Interesting Times

Photo credit: Screenshot of ABC home page 31 March 2017

Who would have expected that on the Australian national ABC news website, on the same headlines page as an article on Gay Rights, would be an article by Michael Jensen of a clear, bold, thoughtful and compassionate response to another article a few days before by a guy telling his story from 'Christianity to Atheism'?

…..A dialogue between two men about the Christian Faith, who God is, what salvation is etc etc, clear and obvious for all to see and read.

We can easily be caused to despair of the Western world's current general attitude to Christianity with all the recent debate on same-sex marriage.

But here was something I have never seen before in 'front page' national media. 

It is a reminder that God can get His truth out in ways more amazing that we might imagine.  He is still seeking the Lost.

Amidst the chaos of our world, hearts are sincerely searching.  

But as Jensen points out, sincerity is not enough.

So I as an Aussie, thank the Lord for the amazing opportunity given to Michael Jensen to bring truth into the discussion and do it so well, in such a pubic sphere.

Read the two articles, be encouraged, and pray for many more Christians to engage with searching hearts.  And pray that this little conversation in national media might touch many hearts and help them move beyond sincerity to seek and embrace the truth of the gospel.

Honour-Shame and Orality Article

Africa is not only an honour-shame emphasis culture but also a continent which is traditionally and currently greatly dominated by oral communication above written communication.

The question I asked myself was one of how does this orality factor impact how the dynamics of honour and shame function? 

My Article about this issue has recently been published in the Orality Journal under the title of "Orality and Honour/Shame Interaction in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Discipleship"

I truly believe the interplay of Orality emphasis with an honour-shame emphasis is significant.  As we understand it more, we can also be better at recognising the issues that need to be addressed in a person's life and in the life of the church in the course of discipleship.

Wordwatch - Mortification

M O R T I F I C A T I O N

It's the time of year leading up to Easter where you might hear in some traditional Christians circles, the concept of the 'mortification of the flesh'.  What is mortification all about?

I continue to be amazed at how much of the 'honour/shame' dynamic has been present yet 'submerged' in the Western culture and English language.  In more recent decades we have skirted around the concept and skipped over it, almost ignoring its presence so much that we began to function as if it wasn't there.  Yet it didn't ever go away.  It was always there, subtly permeating more than we dared examine or admit.  

Matters of shame were shameful to expose, so it was best to be hidden or ignored.

But shame is not a beast to be hidden or ignored.  It will emerge, we can count on that.

Hidden away even in our English language are little windows to the reality of shame that once had greater weight in society.  

So at this time of year I thought I would take a look at a word which appears both in general and 'christian' usage, one that if we thought more about, we would have a greater appreciation for what Scripture has to say. 

The Word is:

Mortification

 - we think of this word in the church in relation to 'putting sin to death'.  'Mors' is the Latin root referring to death.

- 'mortify' meaning 'to kill' comes into the English language around C14 from the French (mortifier - to overwhelm, punish) where it had earlier come from the Latin.

- the religious sense of 'subdue the flesh' seems to have come into use in the early C15

- it is first recorded in the sense of 'to humiliate' around the 1690's

(above data sourced from the Online Etymology Dictionary)

We most often hear this word in the context of someone doing something they wish they hadn't, something which was public and severely embarrassing.  A person will say "I'm just mortified".

Interestingly, in this word, the concept of 'death' became linked to the concept of 'shame'.  "I am mortified" carries then the connotation that the shame is so great it is like it has destroyed/killed me....like 'I want to just curl up in a hole and die' we might say.  We want to hide, not be seen, and just disappear like we had never been born!  

The linking of shame to death is actually very biblical, especially when we look at Daniel 12:2 where eternal life is contrasted with eternal shame.

When we avoid talking often about shame that feels like death, we also remove the opportunity to talk about the shame aspects of sin, and God's remedy for shame.  His life given to us in Christ, is not just to give us innocence in place of guilt, but honour in place of shame.

Like with any 'disease', ignoring it will not make it go away.....but lack of acknowledgement will also separate us from accessing the very remedy that will provide the cure.

