Author: Jonathan Dodson

I have avoided missional conversations with strangers and family members because I was afraid of what they would think of me, not of what I thought they would think of Christ. In these moments, I forsake Jesus and put myself in his place. Not talking to people about the most important thing in the world is set aside because of my own selfishness and insecurity.

Here are a few thoughts that address this weak-hearted, wrong-headed way of conversing (or not conversing) with others, ways to evangelize our own fears.

God opens hearts, not arguments. Neil Cole has a saying: “Wherever you go, the King goes, and where the King goes, people bow.” In other words, King Jesus woos and wins people, not well-honed apologetics. I need to face my fears with faith in the King who opens hearts and renews minds.

Don’t win the argument; speak with compassionate truth-telling.” This saying reminds me to open my heart and my mouth when talking to others, being alert to the needs of others that the gospel of compassion can fit into and channeling my energy in that direction.

You have an AK-47, use it. If you showed up to a medieval sword dual with an AK-47, you wouldn’t be afraid or doubt who would win. Others might think you were crazy, even mock you, but your weapon would secure a win. Although I don’t like the destructive metaphor, this does remind me that when I talk to others “all authority and power” is in the gospel, which is mighty to save.

I just saw the multiple Academy award-winning Pan’s Labyrinth, one of the many films put off due to parental priorities. It was worth the wait. The effects, design, and imaginative creativity are stunning.

But the storyline is more impressive. In a blending of the very real horrors of the Spanish Civil War and the mythology of fantasy fairy tale, Guillermo del Toro reveals the power of a counter-story. The central character, Ofelia, is caught between fact and fantasy. Her father replaced by a fascist army captain, her mother suffering in pregnancy, and war all around her. She retreats to the “safety” of her fairy tale world, a world in which she is a lost princess, approached by a faun who gives her three challenges, which must be passed in order for her to be reunited with her father and king of of the underworld.

Again and again, Ofelia turns to the challenges and promises of her fairy tale world for a sense of purpose and hope. If she can just pass the tests, she will live forever with her father. She will reign in a land of peace, without pain or terror. The hope of union with her father and a place among royalty enable her to persevere under the harshist of real-world suffering.

And so it is with the counter-story of the gospel of Christ. A story that facilitates, not escape but engagement. Like Ofelia, we are challenged to believe in the world to come, a kingdom in which we will reign with our father, a world without pain and filled with peace. A belief that motivates personal sacrifice, compassion, and love. The counter-story of the gospel offers us true power, hope and acceptance from a loving father in a never-ending, righteous kingdom, which is precisely why we can follow in Ofelia’s sacrificial footsteps. Unlike Ofelia’s fairly tale, however, our tale is no myth.

On Thursday, July 12 the first Hindu prayer was prayed to commence Senate activity. Rajan Zed, the first Hindu to offer Senate prayer, began: “We meditate on the transcendental glory of the Deity Supreme, who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of the heaven. May He stimulate and illuminate our minds.”

Rajan was invited by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who commented: “I think it speaks well of our country that someone representing the faith of about a billion people comes here and can speak in communication with our heavenly Father regarding peace.”

Colin Gunton was a formidable scholar and thoughtful pastor, specializing his research in the doctrines of creation and the Trinity. Here are some closing remarks from my recently submitted article: “Colin Guton’s Trinitarian Theology of Creation: Creation as Creed, ex Nihilo, and Trinitarian.” Commenting on the relevance of the Trinity to culture Gunton writes:

“Modernity is like all cultures, in being in need of the healing light of the gospel of the Son of God, made incarnate by the Holy Spirit for the perfecting of the creation.” Gunton even goes so far as to say, “…the value of the theology of the Trinity lies more in enabling a rethinking of the topics of theology and culture than in offering a privileged view of the being of God.”

Thus, Gunton’s trinitarian theology of creation calls for personal, communal, interaction with creation, particularly in culture-making, not as a byproduct of being human, but precisely because we are human, made in the image of the triune God. By believing in creation ex nihilo as a product of the triune God, we must do something; we must create but not merely create, re-create, bringing the healing light of the gospel of the triune God into theology and culture for the perfecting of creation. Our creed calls us to participate with the two hands of God in the perfection of creation for the glory of the Father. In so doing, the transcendent Creator will become an ever-increasing immanent, personal God. By embracing Gunton’s theology of creation—as creed, ex nihilo, and trinitarian—creation becomes the context and substance of relation and worship, community and doxology, through our personal relationships, cultural participation, and praise.