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2001

WINTER

THE CRY: THE ADVOCACY JOURNAL OF WORD MADE FLESH

THE CRY

F O R

SUFFERING
VOLUME 7,

NO. 4

WORD MADE FLESH

SHARED SUFFERING
by jamie reed

THE CALL OF THE RESURRECTED CHRIST

ach day when I see the disparity in the streets of Lima, I cannot allow myself to become overwhelmed but to claim for Christ the children that I have the privilege of knowing and loving. I trust God when He says that the streets are not all He has for them. Early, painful deaths and years of suffering are not their intended future. However, suffering is their immediate present and it is not easy to love and be in relationship with them. It hurts. But God has also been teaching me not to hold them in my heart and arms but to release them completely to Him. This lesson was brought home to me last Christmas, my first Christmas in Lima. On December 23 Julio, one of the street kids whom WMF works with in Lima, was picked up by the police while he was standing on the street talking to his girlfriend. He

IN THIS ISSUE We celebrate suffering as a part of a willing sacrifice in serving Jesus among the poor. FEATURES Suffering and the Good News............................4 A Call to Enter In................................................5 Beauty in Suffering.............................................5 ASuffering Body................................................7 Hope of the Resurrection.................................11 From Suffering to Reconciliation......................12 From Self-Centered to Community-Centered..13 An Invitation.....................................................13 The Prophetic Voice of the Poor.......................14 DEPARTMENTS Letter from the Editor..........................................2 Staff Profiles......................................................3 Updates from the Field.......................................8 The Insight Series: Dr. Jrgen Moltmann............10 A Word From a Director....................................15

thinks the officers saw him hand his girlfriend money and that they perhaps thought they could take it from him to put it in their own pockets. While the police were putting Julio in the truck, he cut his finger with a piece of glass in an attempt to get them to let him go (sometimes the police will let them go if they do this because they think if they touch them they will get AIDS). While trying to cut his finger and resist the police, Julio accidentally cut the arm of a police captain. When they arrived at the police station, the officers, in revenge, picked up a kitchen knife and four small packets of cocaine off one of the desks in the station and said it was Julios. Because of the drugs the police planted on him, they had the right to hold him for fifteen days. I heard that Julio was at the station on the evening of the 24th. He had not shown up to my Christmas party and I had wondered why. Christmas Day, I brought dinner to him in jail. The cell where the kids are normally held is awful--just one big room in the basement that looks like a dungeon. No natural light enters the room, and the police never turn on the lights. As I descended into the darkness, I heard Julio say my name and begin to sob. He was all alone; no one was in the basement cell with him.

Photo: Melanie Curless

I was horrified to realize that Julio was not in a normal cell; he was in a tiny, four-foot by six-foot cell in a corner of the basement. There was no light, no bed, and no toilet-nothing but concrete and bars. I sat with him as he ate a little of the food I had brought. Mostly he just wanted to hold my hand through the bars. I could not imagine spending fifteen days in a cell such as this. If no one brought you food, you would not even eat. I cried when the officer forced me to leave him after twenty minutes. Julio spent the rest of Christmas alone. For the rest of the week I spent a good part of every day at the police station. Trying to seek justice for Julio was so frustrating. The police were purposefully delaying the progress of his case. They did not even take Julios statement and formally charge him until the day after Christmas. He was supposed to see a judge the day after being taken into custody. She finally came two days after Christmas. When the judge came, she said that he would be released and Julio would not have (continued on page 14)
T H E C R Y

PLEASE CONSIDER SENDING A YEAR-END GIFT TO THE MINISTRY OF WORD MADE FLESH: SEE ATTACHED ENVELOPE FOR MORE INFORMATION

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Holy Ground
from daphne eck, advocacy coordinator LIFESTYLE CELEBRATIONS
INTIMACY We celebrate intimacy with Jesus to be our highest calling and created purpose. OBEDIENCE We celebrate total obedience which intimacy demands. Our obedience is our response and responsibility to the grace of Jesus. HUMILITY We celebrate humility before God and man. SERVICE We celebrate service which fulfills our fellowship. COMMUNITY We celebrate community with each other because in community, we find the greatest potential for discipleship, service, and growth. SIMPLICITY We celebrate simplicity as our privilege in identification with Jesus and the poor. SUBMISSION We celebrate submission to Christ Jesus and each other as a visible sign of our humility. BROKENNESS We celebrate our own brokenness as our responsibility in ministry among the broken. SUFFERING We celebrate suffering as part of a willing sacrifice in serving Jesus among the poor. In Winter 1999, we began to focus the theme of each issue of The Cry on a different WMF Lifestyle Celebration. This quarters issue on Suffering is the last of the nine-part series.