When we acknowledge the shame of our sin before God, we are not in a bad place but a good place, because it is God alone who has the remedy for Shame.

So if we are to 'mortify' sin, we are not just meant to ignore it.  We are meant to 'put it to death' like it wants to 'put us to death eternally'.  (Colossians 3:5)

Remember how Jesus 'despised the shame' (ie the shame he was made to feel -  he in turn shamed, as he won victory over it)?  We are to put sin in such a place in our lives that it is in a despised place - a place that we won't go near. A place where it is 'killed'.  

We are not to just hate to be mortified, but hate the sin enough to mortify it.

Instead of being given the place of honour in submitting to its temptation, we reject sin as worthless, destructive and despicable!  

We are not simply meant to feel 'mortified' by our sin, but to bring mortification to our sin.  

Sin wants to put us in a shameful place.  We are to put sin in its shameful place!

A Great New Book..... Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures: Biblical Foundations and Practical Essentials

Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures is an awesome book! 

Authors Mark Baker and Jayson Georges have tied together both the basic needed foundations and practical examples/applications for understanding and ministering the gospel in cultures where honour-shame dynamics are dominant.

I have greatly appreciated interacting with Jayson Georges via the internet over the past few years from when I found him at honorshame.com and as we have shared (along with a growing number of others around the world) a common desire to see honour-shame dynamics play a greater part in reaching the Majority world with the gospel.  I was thrilled to discover he was writing a book with Mark Baker and reading the finished product was exciting!

The Authors

Both Mark and Jayson bring the 'best of both worlds' to their book.  They both have theological grounding as well as practical intercultural experiences to draw on.  The reader really gains a ' ourfold' benefit from the book - 2 scholars and 2 mission practicioners.  And while the 'home' culture of both authors is the USA, they served in different mission contexts, one in Central America and one in Central Asia.  This brings breadth as well as depth to the book, as examples are not from only one honour-shame cultural setting.  

The Book Structure

The book has been structured into three parts with three appendicies. 

Part 1 deals with the 'cultural' side of honour-shame.

Part 2 deals with the 'theologial' side.  

Part 3 builds on both the first two parts, to give 6 sub-sections of practical ministry application: Spirituality; Relationships; Evangelism; Conversion; Ethics; Community.  Each topic is examined as to how honour-shame as a dynamic effects the understanding and outworking of those aspects in a life and society which is rooted and directed by the governing social requirements of honour-shame.

The appendicies list for the reader: 1- Key Scriptures on Honour-Shame; 2-Biblical Stories Addressing Honour-Shame and 3-Recommended Resources

It is assumed the reader is a Westerner who has a guilt-innocence emphasis worldview and is having cross-cultural ministry into honour-shame emphasis contexts.

The Strengths of the Book

There is so much 'good stuff' in the book, it is hard to separate out particular points.  So much of the book reflects my own observations, analysis and conclusions that I often felt like the authors had somehow read my mind and beat me to writing my own book! But here are some highlights:

1. The book is the permeation of practical field examples of honour-shame dynamics working out in the real lives of real people. It not only connects the theory to the practical, but it helps build a pattern of how to look more deeply at what you might be observing.  One of the key issues in ministering in honour-shame dominant cultures is learning to identify and understand what is going on in front of you and to have a collection of examples will be beneficial to any reader.

While I am a very 'practical ministry' oriented person, I am also take a scholarly approach to ministry.  I want to be thorougly biblical and a student of the Word, for the purpose of bringing truth to the hearts of people for very grass-roots practical life transformation.  This book hits the mark.

It is a book of good balance - not too long, not too short, not too academic, but deep enough to warrant some serious thinking.  It is well rounded, keeps the reader interested with its balance of 'theory' and 'practical' and is a great place to start on a journey of effective ministry in honour-shame cultures.  

2. The book does well at 'debunking' various myths about honour-shame.  It is not always done in an obvious way, but I was impressed with how many myths they dealt with over the course of the book.

