Afriza 9/11

Introduction: This Blog

Peter: This is to be the first of many chapel blogs. After last chapel I wrote a facebook note reflecting on the session, and Tim Krueger suggested that we co-author a chapel blog… and here it is. I’ll let Tim explain in more detail what exactly is going on with this blog. First I thought I would introduce myself to you, and Tim will have to introduce himself at some point. To use my facebook descriptions I am a Christian, optimist, skeptic, humanist, progressive, idealist, realist, Arminian, open theist, student, and missionary kid. I hold strictly to but a few of these, and the one I most want to emphasize here is that I consider myself a skeptic, not because it is fun to be difficult or something, but I find that I learn best through questioning things, by playing devil’s advocate. I find that being a skeptic fleshes out arguments, brings up new topics, different perspectives. So I may absolutely agree with and love a chapel session, but I will most likely find something to question about it. It’s how I process things, and I submit it is merely that: I’m not disagreeable, I’m just curious.

Tim: Alrighty, my turn. Well Peter already mentioned my existence in this endeavor and so I won’t do that myself. He mentioned that we decided to start this blog, and I want to say a thing or two about exactly why that is before I respond to chapel and to Peter’s comments. Peter and I are blessed to share our lives with a group of friends who we respect and value. Over the last few years we have bonded over late night Wendy’s runs, excursions to Duluth, Ultimate Frisbee games, nights out at Friday’s, sailing adventures, and so on. Typical college activities, I suppose. But what I value as much and maybe more than those things is the meaningful discussion that goes on from time to time. And most of the time, it revolves around a Bethel chapel or similar events. I would like to think that not everything we say is entirely foolish, though most of it may well be. In any case, I have long enjoyed discussing, laughing at, admiring, and overall just sharing our thoughts about a lot of the messages that we, as college students at a Christian university, are hearing. Sometimes we feel that our voices are those of a silent majority and we wish someone would speak up. Maybe this is our silly little attempt to do that in our own way. Sometimes we feel like a minority, and maybe this is our outlet. Sometimes, we just like to talk and reflect. Perhaps more than anything else, this simply reflects our attempts as young Christians to grapple with the messages we hear and reconcile them to the beliefs we hold so dear. My hope is largely that we can just share our thoughts and feelings with a few more of our friends. Or, if no one reads this (which wouldn’t come as a huge shock), it will at least allow us to record our thoughts for posterity.

That said, I’ll follow Peter’s lead and say a little about myself. Myers Briggs would tell you I’m an INFJ – an introverted, mildly idealistic, slightly feelings-oriented person who wants his ducks in a row. It would be kind of right, kind of not. I live on the fence between interaction and insularity, idealism and pragmatism, logic and feeling, frivolity and seriousness, enthusiasm and cynicism. Like Peter, I’m a skeptic, a critical thinker, an idealist and a realist. Also like Peter, I’m a missionary kid, but he grew up in Japan and I in the Philippines. We mention it only because it has molded us and our ideas profoundly. It’s a gift that we hold dear and a rare blessing we hope God will use to bring about his purposes.

I’d like to echo Peter’s sentiments about the nature of our skepticism. I, too, am a cynic. It isn’t because I don’t like things or don’t like people. It’s not because I love being negative. It is because I yearn to understand the people and the world around me, and I find that I learn best by applying critical thinking to the things I’m told in class, in chapel, and by “common sense.” I play devil’s advocate, like Peter said, not to be disagreeable, but because I’m curious. I love to learn, I love to think, and I love to observe. More than anything, I love to pursue God and His wisdom. That’s why I’ve devoted my college career to studying history. Like we learn from those who are “old and wise,” I hope that by engaging thousands of years of “old and wise” men and women, I will come a little closer to seeing God’s truth. I want to tear away presuppositions, structures, and –isms; to reveal the patterns, and feel the pain and the sorrows of my fellow humans. I hope to see God’s beloved creation revealed in its stark beauty and the sin that afflicts us revealed in its ugliness. I hope to understand my neighbors, my God, and His truth.

Maybe I am too skeptical, maybe I’m bitter and jaded – I don’t know. What I know is that we live in a world of brokenness. If I come across as overly critical and negative, it’s not because I love negativity, but because I have felt the joy that makes our hearts skip a beat and the heartbreaking loss of our world. And more than anything, I dream of a world where we will feel the joy of Creator, and I loathe (or at least want to loathe) all that stands in the way. We all live in a world of inner and outer conflict and confusion, of misunderstanding and being misunderstood, of exhilarating joy and heartrending sorrow. As long as brokenness and pain infect this world, I wonder if any of us can even imagine what real contentment would be. Yet, we all yearn for it. This is who I am, too. Enough about me.

That brings me back to the point of this blog: namely that those passions, those discussions, those thoughts and ideas which I (and Peter as well) feel so deeply can be expressed in some way, however feebly expressed or sparsely read. We are blessed to attend a school that seeks to engage such passions and as always, when we care about something, we stand back and reflect. We are young and perhaps stupid and pretentious. But we still feel and ponder, and we share and interact with those who are close to us. But maybe we should go beyond that and, while we may never have any readers, this is merely our attempt to do so.

