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Panajachel, Guatemala
Polluted Water and Smiles
In September, this year I had the privilege of participating in a retreat for doctors and medical folks we serve in Pahajachel, Guatemala through *Vine International. I was asked to give the devotional to open the weekend time together. The following is the devotional I gave. A quick disclaimer, it was composed in English, translated into Spanish and finished out, then retranslated back into English. I beg your indulgence if the back and forth has made it a little glitchy. It is a little long for my usual blog, but it is what is on my mind.
Everyone loves a good story, am I right? What makes a good story? The narrative begins with everything going well, everyone is happy, and the future looks bright. There is usually a girl looking for her handsome prince who will take her to his castle and they will live happily ever after. But there's an awareness floating in the air that something may be about to go wrong. A villain appears in the story and sure enough, things begin to go wrong, an injustice is taking place, and the villain is trying to steal the princess. Things become desperate, but when all seems lost, a hero appears, the prince, he enters the story, fights for what is just and, with great risk and great cost to himself, corrects the injustice and saves the princess, takes her to his castle and they live happily ever after. The perfect story, right?
For our devotional this morning, I would like to retell a story that is already familiar to all of us. The story begins in Genesis chapter 1. God has created the cosmos, and the text says, God looked at everything He had made and considered it to be incredibly good.
The beginning of this story a magnificent creation that God has just created out of nothing. When I say creation, think of the Swiss Alps, tropical beaches, Lake Atitlan, the colors and varieties of birds, the quetzal, the colors and varieties of fish, plants and flowers, beautiful sunrises, and sunsets, and then, to complete His masterpiece, He created us...humanity. It is awesome and God looked at what He had done, and said, "This is very good!"
Then we see God talking to Adam and Eve and saying, "I am giving you the keys of creation," so that you can enjoy it, take care of it, create in it, have dominion, and protect it.
Protect? Our story has begun beautifully, Adam and Eve are happy in the garden, and all is well, but they must protect it. Protect from what? Is the villain about to enter the story? (Menacing music.)
Revelation 12 tells us how the villain enters our story. (NIV) 7 And a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought the dragon; He and his angels in turn stood up to them, 8 but they could not overcome and there was no more room for them in heaven. 9 Thus was cast out the great dragon, that ancient serpent called the Devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. Along with his angels, he was cast down to the earth. Woe to you, O land and sea! The devil, full of fury, has descended upon you, because he knows that his time is short.
Do we notice where the villain, the dragon, ended up when he was cast out of the sky? To the earth, full of anger and hatred against the creator of this very good creation. He begins to do all he can to undermine and destroy all that God has created. Again, we move on to Genesis chapter 3, where we find Adam and Eve living in happiness in this beautiful creation and who appears? The dragon/snake. We already know the result. Adam and Eve failed to protect the garden. We know the story of the fall of man and its consequences. We have given the serpent the keys of the kingdom and lost our dominion over it.
Dr. Francis Schaeffer in his book, Genesis in Space and Time, says that the fall affected creation by 4 significant separations.
1 – God comes for a walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day and we see the first separation, "Adam, where are you?" Here we see the separation between man and God.
2 – The second separation is between man and himself. Hiding and covering himself with leaves, Adam is no longer sure of himself and is ashamed.
3 – Thirdly, God asks Adam, “what happened here,” and Adam's answer is: "She forced me to do it". The third separation is the separation of one from the other.
4 – The last separation is between man and nature. Loss of dominion. The work becomes hard, and man begins to damage the creation by his poor choices and lack of creativity. He begins to be party to the destruction and marring of creation instead of managing and protecting it well.
The first and second separations have their impact on our relationships. The second has its impact on our identity.
The last separation has to do with our loss of dominion, our lack of care, and our marring of creation and we see the consequences of these separations in our world today:
· Beauty tarnished by ugliness
· Order turns into chaos (both at the global and local level).
· War instead of peace
· Suffering instead of joy
· Sickness instead of health
· Shame instead of fulfillment
· Disconnected relationships instead of connection
· Broken families instead of healthy families
· Scarcity instead of abundance
· Death and decay instead of life.
· Disease instead of health.
The villain's evil, as well as the effects of our bad choices, have been devastating and tragic when we look at human history. When we look at our history and reflect on its future, it seems bleak and hopeless, but our story, like every good story, has a hero. The hero of our story does not make a very spectacular entrance into the narrative. He does not appear as a mighty warrior, but as a small baby born in a stable; not as a king who arrives in the city riding a white war horse, but as a humble carpenter riding a donkey. But he comes with the power of God, a new story, good news of a new kingdom radically different from the one we are experiencing, and a personal invitation to participate in the redemption and restoration of that kingdom. He brings hope! We are invited to do this with Him.
The gospels tell us about our hero and how He changes the hijacked narrative of history. It begins on top of a mountain in the wilderness, Satan, that dragon who made his way into our story, offers to give Jesus back the keys to the kingdom if he will simply bow down and worship him. Jesus' answer is, “No way, it is not going to happen like that.” He sends Satan away and then we see how Jesus begins to regain dominion over creation step by step. He…
· Cast out demons - dominion over principalities and powers in the heavens.
· Heals the sick - mastery over disease, separation #4
· Raises the Dead, - mastery over death, separation #4
· Forgives sin - dominion over separation #1
· Restores relationships - separation #2
· Affirms new identity and purpose - (all disciples Zacchaeus), separation #2
· Calms the seas and storms - separation #4
· Turns water into wine - separation #4
· Take 5 loaves and 2 fish and feed 5000 - scarcity to abundance.
· He conquers death with his resurrection - resolving all separations.
