties. 

Cusco Main Square at Christmas at night

But Christmas ‘in the dark’ is obviously a metaphorical reality for many and being away from family and friends and the things that in the past have made Christmas special helps us appreciate the mixed feelings or even depression which Christmas can bring. Sorely missed family members abroad, illness or the death of someone close in the preceding year (or longer ago) can make Christmas dark. A 17 year old we are visiting in the hospital at the moment, recently paralysed after a bicycle accident, is certainly sharing a dark Christmas with his father, alone in the trauma ward. 

The whole feeling that we are supposed to have a ‘Happy Christmas’ makes matters a hundred times worse when we don’t feel happy. But just before Christmas I came across a clip by Glen Scrivener (a minister from Eastbourne), entitled ‘Christmas in Dark Places’ (you may have seen it as it deservedly did the rounds on facebook), which got me thinking and helped me to see Christmas in a different light.

Jesus was born in the dark, away from home, into poverty:

It’s dark, in the bible, when Christmas is spoken.
Always a bolt from the blue for the broken.
It’s the valley of shadow, the land of the dead,
It’s, “No place in the inn,” so He stoops to the shed.
He’s born to the shameful, bends to the weak,
becomes the lowly: the God who can’t speak!
And yet, what a Word, this Saviour who comes,
Our dismal, abysmal depths He plumbs.
Through crib and then cross, to compass our life.
To carry and conquer. Our Brother in strife.  

 (Glen Scrivener, http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/)

It’s actually quite obvious, but I had somehow failed to totally realise this before - if we feel as though our Christmas is dark, and that we don’t even want to participate, then Christmas is for us more than anyone. Not the commercial version of Christmas, or even the ‘happy family’ version of Christmas but the Christmas that we read about in the Bible where God comes to earth precisely for the lonely, the poor, the oppressed and the depressed.

And if we are not among the lonely, the poor, the oppressed or the depressed (or even if we are) then through the Holy Spirit within us we are called to bring light - Jesus coming once more into the darkness.

‘The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
                      a light has dawned.’   (Isaiah 9:2)

Buying a ‘Happy Christmas’?

Something else I read this week, together with the experience of visiting our first real, shiny, western-style shopping mall in Cusco, has also impacted me in relation to Christmas:

‘The world sees joy as something received…. Many are trying to extract from life that which life may seem reluctant to give. So often, of course, this ends in disillusionment. Enduring happiness is found only on the narrow road with Me.’                                   Fr Hon Woolley in ‘I am with you’

People often look for experiences, success or ‘stuff’ to bring joy. We try and ‘buy’ happiness with new clothes, a new car, chocolate or holidays. The new shopping centre in Cusco, which, in a fit of desperation, half-opened a week before Christmas (it certainly wouldn’t be open yet in the UK due to Health and Safety regulations), houses a large supermarket, a department store, various other smaller shops and soon will have a food court, once it’s finished. Local people are trying to figure out how to use the escalators without falling over and numerous cleaners are constantly trying to keep the floors shiny (rainy season and a building site outside making this rather impossible!). It is a place where the advertisements tell us we can buy happiness. Rather poignantly, it is built on the site of, and right next door to what remains of, a Catholic school and seminary. Talk about a visual aid for Jesus’ words, ‘You cannot serve both God and Money.’ (Matthew 6:24)

Cusco's new shopping centre

Despite the increasing materialism in Cusco, Christmas is seen by many here as a time to contribute to the needs of the less fortunate, and many, many businesses, schools and hotels fund ‘chocolatadas’ where hot chocolate, food and toys are handed out. A few evangelical churches  also run chocolatadas and use the opportunity to give the Christmas message, but sadly, in my opinion, many evangelical churches tend to ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’ as they like  to be distinct from the Catholic church and don’t even mention Christmas!

Nativity Scenes and the Meaning of Christmas

A final Christmas thought is one that relates to the elaborate nativity scenes that the kids enjoyed seeing in the Catholic churches just prior to Christmas. Nativity scenes are big in general – in homes, hotels, shops and bus stations. An article in the New York Times caught my attention (I must add that I don’t normally read the New York Times but was sent the link by a friend). It’s entitled ‘Ideas from a Manger’ and here’s the introduction:

‘Pause for a moment, in the last leg of your holiday shopping, to glance at one of the manger scenes you pass along the way. Cast your eyes across the shepherds and animals, the infant and the kings. Then try to see the scene this way: not just as a pious set-piece, but as a complete world picture — intimate, miniature and comprehensive. 

