A Season of Change
December 29, 2013 | Patrick Preheim
I begin with a story from The Christian Science Monitor which, in my mind, ties together Christmas and the book of Philippians (Whitney Eulich, story of Sam Hawkins in the CSM’s “People Making a Difference” (Dec 2, 2013), pp 44-45).
Today, about 40 miles west of San Salvador, in the city of Santa Ana, a small house hums with the sounds of sewing machines and buzzing hand drills. It's the headquarters for Metamorfosis, and it's just a short walk down a gradually sloping hill from the bright yellow exterior walls and menacing razor-wire fences of the Apanteos prison. The prison system in El Salvador is bursting at the seams, with some 27,000 inmates held in structures meant to house closer to 8,000.... Metamorfosis is a play on words – highlighting the extreme change many of its participants undergo here. The written version emphasizes the second and third syllables of the word in red: "amor" or love. Love is key to how Metamorfosis began.
Back in 2007, a prison riot that killed 21 people rocked El Salvador. It wasn't the first riot, nor the worst in the country's history, but the newspaper coverage spoke to [Sam] Hawkins. "There were photos of grieving grandmothers and children on the front pages," he says. "They were all crying." Newspaper headlines shouted "Massacre!" "I saw that, and my heart just grieved for those poor people.… I said out loud, 'Lord, this has got to stop! But what can I do?'"
Almost nine months later he had an opportunity to go into Apanteos as part of a team of evangelical preachers. (Hawkins is a devout Christian, but he and his wife do not belong to any specific denomination.) When he arrived at the prison in Santa Ana, 350 inmates were sitting on the concrete floor in one section of the jail, and another 300 prisoners were waiting nearby. "I heard the gate close behind me and watched as the guard walked away," he recalls. "We were utterly alone in a sea of convicted killers and criminals."
Hawkins made a bold choice. He was the last one to enter, and on his left, he says, were "three of the ugliest, most horrific-looking gangsters I'd ever seen. They had tattoos all over their bodies. Their eyes were black. They looked mean, like they would kill most anyone."
He walked up, stood face to face with the first man, and said, "I love you"; he held his gaze until the prisoner turned away. He proceeded to do this with the other two men. "I learned there is no defense against love. Genuine love."
Hawkins says he understood in that moment that "it wasn't God's purpose for these men and women to be behind razor-wire fences. Their purpose wasn't to carry guns and to kill." That's what Hawkins told them in his informal sermon as he preached about his relationship with God. "Afterward they all said, 'You have to come back. Please come back.' They never said please to anybody," Hawkins says.
Two weeks later one of the men who had preached with him at the prison called him. The man said he'd met a woman at church who wanted to donate her home – just blocks from the Apanteos prison – to a group working with delinquents. It took him and executive director René Rosales, a member of the small group that had preached with him in prison, a while to figure out what kind of program to start. They selected shoemaking, in part, because it was practical. "With these skills, [the workers] are going somewhere," Hawkins says. "Everyone is proud of our work. We have zero defects." One of the largest shoe companies in Central America, ADOC, purchases and sells some of their products now, he notes.
Hawkins's work is valuable in El Salvador, where jobs are scarce and underemployment is near 43 percent....There are no job-training programs...funded by the government... Offering employment to ex-convicts and former gang members is important because of the deep fear of gangs in Salvadoran society... "No one wants to hire you if you've been in jail," says one worker who asked not to be named. "They just won't trust you."
Hawkins wants to change the outlook of the ex-convicts. "Over time they realize 'I'm somebody. I'm really somebody' and their self-esteem comes up," Hawkins says. Fostering self-esteem is vital before these men and women can successfully re-enter society. "They have to know that whatever comes against them they can withstand it," he says.
Metamorphosis means large change—meta in Greek means large and morphosis means change. It happens when the story of God is shared. It happens when prisoners feel loved and love themselves again. It happens when the un-employable have jobs. That is metamorphosis as it appeared in the Sam Hawkin’s story, but it also happens in our Philippians text. Jesus, who was in form (μορφῇ) of God, took the form (μορφὴν) of a servant (2.6-7). Paul wanted to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and understands the key to this as conforming (συμμορφιζόμενο 3.10) to his death. And Paul insisted that God will transform us (σύμμορφον 3.21) to his image. Morph, morph, morph-- this language makes me think that metamorphosis, change, is one major theme in the book of Philippians.
How does Christmas / incarnation change us? How do those imprisoned experience transformation? How are we conformed to Christ? How does God himself work this transformation in us? These are the questions that nagged at me as I worked with the Philippians, and they are the questions which will guide my reflections from here on out.
The idea of imitation appears frequently in Philippians. God imitates us when Jesus takes human form (2.7). Paul sought to imitate Jesus (3.10). Paul encouraged the congregation to imitate him (3.17; 4.9). The Philippians are told to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus (2.5). Without over-simplifying matters, we are transformed as we do faith. We conform to Jesus Christ as we think and act like Jesus. Transformation comes through imitation. And what does this mean?
