by Claudio Oliver

Casa da Videira, Curitiba Brazil

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The incredible thing about the resurrection in this time of Easter, when we celebrate the most important event in the church is that we are confronted with a paradox that includes two conflicting & extremely opposite realities: humiliation and glory. Both are present in the incarnation and equally central to the person of Jesus.

And the Word Became Flesh

The incarnation of Jesus embodies a radical presence that begins with the attitude he assumed- one of humility, humility to the point of death at which time he then is lifted up in glory. From humiliation to glory. Jesus surprises the powers of death with His resurrection and that resurrection power is present everyday in each one of us His followers.

The entrance of God into the world by Jesus is the fruit of an architecture that opposes the logic of any prior religion. The key to the incarnation was Jesus’ voluntary emptying of himself. The decision he made and carried out all the way to his death on the cross, embracing a reality in which he was stripped of his rights, leaving his position of privilege, and his seat above all else on the throne.

The One who created all things became human… and he did not cling to His divinity. To the degree that he not only became absolutely ordinary, but even more incredibly, he humbled himself to the point of his own death on the cross, executed as a common criminal, poor, and a pariah.

A Parable of the Seed

The descent of Christ from His throne to the earth is eloquently illustrated in Philippians 2. Here the text reveals the key concept surrounding the incarnation: kenosis or emptying of oneself.

In John12:20-33 we see extreme aspect of the kenosis illustrated in the parable of the seed that has to fall to the ground to die in order to new life. The seed is the fruit, the objective and result the farmer aims for. It is what he is working towards in the farming process of planting, cultivating, fertilizing and finally harvesting. The seed is what the farmer reaps at the end of his arduous labors. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to plant a seed, whether it be corn or beans, when you harvest the grain or seed, you are looking for the perfect specimen to store for next years planting season. When you remove the husk you look for the perfect shape, color, and even taste.

The perfect fruit is what Jesus was to God the father, and God the gardener. Jesus is the mature fruit, the paradigm of what is to be a man after God’s own heart. The one who is holy and perfectly just. The only one of whom God could say, “in Him I am well pleased”. Jesus is the climax of creation, the one who embodied God’s original plan for Adam. He is the second Adam. I could just imagine God the father’s joy as he observed His son the divine one become man. I could imagine God like the proud farmer who achieved the perfect crop, with zero defects.

What would a farmer do with the perfect harvest? Would he harvest it and store it to continually be able to marvel at its perfection? Would he enjoy it fully and consume it all? Would he exhibit it for the entire world to admire?

Well, if you were a wise farmer you would do what a city dwelling consumer would deem ridiculous. You would keep the worst corn that you harvested, for milling and turning into corn flour for consumption. Then you would take the perfect grains of corn, and to the shock of a city dweller, you would bury it in the soil.

The reason is simple. If the farmer uses his best grains for seeds, he guarantees a better harvest for the following year. The plants that will grow from those seeds will be fuller, more robust, and would produce beautiful grains for harvest. If the farmer were to harvest his crops and mill the best grains, he would lose that perfect genetic seed forever. If he plants the poor quality seeds, he will have weak plant life that will produce a poor crop for harvest. Burying something that is so beautiful so perfect is a decision that makes all the difference in the world.

Upon doing it the seeds gets saturated with water, it expands and breaks, and a new sprout of plant life surges towards the surface. A vulnerable seedling breaks ground, susceptible to many things, but with great potential and incredible energy. Even though genetically the plant is the same as the seed, the nature of the new plant is distinct from the nature of the seed. They are the same, yet different.

Christ Transformed

When Jesus emptied himself, as radical as that was, it changed his nature forever. The body that he took to the cross knew the horror of the worst kind of suffering, it knew hunger, thirst, weakness and limitations, even death. By choosing to be a seed he was transformed: God made man.

But, after his death, he was resurrected in yet an even more glorified state, and was multiplied in the body, the community of the redeemed ones. He ascended to heaven and was reproduced on earth with new hands, new feet, words and actions, carried out by the living body of Christ, the church.

We have been buried and resurrected with Christ, and we are to be his Body on earth, at least that is God’s design for us. The body that reflects the resurrected Christ on a daily basis, through us living resurrected lives.