We are in need of your year-end gifts to continue the ministry of Word Made Flesh in the 2002 year. Please turn to the inside of the attached envelope for more info on how to give to WMFs work among the poor.

YEAR-END GIFTS

This quarter, the WMF staff has written about celebrating a lifestyle of suffering--joining in the sufferings of Christ by joining in the sufferings of the people in the world who hunger, hurt, and grieve. We all experience our own suffering, as it certainly comes to each of us. We sometimes enter into the suffering of our family, friends, and in recent tragic months, of our country. Now these missionary writers also ask us to enter into the suffering of the poor around the world? This letter is for those of you who ask, How? It is for those of you who seek to enter in, yet do not live in the tangible presence of Romanian or Peruvian street children, Afghan refugees, African child soldiers, Nepali widows, or Indian orphans with HIV. Everyone should have relationships with poor persons. However, we are assured through the Holy Spirit that suffering with does not always have to be done in the presence of the one who suffers. When a dear friend miscarried her first child this spring, I longed to be near her, to grieve next to her. But I was here in the States, and she was many miles plus an ocean away; so I prayed and cried with her from here. Every few months, one of the children our staff works with dies; we grieve the loss of life together. In Sierra Leone, children are forced to kill other children in a corrupt civil war; we intercede for them and weep over the enemys supposed capture of innocence and childhood. I believe there is great significance in the church entering into long distance suffering such as this. On my way home from West Africa this summer, I had time for a short stop at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. As I prayed in the church, I lit a candle and realized that it would continue to burn long after I left the church. Though I do not believe that the candle was my prayer, it represented what was in my heart at that moment and symbolized the Spirits ability to stay where I could not. Because the true prayer of love still burns in absence, beyond even the moment the words are uttered.

I am anxious to discover what I think of as the holy ground that is created between the members of the Body, when together, they suffer with each other and with the poor. Does the presence of His Spirit within us pave holy ground between us, though we are apart? Does the physical distance only increase the span of holy ground? If so, the fragrance of Christ can be spread in more dark crevices, lower valleys of despair, to the depths of the places we go, and through the heights we cross to get there. As the church suffers together with and for the poor, God is given ground that only He can make holy. Such a wide expanse of holy ground must change the world. Perhaps this holy ground is what paves the way for all transformation. Perhaps the lives of street children are transformed by our prayerful laying of holy ground while we foolishly think it is EDITOR: because of all our Daphne Eck hard work and proASSOCIATE EDITOR: grams, our sacrifice Chris Heuertz and sweat. May we recognize the patches of holy ground where others stand, even those who are outside of the fellowship of Christ. May our shared suffering pave the way for the Kingdom to come in their lives. And may our commitment to suffering with the poor point prophetically to the places where Christ has passed formerly unbeknownst to the world...and sometimes unseen even by us who believe.
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Brent Anderson

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Clint Baldwin Dave Bayne Jessica Graeve Matt Neher Ben Oldham Christine Pohl Maggie Schroeder DESIGN/LAYOUT: Daphne Eck The Cry is an advocacy publication of Word Made Flesh. In addition to serving Jesus among the poor through ministries of compassion and proclamation of the Good News, Word Made Flesh is committed to serving the church as a prophetic voice for the poor. We strive for The Cry to be a voice to the church, articulating the cry of the poor for God and the cry of God for the poor. To request a free quarterly subscription to The Cry, contact us at 1-800-CRY-4-KIDS or cry4kids@aol.com.

