deliver us

"Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear."

They didn't get it. Israel expected a revolutionary leader who would free them from the Roman Empire. They expected an army, a battle, a crown. They got Jesus, and they tried to make him fit their expectations.


"Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Matthew 11:3)


He was definitely the one. But he had a much better Kingdom to inaugurate - counterintuitive, eternal, borderless. They just didn't get it.

Neither do I.

"The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." (John 1:5)

This year more than ever before, I resonate with the longing for concrete political freedom from an oppressive regime. I have prayed for that kind of deliverance for the Karen, the Kachin, the Rohingya - for all the ethnic groups in Burma who have been suffering man-made disasters for the past six decades.

"Turn Lord, and deliver [them]. Save [them] because of your unfailing love." (Psalm 6:4)

Turn, Lord, and save the minority ethnic groups from the violence of the government, the army, and each other.

I believe that is a good prayer that reflects the heart of a righteous God.

But I am beginning to wonder if I've got my kingdoms mixed up. Who really needs saving, and from what?

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21)

Not "he will save his people from the Roman Empire." Not "he will save the ethnic minorities from the Burma Army."

He will save his people from their sins. Ah. Thanks for the reminder.

And isn't that infinitely better news?

The apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Romans about the saving grace of God through the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ - to the Romans, the citizens of the oppressive regime!

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23-24)

God wasn't in the business of saving the Israelites from the Romans. He was all about saving people from their sins.

There it is.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." (1 Timothy 1:15)

That is huge! And that profound truth should reorient my prayers.

"Oh come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of hell thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave."

Lord, may your Kingdom come in Burma. May the rule of Jesus Christ take over the hearts and actions of all the people there, not excluding the government and the army. Rescue all the peoples there from the destructive oppression of sin!

Never have I been so aware of the need for a Savior. Never have I been so grateful for Christmas.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, oh Israel...
...and Rome, and Burma, and the world!

ethnodramatology

It clicked when I was in the shower. It was my last year at Northwestern, and I was brainstorming monologue ideas for the Senior Show. That's the kind of thing I do in the shower. Suddenly, bigger ideas began to converge. Theatre. Cultures. Gospel. And it clicked! Ethnodramatology. Culturally contextualized theatre ministry. I promptly threw on a towel and called one of my theatre professors to tell him the good news. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Well, at least part of it.

Here's how it works. You go to a people group and learn their way of telling stories. Every culture has a story-telling method, and it usually involves action and music. That method is an artistic language. It makes sense to those people. It reaches their hearts. You study those culturally specific drama styles. Those styles then become a powerful tool for communicating with the people about Jesus.

I'm not the only one who has thought of this ministry strategy. At a theatre conference in LA, I met K!mberly Creasman, a Christian artist who ministers through theatre in Singapore (http://spicetolife.blogspot.com/). She connected me with Julisa Rowe, an artist who not only wrote a dissertation on Ethnodramatology, but now lives it out in Nairobi, Kenya (http://www.ethnodrama.com/). I am so very encouraged by the fact that I'm not alone in this passion, and that it actually works! Lives are being changed, the Gospel is being shared, and people are being infused with hope and purpose and truth.

My hope is that I can help catalyze ministry through theatre among the Karen - in Karen style. Most of my tentative job description with Partners at the moment focuses on nursing. And that's just fine. I am passionate about wellness of body too. But as I look forward to a time when I can invest more in theatre ministry, I am both excited and overwhelmed by the possibilities.

Last Sunday, I had the privilege of meeting Joan and Allan Eubank in Chiang Mai. I love them already.  They both simply radiate the presence of the Holy Spirit. They also have a very homey living room and a real acoustic piano! Joan was a rising star Broadway musical actress when she was in her 20's. Then she married Allan and they chose to follow the call of God all the way to an obscure people group in Thailand called the Talakone. The Talakone are a sub-group of the Karen. Yep. Over the course of their 4+ decades in Thailand, they have been involved in all sorts of Kingdom work... including Thai-style theatre ministry! They even have a well-established training ground in Chiang Mai called the Christian Communication Institute. Their plays have toured all over Thailand, and to several other countries as well.

I really love the prospect of being a part of a pioneer ministry, but it can't happen in a vacuum, and I definitely can't do it alone. And by God's grace, there exists this amazing couple who have been doing Ethnodramatology for decades among the Thai, and who also have a heart for the Karen people. What a massive shot in the arm for me! They loaded me up with DVDs and books about their work, and Joan has promised to attempt to navigate the internet so we can stay in touch more easily. I'm excited to learn more about what they've done and how I can apply some of those ideas soon. More than excited. I feel like I'm Joshua and I just met Moses.