"Brokenness in God's kingdom is always redemptive. Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it. Once we've been taken and blessed, we must be broken before we can truly be given."
Christopher L. Heuertz in Simple Spirituality
**Simple Spirituality is a very challenging book. Heuertz chapter on brokenness was my favorite. If your not familiar with Heuertz or Word Made Flesh, go and check out this book!
Showing posts with label missions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label missions. Show all posts
Friday, November 13, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Book Review: Simple Spirituality
One of the most recent books that I've read is Simple Spirituality by Christopher Heuertz. Heurtz is the International Director of Word Made Flesh, which is a community who ministers to the poorest of the poor around the world. I really looked forward reading this book as Andrea went with WMF to India and I have had friends serving in India, Brazil, Peru, Romania, and Sierra Leonne through WMF. The book did not disappoint as I have read it twice in recent weeks.
The books is organized by WMF's five Lifestyle Celebrations; Humility, Community, Simplicity, Submission, and Brokeness. As Heuertz writes in the introduction, "As I pray for the grace to live into a spirituality that embodies these simple commitments, I invite you to join me." These Lifestyle Celebrations are central to WMF and their commitments and mission to serve the poorest of the poor. It would do good to do a quick synopsis of each from the book
Humility
"Humility affirms our need for God." Heuertz goes on to write, "Humility is not a means to an end. Rather humility is the door through which we must enter to be welcomed into God's presence." How often do we allow pride to get into our way of seeing God and seeing our desperate need for God. The only remedy for our pride is humility that bows before God.
Community
Community is that which provides orientation and clarification for our identity. Our identity is not found in what we do or what we own- our identity is found in community with God and with others. The book challenged me to be willing to step into other people's community rather than expecting them to come into mine...to try to view the world through a different lens.
Simplicity
Here in the Western world, much of our value and worth is ascribed by our paycheck, possessions and neighborhood. When we live simply, we live without extravagence and with an eye and heart to our neighbors. Heuertz writes, "We want to make the issue about what we give, but in truth the issue is about what we keep." Are we engaged in a lifestyle that frees us to give? Or are we trapped in a cycle where we strive to accumulate more and more possessions?
Submission
"Submission is giving up oneself to the power of another." When we submit to God, we give up our desires and wishes and allow God's desires and plans to shape us. Submission is realizes that our lives are not our own- our lives belong to God and that we must seek each day to submit our lives to God.
Brokeness
"Brokenness is different- a voluntary surrender to God's will over our own will...brokenness is open even to the grace in pain." Brokenness is proactive rather than reactive.
Certainly the review above could be more in depth. But you'll just have to read the book in order to get more. This was just to whet your appetite.
Heuertz does a great job of weaving personal experience to convey the points that he is making. Some of the stories are light hearted while many of them are a gut wrenching reminder of how the majority world lives.
One critique, and I don't know if it is a major one. Heuertz speaks a lot of seeing Jesus in the poor. That is certainly true, but it is not the only place where we can see Jesus. Each of us is made in the image of God, and thus we can see God work in and through us in the way we live our lives. Heuertz's emphasis on this certainly ties in with WMF's mission to reach the poorest of the poor. It's not major...there is another side to where we see God in our world today. The poor may be our most visible reminder, though.
I'm interested in your thoughts...have you read the book? What's your take?
The books is organized by WMF's five Lifestyle Celebrations; Humility, Community, Simplicity, Submission, and Brokeness. As Heuertz writes in the introduction, "As I pray for the grace to live into a spirituality that embodies these simple commitments, I invite you to join me." These Lifestyle Celebrations are central to WMF and their commitments and mission to serve the poorest of the poor. It would do good to do a quick synopsis of each from the book
Humility
"Humility affirms our need for God." Heuertz goes on to write, "Humility is not a means to an end. Rather humility is the door through which we must enter to be welcomed into God's presence." How often do we allow pride to get into our way of seeing God and seeing our desperate need for God. The only remedy for our pride is humility that bows before God.
