We spent a big part of yesterday in the city of Trapani and enjoyed our time there in a city that seems open and holding life. As we were leaving we walked past this burnt out car that has been preserved as a marker.
Carlo Palermo replaced his friend that the Mafia (Cosa Nostra as they term themselves:’Our Thing’) had killed. He carried on the work and was immediately a target. The car above was set up. Palermo himself was injured but survived and carried on the work of investigation and justice, The bomb however killed a mother and her twin sons – hence the three ‘flowers’ growing up out of the shell.
So very sobering when encountering people, or their memory, in the public arena who have stood at cost for a different future. Maybe some of them have lived with mixed motives but I am aware (moving now a little in a theological direction) that God honours what is good. From the generic piece of observable wisdom that ‘righteousness exalts a nation’ to the parable of the ‘good’ Samaritan – Samaritan of all people! There is no need to go down the line of ‘good works saves a person’ but neither should we dismiss what is genuinely good. It is a belief that my ‘religious’ activity gets me favour before God that is critiqued and critiqued strongly – your righteousness is as filthy rags.
Two aspects challenge me in this. One a humility that I am not the one who says who makes it into the age to come; and that I have to find a different narrative to the simple one that ‘born again = go to heaven’. There is no Scripture that talks of ‘going to heaven’ in such a clear manner so I need to find a different / bigger reason for knowing the Lord (or as Paul corrects himself ‘being known by the Lord’). That bigger picture for me is of the body of Christ taking responsibility for our world. We can create space where those come along who ‘do good to all’ and our world mirrors a tiny bit of heaven’s reality, and I think push back so that less innocent people are damaged by the fallenness of our world.
Don’t blame the world… As I once said to a group of people in the USA who were concerned about abortion and changes to the marriage laws in their country. I said that the WH had never legislated on such matters (they had at one level, but not at the level that counts)… I said people like you present in this room did. When you walk up the aisle making promises and then walk down saying I have found someone better you legislated about marriage (thank God there is wonderful grace re. divorse / remarriage, but an ‘opting out at first opportunity’ is not what Scripture talks about). And secondly when you tithe and raise your hands in church to worship but support the killing of ‘those bloody Iraquis’ (that was the era) you legislate who can and can not be killed. If you are blasé about human life that can be seen and interacted with we should not be too surprised that society becomes blasś about life that cannot be seen.
The Pauline gospel.
Yes there is the intimacy with the Living Lord that we enjoy… but there is a reason for the body of Christ on the earth. Praying for and rejoicing when there is any manifestation of the kingdom.
I’ve started so I’ll finish. A phrase from the Mastermind quiz but maybe also a biblical / God phrase? ‘When God began to create / in the beginning’ (dependent on how it is translated – the first one I understand to be the better of the two) relates to the end – a new heaven and a new earth; new creation.
Jesus words on the cross – ‘It is finished’… and yet Paul says ‘making up for what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ’; Paul claims that the gospel (good news message) had been proclaimed throughout the world. Finishes that are real; but somehow they are unfinished finishes that have to be supplemented, not by something different, but by the same flow. So where am I going with this?
There is an end… new creation. How do we move toward it? The pivotal moment of all moments is that of the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is the firstfruits of all that is to come. His resurrection is the guarantee for us and for creation that we are not staring down the barrel of nuclear obliteration but of participating in the rebirth of all things. Paul saw his sufferings as participating in the sufferings of Christ. Not suffering for the sake of it but to release the blessings of heaven for the body of Christ. His life was not a ransom for others but a means of releasing others into the benefits of the ransom that comes through the cross; thus enabling there to be a proclamation to the whole earth (or rather the oikoumene of the Roman Empire). I believe the Pauline gospel (and that term is not inappropriate as he terms it ‘my gospel’ in Rom. 2:16) is on the way to significant recovery, a message that the death of Jesus on the cross initiated a global transformation with a gracious invite to join the movement. (Maybe we can summarise the message as ‘Jesus is Lord and there is a movement of those liberated from the power of sin that you can be baptised into’?)
I have no idea how this all works out. Times and events are not what Scripture whets our appetite with, but direction and process. ‘To’ the ends of the earth and ‘being witnesses’ through the power of the Spirit to the new creation that we see.
