Lynn Green

Tag: Ywam

  • O, Sacred Head Now Wounded

    O, Sacred Head Now Wounded

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    When Marti and I were first married we spent several months in Northern Ireland, a deeply enriching experience.  Although I had grown up in a Christian family, I met Christian men in Northern Ireland who were very different.  So many of them had a tenderness mixed with their unmistakable masculinity.  I had never heard men talk about the beauty of bird-song or discuss poetry.  I must add that my own dad loved poetry, but I don’t think he found like-minded men among his friends.  Those Irish men inspired me!

    We stayed in touch with many friends in N.I. and visited regularly for years afterward.  At one point we had the great privilege of close relationship with a large fellowship which had emerged out of the move of the Holy Spirit in the 1970s.  The fellowship was packed with very gifted musicians and they had a wonderful ability to find outstanding historical hymns and to then put them to modern (updated) melodies—often with a strong beat.  As I think about it now I can still visualize and hear their meeting hall filled with joyful music, their stamping feet keeping rhythm along with the drums and men praising God with all their might.

    Since then, I have been drawn to any efforts to resurrect some of the wonderful old hymns – – hymns that are moving and convey Biblical truths and often excellent theology.  I have listened again and again to The Second Chapter of Acts and their two volumes of hymns.  To my great joy, I recently happened across another group of musicians who have given new life to some old hymns.  Their two volumes of hymns were recorded more than a decade ago, but I just found them via Spotify.

    One hymn in particular moved me to tears the first couple of times I heard it.  “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” was written nearly a thousand years ago by Bernard of Clairvaux.  It has been set to different music from time to time in the intervening centuries.  The Africa-born group, Selah, have produced a deeply inspirational version with a great arrangement and perfectly matched vocals.

    The YouTube link below will enable you to read and meditate on the ancient lyrics, packed with deep content.  I hope you have the time to listen again and again and let the Holy Spirit draw you closer to Jesus!

    Lynn Green.

  • Nebuchadnezzar Alive and Well?

    Nebuchadnezzar Alive and Well?

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    Have you been following the rise of Xi Jinping?  He is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People’s Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission.  He is also known as the Paramount Leader, or the Core Leader of China.  As has been said many times, he is the most powerful leader of China since Chairman Mao.

    The New Zealand Herald explained, “China’s Communist Party doesn’t like difference. So it has set about eradicating any trace of it among its 1.38 billion population.

    “First they moved on Tibet. Its ancient spirituality and unique identity has been suppressed for decades. Its remaining leadership has long since been co-opted by the Party.

    “China’s Christian community has also long been a source of embarrassment. The Bible has been banned. Crosses must not be displayed in public. Its leadership must be approved by the Communist Party. Its teachings must now conform to Party ideals, news.com.au reports.

    “ But, for the moment, Beijing has another ancient community in its sights: the Uighurs. China invaded the East Turkestan Republic in 1949. It’s now named Xinjiang province, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

    Several other media outlets have reported that up to a million Uighurs are in prison camps, primarily because they practice Islam.

    Sometimes we think Christians are the only ones being persecuted for their faith, but the Chinese Communist Party does not limit its restrictions to Christians.  They are out to eradicate all faith.  President Xi has made it very clear that no Communist Party member can practice any religion.

    I have had the opportunity recently to ask several Chinese citizens about these developments and it seems clear to them that their President wants absolute loyalty to himself.  Shades of Caesar, or Kim Jong-un!

    What do we make of this aspiration to be venerated as a God?  For ordinary people like me—or you, I assume—the idea of wanting to be worshipped is preposterous.  But I suppose that is because we have never been even close to enough power to awaken that ambition.  But a quick over-view of history confirms that powerful men (not usually women) often want more and more loyalty, then adulation, then worship.  It illustrates that human pride knows no bounds.

    Or perhaps it illustrates that recognition by others or even their worship can never satisfy the hunger for assurance that we are significant.  We could call it the Nebuchadnezzar syndrome.