Chapel 9/11/2009

Peter: That being said, today’s chapel was most enjoyable. Afrizo, I think it was called, a musical team from Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya sang for chapel and they were amazing. They had various songs, some in English and some in (and here I must confess ignorance) some African language. Perhaps Afrikaans. The part I would like to bring the most attention to however was the part of chapel where, during a song the team leader started to explain what they were saying (it was one of those in a different language), and they were saying “the Lord will fight your battles for you.” Then she started to give specifics: when you have a professor who is giving you a hard time, don’t fight, God will fight for you, when you’re family doesn’t visit you because they live in Chicago, God will take care of your cargo, don’t fight, when your neighbor is on facebook during chapel don’t fight, God will convict them… and she made one more example “today, don’t fight.” And when she said that I couldn’t help but notice the overhead screen of the World Trade Centers in flames with today’s date 9/11, and as her voice drifted back into her language and the singing my mind continued with examples in the same format: when you see searing pain and tragedy, don’t fight, let God, when you see a kid being bullied, don’t fight, the bullies will be convicted… when you hear screaming from a woman being raped don’t fight, God will fight for the woman. When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and the Taliban militants attack innocent civilians, God will protect us, and the loss of human life? What of it? God will fight our fights for us, so don’t worry, and don’t fight. That may not be what she was getting at, I don’t know if she is a pacifist, if she ever condones coercion of any kind, either personal, communal, or national, in fact I am as sure as anything that I’m taking her words as they weren’t meant to be taken, but it remains that what stuck out to me was her saying “do not fight, leave it all to God.”

I hate confrontation, and fighting is definitely not my scene, but where do you draw the line?

There is comfort in what was said, but is there truth? How can we relax and let God take care of things when things aren’t being taken care of? To be sure, I’m not saying God has no role in the world, but I also think that it’s odd that we should leave everything to God when He has left us the care of the world. I believe that He works with and through us to accomplish his will, and so if we want to feed the hungry, he will give us the strength to fight for that, and if we wish to protect the members of society from harm He will work through us and bless the works of our hands. But we must fight. I don’t understand how pacifists live with the holocaust. I would say, if you’re having trouble with a professor, fight. If you’re hard-pressed to compromise yourself, fight. If wrongs are done, how can we live with ourselves if we do not fight? Strap on the armor of God, stand for His principles, and fight. This is also, I realize, a troublesome response, when God has asked for all of our cares, has called us to not worry about tomorrow, has told us that we are in the palm of his hand, has told us to love, not hate, make peace, not war, and build, not destroy. Which is why most of this article is composed of questions, not answers. I don’t know, I just don’t see how love can excuse not fighting in some situations. Please, enlighten me.

Tim: So back to chapel, which is theoretically the focus of this blog. Again, I want to make it clear that this is not meant to be a “complaining about chapel” blog. Lots of us have serious, honest questions about a lot of what we are told. Sometimes because we think it’s mistaken, sometimes because we don’t know what to think, and sometimes because we don’t understand it at all. In any case, our goal is not to pick to pieces what we hear, but to express our questions, confusions, and reactions in order to find greater wisdom and understanding. We appreciate chapel and, like Peter said, will probably be able to find something that piques our skeptical interest, no matter how much we love what is said. So now that I’ve said more than I thought I would about any of this, I will move on to today’s chapel.

Today, September 11, was an outstanding chapel, in my opinion. It started with what I thought was a touching reminder of the tragedy of 8 years ago. The theme was “where was God” or something along those lines, and it reminded us that no matter where or what, God is there and in it with us. I think this was meant to be the theme of the service, as it fits with the “God will fight your battles” thing that Peter mentioned. We sang some songs and then our band was joined by a musical group from Daystar University in Kenya. Our band disappeared and this group kept the stage for the remainder of the time.

They were phenomenal. And the main woman was hilarious. She made a number of references to Lion King and related jokes. She got us all clapping (getting us all clapping is quite an achievement, as most of us are both Scandinavian and Baptist). Now, I’m not a great music mind, so I won’t try to describe the singing in much detail, other than to say it was super awesome. Two things really stood out to me today.

The first was in one of the first songs, which was a rendition of the Lord’s Prayer. As per the usual when I hear the Lord’s Prayer, I started to zone out. But apparently I was listening enough to hear “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who step on our toes.” I was like “hey that was cool!” and spent a short time pondering. What do we do when things like the Lord’s Prayer become cliché in our minds and we stop hearing them? I didn’t even grow up on a steady diet of the Lord’s Prayer and still, I automatically start daydreaming when I hear it, even when I consciously try not to. Granted, I am very easily distracted and daydream all the time, but still, why is it that it’s only when I hear something like “forgive those who step on our toes” that it becomes real? And why don’t we mix it up a little more often? Are we afraid to tamper? That’s not to say we should never be afraid to tamper. I think it’s really great when we can hear things in a little different way, and the main singer did that super well in everything she did. It was amazing.

The second thing that struck me was, as always when I’m in chapel, reconciliation. Bethel tries so hard to get us to embrace the message of reconciliation, and I’m pretty sure that this chapel was more effective at reconciliation than all the attempts I heard all of last year. I just sat there watching these women and men from Africa singing and dancing and praising God. And I saw a whole audience of Bethel students loving every minute of it. They were actively appreciating and delighting in a race and culture different from their own. Isn’t that what we want? Isn’t that a huge part of the goal of reconciliation? It brings to mind something I read in one of my classes. Someone I know nothing about named José Beozzo wrote "The glory of God is that...the indigenous cultures should be able to flourish once more, uttering the name of God in their many languages and praising him in the particular genius of their customs, dances and songs."

While I think he was speaking in a more Universalist sense that I’m comfortable with, I love what he says. And I think that’s what went on in chapel today and people loved it. Did we think those singers were less than us because they are a different race or different culture? No, we loved them. And I think most of us do love it, so why can’t we let things like this be a major part of the racial reconciliation process? Because I’m pretty sure it would work a lot better.

Tim and Peter: Probably that’s enough for now. Best chapel of the year, in our opinion. Let us just finish by saying let’s remember all those who died 8 years ago today. And let’s not forget to love in a world so steeped in sorrow that such suffering exists.