Landing this post…
I am writing this post as a small addition to the former ones on ‘Europe’. The place where Paul’s gospel had been proclaimed (and later infiltrated and subsumed by Imperial sovereignty) has an offer being given to it. It is found (as always) in the desert, the place where symbolically the powers of darkness dwell – hence the lack of fruitfulness there. Paul’s work is ‘finished’, but the final word of Acts is ‘unhindered’ (ἀκωλύτως). We have a responsibility. And oh yes there is a Jerusalem aspect too. Not one of a king dictating over the whole world, but one that witnesses that the prince of peace died there so that reconciliation – no Jew nor Greek (civilised Roman world) divide, nor slave nor free (economic), nor male and female (creation language superseded). A place of reconciliation. Now that is a dream.
A man imprisoned saw something (Rev. 21). If he could maybe we can dream also? And maybe we will see it if we can see beyond any prison doors (most of which are in our minds) that might seem to contain us.
I am a dreamer that Europe will find a way and humbly serve beyond her borders – even to the places that carry the testimony of recent waves of ‘revival’. There are worlds beyond the ‘whole world’ that Paul focused on. This is the destiny of Europe. To the finish. A perspective.
Perspectives… we all have them, the challenge to faith is being faithful to our perspectives while being open to change. Here is a little follow up to the 12 years of the woman being sick and the resurrection of the 12 year old girl. Christendom. A major change takes place with the conversion of Constantine and the ‘in this sign you will conquer’. The cross of Jesus – self sacrifice, peace through his death becomes the sacrifice of others and peace through inflicting death on others; the irony of the temple of peace (Pax) being built in Rome on the field dedicated to the god of war (Mars). Peace, the Pax Romana, held together through victory on the battle field. What is termed the myth of redemptive violence… and the path that all Imperial structures have followed ever since. The eschatological vision of Scripture is of turning the sword to plough shares. I appreciate we live in the ‘real world’, the world of compromise, but the compromise we are to be involved in is ‘redemptive compromise’, in other words compromise today so that tomorrow might look more like the eschatological future. When we have the cross colonised to defend violence we have a major problem.With this sign!!
God is a compromiser. I know that cos he walks with me. That is a level of extreme compromise. But God is a redemptive compromiser. That God has worked within the confines of Christendom is clear, and we see the same process in Scripture – give us a king… they are rejecting me… OK bring me Saul and I will anoint him. I am grateful (understatement) for the power of the gospel which has made such a difference throughout the globe; the gospel is like seed but so often it has gone out inside the bag of Christendom, thus the drive for ‘apparent’ Christian legislation (though I don’t recall legislation that touches on anger, greed, sexism etc). I am a big believer that the body of Christ is to be the authority on earth – but the authority we have is NOT over people, but over the power of the enemy, that power manifesting as the dehumanisation of humanity.
My take then is that for a real advance Christendom has to be abandonned; we have to walk away from going back to the good old days, and advancing toward the manifestation of love and embrace.
In the first post on Europe I suggested that our theology shapes our perspectives – particularly our theology of God and of eschatology. If God is ‘sovereign’ whose reign is maintained through power and force that will shape our theology. If so the incarnation and the cross becomes some sort of temporary aberration rather than ‘the fullness of deity dwelling bodily’ in Jesus. If our eschatology is shaped around events rather a Person often the events become the focus! Adrio König wrote a book ‘The eclipse of Christ in Eschatology? (I might have the title slightly wrong as that is from memory); sadly true. Armageddon; restore the land even if genocide is part of the process etc.
So much of ‘popular’ eschatology feeds knowledge (same driving force as to why someone might read a horoscope); that drive I do not find in the NT.
If someone lives outside of that initial cradle for the gospel (Europe) they need to live out their life in that context; mine is here, hence I have to shape my hope based on the cross in this context. My hope is that we can embrace the end of an era, dig deep and discover that maybe we are closer to a NT context (muti-faith, multi-cultural) and so might find that the gospel is better having been shed of the Christendom clothing. It is not longing for the ancient past (shipwrecks, beatings, crucifixion, martyrdom – not my ‘hope’!) but a desire for a future that will enable there to be a push around the globe. Rejoice wherever we see people come to faith, but I suspect the train carriages will follow where we have gone. And take seriously the need to find a new path into the future even if we are labelled ‘post-Christian, secular’ Europe.