Community
Community is that which provides orientation and clarification for our identity. Our identity is not found in what we do or what we own- our identity is found in community with God and with others. The book challenged me to be willing to step into other people's community rather than expecting them to come into mine...to try to view the world through a different lens.
Simplicity
Here in the Western world, much of our value and worth is ascribed by our paycheck, possessions and neighborhood. When we live simply, we live without extravagence and with an eye and heart to our neighbors. Heuertz writes, "We want to make the issue about what we give, but in truth the issue is about what we keep." Are we engaged in a lifestyle that frees us to give? Or are we trapped in a cycle where we strive to accumulate more and more possessions?
Submission
"Submission is giving up oneself to the power of another." When we submit to God, we give up our desires and wishes and allow God's desires and plans to shape us. Submission is realizes that our lives are not our own- our lives belong to God and that we must seek each day to submit our lives to God.
Brokeness
"Brokenness is different- a voluntary surrender to God's will over our own will...brokenness is open even to the grace in pain." Brokenness is proactive rather than reactive.
Certainly the review above could be more in depth. But you'll just have to read the book in order to get more. This was just to whet your appetite.
Heuertz does a great job of weaving personal experience to convey the points that he is making. Some of the stories are light hearted while many of them are a gut wrenching reminder of how the majority world lives.
One critique, and I don't know if it is a major one. Heuertz speaks a lot of seeing Jesus in the poor. That is certainly true, but it is not the only place where we can see Jesus. Each of us is made in the image of God, and thus we can see God work in and through us in the way we live our lives. Heuertz's emphasis on this certainly ties in with WMF's mission to reach the poorest of the poor. It's not major...there is another side to where we see God in our world today. The poor may be our most visible reminder, though.
I'm interested in your thoughts...have you read the book? What's your take?
Friday, June 26, 2009
Back From Guatemala: Pt. 2
In typical LaMotte fashion, it's been a crazy two weeks since returning from Guatemala. When I got home, we immediately remodeled our kitchen (our cabinets were ordered before I left), Abbie celebrated her 2nd birthday; Vacation Bible School began. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson all died. And Jon and Kate are getting a divorce. What a week. Somewhere in the midst of the last two weeks, I've tried to further process the Guatemala trip and what it meant for me.
The one thing that I keep going back to is passion and purpose. It was evident at the school that we worked at that the head administrator, Wally, had a vision or saw a purpose for the school. He believed that God was going to use the school to raise up a generation of believers who would make a spiritual impact on the nation of Guatemala. That purpose/vision became his passion. I said in an earlier post that Wally's passion wasn't an overflowing, energetic, get up and jump up and down passion. It was a consistent burning passion. We could see it in the way in which Wally loved on the students and the staff. The way that he cared for parents who came to him to seek advice and wise counsel. His passion and purpose were united.
Back home in the states, I often feel like I am trying to bring my passion and purpose in line. When I was doing youth ministry at the church, I think they were in line and united. Since stepping out of youth ministry, I have struggled to find where I can really serve with passion and vision. The trip to Guatemala was a reminder to me that I need to pursue God's purpose/vision for my life and ministry with passion and enthusiasm. How that works in my current context? I'm not sure since it's been a difficult fit for the last two years. But I know that God is in control and has a great plan.
The one thing that I keep going back to is passion and purpose. It was evident at the school that we worked at that the head administrator, Wally, had a vision or saw a purpose for the school. He believed that God was going to use the school to raise up a generation of believers who would make a spiritual impact on the nation of Guatemala. That purpose/vision became his passion. I said in an earlier post that Wally's passion wasn't an overflowing, energetic, get up and jump up and down passion. It was a consistent burning passion. We could see it in the way in which Wally loved on the students and the staff. The way that he cared for parents who came to him to seek advice and wise counsel. His passion and purpose were united.