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C R Y

JARED AND JULIE LANDRETH


Jared was born in Princeton, West Virginia and supported spiritually by his mother, who Photo: Chris Heuertz led him to Christ when he was six years old. He completed a history degree from Asbury College in 1997. Before completing college, Jared had already spent time in India, Romania, and Nepal with Word Made Flesh while in the Servant Team program in 1995. Upon graduating, he served for two years in the position of Servant Team Coordinator in Nepal. In 2000, Jared moved to Florida to study at Palm Beach Atlantic College. Julie was born in Orrville, Ohio and six weeks later returned with her mother to Mali, West Africa, where Julies mother was serving as a medical missionary. Upon arriving in Africa, Julie and her mother rejoined her father and adopted sister Nema, both African. Julies life was deeply impacted by her father leaving the family and denouncing Christ when Julie was only two years old. Julie returned to Ohio with her mother and sister and grew up surrounded by family and friends who loved her and guided her in the ways of the Lord. Julie accepted Christ at the age of eight. She attended Palm Beach Atlantic College for two years, where she met Jared. Through Jared, she was introduced to Word Made Flesh and began learning about Gods heart for the poor. In the summer of 2001, Julie went on a five-week trip led by Jared to Nepal and India with some students from Palm Beach Atlantic College. Jared and Julie were married on September 1, 2001. They now live in Columbia, Maryland as they prepare to serve in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

Staff Profiles
SARAH DOBRIN
Sarah was raised in Palo Alto, California in a Christian home where her parents have continually shown support and unconditional love. It was not until high school however, that her faith in Christ became real, as the Lords mercy and grace were made new while she struggled through a knee injury. Also during high school Sarahs love and curiosity grew for Latin America as she took Spanish classes and had several opportunities to spend time in Mexico. During these times she met children living on the streets and visited people in prisons in Mexico City. Her heart was broken for the poor and suffering. In the fall of 2000, Sarah participated on a Servant Team in Lima, Peru where God taught her many lessons through the lives of the street children and the poor as well as confirmed her call and leading to serve among the poorest of the poor. Sarah will be going to Lima, Peru in 2002 as Peru Field Staff.

Photo: Jonathan Miano

JEFF AND CARRIE BURNETT


Jeff is the firstborn son of two devoted Christian parents. He was born and raised in Morrison, Colorado, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. At an early age, many people in Jeffs life began to recognize qualities that God Photo: Jonathan Miano would use for His ministry. As he grew, Jeff too began to realize the gifts God had given him and the call on his life for ministry. After high school, Jeff went to Asbury College to pursue that call. God developed the call, giving Jeff a passion for missions. In May 2001, Jeff graduated with a degree in psychology. Carrie was born and raised in Eclectic, Alabama. She was surrounded by a loving Christian family who cultivated her love for God. Because of her familys support of missions, Carrie became enthralled with culture and missions. In 1997, she came to Wilmore, Kentucky, with a desire to be a missionary, and began her studies at Asbury College. There, she was challenged in her beliefs about missions and what it means to her. Carrie graduated from Asbury College in May of 2001 with degree in missiology. Jeff and Carrie met at Asbury in their freshman history class. They began dating their junior year and were married on July 14, 2001. They now live in Wilmore, KY and are preparing to move to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where they will serve together in Field Staff positions.
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BEN OLDHAM
Ben was born on Guam and has lived in Michigan, Missouri, and Indiana. He invited Jesus to live in him while still very young, and his family and many others throughout his life have challenged and encouraged him in his walk with the Lord.

Photo: Jonathan Miano

Ben studied English at Taylor University. God spoke to Ben of His compassionate love for the poor while studying abroad at Jerusalem University College. After graduating from Taylor, he participated on a Servant Team in Nepal, where God instilled in him a deep desire to live among the poor and to build relationships with those who have yet to know the love of Christ. Ben is currently preparing to return to the WMF Nepal community to serve with them in a Field Staff capacity.

These staff members are in need of people to partner with them in ministry. Please contact our office if you are willing and able to financially support the ministry of a WMF staff member. 1-800-CRY-4-KIDS

Suffering and the Good News


by olivia reichert

eet Vasca. He is the boy whose eyes dance and whose contagious smile draws you in and doesnt let you go. This boy of 12 years, who has spent most of his days on the streets of the city of Galati, has become a dear friend to me. Vasca has shown me the qualities of a true friend; he has rejoiced with me in my joy and hurt with me in my sorrow. He has taught me even more, though. He has shown me that there is a connection between suffering and the Good News, though I would not have believed it before I had met him. Hardly can suffering and good news go together. What good can there ever be in suffering? Suffering is ugly and painful; it is often without hope, and rarely does it relent. Suffering extends across the globe, whether or not we wish to acknowledge it. My eyes have been opened to suffering in Romania. The scenes haunt me: boys sleeping in the cold city streets, girls and boys whose small bodies are ravaged and whose short lives are stolen by the monster AIDS, abortion clinics crowded with women who cant afford the addition of another child to the family, and families of five, six, or seven living in oneroom homes. I have not known their suffering--this unrelenting hopelessness and pain caused by the plague of poverty. But I have seen it, and I have often wondered why. Moreover, how can these people ever know any joy in their misery or any hope in their pain? Yet Vasca has shown me the significance of the Good News. This boy has suffered much already in his handful of years. His time spent on the streets has been generously peppered with pain, hunger, cold, rejection, and even drugs--a way of distraction from all of the things that have come to threaten and harm him. But never have I seen a young boy take so seriously the words and example of Jesus. In reading about Jesus life, Vasca