I am certainly not saying that the path will be easy and there might be marginalisation in the process. The desert is the place… it was the place that Jesus was offered economic, political and a religious framework. Turned down and returned in the power of the Spirit.
How do we pronounce that word? Apparently try Mar (easy bit) and then add the name of a current famous Liverpool player. Spent last night in Balestrate: here is our van parked and we stayed around the corner:
Nothing too hostile but an interesting place. The ‘host’ for our B&B was a throw back from the 60s (hippy era) and we entered our room to him and his ‘friends’ in a very heated discussion(!!!???) that indicated a certain amount of alcohol and whatever else had been present in the previous hours! The street I photograph is typical of many historic towns in Italy and also Spain. A very intense evening for us with not a lot of sleep involved but prayer and processing. We left Balestrate this morning but with our host opening his arms and ‘Sicily welcomes you’. We take that.
A colleague who has helped us a lot – Michael Schiffmann – had contacted us about a month ago with ‘the South-West holds the keys and you need to go there early on to discover revelation for the island. There is no South West as the island is a triangle. That showed that MS was not looking at a map or doing some google research (all valid) but giving what he had received. So we have been holding and seeking to process that and the South West (without there being a south west) puts us on the coast from Agrigento up. We settled on Marsala as the starting point and have secured for our next 6 days an apartment here. It will give us time to settle (been on the road for 11 days). Marsala was where Garibaldi began his campaign that ended in Italy being united. He landed in Marsala, from there conquered the island and then worked north on the mainland, thus before long ended the ‘two Sicilies kingdom’ as the border (the one we prayed on a few days ago) went and Italy soon united to become what we have today. A place of entry to that movement that interestingly had at its heart politicians, journalists, economists and ‘states-people’.
We know this is the next place for us – unfinished business for sure in Balestrate – but here we will sow something into the ground . Interestingly there is a ‘new gate’ into the city – probably where Garibaldi entered. (Map below… Marsala off to the left, Balestrate is just to the west of Palermo.
Sad to leave the high mountains (and Etna) behind but this is now the right place.
We have stopped in a number of places to see, pray and receive, but yesterday was the most focused of days. We had been given a word about taking time at a border for there we would receive for the ongoing journey and receive some kind of partnership with angels. Borders: Spain to France; France to Germany; Germany to Switzerland; Switzerland to Italy; and of course ‘smaller’ borders between provinces and the sea border between Italy mainland and Sicily is yet to come. So which border?
Borders are important and I am not too fussed what we make of ‘angels, principalities and powers’ but at the minimum they speak of authorities that either shape the context or are shaped by the context. I am not convinced we have to be correct in our theology but it sure helps to do our best to align with whatever the Scriptures are describing. Jacob encountered angels at a border both when leaving his family on the way to Laban’s household and also when he returned. Paul described how God had set boundaries for the peoples (and kairos times) so that they might seek after / stumble and find God. Hence boundaries are important and the crossing of them is what transgression speaks of and is a sure way to remove the environment where people can seek after and find God. (Of course there is much more to it than that, but to ignore the issue of boundaries and land we will miss a whole aspect of the release of ‘good news’.) Paul and Luke seemed to have used the Roman names for territory and Paul’s journeys were led by the Spirit but within defined geographical settings.
So which border?
We were convinced that the border we needed to give attention to was an ancient border – the northern border of the kingdom of the two Sicilies. To the north was the papal lands and to the south the kingdom of the two Sicilies.
It was the “Kingdom” par excellence. Its territory was delineated since the very first years of its creation under Roger II of Altavilla and remained unchanged along the centuries until its fall in 1861: its northern boundary followed a line that stretched out from Civitella del Tronto (south of Ascoli) to Gaeta and touched Leonessa, L’Aquila (north of Pontecorvo) and then continued south to the Tyrrhenian Sea; its southern boundary was the sea itself, including Sicily.
For around 730 years this territory holds that boundary. And of course in the history there are the inevitable clashes and alignments between so-called secular powers and the religious powers exercised by the pope. The uneasy history! The annexation of the two kingdoms was the effective start of the unification of Italy under Garibaldi (1860 onwards).