Humility. Thomas A’Kempis, the supposed writer of The Imitation of Christ, suggested in his influential book that humility is the key to most fully loving and serving God. Even as God in Christ morphs into human form and humbles himself to death on a cross (Phil 2.8), we are to humble ourselves. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt 11.28-29). Humility includes several dimensions. We are to be gentle with ourselves knowing that God loves us, forgives us, and restores us. Are we gentle with ourselves? We are to be gentle with others knowing that God cares others as much as us. Are we gentle with others? We are to pursue God rather than riches or fame or learning for knowledge’s sake. Do we prioritize God? And our ability to practice these facets of humility is linked to our relationship with Jesus (Imitation of Christ, book 2 chapter 8). A close relationship with Jesus will lead to humility which in turn leads to transformation. Christ Jesus, Paul wrote in Philippians, “will transform the body of our humiliation” (3.21). Yoked with Jesus we act as he acted and take on his mind, thinking like he did. And as we do this we are transformed.
Philippians also makes frequent reference to joy and rejoicing. Joy and rejoicing are, I think, also a mechanism of transformation. In Philippians I count 16 uses of the word we translate as joy or rejoice (χαίρω) in this short book, and that does not include linguistic cousins like grace (χάρις). Our conscientious decision to rejoice in the Lord regardless of the circumstances transforms us even if it does not change our circumstances. Even though Paul uses the imperative case to exhort the Philippians to “rejoice” (4.4), to do so must be the choice of each individual. Finding joy in life when life feels unfair or overwhelming is not easy. Spiritual masters in the Christian tradition, like St. John of the Cross, have found solace in mediation upon the union with Christ that has come through his suffering, death and resurrection. Fyodor Dostoevsky said that “The world will be saved by beauty” (quoted in Robert Ellsberg’s All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses For Our Time, p. 472), and indeed beauty in arts and nature bring joy to the heart. Viktor Frankl held to the idea of hope as a force to transform the ugliness of a Nazi concentration camp (see Man’s Search for Meaning). Joining with the church universal in the rhythm of regular prayer throughout the day and night can bring solace and joy (see story of Walter Ciszek, Ibid, 534-536). Singing, too, can bring joy. And no hymn gets at this sentiment more than “Joy to the world”. We have sung it, however, in the last three worship services held at NPMC so let us join together in another joy filled hymn: #209 “Oh, how joyfully”.
We probably all recognize the transformative power of music, and Paul’s experiences with the Philippian congregation confirms it. Do we remember the story of Paul and Silas back in Acts 16 (16.16-34)? Paul and Silas were on their way to a place of prayer and a young slave woman started following them around crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God”. Some might think this good advertizing, but after a few days of this loud speaker entourage Paul and Silas became annoyed. So they cast out from the young girl the spirit of divination which enabled her to recognize their calling. Now it was the slave owners who were annoyed because they had lost an asset. They hauled Paul and Silas before a magistrate who had them stripped, beaten and thrown in jail. “About midnight”, Acts 16.25 says, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” Paul and Silas were singing, and the prisoners were listening. An earthquake rocks the jail with doors being opened and chains loosed. The jailer, and perhaps a good number of the other prisoners, received baptism and helped for the church at Philippi. This congregation had its origins in music.
Music and Paul: If you look at Philippians 2.6-11 in most bibles, and in our bulletin version of it, set the text in poetic form. Why do they do this? Many commentators believe this passage is actually the text to a hymn which would have been sung in the 1st century churches. In fact, many biblical commentators simply refer to this passage as the “Philippian Hymn” (see Morna Hooker, “Letter to the Philippians” in New Interpreters Bible Commentary series (volume 11), p. 501). While not conforming to the Greek rules of poetry it has a certain rhythm which makes people who study this kind of thing wonder if it wasn’t a hymn.
And finally, in two other epistles Paul recommended the singing of hymns as a way to root oneself in the love of God (Eph 5.19 & Col 3.16). Music is one way of the tools which allows us to be conformed to Christ, so let utilize that i-pod, CD player, and congregational singing for edification.
The season of change is upon us. 2013 is about to slip into 2014. We have just celebrated again the transformation of God into earthly form. Paul encourages us to morph, to be conformed, to the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Col 3.15). With Sam Hawkins the Spirit invites to become instruments of change in our world. May we embrace the transformations that are upon us. Amen.
Patrick Preheim, co-pastor Nutana Park Mennonite Church
A musical setting of Philippians 3.21 appears in our StS songbooks and speaks to the change envisioned in Paul’s letter: #111 “For me to live is Christ”. Let us respond in song with this new and yet compelling hymn: #111 StS. We will remain seated for this hymn.