has taken these truths and prinPhoto: Joel Klepac ciples to heart and applied them to his own life. Vascas response to the Gospel of Christ has surprised me and taught me a lesson that cannot be forgotten. Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga, who has worked and lived among the poor of Brazil for over 30 years, has said that the poor teach us to read the Bible. I have found this to be true. And as the Gospels have come alive to Vasca and have become a very real part of his life, they have also come alive to me in a new light. Jesus words and even those of the prophets of old have taken on new meaning, and Vasca has shown me just how good the Good News is. The poor are blessed, the sick are healed, the dead are raised, the oppressed are freed, and the Savior of all reigns as the Lamb that was slain. Even still, He knows the pain of those who suffer.

Vasca holding his nephew, Marius.

As Vasca continues to see that Jesus identifies with him through His own suffering and rejection, he can also know His healing and restoration. For, He was pierced through for our transgressions, and He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening of our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed (Is. 53:5). As I have read the Bible in the past, more often than not I have seen the message through the eyes of one who is well taken care of, who has suffered little, and who doesnt know how to depend on God for everything. It is not with the poor, the oppressed, and the suffering of the Scriptures that I have really identified. And rarely did I realize that Jesus identifies with me--at least not in a profound way. But Vasca has suffered poverty and along with that, physical pain and rejection. He can know that Jesus is near him in all of his struggles and suffering. And he can know Jesus promises and hope very deeply, as well as depend on Him very readily. Maybe this is why Vasca has so easily taken to heart the words of Jesus and taught me so much about the Good News. Vasca continues to draw me in with his smile and now also with his deep faith and following of Jesus. And as Jesus calls me, and the rest of the Church--His broken Body--into relationship and identification with those who suffer, He allows us to know Him in a new light and at a deeper level. This is good news.
Olivia lives in Galati, Romania where she works in the WMF drop-in center for street children. Olivia does the accounting for WMF Romania and also uses her degree in Nutrition as a cook at the drop-in center.

...The poor teach us to read the Bible. I have found this to be true [because] Vasca has shown me just how good the Good News is.
Vasca can know Jesus very intimately, because Jesus has suffered with him and continues to identify in his suffering. For, He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted (Is. 53: 3,4).

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C R Y

A Call To Enter In
by rachel langley

BEAUTY IN SUFFERING by christine erny

very day in Lima, I live among and work with kids who are disregarded by their families, their loved ones, and their society. They struggle for existence and love. They are called trash and nobodies. I have friends here on the streets of Lima who cannot provide basic needs for their children. These moms suffer the heartbreaking pain of watching their children cry when they are hungry, sick, or cold and are powerless to provide the things their children need. In countries like Sudan, there are examples of many who suffer unspeakable torture for the name of Christ. I have never been persecuted for my faith, I live in an adequate home, and I have never worried if I would have food to feed my little girl, or money to bring her to a doctor; what can I possibly understand of the suffering that is tearing apart the lives of people all around the world? But God has been faithful to give me glimpses of suffering. The ultimate suffering I have seen is the feeling of being abandoned by God. The kids with whom we work, in all the ways they suffer, and without real knowledge of God, still cry out to Him in their helplessness. One of the mothers on the streets told us, When people suffer it hurts Gods heart. She trusts that God will not abandon her in her suffering. Christians in Sudan who suffer beatings, rape, burning, and other tortures that most of us cannot fathom, are willing to suffer all these things rather than to suffer the abandonment of God. But much worse than physical pain is the pain of being unlovable.

