Whatever For?

            Hidden Acres exists for several reasons, some in theory, and some in fact.  The degree to which we, in fact, do what we desire to do in theory, is now in question.  To be fair, my own purpose for existence, at least for this year, is also on trial.

            This camp exists primarily to facilitate the conversion of lost souls and the building up of saints.  Our full-time staff is rarely involved directly in this process, but the purpose is still clearly there.  During summer camp this is especially clear.  The folks in the office and on the lawnmowers and in the dish room have just about no direct camper interaction.  What they are doing, however, plays a vital role in what is going on in the campers’ lives.  The counselors and campers need never give a care about upkeep or cooking, and may focus on Jesus Christ alone.  We facilitate the Gospel.  While we as a full-time staff do not usually present it to individual guests, we provide all the circumstances necessary for Christians who come here to evangelize and be built up.  This, above all, gives glory to Jesus Christ. 

            It is all too easy to lose sight of this mission.  At Hidden Acres I think the largest distraction from our mission is the desire to grow.  In the back of our minds, we think, ‘Won’t it be great when we can put up these new facilities, and get this project done, and all this will help camp grow and be better, and we can keep our doors open.’  It is easy to do this without continuing to the next logical thought, which is the real core of our mission, ‘And if we keep our doors open, more lives will continue to be touched by Jesus Christ because He is using us for His glory.  What a tremendous honor it is to be used by Him this way.’  May we never long lose sight of Him.

            As for me, my purpose for being here in theory, and sometimes in practice, is to glorify Jesus Christ by facilitating the Gospel.  This often involves emptying trashes and washing dishes and hauling chairs hither and yon, but that’s all part of glorifying Him.  Unfortunately, I too regularly lose sight of this mission and instead just view my reason for being here as a commitment.  ‘I’m here for a year,’ I think, ‘and this is what I’m doing.  So, here goes…’   This is a terrible attitude.  Work for work’s sake is a punishment.  Work for Jesus’ sake is a joy.  Fun, no.  At least not all the time.  But what gives glory to Jesus Christ is a pure heart, whether by preaching to crowds or cleaning toilets.

The Way Things Work 'Round Here

            In the world of administration four philosophies define degrees of two key components which define the way it runs.  The first of these components is focus, namely, the thing on which the organization places its main attention.  This is defined as internal or external.  The second component is function, and describes how the organizations goes about its day-to-day activities.  This is defined as flexible or controlled.  The grid thus formed with these two axis in mind leaves the observer with four categories:  Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchy, and Market. 

            The Clan mentality is defined by internal focus and flexibility.  It is rather like a family, in which teamwork and cooperation are emphasized.  As things go along, individual roles may change, but the group ably supports all the members in it.  I think of an Amish barn raising.  Everyone is willing to be helpful to those around them in whatever need may arise, even if it is not particularly in their job description.

            Adhocracy is defined by external focus and flexibility.  I would term it “organized chaos.”  Structure and community are not so valuable in an adhocracy, but in certain settings this method sure gets the job done.  It gives liberty at every possible opportunity.  This liberty is to be used to stimulate creativity and new ideas.  This is sometimes seen in the form of individual project time with few guidelines but that it be somehow useful.

            Hierarchy is due opposite in both respects, internally focused and controlled.  In a hierarchy, roles are definite and unchanging, authority is unquestionable, and tradition and conformity are highly valued.  This system is not suited for creativity, as adhocracy, but is very well suited for order, discipline, and smooth function.  The armed forces are a good, though rather extreme example of this type.

            A Market type system is externally focused and controlled.  Instead of being driven from within, it is driven from without.  Popular demand is thus a key component in why this type exists as well as how it functions.  It seeks to outdo competition, but not without plenty of order. Many businesses fall under this category.  The difference between this and hierarchy I think may be best explained as when a job needs to get done, market is concerned that it get done, not whose job it is.

Movie Review

Having been assigned to watch a movie that displays the present culture, I picked the one our family owns which, from the box, appeared to be most like contemporary American, postmodern culture.  It is undoubtedly a "chick flick," making it rather awkward to watch, but it did end up being a culturally eye-opening experience.  The title immediately signals the intended audience, "What a Girl Wants."

