Loving our enemies: More from the Early Fathers

Last year I wrote this article for a magazine:

Loving our Enemies

(Somewhat coincidentally, it was a couple weeks before I wrote this blog entry.)  At the time I knew that the command to love our enemies was clearly stated in the gospels and New Testament epistles.  But I didn't realize how important it was to the early church.  Recently, when I began reading the earliest documents of the Christian church, I came to see that loving our enemies was pivotal.  Not only was it taught in church documents, sermons, and letters, but the visible fruit of Christian love for their enemies was a major point that Christians made when defending their faith to non-Christians.  So what has happened between then and now?

All of the following quotes are taken from the first 160 years of the Christian church.   At least two of the authors of the quotes were themselves martyred during this period of persecution.

There are two ways, one of life and one of death; and between the two ways there is a great difference.

Now, this is the way of life: "First, you must love God who made you, and second, your neighbor as yourself." And whatever you want people to refrain from doing to you, you must not do to them.

What these maxims teach is this: "Bless those who curse you," and "pray for your enemies." Moreover, fast "for those who persecute you."  For "what credit is it to you if you love those who love you?  Is that not the way the heathen act?"  But "you must love those who hate you," and then you will make no enemies.  "Abstain from carnal passions."  If someone strikes you "on the right cheek, turn to him the other too, and you will be perfect."  If someone "forces you to go one mile with him, go along with him for two"; if someone robs you "of your overcoat, give him your suit as well."  If someone deprives you of "your property, do not ask for it back."  (You could not get it back anyway!)  "Give to everybody who asked of you, and ask for no return."  For the Father wants his own gifts to be universally shared. 

- Opening of the Didache, possibly the earliest church document ever discovered

"Pray also for emperors and magistrates and rulers, and for those who persecute and hate you, and for the enemies of the cross, that your fruit may be manifest in all, so that you may be perfected in him."

- Bishop Polycarp, Orthodox saint and one of the most famous early bishops and martyrs, in the close of his letter to the Philippians (his only existing letter)

For the Lord says, "My name is continually scoffed at by all peoples"; and again, "Alas for whom my name is scoffed at!"  How is it scoffed at?  By your failing to do what I want.  For when the heathen hear God's oracles on our lips they marvel at their beauty and greatness.  But afterward, when they mark that our deeds are unworthy of the words we utter, they turn from this to scoffing, and say that it is a myth and a delusion.  When, for instance, they hear from us that God says, "It is no credit to you if you love those who love you, but it is to your credit if you love your enemies and those who hate you," when they hear these things, they are amazed at such surpassing goodness.  But when they see that we fail to love not only those who hate us, but even those who love us, then they mock at us and scoff at the Name.

- The earliest Christian sermon ever discovered (known as "Clement's Second Letter", though the original author is unknown)

This is what [Christ] taught on affection for all men: "If you love those who love you, what new thing do you do?  for even the harlots do this.  But I say to you, Pray for your enemies and love those who hate you and bless those who curse you and pray for those who treat you despitefully."

About being long-suffering and servants to all and free from anger, this is what he said: "To him that smites you on one cheek turn the other also, and to him that takes away your cloak do not deny your tunic either.  Whoever is angry is worthy of the fire.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, follow him for two.  Let your good works shine before men, that they as they see may wonder at your Father who is in heaven".

- Justin Martyr, in the first known written defense of the Christian faith, giving examples of the goodness of Christian conduct and the power of God in Christ's words.

Moreover, by showing that the teachings themselves, to which we are attached, are not human, but were declared and taught by God, we can persuade you not to hold us for atheists.  What, then, are these teachings in which we are reared? "I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, who makes his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sends his rain on the just and on the unjust."

With us...you will find unlettered people, tradesmen and old women, who, though unable to express in words the advantages of our teaching, demonstrate by acts the value of their principles.  For they do not rehearse speeches, but evidence good deeds.  When struck, they do not strike back; when robbed, they do not sue; to those who ask, they give, and they love their neighbors as themselves.

If we did not think that a God ruled over the human race, would we live in such purity?  The idea is impossible.

- Athenagoras, in a 2nd-century defense of the faith to the Roman emperors

If we are enjoined, then, to love our enemies, as I have remarked above, whom have we to hate?  if injured, we are forbidden to retaliate, lest we become as bad ourselves: who can suffer injury at our hands?  In regard to this, recall your own experiences.  How often you inflict gross cruelties on Christians, partly becaues it is your own inclination, and partly in obedience to the laws!  How often, too, the hostile mob, paying no regard to you, takes the law into its own hand, and assails us with stones and flames!  With the very frenzy of the Bacchanals, they do not even spare the Christian dead, but tear them, now sadly changed, no longer entire, from the rest of the tomb, from the asylum we might say of death, cutting them in pieces, rending them asunder.  Yet, banded together as we are, ever so ready to sacrifice our lives, what single case of revenge for injury are you able to point to?