My husband Brian was recently awakened out of a terrible dream, plagued by the lies of the enemy which caused him to feel completely abandoned by God. This experience shook me to the core, as I saw my husband weep in hopelessness, fearing He was not lovable in the eyes of God. How utterly unspeakable to think God does not love you. How destroying to a persons spirit to feel abandoned by your Heavenly Father. These are the lies that Satan wants the street kids to believe. These are the lies that the enemy wants to use to torture and destroy the spirit. And these are the lies for which one day the enemy will be destroyed. We, as Christians, hold the knowledge of the Truth, which speaks freedom and love into the hearts of those Satan seeks to destroy. We have the promise that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Further, our fight is not against flesh and blood but against the evil one, and the battle has already been won! We long for those who suffer to feel the loving presence of God in their midst, the God who can weep with them, and can bring them joy beyond measure. We long for them to know that they are not abandoned, unlovable, nor unlovely, but that in the eyes of the God who weeps and dances over them, they are wonderful. Please pass this glorious news to the kids and the adults that you know and love. And pray for the presence of God to whisper words of freedom to the street kids and mothers in Lima, to Christians around the world who suffer for their faith, and to those who persecute them. May you be driven to your knees for a world that needs to know its Savior.
Rachel and Brian are the Peru Servant Team Coordinators. In addition to being mom to Isabel and discipling Servant Teams, Rachel ministers to teenage mothers who are raising children on the streets. As a nurse, fellow mom, and friend she has a unique opportunity to love and speak Truth into the girls lives.

aya Aama came to us from her daughterin-laws home where she was being treated as a slave, sleeping on a cold floor with very little provisions. The widow of an abusive, alcoholic husband, 70-year-old Maya is a beautiful toothless woman who has much to teach us from her story. Shiva Hari, our housemate, friend, and pastor of the little church that meets on the second floor of our shared home, knows what it means to suffer for Christs sake. Born a Brahmin, the highest caste of the Hindu, he became a Christian and traded his esteemed position in Hindu society for the rejection and scorn of his family and friends. He hid in the church for weeks because his father threatened to kill him. Trying to make sense of suffering like this seems absurd, yet in Christ, who suffered for our salvation, we find purpose, redemption, and hope in the context of loss and pain. The Bible says, I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10). God has called us into the fellowship of His Son (1 Cor. 1:9), for our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 Jn. 1:3). This includes the fellowship of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10). Marilyn Howshall writes, I am called to partake in, share in, relate to, identify with, join in, and totally experience the sufferings of Jesus-take up my cross to follow Him. This is where the paradox of the gospel begins. Looking at the lives of Maya Aama and Shiva Hari, I see redemption in suffering that would be meaningless without Jesus. Suffering was a part of the earthly life of Jesus and the cross--and these saints well know what it means to take up their cross and follow me. From the cross comes our salvation; from death comes life; from suffering comes joy. A paradoxical beauty is evident in the lives of saints who have suffered. Christs life--His power, joy, and vitality have found expression in them, not in spite of, but through their weakness and suffering. Being a child of privilege, like many Americans, I cannot relate to suffering to the extreme that they can. I pray that the painful experiences in our own lives, however, and those shared with community, will turn us to the Father and that He will redeem them, bring healing through them, and teach us compassion.
This year, Christine and her husband, Stuart, completed their two-term with WMF in Nepal. They now reside in Anderson, Indiana where Stuart is the Director of Campus Ministries at Anderson University. Christine is a full-time mom to their sons, Wesley (3) and Luke (1).
T H E C R Y 5

Photo: Daphne Eck

community research ministry discipleship


THE SERVANT TEAM is a four-month commitment to serving Jesus among the poorest of the poor. Discipleship is primary, identifying ourselves with the poor through community, research, ministry, and discipleship. The Servant Teams are open to people who are willing to be broken in service to the 2002 Servant Teams. least of these. We are currently receiving applications for the TEAM DATES are August 15 - December 15, 2002 (application tion deadline September 15, 2002). deadline April 15, 2002) & February 15 - June 15, 2002 (applicaAPPLICATIONS and more information about the Servant Teams may be obtained on our website at www.wordmadeflesh.com. You may also email us at 1-800-CRY-4-KIDS. Cry4Kids@aol.com or call the US office at 859-858-0064 or
Photo: Teri Knittel

Word Made Flesh is one-of-a-kind, really after the heart of God. The Servant Team is designed for every Christian. I pray that more people take the opportunity. - Sara Peabody (Former Servant Team member)

