Copan: Casa de Cafe

entrance to Casa de Cafe

our room

I want to write today a little more about our wonderful experience at Casa de Cafe en Copan.  We arrived on Friday afternoon and were immediately greeted by Angela who graciously helped us to our accomodations and made certain we were comfortable.  A few minutes later when we were seated on the patio, Howard came out to offer us tea and coffee (the coffee is superb–as good as I have had).  Both Angela and Howard were wonderful hosts, and took time to make certain we were comfortable, to share information and insights, and to spend time visiting.  Pictured is the street entrance and the patio entrance to our room.

Saturday morning continued just as delightfully with conversations about family, history, Honduras, and various life experiences.  The breakfast with fruit plate and scrambled eggs was delicious.  The chili preserves Howard shared were like none I had ever had–hot but delicious.  Topping the whole meal was the offer of maracuya juice  (passion fruit).

We were sorry that we had scheduled only one night before traveling on to Guatemala.  We cannot imagine a more delightful experience–definitely a must do when we are in Copan again.

Copan: Casa de Cafe, Jan and Angela

Jan and Angela

I am writing this morning from Copan, sitting in the lobby of Casa de Cafe (a little bed and breakfast–yes it translates as the Coffee House).  Hooked up to the internet on my computer with a wireless connection in Copan, Honduras.  Incredible!  the picture is of Jan and Angela, our hostess.

The afternoon temperature yesterday when we arrived at Casa de Cafe was only about 80 degrees.  High 60s overnight, but already into the low 80s this morning with overcast skies.  Yesterday, we noticed that the sun is very hot.  We are still in Honduras, about 7 miles from the Guatemala border.  We will get on the bus today just after lunch, make the crossing, and go to Guatemala City, and then on to Antigua by late afternoon or early evening.  We are scheduled to arrive in Antigua at 7 p.m.  So…..we have another full day.

We really enjoyed touring the Copan Ruins yesterday–the mystery and magnificence of the Mayan culture and its rapid disappearance is an amazing aspect of world history.  Also, the religious practices, and the obvious parallels to Christianity are mysterious.

We had a very profitable, although brief, stay in San Pedro Sula, observing the work at “Mision del Amor”–local church with programs of daycare, clinic, and outreach.  We especially enjoyed worshiping with the church and the North American mission group that was there on Wednesday night.  On Thursday we helped some with the construction projects and made various contacts.  I was privileged to tour larger San Pedro Sula with a brother who also works as a taxi driver, so I saw much of the amazing contrast between the poor and the rich, although there is also a developing middle class.  I was able to visit with the local preacher (Carlos, one of my students at Baxter) about the ministry–providing encouragement, mentoring, and orientation.

“The Day We Fly” and “Gratitude”

Very early on Wednesday morning (2 a.m.)!  We will leave the house a little before 4 a.m. to be at the airport by about 4:30 a.m.  Unless you’re a very early riser or reading this blog from another time zone or someplace halfway around the world, it will be waiting for you when you start your day.

I am grateful today–for many things.  I am grateful for health, I am grateful for the church, and I am especially grateful for the church with which I work and that they share my heart for missions.  I am grateful for the time away, and eagerly anticipate the refreshment of body and spirit that I might preach and teach with freshness and faith in the days ahead.

I am grateful for my readers–I don’t know who you are, but I know that you are scattered around the world.  I know that you have visited with me over 3000 times in the month since my new site went live, and I am grateful for your interest in the church, in ministry and in missions.  If you find help or encouragement or fresh insights in what we share, I ask you to help make others aware of this blog.

I am grateful for salvation in Christ, assured and constant, even when I struggle and fail.  I am grateful for friends, I am grateful for family.  I am grateful for God’s watchful care.  He provides–and whatever he provides will be ok.  Amen, and Amen. 

Our Grandson, Joseph

We received a picture of our grandson last week–10 months old and counting. His name, Joseph Blair, is special in our family. He has my middle name and the middle name of my father. Today I am praying for him and his parents–I invite you to join me in prayer today for children and families.

“Dear Father, thank you for life, for families, and for love. Thank you for the members of our extended families. We pray for parents and children, we pray for grandparents. We ask strength for parents as they meet the great challenge of faith building. We pray for families who hurt, for those who have experienced separations and conflict. We pray for children who do not have parents. Father, be present in the our world this day, and care for the needs of the children everywhere. Help us, your people, see when you want us to be your hands for the children. In Jesus’ name.”

Church “Wellness”

In psychiatry, researchers study not just the manifestations and causes of mental dysfunction or illness, but also ‘wellness,’ that which helps the patient become ‘more well.’  In education and business, for students and for companies respectively, increasingly the emphasis is to explore and develop strengths rather than focusing on weaknesses. In analyzing developing countries, debt relief agencies now include positive attributes in assessments, rather than just focusing on or measuring the bad ones as in previous models.

These shifts do not suggest that one should ignore glaring weaknesses and problems inherent in whatever system you are working with. They do suggest that the focus should not be exclusively on ‘what is wrong?’ They suggest a healthy, useful place for asking ‘what is right?’  Using another medical example, doctors know that referring a patient to a pathologist does not lead to good health.

I believe we have made a parallel mistake in our assessments of churches….

Read the rest of my article on Church Wellness.

This is the week….

Excitement is mounting at our house.  The suitcases are half-filled already.  The lists are being made.   Final preparations are underway–lessons and sermons polished, folders prepared, books packed.  On Wednesday we begin our summer mission exodus. 

Today I briefly outline our plans so that those of you who have promised to pray daily for us can know where we are and something of what we are doing.