The key to the complete emptying that Jesus lived was not only in his physical resurrection, but also in the multiplication of life that His death and resurrection produced in us. Just like the perfect seed of corn that is planted and dies, it brings forth new life that doesn’t only reflect that perfect seed by one grain, but by many grains. And just like the healthy crop that comes forth in the harvest, we are faced with the decision of the farmer over and over again. We could store them up to admire their beauty as seeds, or we could sow them into the soil again to die and produce more life through their death.

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by Juan José Barreda Toscano, RdC Argentina

“Now that it seems like all is coming to an end, I have to tell you that there is nothing greater than the love that has come through our friendship,” Jesus said to his disciples.  Friendship isn’t an objective, nor is it a mission.  It isn’t about working together on something to accomplish a goal. It is all about us together, the collective “I”, lives shared.  Do not forget this essential foundational truth,  “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other” John 13:34-35 (The Message). “I no longer call you servants because in reality we are friends.   You know everything about me and I have given you all of my love.  I do not need to explain to you that the same love should flow among you:  Hope for the best for each other, cultivate a love that leads you to lay down your lives for one another. Be true friends among each other as I have been a true friend among you” (cf. John 15:13-15).

What things or circumstance could possibly cause us to forget the importance of friendships? Maybe it’s our responsibilities? Perhaps it is our drive to be effective? Or could it be our understanding of the church’s mission and the way we see our “friends” as a distant boss or overseer? Maybe we forget about friendship because of the way we place value on “our” time?  Or maybe it is because we devalue the importance of “presence” or being present in the body?

Leisure has gained a bad reputation these days — even to the point of being defined as a negative use of time by those who seek only results from human relationships. Instead, what we do find in the place of friendships are the large groups of people who gather every Sunday for a couple of hours. These groups of people have the gall, by consensus, to call themselves the church.  They even use the term brother and sister to address one another, oftentimes to hide the fact that they do not know each other’s names, histories or life circumstances.

“But is should not be that way among you…”

The church and the relationships shared among Christ followers are Christian, when they are founded on the love born out of true friendships. There is no greater priority for the church, to be the church. More than her mission, it is her reason for being, and from there it is only possible to practice the evangelization as a lifestyle that truly reveals the Good News of reconciliation.

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By Doug Calhoun, Pastor of Redeemer Community Church in Needham, MA

In this month’s Signposts, pastor and DCC board member, Doug Calhoun reflects on his time in Guatemala and how the RdC Gathering inspired him.

In each succeeding village I toured before the RdC gathering, I meet local pastors who have caught the vision of holistic mission to their communities. Though each church comes from a different denominational affiliation, these men have found camaraderie with RdC in taking the Gospel to meet the practical needs in peoples’ lives…

As I walked around observing and photographing the gathering, the energy and enthusiasm of every participant was obvious. There were older pastors, who no doubt were quite experienced in “normal” church life, now interacting with these new ideas with humor, with intense discussions, and with insight. Conversations around the meal tables picked up volume and energy as the conference continued.

By way of age contrast, the worship music was supplied by local InterVarsity staff and students, representing the younger generation’s passion for this holistic ministry.

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Experiencing the RdC Network Movement with Your Heart

By Tom Yaccino

We often find it challenging to describe to people what the RdC Network “is”. It is hard to adequately describe these grassroots movements that grow among local communities of faith who are believing and living as witnesses to Christ and His Kingdom in this broken world. But we are reassured that, while it  can at times be difficult to describe what we live and experience in the Networks we serve and support, the Red del Camino is something alive and very real. What the network is and what it is catalyzing results in incredible life-giving transformations in people and communities around the world.

When you think about the metrics driven world we live in today, this loosely structured and hard to measure Network movement presents a challenge to those who want to understand and contribute. We do find hope and consolation in the fact that the Kingdom of God, which Jesus talked so much about in his ministry here on earth, is also one of those hard to measure realities.

In his ministry Jesus emphasized again that the Kingdom has come, and it is present here and now among (us) His disciples.

At the time He shared this unbelievable news, the Roman empire was in control of all aspects of life and the Jews and gentiles alike were living under their oppressive government. Yet, Jesus says the Kingdom is near, and even present. Was it measurable? What were the indicators? What kind of base line was used to measure just how present the Kingdom that had broken into the world through Jesus was actually making a difference?

To a certain degree, the RdC Networks we serve and support reveal the very Kingdom Jesus announced.  From their gatherings, where one spirit unites diverse groups of believers around discovering and participating in God’s mission to make all things new, to churches breaking the mold to be present in their communities and contexts, the churches that are part of the RdC are reaching out to the lost and hurting and revealing powerful glimpses of God’s grace filled unconditional love, His Kingdom among us….

