Our good friend Noe from Calpe sent us a link to this article. It is from Marcos Zapata who both leads a church (in Lugo) and the Evangelical Alliance of Spain. He hosted us, Noe & Loli, and Samuel Rhein a few years back when we began to look at praying into the expulsion of the Muslims. A humble person well respected, including inside a number of government situations, due to the serious impact they are making not just spiritually but socially.
It is a really good read. I wish, for example, I had come up with the following:
The leadership by those who seem alien to suffering will never produce disciples but only admirers. My time of suffering and fighting against the illness has reminded me once again that the Father already sent a Savior—and it is not me.
And Jesus spent time in prayer in order to choose some ‘Admirers’!!!
This is really good. We need a more robust appraisal and theology of suffering in the Evangelical church. Somehow it has been lost in the prosperity and blessings focus and almost shoved under the carpet. It reminds me of Isaiah 53 where he prophesies that ‘men turned their faces away ‘(from Jesus in his suffering). It’s often the same now and I’m afraid many Evangelical Christians are the worst offenders in this. I have been chronically ill for 10 years and whilst some have stuck with me many just don’t want to know because it’s ugly. Now in this crisis it is difficult to turn away although people still try to do it and play down Covid19’s impact even among some Christians who would rather promote conspiracy theories than look the beast in the face and acknowledge that it’s real. The road marked with suffering is deeply connected with Jesus and his journey and I wonder if we can truly know him if we don’t meet him there during our lives at some point. Not saying you should stay in that place unless of course your body or your mind forces you too. That’s why Jesus is good news for everyone in every situation because if you have to stay there he is going to be with you in it anyway.
This is worth the time from Lucy Peppiatt,Principal of Westminster Theological Centre
http://theologicalmisc.net/2020/03/charismatic-christians-crisis-and-coronavirus-part-i/
A thoughtful take on Psalm 91 amongst other things.