![]() I love reading how Jesus acts and responds in this situation. This meant that Lazarus must surely be dead. His sister Mary sends for Jesus, but instead of coming right away, Jesus waits and does not arrive in Bethany until 4 days after the death. Right at the beginning of the chapter we meet Lazarus in his trauma and drama. Perhaps another form of this question is, “Did Jesus believe in ‘better together’?” A question that could follow is whether Jesus needed or simply preferred to include others in the drama of this miracle. Also, the week before, he had asked people to help him raise Lazarus from the dead. The Story of LazarusĮven as Jesus went to the cross, He needed others to help him carry the Cross. I began to see that because Jesus took a stance of servant leadership, he did most things as he walked with others, and those others learned, sometimes with great difficulty, along the way. I did have things to offer and much to learn, but we shared the challenges together and experienced a community life that was rich because we relied on God and each other. What was I to do? I began finding as many people as I could – various amazing people who wanted to come to camp and who had skills beyond the few that I had. The Creator gave me a role at Pioneer camp where I felt totally out of my depth and, most obviously, where I could not lead alone. I started to realize that God had pursued me to evangelize me and convert me throughout my whole life. God had not actually called me to evangelize Canadian youth, even though I did a little of that. At that time, I was trying to figure out why God would have called me, not into a situation where I felt at home, but into such an uneasy and foreign place. I did not run away but I was curious how it would all work out. Here was this kid who felt at home in the city and out of his element in the forest or on water. Still, the doorway for me into InterVarsity was through Pioneer Camp, and as I look back, I realize that God had a sense of humour putting me into leadership roles at camp. I had been in Boy Scouts, but on my first camping trip, I got a rash so went home on the second day. Growing up, I was comfortable with concrete and liked trees in a park or on a boulevard, but suddenly I was supposed to take campers on out-trips into the wilderness and teach them how to swim and sail and tie knots. As I journeyed further through my years with IV and Pioneer camps, this became very clear in my life. So, even though our culture educates us in the “power of one” and the “importance of self”, the reality is that we could not survive without the intimate involvement of others. If you were born in a field and you did not have any relative or helper to wrap you up or find food for you, you would probably perish. I will come back to this theme, but let me ask two questions:Ĭould it be that the Trinity is the template for our lives here on earth? Over the next ten years, and even right up to today, I have become aware of a different reason for God’s call on my life. When I joined InterVarsity in the mid-70s I believed God had called me to IV to evangelize Canadian youth. In fact, a kind of cult of individualism runs rampant in North America, and perhaps the COVID-19 virus, with its “social distancing” and its deadly results, makes us think more about our community. We also live in a culture that has propagated the myth that we don’t need to rely on others for help but should do everything ourselves. This seems like a strange time to write a blog post called “Better Together” – especially as we experience a world-wide pandemic that has forced us to be conscious of how we create physical distance from each other.
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