DESPAIR

Dear God ...

Tonight I am weeping with Abraham & Nelda, A & C, and Gerhard and Chantel. It seems that all our prayers are in vain. When praying for deliverance, there's only more bondage. When praying for healing, the illness got worse.

I do not understand, Father. Why? They are all so young! Their families need them! Please spare their lives.

Please, Lord, please. Give them back their physical and mental health. I do not want to accept the prognosis. I plead with you.

One of your children

Quotable comments

"When we reduce the big, fat biblical narrative to a set of propositions that fix the eternal-destiny problem of humanity, we have emptied the narrative of being, well - narrative. And when we no longer have a narrative but an instruction manual for life, we are missing the power of the story at just the juncture our culture most needs it ...

"You can see ... why Christianity is suspect when it comes to the metanarrative we claim to export to the world: 'You are a sinner, and Jesus came and died for you.' Do you see how the typical person in our postmodern context hears this? The opening 'you are a sinner' is an enormous statement of power. We are judging someone else by some standard they aren't even aware of and probably don't buy. This is the ultimate power move. Couple that with militant evangelism language - 'win them over' and 'evangelistic crusade' - and it's no wonder people often tune us out."

Ron Martoia, in: Transformational Architecture, pp 68-69

Who are you keeping out?

The Naked Pastor again succeeded in showing how destructive our obsession with religious holiness and spiritual perfection can become. Let's learn from him!