Because that’s what the Christmas story really is — an entire worldview in a compact narrative, a depiction of how human beings relate to the universe and to one another. It’s about the vertical link between God and man — the angels, the star, the creator stooping to enter his creation. But it’s also about the horizontal relationships of society, because it locates transcendence in the ordinary, the commonplace, the low’. 

I don’t think an attempt to summarise would do the article justice, so here’s the link if you’re interested in worldviews and what a nativity scene encapsulates:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/opinion/sunday/douthat-ideas-from-a-manger.html?_r=1&

Giant Nativity Scene at Korikancha, Cusco

Towards the end of the article the author states:

‘So there are two interesting religious questions that will probably face Americans for many Christmases to come. The first is whether biblical religion can regain some of the ground it has lost, or whether the spiritual worldview will continue to carry all before it.’

I wouldn’t like to call a life with God based on the Bible ‘religion’ (that is another entire topic), but the Biblical story is the only one that makes sense of, and redeems, the dark. I hope your Christmas was ‘happy’, but if it wasn’t, let’s remember that Jesus came more for dark Christmases than merry ones, and the joy He brings can be yours. Let’s not look for the joy we seek under the bright lights of a shopping mall, but in the Child in the manger, the Light of the World.

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep,
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light.
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

Poverty, Environment and Lifestyle

This is a blog post almost entirely written by other people. To explain - Carrie (who works at both CORASON and The Meeting Place) and I have recently re-started the once-a-week evening discussion group we used to run for volunteers and other English-speakers travelling through or living in Cusco. We have done a couple of sessions related to poverty and while preparing we have read such a lot of very interesting and challenging material. Parts of our discussions have been based on quotes and statements from some excellent books, and I thought I’d note some of them down on the blog as a follow-up to some other blog entries on poverty. Hope you find them interesting and challenging too, and that they inspire you to read the books referenced, study the Bible, do something about what you read and maybe lead your own discussions and studies! (If you would like a copy of the notes and handouts from our two evenings, I would be quite happy to send them to you, by the way.)

Below are the main books we have been reading and from which we have used material. I would 100% recommend getting hold of any of these to both read yourself and use with any type of home group/cell group if possible.

• When Helping Hurts, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, 2009 (How trying to help can lead to more harm than good! Especially useful for churches who send short term mission teams, but also excellent for anyone looking to help in their local area or beyond.)

• Poor No More, Peter Grant (International Director of TEARFund UK), 2008 (Includes a self-assessment relating to how your life is currently impacting the poor, and practical ideas for making a difference. Good too for when you feel overwhelmed with the needs you see and don’t know where to start.)

• Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper, 2003 (Have just found a version of the book you can download free, plus a study guide, at www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/online-books/dont-waste-your-life There is one chapter in particular which is fantastic and very challenging: Chapter 7 ‘Living to prove He is more precious than life’.

• The Cape Town Commitment 2011 (A booklet published after the Lausanne Conference in South Africa – see the web site for the full text: www.lausanne.org)

A few quotes you’ll see below where there is a name but no book referenced, or where a different book from the above four is referenced, come from three study booklets published by TEAR Australia and Scripture Union in 2000: Eyes Wide Open, Seeing Faith at Work, Awake to the World – All by Steve Bradbury (Director of TEAR Australia for 25 years and Chairman of the Micah Network for 10 years)

Any comments in italics are my additional notes. The questions in bold are some of the questions we have been discussing in our group.

What does it mean to be ‘poor’?

Poor people typically talk in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation and voicelessness. North American audiences tend to emphasize a lack of material things such as food, money, clean water, medicine, housing, etc. ...This mismatch between many outsiders’ perception of poverty and the perceptions of the poor themselves can have devastating consequences for poverty alleviation efforts.

(When Helping Hurts, 2009, p53)

We have seen that poverty reduction depends on economic growth, and effective governments. But these alone will not solve poverty. There is a missing dimension. Poor people need increased incomes to live a more fulfilled life, but they also need love, acceptance, respect, friendship and a sense of belonging. These are the things which a purely economic model cannot provide, and which the pursuit of materialism can often take away. (Poor No More, p60)

Poverty – What are the links with Environment and Lifestyle?

Rich countries are generally the polluters at present. People in India produce on average one tonne of carbon dioxide per person per year, while the Chinese produce 4 tonnes, Europeans 10 tonnes and Americans 20 tonnes each. ( Poor No More p45)

The melting of glaciers and changes in rainfall patterns worldwide threaten the water supply to hundreds of millions of people. (Poor No More p203)

Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘The earth has enough for every man's need, but not every man's greed’.

