"THAT ALL MAY HAVE LIFE IN FULLNESS" (John 10:10)

[1-15-04]


Once every seven or eight years representatives of Presbyterian and Reformed churches from around the world come together for the General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. It is our closest equivalent to a worldwide Presbyterian "Vatican Council." This year is one of those years.

Representatives from 217 member churches in over 100 countries, having a combined membership of over 75 million Christians, will gather in July for the Twenty-Fourth General Council. The setting will be Accra, Ghana, home to two of the largest Presbyterian denominations in the world. The theme will be Jesus' wonderful promise in John 10:10 that he has come so "that all may have life in fullness."

Over the holidays I found my spirit enriched as I worked my way through Crossing Ten Seas, the Bible study for the upcoming General Council. The title is attributed to John Calvin, who once exclaimed that he would cross ten seas to promote the unity of the church. It is a moving account of both God's promises in Scripture and the reality of the fullness of life in Christ being experienced by so many Presbyterian Christians in diverse parts of the world. They include those finding new life in Christ in secular Europe; those finding hope in Christ's healing mercy in the struggle against HIV/AIDs in Africa; those finding assurance in the peace of Christ in a war-torn Middle East; and women in many countries who are finding the joy of being ordained ministers where new doors are opening for the full participation of women in ministry.

The theme and Bible study of the General Council are also the theme and Bible study for the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which will take place in Richmond, Virginia in June. It will hopefully serve to remind us that we are part of a much larger family of Presbyterian and Reformed Christians with whom we share the common promise of fullness of life in Christ.

I invite you to use this Bible study in your congregations this year, perhaps as a Lenten study. It is an excellent way to share in the common witness of Reformed Christians to Jesus Christ around the world. It is also a very good way to prepare the hearts and minds of our church to be open to receive the fullness of life in Christ as we move to our General Assembly in June. The Bible study will be available February 1st through the Presbyterian Distribution Service at 800-524-2612. Ask for OGA 04-080 for the English version; OGA 04-081 for the Spanish version. The cost is $2 per copy. The study is also available online at http://warc.ch/24gc/cts/index.html.

Most of all, as each of you begins a new year in your ministry, I pray that the fullness of life in Jesus Christ will be God's gift to you in deep and wonderful ways!

NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD

[7-9-03]

With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These words from A Brief Statement of Faith had particular power for me recently. I was in Albania as a member of the search committee for the next General Secretary of the World Council of Churches.

Albania is like nothing anyone would expect in Europe. Most of Europe is very prosperous; Albania struggles with abject poverty. Human rights and religious liberty are the norm throughout Europe; the government in Albania tried literally to "wipe out religion." Europe is eagerly embracing the 21^st century; Albania is clearly locked into the Middle Ages. Peace and order are the norm in Europe; Albania is almost overrun by violence and a huge influx of refugees from neighboring Kosovo.

In this desperate place, the words from A Brief Statement came alive for me. I witnessed the "miracle of Albania." In a place where former ruler Enver Hoxha declared religion had been abolished, I found a Christian community filled with the joy of the gospel. They represent a small percentage of the total population, but they offer a tremendous witness.

We were hosted by the Albanian Orthodox Church. Their spiritual leader is Archbishop Anastasios, who, by the grace of God, has been a friend of mine for over twenty years. We were both elected by our churches in 1983 to serve on the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism of the World Council of Churches. I had just been selected to be the Director of International Mission for the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and Anastasios had just left his post at the University of Athens to be the missionary bishop of the newly formed Orthodox Church of Kenya. We both shared a tremendous passion for the mission of Christ throughout the world. When Albania opened up again for the rebuilding of the church in the early 1990s, it was no surprise that the Ecumenical Patriarch selected Anastasios to be the new Orthodox Archbishop of Albania.

Along with his colleagues, Anastasios set about the task of preaching the gospel, restoring churches, training pastors, and serving the people. Today, the fruits of that labor are abundant. Roughly twenty percent of Albanians are affiliated with the Orthodox Church. At the same time, the Evangelical Churches have been growing in Albania, and we Presbyterians have been privileged to share mission co-workers with them as well as with the Orthodox Church. Especially during the war in Kosovo, these churches showed themselves to be a beacon of hope to many displaced people.

I am grateful for this living demonstration that even in the most difficult situations, we are never separated from the love of God in Jesus Christ or the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives. I am also grateful that we Presbyterians in the United States--through our support of the World Council of Churches and our own worldwide mission efforts--have shared in a small way in the restoration of the vital Christian community that now witnesses to the gospel in word and deed throughout Albania.

March 2003
[3-18-03]

A Lenten Prayer

Lent is the season of the church year when we remember in special and particular ways the suffering and death of our Lord and the power of suffering and death in the world. It is a time when many of us seek spiritual renewal through repentance, prayer, self-denial, and a renewal of our faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

Following our recent Ash Wednesday worship service at the Presbyterian Center here in Louisville, Kentucky, a colleague said to me, "Lent seems very appropriate this year." Indeed it does! The marks of suffering and sin are very much with us:

While there is room for much debate about the causes of these realities, we know that at their core is human sin, from which we are called to repent. God is indeed calling us this Lent to follow the way of Christ and not the way of the world. To help myself in that pilgrimage, I have been praying often the well-known prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
...where there is injury, pardon;
...where there is doubt, faith;
...where there is despair, hope;
...where there is darkness, light;
...where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
...to be consoled as to console;
...to be understood as to understand;
...to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
...it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
...and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

I commend St. Francis' familiar, yet timeless, words to you this Lenten season. And I urge you to pray it in the confident assurance that Easter is coming, when we will celebrate the power of the risen Christ to bring salvation, hope, peace, and fullness of life to each of us and to our world.