Her visit to us with her parents these last weeks has meant she has begun to acquire a little bit more English in her vocabulary.
Since she has just turned '3', I thought that to assist her to count to three in English I would teach her this little rhyme - "1,2,3 Jesus Loves Me".
It got me thinking about learning things in '3's. Even the words in the rhyme are '3'...Jesus - loves - Me.
God seems to have given us a special ability to remember things in '3's. But that should not be so surprising since He is a God who is characterised by the number 3 in his very being, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit - He is a 'Tri-nity'.
We have 3 point sermons, and lets not forget that we observe our world in 3 dimensions - length, width, depth and then there are the 3 states of matter - solid, liquid, gas.
But just in the last few days I have had cause to be reminded of a couple of other '3- fold' concepts in relation to our honour/shame research that I will share over two blog-posts.
The first is:
Worldview, Values, Behaviour.
This is a three step process we talk about in our little brochure about 'Unlocking the Dynamics of Honour/Shame". The first step to understanding the honour/shame issue and its effect in various cultures, is to understand that every one of us functions on the basis of our worldview - how we view and understand our world. And different people in different parts of the world have different worldviews.
Jim Plueddemann coined the 3 step process of "Worldview, Internal Values, External Practices" in his book 'Leading Across Cultures" and summarised a worldview by asking if it is :
"to acquire wealth and fame? Is it to please God? Is it to be happy? Is it to live a life of sacrifice for others?" It is here that we also determine "Is there a God, and if so does he know me and care about me? Is there a heaven and hell? Does the physical world really exist, and if so, is it orderly? Are people good or bad? Do people have a free will, or is life controlled by the environment? Do evil spirits and angels exist? Is there such a thing as absolute truth? These philosophical and theological presuppositions subtly direct all other cultural values..."
(p70 "Leading Across Cultures" by Dr Jim Plueddemann)
It is from our Worldview that we build our life's values and from those we behave in certain ways. Sometimes we will coloquily say someone acts a certain way because its how they are 'wired' - like wires that connect between the battery power source to a machine. To create an acronym from WIRED we could say: Worldview-- Internally Respected-- Externally Delivered. Our values are like what we respect and honour as important and thus direct what we 'deliver' to those around us in the form of our behaviour/activity. Each one of us is 'WIRED' a particular way.
Typically the 'honour/shame' culture around us has a worldview where the elders/ancestors are the mediators to a distant Creator God far removed from humans. The ancestors must be always honoured above all else as they are the guardians of life and success on earth. Here in our part of Africa there is essentially no concept of heaven and hell - just an 'afterlife' where everyone who dies joins the ancestors unless they did especially evil and despised things in their life and thus become 'evil spirits'. Essentially the elders/ancestors are the ones who hold and dispense all relevant and 'correct' information for community life and should not be questioned. This leads to establishing various values within the aspects of life (birth, death, sickness, food production, knowledge acquisition etc) and thus various behaviours are 'required' to carry out those values in the activities of daily community life.
For anyone on this planet called earth, we could say that Behaviour is the fruit and the Worldview is the root. What we believe to be true, then directs what we treasure and this then determines where and how we wish to toil - to preserve and promote what we believe....and the cycle continues.
But to take the WIRED analogy, we can be re-WIRED, in Christ! What a cause for rejoicing!!
As I read the first part of Colossians yet again this morning - this very 3-fold pattern 'hit' me as I read what the Apostle Paul says.....it is a powerful contrast to the above worldview around us, and a wonderful summary of my/our own worldview ....
maybe you can say with me.......
1: Worldview Colossians 1:15-23: Paul talks about the pre-eminence of Christ by whom and for whom everything was created, that He is the head of the church, firstborn from the dead. The fulness of God dwells in him, through the blood of his cross we are reconciled because we were alienated, hostile in mind and doing evil deeds. Because of His death we are holy, blameless and above reproach (without shame) before Him.
2: Values Internally Respected Colossians 1:24-28: suffering is something that can be rejoiced in, personal sacrifice for Christ and His church is good, we are stewards of what God gives us and calls us to do, the Word of God which has now been revealed should be made fully known to everyone by proclaiming the truth, warning and teaching so that people can come to maturity in Christ.
3: Behaviour Externally Delivered Colossians 1:29: because of this he is willing to 'toil', struggling with all the energy of Christ that powerfully works in him!
JESUS LOVES ME!
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