HERE COMES LENT

Valentine's Day is over and the pastel-colored Peeps are hitting the shelves of Walmart and Target.

These are the most obvious signs that Easter is coming.  

It's strange that even among Christians, the church calendar is a far less conspicuous time marker than the jellybeans and chocolate rabbits. 

Today is "Fat Tuesday" and Lent begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday. The unfortunate reality is that Lent doesn't get even as much press among Christians as Advent does. 

My church is hosting an Ash Wednesday service tomorrow - perhaps the first in its 190 years of history. 

I will be curious to see what the turn out will be - we don't do a lot of midweek services at Sardinia and I have noticed that evangelicals (in general) think of Lent, fasting, and Ash Wednesday as belonging to the Catholics.

And therefore, being automatically suspect!

I wonder how many Protestants even know that the word "catholic" means "universal". We simply aren't mindful of the New Testament's portrayal of a singular, united CHURCH having Jesus as its Head. 

It's uncomfortable to even contemplate such intended unity in an age when the denominational boundaries are drawn so distinctly and we tend to think of believers from other traditions as being "the opposition" or "competitors", if not outright "enemies", rather than as brothers and sisters in Christ. 

The season of Lent is meant to remind us of our mortality and sinfulness, and, thus, the reason Jesus came to die for us.

If it also reminds us that we are all part of a much, much wider historical movement reaching far beyond the four walls of our own little church building, then that is icing on the cake. 

AWE

"Awe-Inspiring": a term most often laced with generous amounts of hyperbole. 

But yesterday morning, my awe was literally inspired. I hesitate to write about the experience here because I know I could spend hours trying to find the right words and still come up short.

But here's my attempt:

After breakfast, Dave, Emmanuel, and I hiked to the waterfall near the village of Wli. 

In the local language, the falls are called "Agumatse", which means "Allow Me to Flow". And the water DOES flow. 

To access the falls, we were required to have a guide. 

We wouldn't have needed James to find the falls; the 45-minute walk through the forest was clearly marked. But he proved to be valuable in unexpected ways. He was 22 years old, knowledgeable about the local plants and animals, full of personality, and ready to walk me out into the cold pool once we arrived at the falls. 

And standing at the foot of that tremendous waterfall was what inspired my awe. 

As I approached the wall, I was not expecting the wind carried along by the water to hit me with such force. When I stepped into the water, I could barely breath.

Looking at my photos now, I realize the ones from a distance simply do not capture the magnitude of the falls. 

Look at this, for example: 

I mean, it looks to be maybe 50 feet to the top ... at most. 

Maybe this next one makes it look a LITTLE taller:

But it's not until you compare the look of the falls at the bottom of that photo with the next one showing James and me wading toward the spray that you start to get some idea of the scale of this waterfall.

So I leave it up to your imagination - what it's like to wade out into this brisk, cold water, hearing the sound of hundreds of bats overhead as they nest on the face of the cliffs beside the falls and becoming more and more aware of the immense and rushing power at play as the mist alone knocks you off balance as you attempt to approach. 

And nobody is there to appreciate the moment and the power but you and a handful of friends.

And when you all leave a few minutes later ...

Nobody will be there but God. 

NEW MORNING

At the time of this writing, it is 6:00 am Ghana time, the morning of Thursday, February 12th. The sky lightens as the sun rises beyond the mountains to our East. (The other side of these mountains is Togo.)

On our way back from seeing loan recipients in the North, we spent the night at Wli to check out the local waterfalls as a possible point of interest for the youth mission team I will be bringing to Africa in July.

Here at the Water Heights Hotel, the yard guys are raking the grounds, and a hundred distant roosters can be heard announcing the new day.

I am in the open-air dining area and happy because the morning breeze is the perfect midpoint between the snows I left behind in Indiana and our recent African days in the upper 90s.

I just wanted to greet you, wish you a great morning, and tell you that I look forward to sharing photos, videos, and stories with you in the coming weeks.

But for now, suffice it to say: I wish you could be here with me!

DAILY BREAD

This coming Sunday I will be back in Indiana, God willing and the flights are on time. 

I have been preaching a series on the Lord's Prayer recently, looking at each phrase in turn. So this week I am working on a sermon on "Give us this day our daily bread" - an interesting verse to ponder in the midst of extreme poverty. 

Each day here in Ghana, I am passing hundreds of people who know the experience of hunger intimately and literally. Many, no doubt, have endured more than an entire 24-hour period without bread to eat.

And many of these would be professing Christians who know and pray the Lord's prayer. 

How is the prayer answered for them?

(I am assuming that when we pray a prayer given to us from Jesus Christ Himself, we can expect a positive answer from our heavenly Father, right?)

It's not an easy question. 

On the one hand, when Jesus commands us to pray for "daily bread", it is a clear reference to the manna which the Israelites picked up 6 days a week throughout the 40 years of their desert wanderings. 

And this would lead one to interpret the prayer in the most literal sense: "God, give us the food we need today". 

But then we also need to remember that Jesus refers to Himself as "the Bread of Life" (John 6:35), leading us towards a more spiritualized interpretation of "Give us this day our Daily Bread": "God, feed us spiritually today".  

So in the Lord's Prayer, are we asking our Father for physical nourishment, spiritual nourishment, or both?

