Crossing Cultures: The Best Laid Plans

Each month, I try to choose relevant topics in the field of inter-cultural experience, usually based on what we have been dealing with recently. And let me tell you, we are being stretched all over the place in the reliability of planned activities. I hadn’t realized just how much this affected us until we had a chance to plan out a week’s worth of activities for our most recent visitors from Tullahoma, Ken and Suzanne Smith. It struck me as a little out of the ordinary that we would decide what we would do, and then actually do it. It felt unusual, because it is.

A Word of Hope

There has been no little discussion of the after life, Hell, and the end of the world in recent Christian discourse. Our eschatology—our understanding of the “last things”—must and should shape our lives in Christ. We are a people of hope and promise, followers of a Savior who interrupted history with an unexpected glimpse of the future. Moreover, God’s mission is oriented toward a particular end, which frames all that we would do and say in his name. 

Mark as Gospel: Beware the Scribes (12:13-44)

Because the religious leaders have determined to put an end to Jesus yet fear to do so directly, their public strategy is to continue putting him to the test. Two stories sum up the attacks from various camps, a third marks a turning of the tables, and a fourth story shows Jesus on the offensive. The section ends with a strong critique of the religious system, represented by the “scribes” who have attacked him. 

CUDA View: Pre-funding - Why We Do It

I’ve written recently about the changes taking place in our loan program. A number of those changes have been implemented since the writing of that article. I now have a growing stack of applications from potential borrowers waiting for approval, the new website is entering the planning phase and our first borrowers’ group meeting took place last Friday. One new development that I forgot to include in the list was our decision to begin pre-funding loans. 

Just for Kids

Sometimes it is hard to follow Jesus. Your mom may ask you to clean your room, and you choose not to obey, or you are unkind to another kid at school. Whenever we decide to do what we want to do, instead of what we know we should do, we don't follow where Jesus leads us. There are also times when we disobey, because we care more about doing what we want, than the consequences we will face later. We have been learning about how Jesus is our shepherd, and we are his sheep.

Mark as Gospel: The King's Arrival (11:1-12:12)

At this point in the story, readers tend to get distracted by Jesus’ apparently supernatural foreknowledge. That is not Mark’s point, however. His emphasis falls where it should, given the story’s trajectory to this point: on Jesus’ arrival to Jerusalem as king. He commandeers the colt as would any sovereign, stating directly, “Its Lord has need.” Thus, Jesus enters Jerusalem mounted, as a king should, amid the acclamation of those “going before and following” and the deference of the “many” spreading out cloaks and leafy branches in his path.