The New Rugged Cross

From the Republic of Georgia, November 2009

“The New Rugged Cross”

When I grew up one of the favorite hymns to sing was “The Old Rugged Cross.”  It spoke of the passionate love of God for us expressed in that cross—something ugly, yet so dear.

In 2005 I went to the Republic of Georgia with the Xtreme Team.  The Orthodox Church is dominant in Georgia since the break-up of the Soviet Union.  There are extremists in the Orthodox Church who have been attacking religious minorities, which includes Baptists.  The Xtreme Team visited in the Kakheti region, a rural area, where a militant priest led a crowd that burned down the Baptist church building.  The team stood in the ruins around a cross that had been fashioned with burnt timbers.  We prayed for this persecuted congregation.  Later with met in a home to worship with church members.

So this month I was back in Georgia, and back in Kakheti.  I visited the same church (congregation!), but this time they were located in a different building.  An Anglican church in the United Kingdom has helped them purchase a farm house which they had turned into their sanctuary and educational facility.  In the sanctuary was a “new rugged cross.”  It was handmade, with fresh wood sandwiching burnt wood salvaged from the old building.  The altar in front of the cross is also made with new wood and burnt wood.  It’s a new cross, but with a poignant reminder of the price of discipleship, the cost of carrying the cross in a land where religious militants violently repress those whose faith is different.

In front of that cross I was privileged to lead a workshop on dealing transformatively with persecution.  We had members of four congregations present, all of whom had experienced some form of attack from the Orthodox extremists.  We explored the situation of marginality and how to act positively in conflicts.  We explored from the Bible ways to find one’s voice from the margins.  We especially used a study from Esther 4 to see how Mordecai and Esther organized for change to save their people, applying the study to the issue of religious diversity and persecution in Georgia.

It was a great time, and I wanted to sing about the hope we found under the new rugged cross.  We were reminded of the struggle and suffering, but also of the transforming power of Jesus Christ.  He turned the cross from humiliation, torture and death into God’s gift of love, life and hope.  That victory was present in the new rugged cross itself, but also in the faces of the congregations gathered to see how God could use them to even love their enemies.

The time in Georgia was rich with a lot of activity.  I went to Gori, the city captured by the Russian army in the war last year.  There I led a training on conflict transformation and trauma recovery.  We had older women in the workshop who had had their homes destroyed.  One woman had been wounded in the shoulder.  The two Baptist congregations had lost members in the fighting.  Trauma was tangible, fresh and painful.  We explored the good news of the gospel, especially as manifested in a woman from the Hebrew Scriptures—Rizpah—who acted in a way that brought healing to her land.  We explored ways we could bring healing, even when we are hurting and sorrowing.

I also led two trainings in the capital of Tbilisi.  One was with Baptist church members, focused on family conflict.  The other was with the International Center for Conflict and Negotiation (ICCN).  I’ve done a lot of work with the Georgian staff of ICCN over the past few years, so we focused this time specifically on the issue of violence from the Orthodox extremists, developing strategies for how to support the growth of respect of different faiths.

During this Thanksgiving season I am deeply appreciative of all who have given financially for the support of this peacemaking ministry.  I deeply appreciate all the regular contributors who have made a solid foundation for this work.  I also deeply appreciate all the new donors—individuals and churches—that have signed on to be partners in this work.  We are all needed in working together to make a difference—to bring the peace of Jesus Christ to bear at places of conflict and violence.  Contributions can be sent “for support of Dan Buttry” to International Ministries (P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482) or made on the IM website:  http://www.internationalministries.org/give (I’m under the “Global Consultants” category—pull down the menu there to see my name and following the giving process).  Thank you!

Please keep me in your prayers.  Have a blessed Advent, Christmas, and New Year!

In peace and hope,

Dan