The main character is daughter of an ordinary American single mom and a British aristocrat.  Her parents were married, and never divorced, but the mother left her husband under pressure from a shrewd political adviser.  Upon turning seventeen, the daughter leaves her mother for a while and goes to Britain unannounced to meet her father, who by now is engaged to a stuffy and manipulating woman who has a rather bratty daughter.  The American daughter starts out as quite a stir among the aristocracy, but after a while she tries to assimilate with that culture.  This she eventually abandons.

1.  What does it say about God and humanity?

In this movie, God is left out entirely.  He is given not so much as a polite or praiseworthy mention, but His name was used in vain a couple of times.  At the start of the movie, “fate” was said to have directed the parents’ meeting and eventual marriage. 

            2.  Is the one true God replaced by other objects of worship, such as self or money?

Yes, very much so.  The basic question that the movie asks is, “Who am I?”  It is this search for identity and satisfaction that the movie is based around.  The girl’s search for her identity in her father, which was her goal at the start of the movie, fails, so she tries to find her identity in aristocratic social life.  Eventually, she rejects that notion in order to remain true to herself.  Thus self is presumptuously placed where God is in truth, as the ultimate authority.  This movie claims that identity is found intrinsically in every person, and they must pursue their deepest desire in order to find satisfaction.  This is called “self-actualization,” and is a deeply rooted in the sin-nature.  Nothing could be further from following the Lord Jesus Christ than “following your heart.”

            3.  What solutions are offered to life’s problems?

For this aspect, once again, the premise of the movie is basically, “If I could have what I’ve always wanted, I would be happy.”  The way that happens for the girl, as she admits at the end, is not what she expected, but rather was better.  The same concept is at hand, however, which is firmly debunked in Ecclesiastes, where the principle is expounded that, “Everything is vanity.”  Solomon describes his quest for self-actualization in chapters one and two, and then describes his condition at the end.  “And all that my eyes desired, I did not set aside from them.  I withheld not my heart from all joy; for my heart rejoiced from all my labor; and this was my part from all my labor.  Then I faced on all my works that my hands had done, and on the labor that I had labored to do.  And, lo, all is vanity and striving after wind, and there is no profit under the sun.”  -Ecclesiastes 2:10-11  Even though Solomon had everything he wanted, literally, he was not satisfied.  This is because satisfaction is only found in Jesus Christ.

            4.  What character traits are promoted as positive and negative?

In this aspect the postmodern American culture particularly shone through quite obviously.  The straightforward openness, carefree informality, and flashiness of just-be-yourself postmodernism was starkly contrasted with the careful perfectionist moderation, stuffy formalism, and exacting etiquette of the aristocracy.  While failing to expose the insufficiency of self-actualization, it openly lashed at the hypocrisy of the aristocrats.  Hypocrisy was the major targeted vice in the film.  This is not surprising in postmodernism.  In fact, this film actually displays the struggle of postmodernism with modernism, with the postmodern perspective both of itself and of its predecessor in great detail.  The film gives postmodernism the victory in the end.

            5.  How are beauty and personal worth defined?

This is, for me, one of the most eye-opening aspects of the film.  I know very little of this struggle, having had virtually none of it myself.  I do not struggle with identity the same way women do, and it is a good thing.  So I learned something from this film.  The girl is not satisfied with herself, because she is fatherless, so she goes to meet her father, hoping that he will give her an identity.  When her own cultural rearing clashes with her father’s, she tries to change to match him, but finds no satisfaction.  The ultimate satisfaction portrayed in the movie is thus: to be oneself, and to be loved as such.  This is actually truer than I realized.  What the girl in this movie “wants,” as per the title, is actually a Biblical desire, for thus is grace.  In grace Jesus Christ comes down from Heaven, and rescues us from a sure path to Hell.  “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, that we being yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  -Romans 5:8  It is good and right to desire to be loved, in one’s present condition.  This is one of the deep desire that Jesus Christ answered for us, truly and finally, on the cross.    Thus the movie communicates, in a postmodern setting, a God-instilled desire which ought to lead us to salvation, but instead leads us everywhere else, until God opens our eyes that we may, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”  -Mark 1:15  The movie even ends with a “happily ever after,” which was, in the words of the main character, “Better than I imagined.”  This is so much like Heaven, but it is in the wrong place.  Having a father and a mother and a boyfriend and plenty of material things are all nothing, worthless, “vanity,” without Jesus Christ.  May He glorify Himself and may we proclaim the truth of the Gospel to this sadly depraved culture.  O, how they need Him!

