Marriage as Mission!

I was recently reading a Gospel Coalition blogpost from which the quote below was taken.... and in the midst of the threats to, breakdown of and redefining of marriage in the 'Western' world today, I was encouraged to look at the opportunities to 'proclaim and live the truth in Jesus name' (as singer Steve Green says in his song 'the Mission' ) in the context of marriage,  and at the same time I recalled a real life situation where the truth of this quote occurred.....

Well here is the quote:

"...Christian marriage reflects God as husbands love their wives "as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word" (Eph. 5:25).

Few children today will grow up and see this love in action. Nearly half have parents who aren't even married. So we cannot be surprised they have little idea what marriage should be. Yet we respond with hope that when they meet a Christian couple, they see the difference and hear the hope of the gospel. Broken homes are a mission field. They call us first to compassion, not judgment."

At this time in our world it is so easy for Christians who still believe in the Bible's definition of marriage being faithful lifelong union between one man and one woman, to feel beaten into a corner or attacked from every side or losing grip on a fight for real marriage.  But I am challenged that once again, it is also an opportunity for Christians to not be ashamed or reluctant to be open about their support for real Biblical marriage.  It is so easy for us to get a victim mentality of 'poor us' who are being persecuted for righteousness sake.  Instead we should be having a 'great commission' mentality of 'here's another opportunity to be instruments in the Lord's hands as our strength and redeemer and light of the world'.  

Instead of bemoaning that the world is getting darker, lets be more proactive in making sure the light of Christ is shining into that darkness.  We are busy so often hiding our light under a bushel and hoping the world will stumble upon us and join us where we have the light....instead of taking that light to the world around us.

Even here in Botswana, we didn't come with the mandate to model Christian marriage....BUT...the reality that we were anyway, was brought home to us when a girl who we had first met when she was in early high school, some years later was interviewed on radio and much to our surprise, named us personally as the ones who had shown her how to have a Christian marriage since her parents' marriage  had broken down when she was a young girl.  She herself, is now married and the mother of a lovely one year old boy.

That incident was a strong reminder that young people around us from broken homes need to see and interact with homes where the Biblical standard of marriage is functioning.  Though never perfect, they need to see lived out in front of them what it means to be a godly husband, godly wife, and also a godly father (since most 1 parent homes have a mother present but no father present).  They need to see loving headship and loving submission, they need to see couples where there is a desire and hard work to have a God glorifying marriage, they need to see that although filled with lows as well as highs that are inevitable when two sinners say 'I do', that marriage as God intended is not a yoke to bear or endure or avoid, but is meant to be the most rich and rewarding relationship on this earth....and a picture of Christ and the Church.

Whether its Botswana or Australia or the UK or the USA, I am reminded that I. and every married Christian, need to not only live toward their spouse in a God honouring way, but also needs to take up the challenge to live their marriage toward our world in a God honouring way, as a wonderful opportunity of sharing Christ to a watching world.

A Night to Remember

The title of this blogpost could have been a variety of possibilities such as:

1. 'Delights in the Darkness'

2. or to take a Biblical phrase - 'treasures of darkness'

3. or even 'songs of the night'!!!!!!!!!

but I've chosen 'A night to remember' because it was what the compere of the concert I attended on Monday night called it!

Well, by now you are probably wondering what all this has to do with the photo above - I will explain...

The cold chilly temperatures of winter have arrived here, but none-the-less, rugged up in my warm woollen black coat, I was ready.  My carer, while my hubby was away, had bundled my wheelchair into her car boot (trunk for the American readers) and we had set off for town to the Maitisong auditorium/theatre for a special Youth Choir Festival that was to feature the 'Drakensburg Boys Choir' from South Africa.  Having heard them 4 years ago when they first visited Botswana, I was very keen to hear them again.

Following the singing of the National Anthem, the night started with some local primary school choirs performing, with one who sang all Acappella really standing out.  But after about only half an hour into this wonderful concert, the power went out!  

All was dark.

Such is life in Botswana these days when you never know when you will be without power.  Being a cold night, I guess supplies were running short as demand was high.  The choir performing at the time was amazing, they didn't even miss a beat!

After most members of the audience turned on cell phones to give a little light and a couple of small emergency lights were found so pianists accompanying could see and conductors could see and be seen by their choirs, and some small adjustments were made to the program, the show went on!

As expected the Drakensburg boys were just superb.  Some of the pieces were simply awesome and I could have listened for hours.  

But we were all still in the dark.

And in the dark, when the compere announced intermission, he remarked that this was a 'night to remember' in more ways than one!

After a short intermission (still all in the dark), the Botswana "PPC National Youth Choir" performed a few pieces.  They are a relatively newly formed choir who are still 'finding their feet' fully, but are going from strength to strength and are getting to be a really quality group and gave a great performance - the potential in this country is amazing!  It is so wonderful to see that these young people now have the opportunity for an outlet for their abilities and can begin to know the joy of using the talent God has created them with for both their own enjoyment and to bring enjoyment to others as well.

As they concluded their numbers, all was still dark.

Then the Drakensburg boys returned to the stage, but this time not in their 'formal attire' but their standard attire for the 'second half' of their performances - a "Kaleidoscope" of the South African flag colours and their white gum-boots!  They looked great.

Even though it was all in the 'dark'.

They performed a variety of 'folk' songs of an African nature and once again were superb.

Then just after starting  their well known "Gum boot dance" - (it was fantastic) - 

The power came back on!

Perfect timing - as the multi-coloured stage lights brought the colours of their costumes alive!

The music had lit up our hearts all night despite the lack of physical lights, but the addition of the physical lights coming on, was appreciated all the more, after the lack of them.  

It all ended with all the choirs together for one final item....

.....with the lights on!

It was a wonderful evening, and while the power outage was a 'not so nice' reminder of the current power problems and their inconvenience, it was also a wonderful reminder of the rewards of not letting circumstances destroy joy.  It was a help to not forget that one can still sing in the dark, and when we do, there are 'treasures of darkness' to be enjoyed.  Dark times are not necessarily times to give up and go home, but times in God's strength to persevere through, and just like the light eventually came back on, joy comes in the morning.  If we had all just gone home, feeling defeated by the darkness, we would have all missed out on the wonderful gift of music the choirs had to bring and we would have withheld the choir members from sharing and giving - instead we all went home filled with the joy and blessing of the evening. And we would have missed how special it was when the lights came on right at the 'Gum boot dance'!  It truly was ....

A night to remember!