The map to the left is that of the ancient division, and we have been staying approximately 2 kilometres north of the line on the western coast. Noe Limiñana laid an ancient map over the current map of the area and came up with the border as being marked by a river – the Rio Claro. This is where we focused yesterday and (of course could be subjective) the witness in our spirit when we stood on the bridge over the river was very strong. The ancient border! We ‘felt’ (oh yes possibly simply subjective) that there was a difference one side to the other… angels going with us? I am sure there will be though neither of us had specific dreams last night – something that would be expected.
Coming off the bridge we smiled when we saw this sign on the sea front indicating the flow of water divides at that point. One direction back and one direction toward our destination:
As we travel today our prayer and speech will be concerning the open arms of God to one and all. Borders over coming years might change… but let them fit with what will facilitate a ‘finding of God’.
Coincidentally(?) a camp site on the border is named ‘Anastasia’, after the goddess. It was Paul’s proclamation of ‘Jesus and the resurrection (ἀνάστασις)’ that was central and misunderstood as two deities: a new one (Jesus) and an ancient Greek one (Anastasia). A good reminder – Jesus cannot be proclaimed without the resurrection… and if proclaimed then everything has changed and we have to live from that perspective, the perspective of the new creation.
Tonight we should be right down in the south ready to get a ferry tomorrow to Sicily. For sure angels go with us as they do with all who seek to partner with God.
Over the next few posts I will intersperse perspectives on Europe with a few comments on our journey… maybe half-way down Italy now with last night, today and tonight to be spent in Terracina. Sleeping under an ancient temple to Jupiter – well not under it literally, it simply sits on the highest point about 1km from where we are. Maybe if we get closer we will feel to give it a kick but seems pretty much without any current influence. We are here as we are within a short distance of the old ‘two Sicilies’ border that cut off the papal states to the north and the so-named kingdom of the two Sicilies to the south – two Sicilies as there was a base in Palermo (Sicily) and Naples/ Napoli (mainland of Italy). That border is our focus today. But this post is about Europe, as also is our journey and interaction with Sicily these months!
We all have perspectives and they are influenced by (in no specific order) our personality, experience, theology – particularly of God and of eschatology. It seems to me the most important thing is we act with authenticity and integrity – true to ourselves and to our convictions. I need to be open to correction, to change but I am not about (nor should I) to change easily. My convictions are mine. Not quite in the same league but before Jesus laid down his life he made the statement that no-one could take his life from him. We are not to be swayed easily. On some areas of theology I am in the minority (historically and currently) but I am not about to count the votes and go with the majority. I write that simply to say should you read these posts there is no need to agree, but they might explain the why’s and what’s of our lives.
There is perhaps a predominant view that Europe is post-Christian and ‘secular’, thus being without any real hope. Mine is that it is the centre of hope!
Two Stories
Nothing exegetical in what follows but for the past 25+ years the interlinked stories in Mark 5:21-43 have been important for me. They are the stories of the woman with the continual haemorrhaging issue and Jairus’ daughter.
In summary a woman who a) has been deteriorating in health for 12 years and b) whatever ‘solution’ the doctor provide do not improve her condition but c) she is getting increasingly ill. And a) a young girl born 12 years before with b) all the hope and joy that a new birth brings but c) one day falls ill and dies.
Maybe you are ahead of me but I see the ‘sick woman’ as a picture of Europe and the young girl as a symbol of where the hope and enthusiasm lies.
Historically, Europe was the cradle for the gospel, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth was understood by Paul to be throughout the oikoumene of the Roman Empire (e.g. Col. 1:6). From Europe beyond, but by the time the beyond was happening the ‘clothing’ for the gospel was that of Christendom – the making of ‘Christian nations’ (an oxymoron), with privileged and dominating position given to that form of Christianity. (Maybe this is why ‘Christian’ votes often go to the authoritarian option – perceived as more like God!!!????) My simplistic approach is not-perfect but not privileged pre-Constantine but centralised, institutionalised, dominating and oft-times oppressive post the ‘conversion’ of Constantine. (For a much better insight try Roger Mitchell’s Fall of the Church (Amazon link – will seriously need to repent today… but at least you can see the book there and order elsewhere.)
