DISCOVER ALL THAT HERITAGE HAS TO OFFER
1-2 Year Certi;cate Programs
3-4 Year Bachelor’s Degrees
2-3 Year Master’s Degrees
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
MASTER OF DIVINITY
INTERCULTURAL STUDIES
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
1-800-465-1961
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Pursuing God
with Passion & Excellence
counterintuitive gospel account of the long-awaited messianic king. He enters history as
a vulnerable child under morally dubious
circumstances. Shortly after His birth He
is fleeing for His life as a political refugee,
and after 33 years was only able to muster
a handful of followers who quickly abandoned him when things got rough. Eventually, he suffered a brutal and humiliating
death at the order of an illegitimate tyrant.
This is a hard sell.
They Will Beat Their Weapons
Into Ploughshares
Consider the second oracle, the unlikely
prediction of weapons turned into pruning
shears. This is all well and good, but consider
that the world’s largest economy is based on
the assumption of war and the opportunities for wealth creation it offers. It is hard to
imagine the radical shift in worldview necessary for abandoning arms will get much
traction – even among Christians who, supposedly, have been gifted with a vision of the
last chapter of history so that we can bear
witness to it in the present.
We’re simply too invested in fallenness
to take redemptive witness seriously.
Equally, we (especially in North America) are heavily invested in a theology that
equates faithfulness with the right to security and safety, even though it is difficult
to imagine such theology can be gleaned
from the witness of Christ as portrayed in
the Gospels.
Again, tough sell.
The Wolf Will Lie Down
With the Lamb
Recently I met Amhad, an Arab man, and
Dorit, a Jewish woman, who both live in an
intentionally mixed community in Israel.
The community sees itself as a living wit-
ness, counter to the dominant narrative of
conflict that beleaguers that storied land.
When I met them, I made reference to
Isaiah’s wolf/lamb oracle and the unlike-
lihood of their deep friendship. Amhad’s
eyes twinkled as he said, “I’ll leave it to you
to decide which one of us is the wolf and
which one is the lamb.”
Indeed, you can hardly consider this
oracle without making the judgement that
one of those two is more innocent than the
other. And much of modern history could
be summed up as an overall culture of in-
dividuals and groups clamouring for lamb
status. Certainly, few clamour for wolf status.
A Virgin Will Bear a Son.
A Child Will Lead Them.
A woman will bear a son and name him
Emmanuel, God with us. Coupled with “a
child will lead them,” this oracle is perhaps
the loveliest and most harmless of all. Yet,
if we consider the record of adult, male-dominated history, it is hard to believe the
best and wisest of things will be ushered
into history through a woman and child.
It simply does not stand up to our experience. This oracle coming true (along with
the others) would require a radical refashioning of every institution and social structure we’ve ever known.
It would also require a willingness to
relinquish illegitimate wealth, power and
prestige. Such relinquishments, and their
attendant vulnerabilities, could only be
sustained by an ardent love and longing
for the community of God, the shape and
culture of which these oracles suggest.
And yet these oracles, taken together, suggest a reality we may not realize is already
before us.
The Three-fold Coming of Christ
The ancients spoke of a three-fold coming
of Christ, whom we ritually anticipate during the advent season.
We remember the Christ who came as
a baby 2000 years ago. We anticipate this