SERVANT TEAMS

REFLECTIONS FROM CALCUTTA by sarah lance

CALCUTTA, DAY 1 I saw a lot of nakedness todaygaunt, skeleton-like women dying. I felt so huge and wealthy. The rich man is me. I carried many of them to the bath. They are so frail, in pain, yet they shared their joy with me. They smiled, reached out to me, touched me, and taught me. We shared in the tragedy of humanity. I do not see justice, just pain in my privilege here. The enemy wants me to look at myself so I will not see these atrocities. I want to serve until Gods love aches in my arms...I have come to Calcutta, the devils backyard, not to play but to pull weeds and break the soil so that what is now evil, God can make good. Lord, let me see with Your eyes. CALCUTTA, DAY 3 Seeking silence, solitude, brokenness. My sins run out behind me. In solitude we are so aware Photo: Taryn Moran of our own slime. We realize that we are not in the position to judge others. I am finding brokenness everywhere. It is not gross, but real. To hide is gross, to fear revelation is gross. To be frail, to be needy, to need to have your life cleaned up is not gross. To deny your need and the tragic state of your heart is to cling to putrid flesh, to wallow in vomitthis is truly gross.
Sarah (pictured left, with Munoch) journaled these thoughts while on a Servant Team in 1999. This year, she returned to Calcutta to serve as the India Servant Team Coordinator.

MY PROPHET by joel klepac


He called me a madman And told me I was a thief Black were his nails Even as black as my heart My name was faith But he called me a doubter My hat was new And he called it stolen My prophet and guide Knows not his name But he sees like a cat As he sleeps in the dark But for me he knows He calls me a rat And with that smile and hug I cant turn my back
Joel wrote this poem about his friend, Iulian, who lives on the streets of Galati, Romania. Iulian is pictured above with Joel at the annual celebration for the patron saint of the city of Galati. Joel and his wife, Monica, are the Romania Servant Team Coordinators.
6 T H E C R Y

countries of service
BOLIVIA teams will focus on building relationships with the poor and destitute in the city of La Paz. BRAZIL teams will focus on building relationships with street children in the city of Rio de Janeiro. INDIA teams may work with street children, the destitute, and the elderly in the city of Calcutta. PERU teams may work with street children, in pediatric AIDS care, or slum community development projects in the city of Lima. ROMANIA teams will spend time developing relationships with street children in the city of Galati where WMF operates a day center that cares for at-risk children and children living on the streets and abusing drugs.

The leaders were really accessible and vulnerable. It was clear that they were leading the teams, but also a part of the teams, sharing with us what they were still learning about living in relationship with the poor. - Ben Miller (Former Servant Team member)

A Suffering Body
by walter forcatto
t was an October morning, over a year ago, when I watched the documentary Cry Freetown with a group of WMF staff and board members. The video told of the horrible realities of the civil war in Sierra Leone. I wept, along with the rest of my friends, as we listened to children tell their stories of being drugged and forced to commit cold-blooded murder. Daily here in Lima, Peru we witness the inhumanity of the suffering of street children as they try to survive on the streets. Last summer, I sat in a classroom with seminary students in south India and listened to young pastors and evangelists share their burden of brokenness and pain for the suffering of their people in India and Myanmar (also known as Burma). These things cause me to question if I have any idea of the extent to which people are suffering today. Do we truly care? If we say we do, then what will be our response, as human beings and as the Church, as we face suffering? Scripture teaches us that we were created in the image of the triune God (Gen. 1:26-27). The inherent dignity of a human being is found in this divine truth. Regardless of our perceived difference or likeness, humankind is intrinsically connected together by this thread of truth. Moreover, the teaching of Scripture to love my neighbor implies that I cannot separate my humanity from humankind (David Chronic, The Cry, Vol.7, No.1). In fact, our Christian virtue is qualified and validated in relationship to my neighbor, and especially my poor neighbor (Chris Heuertz, The Cry, Vol.5, No.1, Mt. 25, 1 Jn. 3:17). Miroslav Volf, a Croatian Protestant theologian, puts it this way, At the deepest levels, our own wholeness depends on some strained recognition of the humanity of the other (Exclusion and Embrace). Therefore recognizing our own humanity and the humanity of others, how then can we ignore or be unconcerned about the suffering of millions? In the same light, Jon Sobrino exclaims,
Photo: Jonathan Miano

