Aching Visionaries

The mourners are aching visionaries.

The Stoics of antiquity said:  Be calm. Disengage yourself.  Neither laugh nor weep. Jesus says:  Be open to the wounds of the world.  Mourn humanity's mourning, weep over humanity's weeping, be wounded by humanity's wounds, be in agony over humanity's agony.  But do so in the good cheer that a day of peace is coming.  (Wolsterstorff, Lament for a Son)

Jesus, as the Messiah, stepped into the crucible of judgment, taking on in his wounds the pain of the world (Is 53).  We gathered again yesterday afternoon, after church, for prayer, inviting the teachers from our school, the health center employees, the church leaders, and some random friends to join us as missionaries in aching and vision.  I admit that I doubted anyone would come, after already sitting through a 2-plus hour morning Good Friday service, to sit again on uncomfortable benches in the blazing heat of afternoon and pray for another 2-plus hours.  But God has His people in peculiar places, and His plans.  We had about two dozen again, but this time the missionaries were only a minority.  It was a picture of the Kingdom to see these Ugandans, from different denominations, different tribes, different ages and education levels, different roles in life, praying for the cup of suffering to pass from Bundibugyo, and praying that God would strengthen all of us to choose His will even if that path lay through the pain of the cross.  

My heart was greatly encouraged by the picture of community, and the reality once again that the Kingdom is coming.