Thank God for Africa, far East, South America where there is a vibrancy and a rate of conversion to Jesus that should make us envious… that to me is like the young woman. Hope, hope and more hope. The future… But…
Imagine that the Christian faith is like a train on a track. The front carriages are the church in Europe, followed by other later Western filled carriages, followed by the places where faith in Jesus is vibrant. And the train-track has run out and would have needed to cross a bridge to get to the future. The first carriage(s) has fallen over the precipice – but the ‘problem’ is that it is one train… the other carriages are on the track, and go join them and do the charismatic two-step and rejoice but they will also follow suit. The young girl will speak of the future until…
My perspective!
I have (past tense) spent many months in Brazil. Huge the shift that has taken place there with coming to faith. But still huge manifestations of occult power. I have often said that 2% of a population with faith should have long-time ago shifted all of that nonsense. But I have been present inside a secure conference centre where each entrant has to have a pass to enter and voodoo priests have materialised inside with poison for our food! That should not happen… but if our focus is on power we will feed such manifestations. (To be clear I am all for the miraculous, healings and deliverances but the container is ‘presence’ and not simply power – another post another day?)
Europe. We will continue to be enthralled by what is going on elsewhere and I hope we stay deeply impacted by the wonderful transformative power of the gospel, but all of that can be like the doctors coming to the aid of the woman in the story. ‘Rather than getting better… spending all her money…’
OK I have made a start. The woman has to touch the garment of Jesus; the young girl will be discovered to be also carrying a gene that means maturity will not be reached. Work to be done in Europe for the woman is healed when the focus was on getting to the young girl. Hence my hope, my enthusiasm; but not to restore something that has been. No making that form of Christianity great again. Travelling paths we have not trodden before, but ancient paths that will show in spite of understandable despair we carry the same story I wrote of yesterday – in an obscure middle eastern province one person has been raised from the dead. Maybe sleeping under the temple to Jupiter is a good reminder – that was the Pauline world and they had much opposition but the gospel is the power of God to salvation – to the Jew first (religious power losing its hold) and also to the Greek (the sophisticated way of describing the oikoumene of the Roman Empire). The Pauline gospel, not the Martin gospel, nor the Reformed gospel, nor the gospel that is often on offer.
Let Europe be the place of discovery and restoration.
With or without a question mark? Doubt – not an enemy of faith, though it can be, or it can be a servant on the journey of faith.
First the big picture. Yes I have doubted many times and asked the question – even the question of ‘is there a God’? When all is well maybe the doubts don’t come, but I have noticed there are times when not all is well with life. Then there are the huge issues of suffering that I think demand a VERY heavy leaning into a God who does not control. Anyway what bottoms things out for me I think are three aspects:
The resurrection of Jesus. People just do not rise from the dead in that way – crucified, buried and on the third day not simply revived but resurrected. Fulfilling the Jewish hope that at the end of the ages those who died in faith will be resurrected. Ever such a crazy faith that we buy into. That in an obscure eastern province of the Roman empire someone has been crucified (there were times when thousands were crucified within the same immediate time frame) and has been raised from the dead and as a result there is a public message that Caesar is certainly not lord etc… And the first believers were Jews. WOWOOOWOOW.
The testimonies of Scripture and within history – many have gone before me, many through martyrdom. (Maybe other faiths would claim the same, but tied to the resurrection of Jesus, my convictions are strengthened.)
And thirdly my own experience. It lines up with what I read, and the Christian faith is experiential; it is relational. Paul wrote to the Galatian believers and appealed to their experience as one of the reason to pull back from legalism with ‘Did you experience so many things in vain?’. John Wesley had as one of his quadrilaterals ‘experience’.
Yes doubts, and yes if I were God things would be different! But faith like an anchor that holds on to heaven’s realities.
And the small picture. Last night we had a look at Pisa’s leaning tower. Amazing. But today we will hit the old border of the ‘Two Sicilies’. Sounds crazy but the border is between Rome and Naples – the two Sicilies being a kingdom that had a centre in Naples and one in Palermo. The night we have just had was restless and disturbed. Doubts on the one hand – what are we doing… nothing certain; no accommodation set before us… Are we simply stupid (no answers on a postcard).