Being Salt

            Our God is truly great and sovereign, and He has placed each of us in our proper places for history to glorify Him.  Those of us in the United States today have been placed here by Him for His glorious purpose.  Jesus spoke of believers’ relationship with the outside world when He said, “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt becomes tasteless, with what shall it be salted?  For it has strength for nothing any more but to be thrown out and to be trampled under by men.” (Matthew 5:13)  The question that arises naturally from the text is this, “How does salt become tasteless, and how may it maintain its flavor?”  It is to this that we turn our attention.

            Salt is, by nature, salty.  It does not need to do anything to make itself more salty.  To be effective as salt, it must be in the food.  Thus we also are to be in the world.  We act as flavor and preservative.  Unfortunately, not all is as well as it ought to be.  Considering the United States, it appears as though the salt within has lost its flavor.  But how did this happen?  Why does salt, that is, why do we, lose our preservative effect on the world in which we live?  The reason is simple: we have lost a Christ-focused worldview. 

            Without Jesus Christ at the center of our worldview and of everything we do, we become tasteless salt.  We are still salt, that is, we have not lost our salvation, but we have lost our preservative effect on the world around us.  When we are like Christ, we do, in fact, have a preservative effect on the world.  It is not an option, or even a command.  It is a statement, most like a promise, phrased, “You are…,” rather than, “You shall be…,” or “You should be…”   It is a state of being.  When we drag our desires and the like into our lives, and lose our focus on Jesus Christ, we become tasteless.

            Out of our love for Jesus comes a love for our neighbor.  This love must be expressed within the context of the neighbor in question, considering the culture at large, the subcultures, and the individual’s personality.  This is not, however, the center of our focus.  Our focus is on Jesus Christ.  We do not become more effective ministers to our neighbors primarily by getting to know them, studying their culture, and contemplating the best method to share the gospel with them.  These are good things, but they are not the focus.  We become better salt, not by focusing on our nature as salt, nor on the nature of the food that we are in, but on the Lord Jesus Christ.  When our focus is on Christ, satellite issues find their proper place and function accordingly.

            Within the context of Christ, this particular satellite issue of ministering in today’s postmodern culture may now be addressed.  It is no longer expedient or effective to use a cookie-cutter method for sharing the Gospel with today’s youth.  This style of using propositional truth is objectionable to them.  What they want is a story.  We need not be alarmed, because the Scripture arms us with a vast multitude of stories about the glory of God, the gospel, and the experience of the godly and ungodly men who came before us.  History provides us with countless more examples of sinners and saints.  Finally, we are armed with the stories of our own salvation.  In all, may Jesus be glorified.  Likewise, arguments are replaced by questions.  Jesus used a lot of questions, and in a culture that does nothing but ask questions, this is a very effective method.  The difference of Christianity is that Jesus has answers that no one else can give, the truth.

            As for me personally, by gazing at Jesus Christ, I must forget my own particular subcultural biases against my peers, crucify my arrogance, and care for the souls of the postmodern people I minister to.  When looking at Jesus, I can see the preciousness of each soul, and my own preferences and feelings take an immediate second place to doing whatever it takes to bring the gospel to the lost.  Naturally I will learn more about this culture, and develop a repertoire of questions to ask, but this comes second, when I gaze at the face of Jesus.

            And for Hidden Acres, we must do likewise, to gaze at Jesus.  I think that our proposed teaching method for next year aptly fits this topic.  We plan to use different stories from the Scripture to teach the principles they convey.  While we will need to be keenly aware of avoiding legalistic moralism, that is, the idea that godly principles are enough, apart from the gospel, this approach does well to meet the teaching style of this generation.  Kids are more likely to respond to a story of a godly man from the Scripture than a doctrinal monologue.  It is important, in all, to remember and glorify the Lord Jesus, because if we do not, we will be merely nice people with happy stories that can never change lives or save eternal souls.