Back home in the states, I often feel like I am trying to bring my passion and purpose in line. When I was doing youth ministry at the church, I think they were in line and united. Since stepping out of youth ministry, I have struggled to find where I can really serve with passion and vision. The trip to Guatemala was a reminder to me that I need to pursue God's purpose/vision for my life and ministry with passion and enthusiasm. How that works in my current context? I'm not sure since it's been a difficult fit for the last two years. But I know that God is in control and has a great plan.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Back From Guatemala: Pt. 1
It's been awhile since I've posted because I spent the last week in Guatemala, leading a team from our church. It was an amazing trip that I continue to process in my head and heart. So I am going to do at least 2 post; the first post will tell some of the basics of our trip, while the second part will talk about what God taught me while in Guatemala. Be sure to check back for part 2 later on in the week.
We arrived in Guatemala on Saturday, June 6th. Travel was uneventful- which is what one wants during a foreign trip. None of our team slept the night before since we left at 2 a.m., so we were pretty tired. We traveled by van from Guatemala City to Antigua to San Pedro Las Huestras where our mission house was. It was absoultely stunning there. Antigua sits at the base of Agua- a dormant volcano, and there are several other active volcanos in the area. From our mission home, we could see three volcanos. One, Fuego, erupted daily and really made the location seem exotic compared to Delaware (ok, so it wouldn't take a volcano to make a place feel exotic compared to Delaware!!) We were also at a much high altitude than Delaware. Antigua is about 5,000 feet above sea level while the school we worked at was another 1,000 feet higher.
On Sunday, we had another day to get acclimated to Guatemala. We all felt refreshed after a good night's sleep. We went to Antigua to exchange money at the bank, chilled at Cafe Barrista (very cool place!), and then went to a bilingual church with the missionaries. The pastor at the church was from Philadelphia originally. You could still hear his Philly accent. I enjoyed the worship service as it set our hearts for the week. After lunch in Antigua, we took on the challenge of the markets of Antigua- bargaining for a good deal. There were certainly times where I know I could have gotten a lower price, it was still so very inexpensive to buy some of the items that we did.
On Sunday, we had another day to get acclimated to Guatemala. We all felt refreshed after a good night's sleep. We went to Antigua to exchange money at the bank, chilled at Cafe Barrista (very cool place!), and then went to a bilingual church with the missionaries. The pastor at the church was from Philadelphia originally. You could still hear his Philly accent. I enjoyed the worship service as it set our hearts for the week. After lunch in Antigua, we took on the challenge of the markets of Antigua- bargaining for a good deal. There were certainly times where I know I could have gotten a lower price, it was still so very inexpensive to buy some of the items that we did.When we began our week, we were working at the Escuela de Vida y Esperanza (School of Life and Hope) in Santa Lucia. There are about 280 students at the school, kindergarten through 9th grade. We taught a bible lesson, music, testimony, and craft to two classes a day while hanging out with kids when we were not teaching. Our team used a skit to teach the Bible lesson (Zaccheaus from Luke 19). We had two young children (Eliza-6, and Kendra 9) who played Zaccheaus and Jesus. Chris, one of our college students, played the tree that Zaccheaus climbed up into. The lessons were great and the children seemed to enjoy them. Our testimonies also went well. Even Eliza and Kendra shared, which was so appropriate for the age of students that we were working with.
The children at the school were amazing. I have been out of the country on a mission trip 2 other times. Mostly, I have done some sort of construction- and this is where I am comfortable. There were usually only a few children around while we worked on the construction site. This was different at the school. Chris and I were swarmed the first day as we were willing to pick kids up and toss them in the air. We immediately had lines of 20-30 kids each waiting for the ride. Let's just say we wore out quick and found other ways to love on the students. The kids had a great capacity to love, and as we loved on them they loved us back. It was overwhelming at times.
One of our projects that we worked on was an outreach to another community with the teachers from the school. This is part of the school's vision- to have a lasting impact on the surrounding community at large. There were games, songs, worship, and dramas as part of this outreach. The gringos lead the drama and helped faciliate some other activities. It was exciting because it wasn't dependant on a foreign team to lead the outreach, but it was the heart of the teachers and students to share God to the community. Wally, the principle or head administrator, is a soft spoken, yet passionate when it comes to God and the school. The other teachers really feed off of that passion with their own passions. Some of the teachers just about bounce of the walls with enthusiasm for God, the children, and the community.
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