Author: Janet Hanson

From the point of view of the history of nations, something very small had happened here. ~Philip Hallie

In a world where success is measured in numbers, where GO BIG, OR GO HOME! is the cheer, the truth may escape us:

Christ is found in the small choices and seldom-noticed courage of  those who believe he meant what he said.

Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, one of the 15  books that found me, is Philip Hallie’s gripping story of Le Chambon, a small village in the south of France, and “how goodness happened there.”

Few history books record the tale. During the German Occupation more than 3,500 French Jews, many of them children, were rescued by those living in this isolated village. For years, a little train delivered a stream of refugees right under the noses of the Nazis.

Hidden away in farmhouses, some were escorted over dangerous mountains into Switzerland. The high-plateau town, despite openly flouting Vichy orders, emerged from the war unscathed. A miracle.

But, just as compelling as what happened there, is why it did.

The Power of Small

Over the door of the Protestant church in Le Chambon are the words of Jesus, Love One Another. Pastor André Trocmé, later named the “soul” of Le Chambon, had the audacity to believe that Jesus really meant it when he taught us,

• human life is precious–we must not harm,
• love transcends categories–people are people,
• we must not become the very thing we oppose.

In the late 1930’s, as the shadow of evil grew over Europe, Pastor Trocmé preached from the gospels of Jesus. He urged his community to search out little ways, small acts of goodness to undermine the forces of destruction now unleashed in their own country– but without doing evil themselves.

When the first frightened, half-frozen Jews knocked on their doors, his parishioners were ready.

Many years later, when interviewers asked Why? of the villagers, the inevitable response was a shrug. “Things had to be done, that’s all, and we happened to be there to do them. You must understand that it was the most natural thing in the world to help these people.”

Does “goodness happen” here?

Jesus claimed that mountains are shifted by mustard-seed-sized faith. I wonder if mountains seldom move around me because I don’t really believe he meant what he said.

What about you? How ready are you for the ones Christ will send your way?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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If Jesus had never lived, we would not have been able to invent him. ~Walter Wink

I look at the road-end, the empty desert beyond. And a voice from behind says, keep walking forward. But my feet, and my heart, stay rooted in place.

Jesus, your way can’t possibly work. You see the clear signage–beyond here, no one goes.

It’s nice, but impractical to follow your way.

I Make My Case

Nothing will get done with life interrupted. My plans and intentions will die from neglect. I’ll find myself stopping for every touch in the crowd, or sitting to dine with types best avoided. And waste my time praying in the freshly dawned hours, or thumbing through pages, ancient onion-skin wisdom, when truth is as close as Siri’s sweet voice.

And a tweet or a text loving gesture enough.

Jesus, to me, your priorities seem off.

• You tell me to let go when I want to hang on.
• You tell me to trust when there’s reason to fear.
• You tell me to love the very people I loathe.
• You tell me to lose the same self I’m seeking.
• You tell me to wait as my world heads for a cliff.

Your way is at odds with what’s obviously true:

• Blessed are the meek in a world made for the bold?
• Blessed are the peacemakers in a world filled with sharks?

Oh, I’ve lived long enough to see it may work for a moment. But for every “chicken-soup-for-the-soul” ending, there’s a follow-up report. The glad cheers of yesterday are today’s breaking bad news.

Your way doesn’t work, as the evidence shows. So I’ll stick to the paths, well-worn by long practice. And wonder why the world isn’t what it should be.

His Answer

His answer comes swiftly, scented with promise,

Follow me, in my unconventional, “inefficient” way. Someday you will see it, and dance in my joy. What you think is life wasted is you being made new.

(1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Revelation 21:5)

How is Jesus asking you to be unconventional?

 

Photo credit: Kevin Den

I have seen enough of God’s wily ways with the Powers to stake my life on the side of hope.

There’s more to life than meets the eye.

You know this in moments when what looks like a mole-hill packs a mountain-size wallop.

When the tug of a ripple pulls you under, you wonder.

Or when, to your surprise, a life-time of darkness clears because of some small, obvious kindness.

There’s something behind it that cannot be seen–forces bigger and hidden, that your five senses can’t name.

The Bible points to the spiritual in every person, but behind institutions and structures as well–unseen powers that have the capacity to respond to God, or choose their own way.

To ignore this fact is to beat our foreheads bloody on the brick wall of entrenched evil.

It means we will fall prey to a simplistic belief that if only that one person were not in office, if only that one family member would change, if only those kind of people didn’t exist, all would be well. It means we will appoint scapegoats, we will notice evil everywhere but in ourselves.

Let’s be honest: our foreheads take a battering more often than not.

“For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places,” the apostle Paul reminds us.

The Powers That Be

I recommend Walter Wink’s book, The Powers That Be to anyone who will listen. One of the 15 Books That Found Me, Wink opened my eyes to “the spiritual reality at the heart of everything.” Human systems, created by God to serve his purposes (Romans 13), can be bent, putting their own interests above God’s (Daniel 10, Revelation 3).

Wink puts it this way:

• The powers are good
• The powers are fallen
• The powers must be redeemed.

Think about the systems to which you belong. Your country, community, workplace, school, family, place of worship. To whom do they ultimately answer (Colossians 1:16-17)? To whom do they presently bow? How will they be redeemed?

Hint: It begins with you.

Have you been tempted to embrace easy answers to the problems of our day? Who are your favorite scapegoats?

Next Time: Part 2: Exposing The Myth

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