FOUR WAYS OF KNOWING

Are you familiar with the "four ways of knowing" as set forth by John Vervaeke? I haven't done a lot of reading on this, but the concept seems incredibly important to me. Not just for faith matters, but for all sorts of thinking across all of life.

According to Bing's AI summary, the "four ways" are as follows: 

Propositional Knowing: This is the knowing we have in describing things or proclaiming facts, such as "the earth is round" or "I am human." It is the most emphasized form of knowing in modern culture and is often used to facilitate other forms of knowing. 

Procedural Knowing: This is knowing how to do something, such as learning a skill or procedure. It involves developing skills and procedures that yield abilities and skills. 

Perspectival Knowing: This is knowing via embodied perception, which involves understanding the world and one's place in it from a specific point of view. It is about awareness and insight into situations. 

Participatory Knowing: This is knowing how to act in the "agent-arena" environment, which involves knowing how to act in a way that is both effective and in harmony with the environment. 

Here's where I see this concept of the 4 types interacts with faith matters: 

It seems to me that the modern Church tends to elevate propositional knowing above all other types. In fact, little talk or effort is put into the other three. 

Learning proper doctrines - and then signing your name to them - is everything. And the Bible is seen as some sort of textbook on God. Preachers weave elaborate propositional truths out of single verses. 

And, yes, if you want to see this elevation of propositional knowing in full bloom, the best place to go is a YouTube apologist for Calvinism.

But I also see this with the "Free Grace" people. Remember, the core belief for them is that if a person simply "believes" in Jesus, he will be forever saved and heaven bound, no matter what path the rest of his life takes. And that belief is purely propositional - no action (participation) needed. 

In fact, some would argue that the only way to negate the effectiveness of simple faith is to complicate it with good deeds of any sort.

So here's what I don't get with these people. If they immerse themselves in the Bible (instead of cherry-picking verses for propositional truths), they should see a God who intends to experience life alongside His creatures from the beginning - and then longs for reconciliation once they go astray.

And His Scriptures are one long narrative about the differences between loving God and loving the world, between choosing righteousness and falling into disobedience, between the results of doing good and doing evil. 

In other words, it's one long lesson in humanity's participatory knowing of the God who created them.

And yet, the lynch pin of salvation for humanity is ultimately revealed to be pure, unadulterated propositional knowing, NO PARTICIPATORY KNOWLEDGE NEEDED.

Or even ALLOWED. 

Jesus did it all, they say.

True.

But Jesus did it all ... so you don't have to?

CELEBRATION OF LIFE IN GHANA

Sometimes in the States we refer to a funeral as a "celebration of life".

If the memorial service I attended yesterday is at all representative, here in Ghana the phrase "celebration of life" is more than a euphemism. 

By all accounts, Dr. Lydia Nyador was an impressive woman and a servant of Christ. 

I met her on my first trip to Ghana 3 years ago. She and her husband Enoch graciously hosted me for a few nights.

Yesterday's memorial started at 3:00 in the afternoon. All the guests came dressed in black. Enoch wore a traditional robe, also in black. 

For me the highlight of the 3 and a half hour service came after the first 9 or 10 eulogies, about 90 minutes in. That's when the praise band broke into the most raucous praise music you've ever heard and all the mourners jumped to their feet.

Soon Enoch pulled out a white handkerchief and started waving it in circles over his head. Then he slowly shuffled forward, into the open space between the first row of seats and the front of the church. 

Next thing you know, others move forward and soon Enoch was the head of a dancing, praising, handkerchief-twirling conga line.

But here's the moment that broke me: When Enoch's own grown children and their spouses moved toward the dance floor themselves, one of the grandsons, David, a boy of maybe 9 or 10, stood at the edge, wiping tears from his eyes, refusing to join the dance.

Then his newly widowed grandfather came alongside the boy, pulled him close to his side and brought him into the dance.

In reality - DEEP Reality - we have much to celebrate, even in the face of death.

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.  (1 Thess 4)

GOD IS A MASTER NETWORKER

Dave, Emmanuel and I spent much of yesterday at the Mission Center, a building whose construction Mission Resource began in 2019 before being halted in 2020 by a court case - a dispute over who really owned the land before we bought it in 2010!

As a result, the Mission Center stands half completed - walls and roof are in place, but no doors, windows, wiring, plumbing or furniture yet. It is more than enough to provide a glimpse of this location's potential to be a meeting ground for Americans and Ghanaians and a hub for our loan work in the surrounding community. 

The location is phenomenal. If it were in the States, our 12 acres of beachside property would be worth many millions of dollars.

(Mission Resource didn't pay anywhere near that!)

Over the last two days, Dave, Emmanuel, and I met with Moses and David, a couple of local pastors serving in the community surrounding our Center, a bustling, but struggling, fishing village known as Old Ningo. 

Our impression was that these pastors are hardworking and Godfearing men whose congregations could benefit greatly from the sort of small loans that Mission Resource specializes in. Undoubtedly, the benefits will be mutual - God's Kingdom is always Win/Win! 

We were pleased to discover that we had many mutual connections with these local pastors - among them, friends Dave has long known and trusted.

Looks like the Lord is building a network for expanding the Kingdom in Old Ningo. 

It is exciting to imagine the possibilities. 

Would you pray with me that the court case would soon be resolved conclusively in our favor so that the physical work can move forward?

It needs to catch up to the spiritual work the Lord is already doing behind the scenes!