Just one example occurs on p37 - where they deal with how honour-shame cultures are often contrasted with 'right-wrong' cultures, inferring that honour-shame cultures don't have 'right-wrong' morality. This is pointed out as a wrong understanding, rather that honour-shame cultures just define right and wrong differently - according to community expectations and relationships.

3. I was impressed with the Biblical Theology section where they give the 'Baker-Georges Amplified Version' of the Beatitudes (p93).  My ministry and practical theology 'hobby-horse' is Deliberate Discipleship.  The foundation of such intentional discipleship is that we have to teach God's word and we must do it in such a way so that the hearer 'takes in' the word.  It has to resonate with them. It has to connect with their heart and thinking. Helping folk understand the realities of honour/shame in God's word through clearer translation/paraphrasing is vital.

Just as Westerners need the practical examples of honour-shame functioning in society to help us 'see' it better, we also need practical examples of how Scripture is soaked in honour-shame dynamics, so we can 'see' it more clearly.

4. On page 50 there is a diagram of several flowering plants growing in a garden to demonstrates that so many 'cross-cultural' observed differences ('plants') are the product of a soil type called 'honor-shame'.  Understanding the deeper root and soil issues overcomes the tendency to focus on the list of 'plants' - ie the neat sets of inter-cultural characteristic categories. When we focus on the plants and not the soil, we actually miss recognising the other 'plants' that maybe aren't 'on the list' and we also miss the opportunity to link the ' plants' together. We end up dealing with separated superficial behaviours rather than common root heart motivations.  If we are going to understand and deal properly with the 'plants' we have to know the soil they are in.  

5. Another strength of the book is the chapter on Ethics.  It deals with the 'good and the bad' so to speak of honour-shame emphasis cultures.  It helps the reader to see good where they might normally only see bad, as well as alert a reader to understand the areas that might need particular biblical attention for God-honouring change.  The need for teaching and showing a new honour code is emphasised, and I couldn't agree more!

6. Finally I want to list some 'quotables' which are great in themselves, but will also give you a further 'feel' of the book:

..patronage is the de-facto economic system. Honor, not money,, serves as the primary currency facilitating the tansaction of goods and services. p52

...truth in communication is defined relationally not logically p53

...Western communication is like a dowload that efficiently transfers information, Majority world communication is more of a dance where you avoid stepping on toes p53

...people determine status and identity by who they gather with not by the tasks they accomplish p54

…humans base their perceptions of other cultures more on emotional responses than cognitive reflection p61

...to only view the concept of honor-shame as an exegetical tool for reading biblical texts misses the forest for the trees. Honor and shame are foundational realities in God's mission and salvation that flow through the entire bible. p67

…sin breaks relationships (not just laws) p70

…any Christian theology of sin devoid of the theme of shame is clearly sub-biblical p73

...Jesus taught that honorable behaviour in God's eyes comes from things most often associated with cultural disgrace p95

..Shame is not an Asian or Arab issue; shame is an Adam and Eve issue p118

...our hearts fear what shame might do. Shame controls and defines us only when we live in fear of it p127

...Observing social rules all the time is never an obligation, but honoring people is a commandment from God, and that must be done in a way that makes sense to people. p160

...the church functions as a surrogate family whose gracious welcome frees people to unmask their shame p185

...Shame, not just guilt, is God's piercing voice, making people aware of their need for salvation p196

…Christians should not abandon the pursuit of honor. Rather they should passionately pursue the right kind of honor. p211

Other Comments

I hesitate to criticize but I do want to comment on something that I am glad to say in my own ministry, I am seeing is being 'proved wrong'…..

On page p35 the comment is made: "No group of people would self-identify as an honor-shame culture."

