horizons

::: this year's theme for our asian access retreat was "expanding the horizons" :::

...although defining a retreat experience is difficult (it's more streams of encounters than a single moment), there was one event, in particular, that remains fresh in our minds as a powerful reminder of the potential and power of the gospel to expand the horizons among families and even among nations...

...the event surrounds a vibrant woman named suzie...

...a korean-american, suzie is from peoria, illinois...she was part of the team from new life church that provided child care during the retreat...during one of the evening sessions, where the speaker delivered a message about how forgiveness lies at the heart and hope of the gospel, suzie came up to the podium...

...here's her story...

...at the beginning of japan's 38-year occupation of korea after wwi, suzie's grandfather died from a heart attack...leading up to his death, suzie's grandfather -- the owner of a small bank -- had been terrified of losing all of his assets and his livelihood to the occupiers...after his death, suzie's grandmother was so angered at and hurt by the japanese that she set her house on fire, destroying everything she owned..."if i cannot have this," suzie recalls her grandmother often saying, "the japanese will never have this"...

...for months, suzie's grandmother and her mother slept on the ground next to the ashes of their lives...during the frigid winter, they barely managed to survive...at the podium, suzie tearfully recalled how her mother had to wrap herself with her grandmother's skirt to keep warm...

...growing up, suzie heard these stories from her grandmother and mother...over many years, suzie's bitterness and hatred toward the japanese -- like so many koreans from the post-ww1 generation -- were raging within her...even though she experienced God's forgiveness as a new christian in her 40s, suzie could not come to grips with forgiving the japanese...

...coming to this retreat, suzie sensed God's strong leading to go to japan...why, she asked...why would i go to a land where they destroyed our lives...but she obeyed God and trusted Him to lead...and that night during the retreat, as she stood at the podium sharing her testimony, her raging hatred turned to tears of genuine forgiveness and love toward the japanese people...

...moved deeply by her testimony, all the japanese workers in asian access came up to suzie and bowed face-down before her, asking for her forgiveness on behalf of the nation of japan...

...joining hands in prayer fueled the movement toward genuine reconciliation...

...taking this all in, my heart melted...i could not hold back many tears...the powerful silence of the moment was interrupted by quivering whispers and quiet weeping by others watching and praying...this was a long-waited breakthrough in one woman's life, but, placed on a larger symbolic scale, in my mind this moment projected the long-suffering hopes and prayers of millions of christians in korea and japan who desire nation-to-nation reconciliation...

...what accounts for this?...how can decades of anger in one person's heart turn into a doorway of acceptance among christians who've just met?...how can years of bitter resentment melt away into tears of reconciliation?...how can nations be genuinely reconciled in love?...

...the answer, we firmly believe, lies in God's good news to humanity -- the gospel of jesus christ...the heart and the hope of the good news of jesus christ is the word reconciliation...

...and here is where 1 corinthians 5.17-20 speaks so powerfully to me about the expansive horizons of the gospel:

THEREFORE, if anyone is in Christ

he is a new creation

the old has passed away, behold, the new has come

all this is from God,

who through Christ reconciled us to himself

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,

not counting their sins against them,

and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation

THEREFORE, we are ambassadors for Christ,

God making his appeal through us

...notice how this rich morsel of scripture is bookended with the same declarative word (therefore)...so here's the breakdown:

• the first "therefore" declaration of our SALVATION identity in christ (if anyone is in christ, he/she is a new creation)

can be linked with...

• the second "therefore" declaration of our SERVICE identity in christ (we are christ's ambassadors and advocates of God's reconciliation to others)...

• and the word that links both "therefore" declarations is the word reconciliation

...as suzie personified that night at the retreat, the reality that she was reconciled with God in Christ moved her to respond by seeking reconciliation with the japanese...and it is this ministry of reconciliation that provided a wonderful frame for our time at the retreat...

• as we worshiped with fellow asian access workers who are passionate about God's ministry of reconciliation in japan...

Video Sharing at DropShots.com

• as we dedicated the youngest member of our asian access family (nina) with the sure hope that God will reconcile her in christ...

• as we heard status reports in our annual business meeting...

• as we said goodbye to dear fellow workers who've experienced the highs and lows of being part of this ministry of reconciliation in japan...

::: expanding the horizons...as we hope you can sense, God used this retreat to do just that...in predictable and not so predictable ways, God gave us a fresh call to treasure His reconciliation in and through us in this unreached nation :::