- Tertullian, often called the "Founder of Western Theology", in yet another 2nd-century defense of the faith

Book List

We are in the process of making decisions that will affect the rest of the year...and quite possibly the rest of our lives.  Our experiences and relationship with God are the driving forces behind those decisions, but the books we've read have influenced us as well.  I wanted to put out a list of the books that have strongly influenced/explained the things that we're doing this year.  The following books are in no particular order - I'd recommend all ten of them to everyone.

1. Friendship at the Margins
2. Making Room
3. The Road of Lost Innocence
4. In the Name of Jesus
5. Compassion
6. From Brokenness to Community
7. Not for Sale
8. First They Killed My Father
9. Sexually Exploited Children
10. Freedom of Simplicity

As a bonus, here are five more books that are informing the more long-term decisions that we are making for the future.  I recommend these as well, partly on their own merit (especially #1), but also for anyone who wants to understand our lives and our desires for the future a little more.

1. Three Cups of Tea
2. Living Mission
3. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement  (you're better off taking the class rather than just reading the book)
4. A Thousand Splendid Suns
5. Cry of the Urban Poor

I'd be happy to answer any questions at all that anyone has about them.

That they may be one

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. - John 17:20-23

Unity between Christians is difficult, but I think it is worth it. I want to work towards unity with other Christians so that we may be together in God. I want to work towards unity with other Christians so that the world may know Christ was sent by God. This doesn't mean we need to go to the same church, worship the same way, or agree on all theological details. We have different roles in the Body, and even the apostles had disputes. But I do believe that God calls us to humble ourselves for the sake of unity in His kingdom.


Last month I asked Ash Barker (founder of Urban Neighbors Of Hope) how we could encourage ecumenism. The essence of his answer was that ecumenism is hard for Thai churches to do, but WE need to do it first. While the "we" he referred to was the community of missions/service-oriented Christians in Bangkok, I think his answer can be taken further to say that we as individuals need to practice unity before asking it of our larger church bodies. The most powerful advice regarding unity in Paul's letters are not his statements against church division in 1 Corinthians 1, 3, and 12, but the gentle manner he calls us to act towards those who we disagree with in Romans 14:1-15:7. Until we as individuals learn to tolerate difference of opinion on religious matters, bear those whose faith seems weaker than ours, and stop putting stumbling blocks in front of each other in the name of Christan freedom, we'll have little chance of convincing our churches to get along.


If anyone wants a deeper look at the ecumenical issue, I encourage you to read Chris Heuertz's article "The New Ecumenism: Becoming the Living Body of Christ" in IMMERSE Journal

A Different Christmas in Bangkok

About 99% of Bangkok either treats Christmas as a Western commercialization-and-decorations holiday or doesn't celebrate it at all. That made the last 36 hours that much more interesting.

On Christmas eve we went out together with some Thai friends and a few people from another organization to sing Christmas carols at the bars of Bangkok's red light districts.

Our resident 3-year-old passed out candy canes to the women while we sang in Thai and English. The women appeared to love it and several of them even gave us gifts in return. The Western men's reactions were mixed. We got everything from guys glaring and making mocking faces to guys who were singing along. One guy had to look away from everything, including the girl he was with, the whole time we were there.

We also got to pass out gifts to our friends who beg out on the streets, and even play with a few of the kids. I had a lot of fun and was wiped out long before we got home.

Christmas morning we had a quiet gift-opening together as a community. Then it was off to a local church for a joint Christmas party for the kids we know who beg on the streets and some kids who are associated with the church. We played games, made nativity scenes, watched a movie about the nativity, and ate lunch (and lots of candy) together. About twenty kids were there, most of whom we know well, and we had a blast.

 

Then it was home again for a Christmas party with our wonderfully hospitable neighbors. Fantastic food, dancing kids, and silly playing made up the rest of our night.

In the midst of the hard realities we deal with, it is so wonderful to be able to celebrate. Pray for all those we celebrate with, that they may find not only happiness for one day, but eternal joy, and peace on this Earth as well.

Update on our service

I've talked about the evolving nature of our service in blog posts and emails, but it's been a while since I updated everyone on exactly what we're doing.  So here's the latest version of what we're up to:

• We still have outreach on the streets every week, but we've cut back how often we go.  Instead we are doing more home visits with the families that we've developed relationships with.  Rose is also working on a special project to help us in this outreach.