…those who take the time to “go and see” are impacted, challenged, and inspired to live their faith in Kingdom revealing ways…

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Reflections by Pastor Jephthe Lucien from the Jerusalem Baptist Church in Pignon and leader in the emerging Haitian RdC Network.

hese thoughts developed in me during the recent exchange myself, my wife and over 30 other Haitian leader’s experienced during the Red del Camino’s annual gathering in the Dominican Republic.  The blessing of our being there and participating in this incredible gathering came through the loved filled invitation from our Dominican brothers and sisters of the RdC network as a means to offer us rest and reflection and strength, taking us from the challenges of living and ministering in our challenging post earthquake context. The friendships that have been forming between our churches from our divided island over the years via the RdC network, provides a beautiful living example of reconciliation in Christ.

Much of what I is shared here comes from the message I gave at Iglesia Comunitaria Cristiana de la Zona Colonial where my friend and pastor Robert Guerrero asked me to share at their Sunday service after the RdC DR gathering. The message, that I felt was prompted by the Holy Spirit, was a reminder of the reasons why we, as Christian leaders from various ethnic background who are ministering to each other, should be celebrating.  The RdC Network movement in our Caribbean context shares a special passion to see Dominicans and Haitians working hand in hand as brothers sisters of the Kingdom family, to further Christ’s restorative plans on the island we share. The RdC senses the call of Christ to keep us all united under the same red banner of the blood of Christ.

As I prepared the message, I recalled a story that a Haitian pastor friend of mine told me several years ago…  A Haitian pastor became frustrated and worried as it was getting close to the time to leave for church… He had diligently prepared a powerful message for Sunday’s sermon and was on his way to deliver it, when he realized that he could not find his reading glasses. He was sure he had placed them on the dining room table, but could not find them there. He admonished everyone in the household for having moved them. He was tense and frustrated because without his reading glasses he would not be able to share his sermon with the congregation. He would be unable to celebrate the joys of Christian community because he wouldn’t be able to read God’s word and follow his notes for the message. His joy was quickly getting quenched when his wife pointed out to him that his glasses were carefully resting on the top of his head, not on the table as he had thought. He had all the reasons and conditions necessary to celebrate this Sunday, but, unfortunately for him, the frustration and anxiety he was experiencing stole that celebration right out from under him…

He had all the reasons and conditions necessary to celebrate this Sunday, but, unfortunately for him, the frustration and anxiety he was experiencing stole that celebration right out from under him

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The Bizarre & Miraculous Nature of the Resurrection…

by Claudio Oliver, RdC Brazil

During Easter, the most important celebration for Christians, we are confronted with a paradox in the nature of the person of Jesus Christ—the equal centrality of both humiliation and glory. The incarnation of Jesus begins with him assuming an attitude of radical humiliation and ends with him receiving extreme glory. The surprising power of resurrection through death is something each one of us needs to be reminded of each day.

Jesus’ entrance into the world seems to oppose all prior frameworks of divine logic. The essential key to the incarnation is that it necessitated “emptying”. God’s decision was to be stripped of all rights and privileges, and His reigning centrality on the throne.  The contrast is extreme.  God, whose very nature is sovereign and who reigns from on high, becomes God who walks among us in His created order, revealing Himself without position and prerogatives.  He becomes so incredibly normal and ordinary, that when He is handed over to the authorities, He submits Himself to the common execution of a poor, criminal, slave rejected by men.

The contrast between glory in the highest and ordinary humiliation of the down and out, is based on the text from Philippians 2.  The core concept that makes the divine revelation in Jesus totally unique is ‘Kenosis’, or the emptying of oneself.  In John 12:20-33, we see a perfect illustration of the extreme nature of this teaching in the parable of the seed that falls to the ground and dies in order to bring new life through the plant.

For a farmer, the much sought after end result is the seed, which is the fruit of all his labor.  It is the goal of the process of planting, cultivating, caring for and ultimately harvesting. The process is a long and arduous one throughout the seasons for the life of the farmer. Anyone who has ever had the privilege of planting a garden, (be it some beans or corn), and appreciated the perfection of the grain that is harvested; its shape and texture, its color, or had the pleasure of revealing its core by removing it from its vegetative covering, knows that it is a wonderful and fulfilling experience!

For a farmer, the much sought after end result is the seed, which is the fruit of all his labor.

