Jetlag.  Surely jetlag was a product of the Fall of mankind.  And surely jetlag won't exist when we enjoy the new heavens and the new earth.  Maybe we'll just close our eyes, think of a place, and be there.  Fully there - not just in body but in mind and spirit.  No waking up at 2 am on the new earth because you went to join the Aussie heavenly skydiving team down under (or would it be up over?)  Until then jetlag will continue to be the bane of existence for missionaries (and other world travelers).  Jetlag and the multiplicity of languages which the Bible assures us is CERTAINLY a product of fallenness!

So yes, as I write, I’m suffering from the out-of-body experience called jetlag having flown from Japan to America just a few days ago.  A few days earlier I enjoyed the jetlag-free 100 minute flight from Seoul to Nagoya after finishing up a truly blessed week in Seoul for the Lausanne Biennial Leadership Meeting.  Nearly 200 leaders from the Lausanne Board to Cape Town 2010 committees to various Working Group members gathered together from around the world to pray, study the Word, sing, eat, plan, and fellowship together in preparation for Cape Town 2010.  There was a distinctly different spirit from our time in Budapest two years ago where at least from my perspective there were many questions and a great deal of uncertainty.  Much of our time in Budapest was spent just trying to make sure we were all on the same page.  In Seoul that page had become a tapestry with unified themes and varied complementary colors.  

Our mornings were spent in manuscript study of Ephesians which will be the book we’ll study in Cape Town.  Our Korean hosts went above and beyond the normal standards of hospitality to all of our amazement.  A personal highlight was an evening sponsored by Korean World Vision when the World Vision Children’s Choir performed.  I don’t think a more beautiful sound has ever entered my ears.  Many of the choir members were orphans and abandoned children.

And perhaps the greatest blessing of our time together was simply being together.  Despite tremendous technological advancement in our age of video chat and twitter, there’s still no replacing face-to-face being together.  As an introvert the 7:30 am to 10 pm schedule was overwhelmingly taxing.  But my soul was richly blessed by dozens and dozens of conversations with some of the most wonderful people in the Church of Jesus Christ. 

On Friday after our meetings had officially ended, the YLT (Younger Leaders Team) remained behind to have time together and to work on a five-year vision.  I’ll write more about that in my next blog entry.  

And so by the time you read this entry most of the 200 who gathered in Seoul should be almost over jetlag.  I often joke about how I’m never more godly than when I have jetlag, enjoying hours of prayer in the early morning even before the rising of the sun.  That jetlag was a small price to pay for the blessings of our time together in Seoul.  We look forward to saying the same about the 4000 who will gather in Cape Town next October….

Comments

Rev.Dr.I.Jeyachandran

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I have enjoyed the" jetlag" blog. I have learnt a wonderful lesson from it. Thanks for the spiritual thought to ponder over!

Thursday 25 June 2009, 02:17

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Pranab kishor kumar

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Very nice. it encourage to take a step for development.

Thursday 25 June 2009, 14:34

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Dewi Hughes

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Great blog - although I suspect the Lausanne Theology Working group would be unanimous in rejecting the statement that the multiplicity of languages is 'certainly a product of fallenness.' Linguistic diversity is the good product of God's providence [Genesis 10]; monoculturalism is the evil product of idolatrous imperialism [Genesis 11]. The glory of the nations, which must include their linguistic glory, will be in the new heaven and earth [Revelation 21].

Thursday 25 June 2009, 17:07

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Michael Oh

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Dewi, thanks for your comment! That's the kind of theological interaction and response I hope for and expect from the theological working group! Let's see... if we define "product" as "a result or consequence" then I'd argue that it's clear that the consequence or result or response of God to the building of the tower and city in Genesis 11:1-4 was God's confusing of language and scattering of people. Certainly there was a greater and more glorious purpose beyond the particular event itself (as you explain in your comment very well), but there was also the immediate circumstance with both cause (building of the city and tower for sinful human glory) and effect (multiplication of language and scattering of population).

If there is any inadequacy in my response I choose to blame that on my sinfulness (that affects linguistic communication) and on jetlag.... : )

Friday 26 June 2009, 03:58

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Yando Nimbo, Young Leaders

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The time Seol, was the begginning of making another chapter in the church and the great commission to network, mobolize, go, give, pray and lead. For me to be their with other senior leaders and young leaders, was amazing and humbling moment. For God to bring us all together is not a coincidence. I also learnt that he challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful,
but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not, arrogant; have humor, but without folly, my pacific islands and this side of world is praying how the Lausanne Cape Town 2010, God will present to this world. I am honored to be part of this movement. May the will of God will come through.

Thursday 25 June 2009, 18:01

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Michael Oh

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Thanks for all the comments! May the Lord help us to continue to spur one another one toward love and good deeds!

Friday 26 June 2009, 01:22

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Paul Emanuel Larsen

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Congrastulations on choosing the Book of Ephesians. In my own dissertation I concluded that the great divide in modern interpretation points to the fact that the book is model paradygm for cross-cultural communications. Many scholars--both liberal and conservative have argued that the book is flundamentally helenistic. Both liberal and conservative scholars on the other hand have argued that the book is rooted in Palestinian Judaism. A careful study of the book reveals that that the idiom metaphores of the book are indeed Helenistic. But it is also clear that all the metaphores have counterparts in the Old Testament. For example, allll of the armaments in Ephesians i6 are found in the book of Isaiah. Thus the book if fully helenistic without compromising the Old Testament witness. It is the model paradygm for communicatilng the Gospel cross-culturally

Sunday 28 June 2009, 06:04

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Lindsay Olesberg

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Paul, so well said. I've found the same in doing a close study of the text. The congregations in Asia Minor were a mix of Jews and Gentiles. Paul is skillful in writing to both and demonstrating the relevance and power of the gospel.
I'd like to see your dissertation. How would I get a copy of it?

Wednesday 15 July 2009, 11:13

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Sarah Plummer

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What a privilege it is to meet. I must say for the first time in all our Lausanne meetings coming from Sydney Australia, I did not expereince jet lag. I felt my godliness over the week was shaped by the times of prayer and expositional interactions as we let the word of God study us through Ephesians. Thanks to all who make comments it is truly enriching to read the dialogue.

Monday 29 June 2009, 14:52

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Andrew

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thanks for the comment!

Tuesday 05 January 2010, 15:30

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