  • Wednesday through Friday (June 25-27)–Wednesday we fly to San Pedro Sula.  We will join a mission team already on the ground there, have an opportunity to observe a work we have not previously visited, help where we can, and spend time with friends Jim and Mikal Frazier, Linda Henry, and Phil and Donna Waldron.
  • Friday and Saturday (June 27-28)–travel days, including a day at the Mayan ruins in Copan.  We are traveling by bus and will arrive in Antigua, Guatemala late Saturday evening.
  •  Sunday through Friday (June 29-July 4)–Sunday worship,  language school, research and writing, campaign preparations.  We meet the campaign group on Friday.
  • Saturday (July 5)–day to get acquainted with campaign group and rest.  Visit the market.
  • Sunday-Thursday (July 6-10)–worship and campaign begins, campaign during the week in Santa Catarina (Bob), continuing language school (Jan).
  • Friday (July 11)–travel day, from Antigua to Tegucigalpa, 11 hours by bus.  Late evening should find us in the home of our friends Noe and Gloria Perez in Tegucigalpa.
  • Saturday-Sunday (July 12-13)–visit with Noe and Gloria, rest, Sunday worship in Tegucigalpa.
  • Monday-Monday (July 14-21)–meet Oklahoma mission group on Monday, travel to Catacamas, Bob preaches campaign and does evangelistic work and other things as needed, visit with friends Dwight and Joanne Tomkins, assist with Predisan evaluation, travel to San Pedro Sula (9 hours by bus), return to U.S. on Monday July 21.  Jan will spend this week in Tegucigalpa with Gloria, continuing her Spanish studies and assisting as possible at Baxter.

I hope to blog regular updates during our journeyings–thank you for your prayer support and encouragement.

A Community Called Salvation

Late last summer, Abingdon published Scot McKnight’s book, A Community Called Atonement. McKnight gives us theology–a more familiar word may be doctrine. How we understand atonement is central to the Christian Faith. But McKnight calls us see atonement as more than doctrine. Atonement is the purpose of God for his creation. McKnight wrote in his blog (Feb. 2, 2007): “Atonement is God’s work for us but it is also ‘praxis.'” Hans Boersma, professor at Regent College, writes: “It (the book) models what it sets out to demonstrate, namely, that the church is summoned to work with God in his atoning work.”

Salvation is not just what we believe; salvation shapes how we live as community. The church is a community of salvation. As such, it is the church’s business to know and proclaim the salvation of God. It is the church’s responsibility to live out the salvation of God. That God saves and how God saves is no small matter in the life of a genuine “salvation community.” That a church would have no clear voice about salvation is incredible. That salvation would become a personal matter outside the context of the community is unbelievable.

If the church is indeed a “community called salvation,” the church has every right, and even obligation, to seek and speak the will of the Saving God. A church that is not be concerned about salvation as primary surely cannot be Christ’s salvation community. Here then is my call to renewed boldness. A Christian boldness that can be restored only by seeing atonement as the essential need of our world, as God’s plan in Christ, as God’s purpose for his church, and as a belief that shapes how I live my life individually, and in the context of the corporate body of Christ–the community called salvation!

Children’s Ministry

From the introduction to Postmodern Children’s Ministry.

The church’s ministry to children is broken. A cursory look doesn’t reveal its brokenness. From the outside children’s ministry looks healthier than ever. But it is broken. It’s broken when church leaders and senior pastors see children’s ministry as primarily a marketing tool. The church with the most outwardly attractive program wins the children and then the parents. It’s broken when we teach children the Bible as if it were just another book of moral fables or stories of great heroes. Something’s broken when we trivialize God to our children. It’s broken when we exclude children from, perhaps, the most important of community activities – worship. It’s broken because we’ve become dependent on an 18th century schooling model forgetting that much of a child’s spiritual formation is affective, active, and intuitive. It’s broken when we depend on our programs and our curriculum to introduce our children to God – not our families and communities. It’s broken when we’ve come to believe that church has to be something other than church to be attractive to children. It’s broken when we spend lots of money making our churches into play lands and entice children to God through food fights and baptisms in the back of fire trucks. And perhaps most importantly it’s broken when the church tells parents that its programs can spiritually nurture their children better than they can. By doing this we’ve lied to parents and allowed them to abdicate their responsibility to spiritually form their children. A church program can’t spiritually form a child, but a family living in an intergenerational community of faith can. Our care for our children is broken and badly in need of repair. Let’s imagine together a new way, a new future.

Accurate News Headlines

Here’s my nomination for headline accuracy–I presume unintentional.  From today’s San Diego Union Tribune, online of June 17, 2008 (SignOnSanDiego.com):  “County Gay Marriages Come Off Without a Hitch”.

“Without a hitch.”  Did they get hitched or not?  Marriage ceremonies, hoop-la, news coverage, media headlines.   Only one question:  did they get hitched?

It’s a Brand New World

Today I’m back to thinking about the “missional challenge” before the church. One author wrote to say it is as though we just woke up to find out we live in a world. “Hey, there’s a whole wide world out there, that isn’t so bad….maybe we oughta find out what’s going on in it, and see if it has anything to do with our community of faith”. Yes, that is what I want to know. How are we called to be church, how are we called to do church, in this new and different world?

The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Pope Paul VI, 1965) suggests an essential attitude: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.” The church is not called to be isolated from or reactionary to the world. The church’s mission is in the world.

Churches that are thinking missionally are seeing a new picture of our world. There’s a big, wide world out there that we all live in—and most of it isn’t even “Christian”. Are we not called to learn more about it so we can understand it, and serve it, and change it? Does anyone else have the sense that the things we’ve “known” up to this point are being challenged in healthy ways? Until I am changed and transformed, I will remain powerless to change the world. Unless I understand afresh what it means to be a Christian and a part of the church, I may fail to truly be a follower of Christ every day of the week.