So it was in Jesus for God the Father, the farmer.  Jesus is the mature fruit. He is man as God created, perfectly just and sinless, whom God refers to saying, “in Him I am truly pleased”.  He is the maximum expression of all of creation who accomplishes what had been planned and projected for Adam.  He is the second Adam.

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By Juan Jose Barreda, pastor Iglesia Evangelica Bautista Constitucion, Buenos Aires, member of the Red del Camino network in Argentina

“‘Now that it seems like all is coming to an end, I have to tell you that there is nothing greater than the love that has come through our friendship’, Jesus said to his disciples…’Friendship isn’t an objective, nor is it a mission.  It isn’t about working together on something to accomplish a goal. It is all about us together, the collective “I”, lives shared.  Do not forget this essential foundational truth. Let me give you a new command: Love one another in the same way I loved you. Love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” John 13:34-35 (The Message)

“I no longer call you servants because in reality we are friends. You know everything about me and I have given you all of my love.  I do not need to explain to you that the same love should flow among you: Hope for the best for each other, cultivate a love that leads you to lay down your lives for one another. Be true friends among each other as I have been a true friend among you.” (John 15:13-15)

What things or circumstance could possibly cause us to forget the importance of friendships?  Do we forget because of our responsibilities?  Is it the drive to be effective?  Or could it be our understanding of the church’s mission and the way we see our Friend as a distance boss?  Maybe we forget about friendship because of the way we place value on “our” time?  Or do we devalue the importance of “presence” in the body?

“Leisure” has gained a bad reputation, even to the point of being seen as a negative use of time by those who seek results from human relationships. What we do find during our days off are the large groups of people who gather every Sunday for a couple of hours. These groups of people have the gall, by consensus, to call themselves the “church”.  They even use the term “brother” and “sister” to address one another, oftentimes to hide the fact that they do not know each other names, their histories or life circumstances.

“But it should not be that way among you…”

The church and the relationships shared among Christ followers are Christian when they are founded on the love born out of true friendships. There is no greater priority for the church to be the church.

More than her mission, it is her reason for being, and from there it is only possible to practice the evangelization as a lifestyle that truly reveals the Good News of reconciliation. In friendship we build connections, which move us towards transformation by the Holy Spirit, in that our commitment to the other becomes a commitment to oneself.  When Jesus told us to love one another and become friends, He was breaking with one of the pillars of the world’s system that ushered in the domination of the empire – indifference.

Indifference in the empire wasn’t just any kind of indifference. It was a calculated form of indifference that was very useful to its own existence. Slavery, hierarchies of power, and the attributions of divinity to those who held power were its best expressions. And so, in the context of the empire, Jesus proposed love and friendship as an alternative way of living that would bring down the inhumane ideology of those worldly structures. Servility doesn’t exist among friends.  There are no impositions or intentional harm among those who love one another as themselves.

Christ-centered friendship shook the very foundations of the empire. A social inversion of values ensued where people could see one another with admiration and appreciation. Slaves became leaders of the churches and women became pastors. Foreigners became family, and the sick and rejected were embraced and accepted. Time ceased to be a commodity and a sense of wonder and meaning returned to the unexpected encounters and contingencies of the day. Friendships happened.

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The Kingdom of God, a thing of Children!

A Christmas Blog by Edesio Sanchez-Cetina:

Introduction

During the very demise of the nation of Israel, when it was on the verge of total collapse and frustration, God decides that the way in which the wayward nation, his chosen people, had developed and structured itself – socially, economically, religiously and politically – brought her to a particular place in history where her future was practically doomed. What was He to do in light of this bleak outlook of the future? The destruction of the nation was already a part of His divine plan, yet He could not permit that His creation, a space where all the created order–plants, animals, human beings and the divine– would end up lost forever.

All institutions–social, economic, and political structures established by human beings, in accordance with the scriptures of the Old Testament, had failed. And this failure is intimately related to the disobedience, abandonment and unfaithfulness of God’s people toward their Creator. Unfaithfulness and injustice walked hand in hand and this was the greatest complaint God presented to the mouths of His prophets (Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah.) It seems as though having created humankind as adults, was the eternal error of God. Genesis 3-11 offers none other than error after error, evil doing after evil doing in humankind’s efforts to make their own way in this world. After another fresh start with Abraham and the Semites, with the people of Israel, first lead by judges and then by Monarchs - God finally decides to announce through the mouths of the prophets, the end to this failed era and the beginning of something new…

A new world, a new human being, and new project…

Psalm 8 talks about the creation and her crown jewel, human beings. It reveals or hints at that fact that the adult, as created by God is what a child should aspire to become– the authentic image and likeness of God the Creator. In the original creation the human as adult took center stage in the narrative, but now a child seems to have displaced him from center stage. After singing of the greatness of the divine creation, the poet affirms the following:

From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and avenger (Psalm 8:2, NIV).