    You can read the first 6 chapters of the book of Daniel, in the Bible, in less than 30 minutes and it provides a fascinating study into the search for power and then worship.  Variations on the theme have been played out countless times in human history.  In some cases, the stage has been huge—as with Caesar, or Nebuchadnezzar, but it happens in smaller circles as well.  It takes the form of leaders who will not stand for any criticism or variance from their views.

    In the end though, the over-riding truth was declared by Nebuchadnezzar himself in Daniel 4:37.  He had just recovered from God’s judgment on his pride: seven years of insanity, living as an animal.  What had he learned?

    “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honour the King of Heaven.  All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.”

    May all who exercise any authority over others TAKE NOTE!

    Lynn Green.

  • Faith and Finances – Session 3

    Faith and Finances – Session 3

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    Faith and Finances – Session 3
    (Accountability + Support)

     

    30 years ago and still today we meet with a group that we’re accountable to some of the same people to submit them issues regarding our family and our marriage and our schedule and our finances.

  • Report from Cambodia

    Report from Cambodia

     

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

     

    I am astonished at the growing pace at which Holy Spirit is working!

    Marti and I are flying back from Bangkok and we have run out of words to describe the impact of the two events in which  we participated.  First we went to Battambang, Cambodia where nearly 200 younger leaders in YWAM had gathered. It is just an informal, relational network in YWAM but it Is growing at a rapid rate.  They call themselves the Malachi network, relating to that passage, right at the end of the Old Testament, where it is prophesied that the hearts of the young will be turned to the parents and vice versa.

    Their purpose is to draw all they can from the first generation of YWAM leaders and to deepen their friendships with one another.  They can see that one of the strengths of our generation is the friendships that have thrived and deepened over the years.  We have rarely felt so appreciated and honoured. It was almost embarrassing at times.

    ©Carlinha de Paula

    Many things stood out to us during the three days we spent there.  (Along with Darlene Cunningham, John Dawson and other older leaders, we contributed for a few days and then left them to get on with their priorities.)  At times we would just look at each other and say, “Can you believe this?”  That usually happened when the crowd was worshipping in several languages and we watched Mongolians, Burmese, Vietnamese, Nepalese, Indians, Sri Lankans, Ugandans, Lebanese, Europeans—and the list could go on and on.  We were also amazed as we looked around the campus.  A small team of Americans and Europeans went there just over ten years ago and during their short-term outreach God called them to Cambodia.  When they returned a couple of months later, they immersed themselves in the language and culture.  Before long, they were leading Cambodians to Jesus.

    You may recall the horrific images from the “killing fields” of Cambodia, when the ruthless Communist dictator, Pol Pot, killed a third of the population of the nation.  One of the results is that it is the youngest nation, age-wise, in the world.  A high percentage of  the older generation was killed.  Another result is amazing openness to God’s story, culminating in Jesus.  This young team of westerners grew quickly with beautifully redeemed Cambodians.  As a result of one miracle after another, they now have a large piece of property in the second largest city and have built the first 30% of a YWAM/University of the Nations training campus for hundreds.  We have searched for a better word, but “astonishing” is the best we can do.  They are doing everything with a level of excellence that inspired us to do better.

    For three days we worshipped together, spoke at length to the attentive audience, ate together, answered questions and gave advice on difficulties they were facing until we were hoarse.  Then we got into a van with Darlene C. and David Hamilton and made the six-hour journey to Jomtien, Thailand.  The Ambassador City Conference Centre has the best, most affordable facilities we have found anywhere in the world.  Our  problem—we “maxed it out”.  Though they have more accommodation, their auditorium could only seat a little over 3500 but we had more than 3900 registered and people who had not registered continued to come.  Some had to watch the online “live-stream”, but we managed to squeeze almost everyone into the auditorium. 

    The first night began with an outstanding YWAM Thailand worship band and traditional Thai music, dances and costumes.  It was all very beautiful, graceful and elegant and demonstrated a bit of what the Christian faith looks like in Thai culture.  For those of us who are immersed in Western Christian cultural expressions, it was a reminder that we have so much richness to discover in the other redeemed cultures.

    I will write more about the Thai gathering in a day or two, but for now, will just say that “astonishing” continued to appear in one conversation after another.

    Lynn Green.