- in our corner of the world, we are actually beginning to see Africans (particularly on the academic end, but not only) understanding and describing their own culture as honour-shame. This is not so different from we as Westerners coming to understand our own cultures as 'guilt-innocence' and talking and writing in such a way so as to mention or reflect that.  I think when they come to understand that this is not a derogatory term but simply an observation and reality, and that guilt-innocence is no better or worse than honour-shame but both can be sinfully misplaced, then there is no need for hesitancy.  And as they come to realise that their honour-shame culture is just like the biblical world, they will come to see there is 'no shame' in being like people and society in bible times.  We certainly aim to not infer any inferiority when we talk to locals about it, but we do desire that they begin to understand it.  It actually helps them a lot to understand the basic anthropological differences as they also begin to understand why so much 'Westernism' seems to bring tension to their societies but they don't know why.  When we explain to them these dynamics, suddenly life around them starts to make sense. 

Who is the book for?

This book is rich from cover to cover and a 'must-have' for every missionary, every cross-cultural worker, every missiologist, every intercultural studies faculty member or student, every pastor, and dare I say, every Christian who wishes to reach out to his/her neighbour according to the great commission in our multi-cultural world.  I don't say this in a trite way, but because I truly believe it. 

This is an excellent book I hope will have wide readership and deep impact.

I received this book for free from the publisher, IVP Academic, in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

"There's a snake in the house"

These are not the most welcome words I would like to hear!

But they were words I heard today as I sat outside with my husband, (who had just got out of hospital), and two of our African sons.

Immediately everything else was put aside and we focused on things like: 'Where is the snake?', 'What type of snake is it?', 'How big is it?' etc

I was certainly thankful I wasn't in the house on my own and there many hands to help move furniture and 'keep watch'.  

We closed side room doors to restrict its movement. 

Then as one of our sons moved an item he suddenly not only saw it but partially stepped on it as it slithered to the storage area under the stairs. I could see it through the stair rungs attempting to climb the wall behind and over a large box.  The light wasn't good and I could only see a part that looked the colour of dull olive or steel grey.  It looked about the fatness of my thumb and maybe a meter long.  There was only one snake we knew that was that kind of colour - a black mamba….like the large one we had in our yard on Christmas eve.

So while some of us watched the space, a call was made to the Botswana Defence Force snake handler unit - the same unit we called a couple of months back when we had a puff adder at our back door.

They duly arrived with their handling equipment and big box with the green lid!

We then had to move more furniture - the fridge, a cupboard and various boxes.

Suddenly they said they had found it and we saw it slither out in front of one of the soldiers, and then they had it on their 'pole'.

At first glance they thought it was a boomslang (very poisonous), but then it was realised it was the relatively harmless Spotted Bush Snake.

They like to eat lizards and gheckos, of which we have plenty!

Though we have screens on all the windows and doors, with all the rain, the doors aren't closing properly on their 'auto closers' and its all too easy for it to sit open slightly.

He (or she) was a very pretty snake actually - which our photos don't really show so see the link above for clearer pictures. - a pretty green head and front part with black spots/stripes and that dark olive green on the back half which I had seen.

But pretty or not, we are not keen on snakes inside the house, so it went on the same journey as the puff adder before it - in the box with the green lid in the back of the BDF bakkie!

Flooding Rain, Full Dam and the President's Call to Thanksgiving

The Gaborone Dam is officially FULL!…for the first time in 16 years!

AND

it was so encouraging to see so many comments on the Water Utilities Facebook page urging the country to give praise and thanks to God for the rain.

AND

it was then very encouraging to have a friend send us the photo below of the letter from the Botswana President to the the people of Botswana.

"Pula" is the Setwana word for rain and also the name of the national currency.  There is a great awareness in a desert that without rain, without water, you can't live.

Although there is now the risk of the Gaborone Dam overflowing and the National Disaster Management team and the Botswana Defence Force are on stand-by for evacuation of houses, the country is rejoicing.

We give thanks for a President who sees that it is only fitting and right to call his country to give thanks to God!

As the country gives thanks, we pray that many will come to not only give thanks for the water that comes from the rain to fill dams, but to also know what it means to give thanks for the Living Water that comes from the giver of Life to fill hearts to overflowing and not an overflowing that causes evacuations all around but that brings blessing all around!

Rejoice with us here in Botswana for God's abundant and gracious provision!