And not surprising…. we are small people so small adventures can be very challenging to us; but also angels are waiting. They are often encountered at night at borders (read the entry and re-entry of Jacob). We will stay on the border two days… who knows? Maybe we will leave with doubts; maybe we will leave strengthened; maybe we will encounter some hospitality and never realise there were angels involved… maybe 100 possibilities.
Whatever takes place for sure I will have my doubts but underneath it all will not be strong faith, but the eternal God. So be encouraged today should any reader have a doubt or two!
We are en route – honestly we are. Just took a very important detour:
‘Home’ to Freiburg
The detour is simply to spend 2 days with Yannick, Jenny, Pheline, Samuel. A family we have known over the last decade or so. Honest, earthy, pray-ee type people. Why detour – to be with them, but also following the incident with Paul where he was ‘dragged out of the city… he got up and went back into the city’ we are absolutely standing with them for that. One more day here in an open city – and open of course to all kinds of spirituality. A creative, innovative city, alive with and for young people.
And a great piece of advice on the side of the kiosk: ‘pray… love… eat… sleep… repeat’. Wow – we can all do that and wherever we live would be healthier for it.
Another day here and then through Switzerland and into Italy, stopping one night (somewhere) and then on the following day to the old border between ‘the papal states’ and ‘the kingdom of the two Sicilies’. On the west side that border ran roughly half way between Rome and Napoli. The kingdom of the two Sicilies had two centres – Napoli and Palermo and was very active during the Bourbon reign – the royal line from Aragon in Spain. A few weeks ago we had a call with Jenny and Yannick (where we are currently staying) who both contributed that when we crossed a border there was to be a meeting with angels… we sensed immediately this was not a current border (France / Italy for example) but an ancient border. Research and up comes this ancient border. In Scripture angels are encountered at borders (see the travels of Jacob in and out of his land. Who knows what that will look like, but if there is a contribution that heavenly servants of God are to make to these two ‘close to clueless’ earthly travellers we are up for that.
Anyway that is 2 days away… and I must quickly get a shower as the next few days showers might not be accessed on a daily basis!!!
Very dramatic title… and not as significant as similar statements from John the Baptiser and on the lips of Jesus, but somewhat significant for us. Well we were so sure we would be going on Friday, so maybe this is the first plan of ours not to be exactly as we envisioned it? (Cut us some slack even Paul twice tried to move in a direction and the Holy Spirit had to resist him… oh and least he had a dream of a ‘man’ in Macedonia so followed the dream and met a… woman.)
We were not ready on Friday but today has arrived. And I also had ordered a package on Oct. 15th that I was unaware was sourced in China. It was due Friday, but they could not deliver it on Friday. Apparently a traffic issue; digging a little deeper the ‘last mile’ of the company is delivered by electric scooters – I think the traffic issue was the battery needed recharging. Anyway after multiple contacts with the company it arrived yesterday.
Anyway we are now an hour or so away from going ‘por la mañana’. That last phrase is definite – ‘in the morning’, but we (in good Spanish custom) when asked about when we are going could always reply (until today) with ‘mañana’. We think that might mean ‘tomorrow’, and it kinda does but also means ‘not today’. In English we have all kinds of ways to express uncertainty, but the (joke) in Spanish is they have nothing as definite as those phrases, they do have that word ‘mañana’ but it is certainly not as definite as ‘maybe’, ‘one day sometime’ etc. Anyway ‘mañana por la mañana’ has come and we will be gone – as soon as cup of coffee is drunk, floors are washed.
Tonight France, Sunday Germany to be with Yannick and Jenny in Freiberg, then head south through Switzerland (I bought a year long permit yesterday to drive through Switzerland – runs out in January, so a little peeved that we will only use the permit for a few hours), to Italy… not sure how many stops en route (my schoolboy French, along with the word ‘le weekend’) and down to the ferry.
And then? Well we have nowhere scheduled, do not have a place to stay (come on AirBnB sort out your prices), and have no fixed plan. Old capital of Syracuse, cities of Messina, Catania and Palermo (where or nearby where we think we will settle) will certainly be visited… and definitely Agrigento: try this to get an idea of one of the 7 preserved temples there:
By Berthold Werner – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23442211n
An adventure for sure but like us all we take a small step / short drive to make a contribution to the recovery of the Pauline gospel…that good news that we can ‘see’ a new creation and be heralds of and witnesses to that future.
