Brown's Daily Word & India update 5-7-09

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord that the Risen Savior is almighty and awesome in every way. He reigns and rules, and He overrules. It is written that the Lord is quite capable of doing "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20). One such amazing aspect of His work is his ability to give power in suffering. Several years ago, the well-known German pastor and theologian Helmut Thielicke( Now part of the church, triumphant) was asked during a visit to America what he considered the greatest problem in the US. He surprised many with his unexpected reply. "The biggest problem," he said, "is an inadequate view of suffering." He went on to explain that, in his view, the American dream of perpetual progress had led many to believe that any and all problems could be solved with a minimum of effort or discomfort. Unfortunately, he insisted, this is simply not the case. There are, and always will be, certain burdens in life that cannot be eliminated. In Thielicke’s words, "These burdens obviously pitch the American into such helpless embarrassment that he either capitulates, to them or represses them or glosses them. Unfortunately, the German pastor’s words have as much relevance for many Christian’s view of life as for society at large. In the popular mind of our age, it is assumed by many that power always leads to pleasure, and that adversity and suffering are certain signs of weakness. Assuming this attitude and under this mind-set, the Risen Lord's power is measured by his ability to make life easy for the believer. For them, health, wealth, and success are the true signs of the Risen Lord's blessings. Adversity and suffering, on the other hand, are the companions of spiritual weakness. For many, the Risen Lord is powerful enough to enable a believer to escape adversity, but not strong enough to sustain him during times of adversity. Such an attitude is far removed from the teachings of the New Testament. Nowhere does Jesus promise his followers an easy life. On the contrary, Jesus insisted that the path of discipleship is straight and narrow and the way hard (Matt- 7:13-14). Rather than rejecting adversity as a sign of spiritual weakness, the early Christians rejoiced that they were counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name" (Acts 5:41). Paul even taught that suffering was an expected part of the Spirit-led life (Romans 8:14-27). The late Dr. Paul Brand, world-renowned leprosy specialist, provides some enlightening background for this spiritual truth from his experiences with the lepers of India. Dr. Brand tells how he discovered, contrary to once popular medical opinion, that leprosy, does not directly cause the deterioration of the flesh of its victims. The disease simply deadens the nerves of the body’s extremities. Eventually the leper loses all feeling in his fingers and toes. The afflicted person can burn his hand and never feel the pain. Infection, and even gangrene, can eat away at his flesh with out ever creating the slightest discomfort. In fact, in certain villages in Africa and Asia the town leper is given a unique job because of his inability to feel pain. The leper stands by a heavy iron cooking pot watching the potatoes. As they are done, without flinching, he thrusts his arm deep into the boiling water and retrieves the cooked potatoes. Such extreme insensitivity soon destroys the leper’s flesh. After years of working with lepers, Dr. Brand learned to rejoice in the sensation of cutting a finger, turning an ankle, or stepping into a too-hot bath. Pain itself, and the hurt of pain, is a gift. "Thank God for pain!", writes Dr. Brand. This is precisely the attitude of Scripture toward adversity of every sort. Such a view, however, is not simply a Stoic acceptance of fate. It is not a fatalistic attitude toward adversity as being a necessary evil that we must simply endure. Not at all! The Bible insists that adversity is not simply something to be endured. It is, in fact, a tool of God used to teach us much needed lessons (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4). Adversity, like a cloud, may block the sunlight for a time, but it also brings the rain. Both sunlight and rain are needed for growth. C. S. Lewis aptly phrased it when he wrote, "God whispers in our pleasures, but shouts in our pain." Phillip Brooks must have understood this spiritual truth when he wrote, "Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself at the richness of life which has come by the grace of God." The Risen Lord can and does bring power to His people. Because He is the Lord of the valleys as well as the God of the mountain tops, His power often brings the quiet strength needed to endure adversity and not simply the power to escape it.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR8rlTIU8_Y
US Commission for Religious Freedom to visit Orissa and Gujarat
by Nirmala Carvalho
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15148&size=ASecretary General of the Indian Bishops Conference hopes the visit will contribute to “accelerating the path of justice for the Christians of Kandhamal”. “The Church does not want revenge”, but peace and reconciliation.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – The United States Commission for Religious Freedom has announced a delegation will visit India next month. Marking the release of their annual report on the state of religious freedom throughout the world, the organism explains that at the heart of their visit will be the violence which has marred two states in particular: Orissa, the stage for anti-Christian violence and Gujarat, which in 2002 registered clashes between the local Hindu and Muslim communities resulting in over a thousand deaths among the Muslim faithful.
Msgr. Stanislaus Fernandes, Secretary General of the Indian Bishops Conference (CBCI), in an interview with AsiaNews, commented on the announced visit by the US delegation affirming that “anyone who is committed to human rights and religious freedom is welcome”.
“We hope – says Msgr. Fernandes - that this visit of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom helps the various Rights groups, social activists and the Indian Church in speeding up the processes of Justice for our Kandhamal Christians and others victims of communal violence”.
The violence in Orissa and the condition of the refugees, who have yet to return to their villages, are live concerns for the CBCI, but Msgr. Fernandes states that “the Indian Church trusts and hopes in the national Justice system”. Confirming these expectations the bishop points to the recent Supreme Court decision to institute a commission to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for the violence against the Muslim community in Gujarat. “We pray, in other cases such as Kandhamal, that the Supreme Court may intervene, particularly where the bureaucracy and administration is not taking a pro-active stand”.