• Last month we suspended the drop-in center.  The location had become unsuitable for many of the kids, and the one child that was still attending is now with his family and off the streets (and in church!).  Instead, we played soccer with a bunch of the kids one week and will join them for a Christmas party next week, and are planning to start a drop-in center in a safer location further from the red-lights.

• We're still doing the community-building stuff that I talked about, but two Servant Team members will leave soon and at that point our community activities will look different.  Certain community activities related to women in difficult situations may increase.

• We continue to teach English to children at a local church every week.  We're now breaking for the holidays, but next year we'll start up again and even have a special three-day workshop for older teens.

• Our visits to migrants are finally happening!  After numerous roadblocks were taken away, we are getting to visit with men and women who don't get very many visitors.

• One of us is working on a special project to get a picture of how churches across Bangkok serve the poor and marginalized, with the hope of eventually building bridges with other churches.

• Our Servant Team coordinators have started a monthly advocacy meeting to bring together those in Bangkok who share God's heart for the poor.  So far we haven't had to do much other than set up the space and enjoy the dialog.

That's the basics for now - I'm sure I'll have changes to write about in the coming months.  Such is the nature of the service.

Christmas in Bangkok

It's fair to say that most Thais don't know the connection between Christmas and Christ's incarnation.  And you won't see Christmas decorations on private homes.  In Bangkok Christmas is a holiday that celebrates consumption, a holiday for flashy decorations at high-end stores and the selling of luxuries.  You'll see Santa, reindeer, Christmas trees and bunnies (recycled Easter bunnies?) in all the most expensive business districts, but nothing related to Christ.

And really, if their idea of Christmas comes from what they see Westerners spending the most time and money on, why should I expect any different?

How can we set a different example this year?

One option: http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

Please pray

Last night had so many positive aspects and so many difficult and/or horrible aspects at the same time.  We had a deep (and sometimes difficult, but significant) conversation with a foreigner in Bangkok and served a newcomer in a really simple way, but ended up hearing about some potentially terrible things going on for some of our young friends that we spend time with out on the streets.   I don't want to go into details, but they need a lot of prayer.  Thank God for the ways in which He brings people together in His timing for His purposes, pray that our new friend is able to follow through with the things He realized last night, and pray much for all our young friends, that whatever we fear has happened in the past is not as bad as we fear it is, that somehow we or someone else can be agents to stop anything from happening in the future, and that they find ultimate healing from all their trauma in Him.

Meeting guys in the red lights

A few nights ago we were on our way out of the red lights when our 7-year-old friend "Fon" called us to come over.  She brought us behind a fast food restaurant where her dad was sitting.  She was so proud that her dad was there, being the only kid working the streets that had a father present at all.

As Fon led us behind the restaurant, four young Australian men came over.  They asked whose daughter the girl was and then told her dad she was beautiful.  (Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they seemed concerned about whether this adorable little 7-year-old was with her parents.)  They all put some money into Fon's begging cup and talked to us, asking what we were doing in Thailand.  The Aussies shared about their personal lives as well, mentioning how much they loved Thailand and how lucky we were to get to be staying for so long.

At one point Fon grabbed one of the guys by the hand and took him over to the nearby 7-11.  Both of them were beaming when she came back with her arms loaded up with toys and ice cream.

As they left, they asked where a certain plaza was.  One of my fellow teammates later informed me that the plaza they were looking for houses the primary sex bars in the area.

Often we are blind to how our own personal sin affects others.  I think those guys adored Fon and wanted to help her family out a little.  But I doubt they realized that it was their own adult sex tourism that brings Fon into this vulnerable situation.  They don't think about how their support of the red light districts creates a dangerous atmosphere within which parents are willing to risk their kids because it has become the most lucrative spot available to make money.  They probably don't consider that some of the girls in those sex bars started out begging on the streets just like Fon, that many if not most of them got their start when they were still legally children, and that they wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't the only option they knew.  They don't see that their frequenting of the sex bars brings Fon to that area and puts here that much more at risk, both now and in her future.

They're not the only ones that can be blind.  How many of us think about how own materialism and desire to accumulate possessions is also affecting kids like Fon?  Researchers and child advocates in Thailand are seeing materialism overtake poverty as the primary factor behind families selling their daughters into prostitution (see Sexually Exploited Children, ed. Phyllis Kilborn and Majorie McDermid).  You don't have to be here long to see that the materialism is modeled on American materialism - just look at the prevalence of American brands, songs, movies, and models and the American-style Christmas decorations in the expensive stores.  And several authors of chapters within Sexually Exploited Children, who know these families best, make the same point - our decisions and example in terms of how we flaunt our materialism are having a real effect on the lives of these children.

