Jim Pace

the new diaspora… are you with me?

May 19, 2010 | 19 Comments

In the five or six centuries prior to the birth of Jesus, the Israelites were periodically forced to move by various countries that would conquer them. This regular dispersion, or diaspora, as it is translated in Greek, took a people that were connected to a particular region and spread them out over the entire Middle East and some even beyond into Asia.

The first three centuries of the early church’s life saw this trend continue. There were several seasons in those first three hundred years in which those that followed Jesus were hunted, arrested, and potentially taken to the arenas to be killed as entertainment. Obviously, this caused a continued diaspora. Those who were scattered faced the challenges of beginning life again. New jobs, new clusters of friends, new patterns of life. Those who remained behind, faced their own challenges. For them, little had overtly changed, but still much had. They may have lived in the same places, they might have kept their own jobs, but things were different. Many of their relationships had been fractured by the diaspora, their traditions and customs; their rhythms, had to change as well.

When James, started his letter, his greeting was to the diaspora. Peter’s first letter was started the same way.

What happened as a result of this regular spreading and returning, spreading and returning, is those who left, by desire or under coercion, took their understanding of God with them. Those who left after Jesus’ death and resurrection, took their awareness of that.

We are just now beginning a season of spreading in [nlcf]. Obviously we don’t face the dangers that many who have come before us faced, indeed many of us who are leaving or staying are doing so out of our own will. But many of us are now in different places, some are now there for good. For those of us that remain, Blacksburg is a different place. Even if we don’t live in Blacksburg, we can notice the change.

What is interesting is that the letters that were most clearly intended to be distributed to those impacted by the diaspora were very focused on how you live your faith in light of whose you are, not where you are. When you read Peter’s first letter or James’ you hear it again and again; because of your connection with Christ, live a particular way. Whether it is Peter’s concern that you remember the purpose of the difficulty we are all going through and keep it in perspective or his challenge to always be ready to explain why your hope isn’t tied to the difficulty you are going through, or James’s focus that we push away the worldly desire to sit back and watch the suffering of others – especially the defenseless. They remind us that we have been cleansed, we have been forgiven, that we serve a God who is generous and loving.

And that God is calling us to do the same to those around us.

This summer, [nlcf] has been dispersed, we are the diaspora, if you will. Regardless of where you are. We know that the temptation will be great to pursue our own comfort over living out of the covenant that God has made with us. That we can get ourselves settled, get into a rhythm, and not make our relationship with God and those around us a central part of how we go through our day.

Jesus gave us our example. He came from heaven and accomplished his mission. He lived and showed us how to live. He died with the collective weight of all our sins on him. He came back to life because even death isn’t strong enough to keep him under its control.  He walked around and taught his disciples and others to adopt his mission and to keep it after he left. He told them he would send the Holy Spirit to be with them as they lived a life focused on the same mission that Jesus was focused on.

Matthew records Jesus’ call to us this way, “… I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matt 28.18-20
Jesus had lived his earthly mission and now he was telling those who were with him to do the same. Not do more than their part, but do their part. Live out the relationship they have with the Father, through the example and sacrifice of the Son, empowered by the Spirit. This is the mission they had. It is the mission we now have as well.

This summer, we need to live that mission together. Let’s call ourselves the Diaspora and let’s live like those who have been dispersed, that have been sent. Each week, we will focus on reflecting on something together, praying for something together, doing something and sharing our stories.
This isn’t intended to be a huge, time commitment type of deal. Sometimes we might ask you to cluster together if you can. I might challenge you to meet up in the next several days, with at least two or three other people that are part of the Diaspora, if you are near any, and pray for God’s will to be done among those you live around and then to ask him to allow you to be a part of seeing that happen.  Other times we will do other things together, still others will be focused on reflecting on who we are…

The main thing is that we are reflecting on who we really are as sons and daughters of God, praying for God to shape us and to use us to see the mission Jesus was so focused on advance in our lives. To do things together to see that happen and then to share our stories. We will need to be talking about what God is doing to encourage and challenge one another, and it helps us to stay focused on our mission as well.

Sometimes I might ask one of you to guide our reflections, prayer and challenges for a week. It can be nice to hear from others as we grow together.

First steps…
If you are in, comment back here and tell us that you are. You may have heard me share about this group if you come to [nlcf] or listen to the talks on the web. You may have just come across this on my blog or have been referred to it. You may also feel free to invite others to join our little club.  No problem.   The only thing I ask is that if you say you are in, you mean it. That isn’t to say that all of us won’t drop the ball over the course of the summer, but I feel like we can only fully realize what God would have us be this summer, if we are all dedicated to being in.  I don’t care if six people say they are in or sixty. But tell us who you are, where you are living now and what you are doing there.

Second, if you haven’t seen it before, go to iamsecond and watch any two of the testimony videos sometime over the remainder of this week. This is something I want to do each week to remind myself how much God is doing to draw people to himself, and how important our role is in that.

So… comment back and tell us you are in. Take a look at two iamsecond vids. By my next post on this we will have some scripture that we will be collectively reading to guide our reflections. Many of you already have scripture reading you are doing. My goal isn’t to stop that, just to have something that we are marinating in together.

Until then, don’t just focus on where you are, but remember whose you are.
Peace, Jim

Categories: Church, Culture, life, Mission, NLCF