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From a reflection that RdC Costa Rica leaders Alberto Castro and Roy Soto developed. Alberto shared this message with Dominican network leaders in October during a inter-network exchange.

Five Questions God asks each of us individually and collectively as His Church

Question #1  Where are you?

Gen. 3:9 But Jehova God called to man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
This is not a casual question about spatial placement.  Do you really think God is asking about the wherabouts of Adam?  Of course not!  God is asking Adam why he is not where he is supposed to be. It is not about “the place” he is, but “what condition” he is in. What have you become?  Where are you in relationship to me your God and Father?

Of all that the Lord commands us to do, where are we?  Not in terms of physical place, but in terms of our condition or place in relationship with Him.  Where are you with respect to God’s purpose for you?  Where are you?  Would you respond with your location, or with an excuse?  If the church considers where we ARE in relationship to Him and His mission, we would probably not be in “rest mode” until Christ’s return.  Another way of looking at this would be, is this all that you have been able to accomplish doing things your way?  What are our priorities? Where are you?  With that one question God tried to awaken Adam’s conscience, but it didn’t work.  Is it working with us and the church we are a part of?

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Reflections by Robert Guerrero, Pastor and RdC Leader

Posted September 2010

Iglesia Comunitaria Cristiana of the Colonial City and Centro Cristiano de Restauracion of Villa Duarte, Santo Domingo recently joined together to serve and learn alongside several Haitian churches connected to the network movement that are working for hope and justice in the aftermath of the earthquake.Robert Guerrero, pastor of ICC and leader of the RdC DR shares his thoughts and reflections on the experience below:

“Life changing experience” would probably be an overstatement at this stage of the process of encountering Haiti in both her pre and post earthquake conditions. As a Dominican , actually a “Dominican York”  (a Dominican that by accident is born in NY), Haiti has always been part of my life, even when I was not consciously aware of it, or even when I did not care.  In the DR we grow up seeing Haitians as “those people”, whether in good or bad faith, but certainly with prejudiced undertones. The stereotype, as all stereotypes that seek to place blame on others who are different and seek self-justification, was always negative. When something “good” was to be said, it was always the rare exception.

My personal faith in Jesus the Messiah, intentional friendships with Haitians, visiting Haiti itself, as well as conscious repentance is all part of an ongoing process of reconciliation that I am experiencing.  As I write this, I am in Haiti with a group of brothers and sisters (15) from my local Church as well as a partner Church of the family network we are part of (Red del Camino) serving alongside existing local Churches that are serving their own. Aside from the very humanizing impact that face to face encounters with dehumanizing forces produces in any sensitive person, this trip affirms in my heart a deep seated conviction that I have both from reading the Scriptures and humbly trying to follow Jesus the Master. That conviction is that this imperfect, weak, fragile, and many times foolish group of Jesus followers called His Church, His Body, His People, is really THE sign of hope in this dark world.

Personally, I have never seen darkness more exposed than in Haiti. I am referring to how Haiti and it’s misery brings out the darkness of the evil behind the hypocritical philanthropy that comes from the structures and systems of this fallen world. Aside from Haiti’s own spiritual and political flaws (extreme in my opinion) which makes fertile ground for “benevolent oppressor” posture of organizations and institutions, it seems as if the powers that be need a miserable Haiti in order to feed on their savior complex and that helps sustain their monstrous bureaucratic apparatus.

So much money has been poured into Haiti, and it keeps on pouring into Haiti, through governments, NGO’s, and other types of social and political organizations (including the institutional church), and the miserable condition of the Haitian people continues on, and even worsens.  While we observe lots of brand new SUV’s with beautiful inspiring organizational names plastered on their doors, and a lot of signs marking their noble achievements with vision statements included,  we saw the Haitians actually receiving just a few token gifts delivered in boxes and packages that were CLEARLY labeled and logo’ed up. The culture of dependency and misery that has reigned for so long is just reinforced, donors are satisfied, organizations become richer, and the children are still dying!

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