What I want us to notice here is that this story is much bigger than we usually think. Is it about my salvation and yours? Yes, of course it is, but it is much more than that. My salvation is not the end, it a means to an end. I am “saved” so that I can participate in the kingdom that will come and is coming. It is not just about my redemption and restoration, but about the redemption and restoration of all creation. Jesus in his ministry on earth was not content with separation number 1, or even with 1 and 2, or 1, 2 and 3, but sought everything, separations 1 through 4. The whole package. In Romans 8 we are told that all creation, all creation, awaits with great expectation the redemption that comes through the children of God. Wow! How is that for the end of the story? It does not get any better than this. Our hero gets the princess, his bride, and the whole kingdom. And they, we, will live happily ever after. This is what Jesus preached.
Now, here is what I want you to notice about the story: we all know how the story ends, but we also know that it has not ended yet... how does that work? I can't tell you how it works, but I can tell you how it is working.
Do you remember the final scene before Jesus ascends to heaven? The disciples ask: “Now are you going to finish the story?” Jesus does the craziest thing. Remember that he gave us the keys to the kingdom once in the garden and we gave them to the dragon. Jesus had to take them back at the cost of his own life. The disciples say: “So, this is the end?” Jesus' answer is, “No not yet, I am leaving here for a while. And here is the really crazy part, He says, ¨I am leaving here for a while, and here, again, are the keys to the kingdom, join me in redeeming and restoring the kingdom. You continue the work I have begun, and I will complete it when I return.¨ And then He he left. He left, gone! But, He sent us His Spirit and power so that we can continue what He began in bringing the story to completion. This is the invitation that Jesus gave and is giving.
So how do we join Jesus in redeeming and restoring the kingdom? We do what He did. We make disciples, that is, we invite and show others how to participate in this call to redeem and restore. And He gave us authority and power to begin to redeem, restore, and reclaim His creation. We participate, we begin, and He will complete. Our job is not to complete, it is to participate and get started. He will complete. Our story is bigger than being saved from our sin; yes, personal redemption and restoration, but also much more, we are also offered again what we were given in the garden, the opportunity to exercise dominion in the kingdom.
What does participation look like? Here are some examples.
One day I, a dentist in my earlier life, had a patient, Sarah, in my clinic. She said with joy and appreciation, "Doctor, you gave me my smile back, my whole life has changed and I can't thank you enough." We had been given the opportunity to share in the beauty and joy of her healthy smile.
Here is Sarah’s story. Her husband was the president of one of our city's banks and she was embarrassed to be seen in public with him because her smile was so bad. When she showed up for her initial consultation, she was missing most of her front teeth, had an ugly and ill-fitting partial denture, and visible black cavities on her remaining teeth. She was so embarrassed by her appearance that she only spoke with her hand covering her mouth. I do not believe that God's original creation was people with ugly, embarrassing smiles and unhealthy teeth. Sarah came to our office with disease and ugliness that was not what God intended for her. Sarah left our office with a beautiful smile and healthy teeth and no longer held her hand in front of her mouth when talking. She felt comfortable in public again. Will the resurrection be an improvement for her? Absolutely. The resurrection will bring the culmination of her smile and her health, but it is the culmination of a process in which God allowed me to take part. That is significant and it makes my work meaningful. It made me smile too. God loves smiles!
Dr. Israel in Guatemala had just completed his new hospital on the shore of beautiful Lake Atitlan. Lake Atitlan lies in the high lands of Guatemala. Tall volcanic mountains overlook the, knock your eyes out blue water, the colorful ferries that ply the waters, and lush garden that surround it. Sadly, despite its beauty the water has been polluted by the sewage from all the towns and businesses that surround the lake. It is illegal to allow raw sewage or pollutants to be emptied untreated into the lake, but no one pays attention to the law and the government does little to enforce the it. In the first place, Dr Israel is very environmentally conscious, he was born and raised on this lake and wants to protect it; in the second place he feels bound to obey the law of the land even if it is not cost effective or convenient. One day as he was showing us his new hospital, he was asked what he does to purify his dirty water before it reaches the lake. Humbly he showed us the purification plant that he has installed to ensure that all the water from his hospital that travels the few hundred feet and trickles into the lake is pure. His hospital is probably the only one on the lake that does that. Will it make a significant difference in the purity of Lake Atitlan? Sadly not, but guess what, it is the beginning of a process, and a participation in what Jesus will complete when He returns. We participate and begin, and Jesus is going to complete. Lake Atitlan will be pure again in the kingdom. I can envision the final purifying process when Jesus returns, the pure water from Dr. Israel’s hospital the beginning of the purifying of the rest of the lake and it becoming pristine again. Thank you, Dr Israel for your faithfulness.
God loves beauty, Dr. Gabby, one of the Guatemalan doctors, was telling us about the aesthetic treatments she is learning to do for people disfigured in various ways. That is the work of the kingdom. The enemy likes marked and disfigured faces. Jesus prefers beautiful faces like the ones He created in the first place.
Beauty is the work of the kingdom, whether it is fixing smiles, facial treatments, art, or simply picking up trash. The enemy hates it because it undoes the marring of creation that he is about. That alone should make us smile.
God loves beauty, order, peace, joy, health, good relationships, pristine water, happy marriages, a clean environment, art and music. Everything is important to Him; recreating these is a participation in the coming of the kingdom.
We take part in what He is already doing, Jesus completes it. Jesus has promised to make all things new, not all new things at His return. We can participate... that is his invitation. This is the Story we live in, this is the magnificence of His creation, His love, His grace to us. Are we in?
*Vine International is a ministry that collects, ships by container, and then distributes free medical supplies, wheelchairs, medicines, and food to indigenous medical providers in Guatemala who serve the poor. It is worth a look at their website. https://vineinternational.org
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