I pray that I can learn to be less self-focused, even in terms of my sin.  I pray that I can realize that my sins do not hurt me alone, but affect others around me.  I pray that I can take more seriously my own responsibility for the terrible things in this world, even those that at first glance seem to have little to do with my own actions.  And I pray that I may humbly keep myself from judgement of others, knowing that the things I bring to their attention are likely happening in my own life as well.

to the johns

Please read these two articles, written by two friends here in Thailand:

The Cowards of Nana

to the johns


If you are moved by that, take a step to help one of their organizations or any of the following organizations that are working to help women caught in such terrible circumstances.

NightLight

Sari Bari

International Justice Mission

You do not belong to the world: Part II

I now know that I have a difficult time focusing on God when caught up in the "typical" American life. Being in Thailand has given me energy - energy to read, think, pray, change, and chase after God. As I reflected on that difference last month, I realized that most of my deepest experiences of God have taken place during such displacements - IV summer conferences in the mountains or islands, my trip to India, and my trip to Manila.

In Compassion, Henri Nouwen and his coauthors link God's call to us to come out of this world to our call to form compassionate community together as Christians. They state, "The call to community as we hear it from our Lord is the call to move away from the ordinary and proper places." The Compassion authors use Luke to illustrate this point (9:60-62, 14:26, 18:22), but the same message is illustrated over and over in the Bible. Jesus's own life was one of displacement - a coming down from heaven to an Earthly existence, a move from Nazareth into Bethlehem for his birth, a flight into Egypt, and the eventual call into Jerusalem to face death. God calls Abraham and Sarah, Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Nehemiah, Hosea, Amos, all 12 disciples (especially Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew), Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy to leave their "ordinary and proper place" and enter into a different life with God. And while each one of these displacements disrupted the "normal" life of these people and their families, they brought much greater life to God's people in the long run. It took obedience in the form of displacement, over and over again in history, for God's people to be a "people" and for the Christian church to exist at all.

I don't think that God calls everyone to dramatic moves away from home. But I think he calls all of us to stop listening to the standards of the world and start listening to His voice instead, and in that process to be open to dramatic change.

When we open ourselves to the possibility that God is calling us to something different than what the world calls us to in our daily decisions, we make it easier to hear Him when He does call us to those dramatic moves. I think that's why I start doing better spiritually when I am away from "home". When I'm in the typical work/home/church life in California, it's easy for me to get caught up in my society's expectations of a "normal" life. When I pursue God outside of this "normal" routine, whether it be a summer conference in the mountains or an internship in Thailand, I get the constant reminder that the "normal" life is not the life I am being called to lead, and my energy gets shifted to God's calling on my life instead. Then, if and when God calls me to more dramatic defiance of the world's expectations, it will be that much easier for me to hear Him.

The Compassion authors sum up this holy obedience well:

The more we are able to discern God's voice in the midst of our daily lives, the more we will be able to hear him when he calls us to more drastic forms of displacement. Some of us are indeed called to move away from our cities and live in caves; some of us are indeed called to sell all we have, give it to the poor, and follow Christ in total poverty; some of us are indeed called to move away from our more familiar milieus and live with the sick and the dying; some are indeed called to join nonviolent communities of resistance, to protest loudly against social ills, to share in the misery of prisoners, the isolation of lepers, or the agony of the oppressed; some are even called to undergo torture and violent deaths. But no one will be able to hear or understand these very blessed calls if he or she has not recognized the smaller calls hidden in the hours of a regular day. Not everyone is called in the way St. Francis, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Dorothy Day, Jean Vanier, Archbishop Romero, and Dom Helder Camera were called. But everyone must live with the deep conviction that God acts in her or his life in an equally unique way. No one should ever think that he or she is just an "ordinary citizen" in the Kingdom of God. As soon as we start taking ourselves and God seriously and allow him to enter into a dialogue with us, we will discover that we also are asked to leave fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters and follow the crucified Lord in obedience. Quite often we will discover that we are asked to follow our Lord to places we would rather not go. But when we have learned to see him in the small displacements of our daily lives, the greater call will not seem so great after all. We then will find the courage to follow him and be amazed by our freedom to do so.

Only three years after writing this passage, Nouwen took his own "drastic" displacement by leaving the Harvard faculty and living among the mentally disabled in the L'arche Daybreak community in Toronto, where he would remain for the rest of his life.

May we also listen to God's call on our lives and practice obedient in defiance of the standards of the world, that even in old age we can follow God away from this world's call into the greater community that He has to offer us.