June 30, 2009
JOURNAL
Stay of execution
Palmer Hall, Palmer Seminary
The date for her execution had been set: January 4. With less than a month to go, Lumi might have been fretting.... But, in fact, she was singing!
Lumi knew the story in Acts 16, where Paul and Silas sang when they were beaten and jailed for their faith in Jesus, so that is what she was doing.
Lumi's amazing story came out this month during the course I taught at Philadelphia's Palmer Theological Seminary on "The Mission of Jesus in the Gospel of John." In the second half of chapter 15, John describes how Jesus prepared his disciples to face the hatred of "the world."
Lumi came into the classroom that morning positively glowing. "This is my favorite passage in the whole Gospel of John," she said. That was a surprise! So I asked her to explain why. "This is what we lived. When I was being persecuted, and when they put me in jail, this passage spoke directly to me and sustained me."
Lumi was a thirteen year old girl in Communist Romania when she came to faith. Her father was very upset by her decision and responded harshly, with verbal and even physical abuse. Teachers and others at her school ridiculed her for her faith. She was detained by the police for carrying her Bible.
Six years later, in December of 1989, Lumi joined a crowd in her city that was protesting Romanian government mistreatment of an ethnic Hungarian pastor. She was arrested, thrown in jail, accused of treason and sentenced to be executed on January 4, 1990.
I had the chance to meet Lumi in Philadelphia in 2009 because the Romanian Communists were overthrown in the very month she was arrested. Party leader Nicolae Ceausescu was eventually executed by his own military on December 25, 1989.
When Lumi finished telling her story that morning, there was stunned silence... and not many dry eyes. Like some of the sisters and brothers I've had the privilege of working with in Southeast Asia, Lumi understands well what it means to follow Jesus when the opposition is clear and the stakes are high.
I never know quite what to expect when I step into a classroom. Over the years I have discovered it is quite a privilege to be welcomed into people's lives as together we explore Scripture and our journeys as followers of Jesus. There may be some "ordinary" groups of people out there, but I haven't met them. Invariably, as we move deeper into Scripture and deeper into life, completely unexpected panoramas open up... and amazing stories come spilling out. I can never guess the riches of human experience, and of faith, that will turn out to be hidden behind the facade of "ordinary" faces!
Thanks for the support that makes it possible for me to enter into the lives of students and leaders in Philadelphia and around the world!
Stan
P.S. Luminitza has published her story on the International Conversations website.
P.P.S. People who read John 15 and 16 in the U.S.--or some other context where the Church has had cultural (or even political) power--often wonder at this passage. Their faith may have led them to make hard choices, but usually they have not had to face real persecution. As they wonder about the meaning of "the world's hatred," I often invite them to flip over to the first half of John 18. There we see Peter respond to two different challenges in dramatically different ways. First, when faced with the swords and clubs of soldiers and police, Peter pulled out his sword, courageous and ready to die fighting for Jesus. Then, a few verses later, faced only with the questions of the priest's servant girl, Peter wilted, eventually denying three times that he had any relationship at all with Jesus. Before a man with a sword, Peter could be faithful and brave; before a girl with a question, he sold out. I don't want to overplay this, and I certainly do not want in any way to minimize the courage and integrity of Lumi and all those like her who have risked--or lost--their lives for the gospel. But I suspect that the opposition of "the world" gets increasingly difficult to resist--or even to perceive as opposition--as it becomes more subtle and indirect. C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters is, among other things, a meditation on this reality.
Lumi knew the story in Acts 16, where Paul and Silas sang when they were beaten and jailed for their faith in Jesus, so that is what she was doing.
Lumi's amazing story came out this month during the course I taught at Philadelphia's Palmer Theological Seminary on "The Mission of Jesus in the Gospel of John." In the second half of chapter 15, John describes how Jesus prepared his disciples to face the hatred of "the world."
Lumi came into the classroom that morning positively glowing. "This is my favorite passage in the whole Gospel of John," she said. That was a surprise! So I asked her to explain why. "This is what we lived. When I was being persecuted, and when they put me in jail, this passage spoke directly to me and sustained me."
Lumi was a thirteen year old girl in Communist Romania when she came to faith. Her father was very upset by her decision and responded harshly, with verbal and even physical abuse. Teachers and others at her school ridiculed her for her faith. She was detained by the police for carrying her Bible.
Six years later, in December of 1989, Lumi joined a crowd in her city that was protesting Romanian government mistreatment of an ethnic Hungarian pastor. She was arrested, thrown in jail, accused of treason and sentenced to be executed on January 4, 1990.
I had the chance to meet Lumi in Philadelphia in 2009 because the Romanian Communists were overthrown in the very month she was arrested. Party leader Nicolae Ceausescu was eventually executed by his own military on December 25, 1989.
When Lumi finished telling her story that morning, there was stunned silence... and not many dry eyes. Like some of the sisters and brothers I've had the privilege of working with in Southeast Asia, Lumi understands well what it means to follow Jesus when the opposition is clear and the stakes are high.
I never know quite what to expect when I step into a classroom. Over the years I have discovered it is quite a privilege to be welcomed into people's lives as together we explore Scripture and our journeys as followers of Jesus. There may be some "ordinary" groups of people out there, but I haven't met them. Invariably, as we move deeper into Scripture and deeper into life, completely unexpected panoramas open up... and amazing stories come spilling out. I can never guess the riches of human experience, and of faith, that will turn out to be hidden behind the facade of "ordinary" faces!
Thanks for the support that makes it possible for me to enter into the lives of students and leaders in Philadelphia and around the world!
Stan
P.S. Luminitza has published her story on the International Conversations website.
P.P.S. People who read John 15 and 16 in the U.S.--or some other context where the Church has had cultural (or even political) power--often wonder at this passage. Their faith may have led them to make hard choices, but usually they have not had to face real persecution. As they wonder about the meaning of "the world's hatred," I often invite them to flip over to the first half of John 18. There we see Peter respond to two different challenges in dramatically different ways. First, when faced with the swords and clubs of soldiers and police, Peter pulled out his sword, courageous and ready to die fighting for Jesus. Then, a few verses later, faced only with the questions of the priest's servant girl, Peter wilted, eventually denying three times that he had any relationship at all with Jesus. Before a man with a sword, Peter could be faithful and brave; before a girl with a question, he sold out. I don't want to overplay this, and I certainly do not want in any way to minimize the courage and integrity of Lumi and all those like her who have risked--or lost--their lives for the gospel. But I suspect that the opposition of "the world" gets increasingly difficult to resist--or even to perceive as opposition--as it becomes more subtle and indirect. C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters is, among other things, a meditation on this reality.