We do not know how it is possible to be a human being and not sometimes feel the shame of belonging to inhuman humanity (The Principle of Mercy). It is time to take our eyes off ourselves long enough to notice and be touched by the suffering of others. As a visible sign of the Kingdom of God and as Gods witness on earth, the community of faith ought to be suffering with Christ for those who suffer, especially the ones who have no one to comfort them. In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul explains that the local church, and I might add the universal Church, is like the human body formed by many parts. Each part has its own function and value to the whole and none have primacy over the others. In fact, God has arranged the body in such a way that its parts should have equal concern for each other. This wholeness and fullness is to such an extent that Paul can say, If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it (1 Cor. 12:26). Solidarity in suffering is a sign and witness of the unity and wholeness of the community of faith. Now you are the body of Christ, Paul says, and each one of you is a part of it (v. 27). So, we can ask, where is this solidarity occurring in the Church, especially in the Western church? Why is it that, for the most part, we barely notice, let alone suffer, when globally our own brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering? What numbs us to the brokenness and suffering of others? One factor I believe is a prevalent theology that perpetuates a warped understanding of suffering which makes it almost always a direct consequence of personal sins. There is no room to ask the question whether the suffering of others may be due to my personal sin or our

This girl is one of thousands of child victims of the civil war in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She now lives in a refugee camp in Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone.

social sin. Also, our culture tends to generalize and qualify suffering as bad, doing everything in our power to avoid it, suppress it or at least keep it at a safe and comfortable distance. Another answer could point to our worship of the idols of consumerism, materialism and wealth. Does not our incessant pursuit of these idols numb us to the rest of the body as though we have been given a huge dose of Novocaine? Walter Brueggemann explains, The imperial consciousness lives by its capacity to still the groans and to go on with business as usual as though none were hurting and there were no groans (The Prophetic Imagination). Have we, as the body of Christ, become so molded to the consciousness of the kingdom of man that we do not want to hear the voices of those suffering or draw near to them? In embracing suffering for the sake of Christ, we can with integrity point the suffering to the Crucified Christ who on the cross became Himself the brother of all who suffer. So where can we start? We know we cannot continue in our numbness, but we do know from our own pain and hurt and loneliness that tears break barriers like no harshness or anger. Tears are a way of solidarity in pain when no other form of solidarity remains (Brueggemann). May our tears be one form of solidarity that leads us to other paths of significant and concrete actions of compassion, which means suffering with. Walter and his wife, Adriana, live in Lima, Peru where they serve as the South America Regional Coordinators.
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Updates From the Field

NORTH AMERICA
AUGUST Matt and Julie Neher are married in Wilmore, Kentucky on August 11. The couple plans to begin their service with WMF in Nepel, then move on to serve in South Africa. Matt and Julie live in Wilmore, Kentucky. SEPTEMBER Jared and Julie Landreth are married in Wilmore, Kentucky on September 1. They now make their home in Columbia, Maryland as they prepare to move to Sierra Leone, West Africa as WMF staff. OCTOBER Rob OCallaghan has an article published in the Fuller Theological Seminary publication, The SEMI. You may download a copy of the article at: http://www.fuller.edu/student_life/SEMI/semi.html NOVEMBER The Board of Directors convenes in WiImore, Kentucky for the Fall 2001 Board Meeting. Over 40 board members, staff, and guests participate in the weekend. The Board conducts staff interviews, approving the following applicants: Jeff & Carrie Burnett (Brazil) Craig Curell (Peru) Jared & Julie Landreth (Sierra Leone) Matt & Julie Neher (South Africa) Paul Rase (Thailand) Donnie Richards (Sierra Leone) Rachel Simons (Romania) The Board commissions the following staff to international service: Seth and Kari Allgire (Romania) Sarah Dobrin (Peru) Ben Oldham (Nepal) WMF celebrates its 10-year anniversary on November 15.

Photo: Jonathan Miano

WMF Staff and Board who attended the Fall Board Meeting in Wilmore, Kentucky.

SOUTH AMERICA
Twyla giving baby Toby a bath

SEPTEMBER Carlos, a young man who lived on the streets and a friend of the WMF staff, is killed in a car accident. Servant Team takes their retreat to Huaraz, a city in the Andes Mountains. Staff travel to northern Peru for the baptism of the child of two ex-street kids and visit the young ladys family. La Palabra Hecha Hombre (WMF Peru) has its first Executive Committee Board Meeting. OCTOBER Andy and Andrea Baker, Servant Team Coordinators in Bolivia, spend a week in Lima with the staff. Chris and Phileena Heuertz make a field visit to Lima. Planning meeting with the ministry Mustard Seed (ministry to street kids) for our annual Christmas Party for the street children. Staff begins the search for possible sites for the proposed drop-in center in Lima. The Langleys and Jamie Reed complete their first year as staff in Lima. NOVEMBER Jamie Downhower, a former Servant Team member and friend, visits Lima. WMF Peru Executive Committee meets to discuss further developments concerning the proposed drop-in center, staff work visas, and other issues.