Destroying the environment is a major source of world famine. Since God calls us to be concerned about the poor and feed the hungry, we must save the environment for the sake of the poor and the sake of the hungry. (Tony Campolo)

In a world of limited resources our wealth is at the expense of the poor. To put it simply, if we have it, others cannot. (Richard Foster)

What can we learn from the Bible about Poverty?

'The effect of the Fall was that the desire for growth became obsessive and idolatrous, the scale of the growth became excessive for some at the expense of others, and the means of growth became filled with greed, exploitation and injustice.' (Christopher Wright)

... Jesus is relentless in his radical call to a 'wartime' life style ... I am wired by nature to love the same toys as the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth 'home'. Before you know it, I am calling luxuries ' needs' and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing ... (Don't waste your life, p112)

‘We think of fellowship as biscuits and coffee ... but the New Testament fellowship is rooted in the idea of economic sharing, of financial participation, which works in relieving the pain and hunger of suffering brothers and sisters.' (George Malone)

Quote of Matthew 6:31-32, then:

‘If we look like our lives are devoted to getting and maintaining things, we will look like the world, and that will not make Christ look great. He will look like a religious side-interest that may be useful in escaping hell in the end, but doesn’t make much difference in what we love and love here. He will not look like an all-satisfying treasure. And that will not make others glad in God.’ (Don’t waste your life, p108.)

Some of the Bible passages we have looked at:

On poverty in general:

• Old Testament: Law: Deuteronomy 15:7-11 (Be generous to the poor); Prophets: Isaiah 1:13-17 and Isaiah 58 Amos 2:6-8 and 8:4-7 (Justice not religion)
• Jesus: Luke 12:13-21 (Parable of the Rich Fool); Matthew 6:19-24, 31-33 (Treasure in heaven, seek first his Kingdom); Mark 12:28-34 (The Greatest Commandment)
• Early Church: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-15; Galatians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 6:17-19; 1 John 3:17-18

Poverty, Environment and Lifestyle:

• Old Testament: Genesis 1: 24-31; Leviticus 25:18-24; Psalm 104
• Jesus: Matthew 6:25-34; Luke 12:13-21
• New Testament: Acts 4:32-35; 1 Timothy 6:6-10,17-19
• 
  

What is our Response to Poverty?

The Lord God says:

Share your food with the hungry,

Bring the homeless poor into your house,

Cover the naked.

Dear Lord God

We have got new carpets,

So this will not be possible.

(Steve Turner, 1992)

We are called to imitate Jesus in his passion for the lost, the sick and the suffering. The quality of the life of the church and the extent to which it demonstrates the character of God are much more important than whether we are popular or powerful. (Poor No More p171) (This is interesting in terms of the balance of how much money a Western church spends on evangelism where the aim is to reach people in the Western culture, and how much is spent on serving the poor in that culture or in the developing world.)

Our societies are obsessed with personal fulfilment, consumption and celebrity. Demonstrating a different way of life is perhaps the greatest gift that we can give to our society. We need to move our focus from:

• Things to people
• Self to others
• Judgement to mercy
• Consuming to sharing

(Poor No More p89)

Why don’t people ask about our hope? The answer is probably because we look as if we hope in the same things they do. (Don’t waste your life, p109.)

But even more significant (than giving or personal action) is the challenge that your life can be to others. ... Never underestimate the impact of your life on others, particularly when you seek to live differently from your prevailing culture. (Poor No More p20)

The biblical vision is not that everyone should have a European or North American standard of living, but that there should be enough for all, based on a generous redistribution of resources. Enough for everyone to have basic education and healthcare, and to enjoy safety and dignity in a community where people can share and celebrate together. Poverty denies people these basic elements of a fulfilled life. (Poor No More p21)

John Stott said in his last published sermon that the greatest hindrance to the advance of the gospel worldwide is the failure of God’s people to live like God’s people. We are to demonstrate godly lives before a watching world – caring for the underprivileged, the poor, those affected by pandemics, the broken-hearted. (The Cape Town Commitment 2011 p77)

The challenge of Poverty

A day in the life of Jose

Thanks to Aime for making the video! And thanks to Jose and his family for taking part. You may be interested to know that Jose was the boy who suffered bad burns earlier in the year, but now, as you can see, he is doing well.

Jose’s House

Possibly a reaction to seeing a little mud-brick house like that with all four kids and the grandma sleeping in one room, the almost non-existent kitchen and the outside sink as the only water supply, is to think of how they could be helped to improve their living conditions – maybe they should build another bedroom, get a table to eat at, buy an oven, a fridge even ....? When we see poverty we often want to pile in with money or ‘stuff’ to help the people we think are ‘in need’. We genuinely want to help, but our immediate ideas of how to help may not be the best ones. I have recently read a book called ‘When Helping Hurts’ (Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, Moody Publishers 2009) which I would recommend to everyone with an interest in helping those considered ‘less fortunate’ – it deals with questions such as ‘What is Poverty?’ and the difference between, and timing and appropriateness of, relief, rehabilitation and development. (See separate blog entry for more on this.)

On a slightly different note, although there are undoubtedly things that José and his family would like to improve in their house, maybe one important question is actually how we can move our lifestyles more in their direction.

I recently read a book by a church leader from India who was given the chance to study in the USA (Revolution in World Missions by KP Yohannan). His reflections are very interesting. For example, he writes: ‘What impresses visitors from the Third World are the simple things Americans take for granted: fresh water available 24 hours a day, unlimited electrical power, telephones that work and a most remarkable network of paved roads.’ And also: ‘I discovered most Americans have cupboards of clothing that they wear only occasionally – and I remembered the years I travelled and worked with only the clothes on my back’.

(The comment about the water reminds me of something I heard recently: ‘ Do you know that in Europe they wash the streets with drinking water?!’ )

Comparing his comments with Cusco, in our house we have mains water supply morning and evening (and a tank on the roof so we rarely run out), the electrical power is OK (although with slightly worrying sparks at times!), the phones are fine in the city although outlying areas don’t have fixed lines or cell phone networks, and paved roads do exists although they are often full of potholes, and many routes only have tracks or paths and it takes hours to get to the nearest town. Of course many people here don’t have a mains water supply or electricity in their house. At the recent youth camping night it was interesting to see that many of the kids came in their school tracksuits as they have very little choice of what to wear.

The author also quotes from another book where someone has suggested how to turn a middle-class Western house into a typical developing world house. Here is some of what he quotes: ‘ We begin by invading the house to strip it of its furniture. Everything goes: beds, chairs, tables, lamps. We will leave the family with a few old blankets, a small table, a wooden chair. Along with the cupboards go the clothes. Each family member may keep his oldest suit or dress, a shirt or blouse. We will permit a pair of shoes for the head of the family but none for the wife or children.

We move to the kitchen. All the appliances have been taken out, so we turn to the cupboards ... the box of matches may stay, a bag of flour, some sugar and salt, and a few potatoes. We will leave a handful of onions and a dish of dried beans. All the rest we take away: the meat, the fresh vegetables, the canned goods. The bathroom is dismantled, the running water shut off and the electric wires taken out. Next the family can move to the tool shed. There are no more newspapers, magazines or books. There are no postmen, no firemen. There is a school 3 miles away with two classrooms. The nearest clinic is 10 miles away and is tended by a midwife. It can be reached by bicycle, provided the family has a bicycle, which is unlikely ...’

The author is not actually expecting you to do this to your house, you may be pleased to know, but it makes a point doesn’t it? Even small changes to our lifestyles can free up money that could be used in a variety of ways and can be beneficial to the environment and our relationships too. Last year, although we weren’t in the UK, we read a bit about the SIMPLICITY campaign, and through that looked at some web sites connected to it and also some articles written by a friend of ours, Ruth, who works for ‘Living Lightly’ and who wrote a book a few years ago called ‘L is for Lifestyle’. I’m sure she won’t mind me quoting from her blog:

I was being interviewed about the way I live and the guy, Ian, said, 'well that's all very well for you: you're a bit of a hippy aren't you, but what about normal people?'. Oh my goodness, it's that H word again.
But why is this not normal?
Why is it not normal to be concerned about our world and its inhabitants? Why is not normal to want to live well in relation to those around us? Why is it not normal to give away more of our money than we spend on food for ourselves? Why is it not normal to try to stand against the messages of greed and consumerism that surround us? Why is it not normal to want to have some sort of a connection with the earth on which we live?’

If you’re interested in looking further into practical ideas to simplify your lifestyle, here are a few websites:

www.eauk.org/simplify/

www.lisforlifestyle.com

www.arochalivinglightly.org.uk