Photo: Jonathan Miano

Photo: Christy Griffith

Jeff and Carrie Burnett Married on July 14, 2001 8 T H E C R Y

Matt and Julie Neher Married on August 11, 2001

Jared and Julie Landreth Married on September 1, 2001

Photo: Chris Heuertz

Carlos was only 20 years old when he died. He is missed by many friends in Lima, Peru.

EASTERN EUROPE
SEPTEMBER Coco and Laurentiu start second grade; Cati, Elena and Robert start first grade. Chris and Phileena Heuertz travel to visit staff and the newly comprised Board of Directors for Cuvantul Intrupat (WMF Romania). Daphne Eck visits Galati with her sister, Amelia, and Cindy, a girl from Amelias urban ministry. Amelia consults the WMF staff on bio-intensive urban gardening philosophy and techniques. OCTOBER A work team from Joels church in Ohio comes to install the electricity at the drop-in center. The Romania field staff continues to work hard to complete the renovations (which include installing heat and hot water) before winter. Please pray for energy, health, and resources to complete this project. NOVEMBER The Perton Fellowship, an organization that raises support and awareness about the plight of the Romanian street children, visits the WMF community. The Servant Team goes on a trip to Lupeni where they hike and experiment the ropes course of the New Life program. Paul, Marian, Florin, Vasca, Gheorghe, Mihai, Miu and Emi start school. WMF Romania meets for its second board meeting.

Photo: Chris Heuertz

7 Romanian staff and 5 North American staff work at the WMF drop-in center in Galati, Romania. The house is currently being renovated. From left, Front row: Cristina Tudose, Vali Stefan, Cornel Munteanu, Joel Klepac, Olivia Reichert, and David Chronic. Back Row: Gabi Andrici (lives with Dennis and Nelu), Nina Sinca, Monica Klepac, Catalina , Bela Ispas, Dennis Mills (far back), and Nelu Stefan.

SOUTH ASIA
SEPTEMBER Bhavani, a 7-year-old girl, comes to live in the Rai and Wests home, beginning WMF Nepals first outreach to destitute children. It has become evident that Bhavani has a learning disability and hearing problems, likely stemming from the abuse she has suffered as a child. Please pray for Bhavani who desires to learn and be like the other kids. Also pray for the Rai and West families as they learn to care for Bhavanis special needs. They desire to provide a safe and nurturing home for her and, given the resources, other girls like her. India Servant Team travels to Gangnapur to visit a child outreach project. Sarah Lance travels to the States to attend her brothers wedding. The India Servant Team goes to Kathmandu to join the Nepal Servant Team while she is away. OCTOBER One of the widows living in the Nepal home for the elderly is forced by her family to return home to a life of destitution. Nepal Servant Team, India Servant Team and South Asia staff travel to Pokhara, Nepal for a combined Servant Team/South Asia staff retreat on Living the Life of the Beloved.

Photo: Daphne Eck

Amelia Eck, Mihai, and Miu search for good bugs in the garden at the drop-in center in Galati, Romania.

Given the resources, WMF Nepal will continue to take in girls like Bhavani.

Photo: Silas West

If you would like to support the outreach to abused girls in Nepal, please include a check made to Word Made Flesh in the attached envelope and designate the gift to International Ministry: Nepal.

NOVEMBER Samaaj Utthan Samuha (WMF Nepal) board convenes for the winter board meeting. India Servant Team returns to Calcutta. Nepal Servant Team travels to India and spends two days in Calcutta before going on to Chennai. Chris and Phileena Heuertz travel to India for WMF India board meetings and to teach a class at the Lakeside Bible College. India Servant Team, Nepal Servant Team, and Jyoti Bhattarai (WMF Nepal board member and Director of Elderly Ministries) travel to Chennai, India to attend Chris Heuertzs class at Lakeside Bible College.

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DR. JRGEN MOLTMANN

Only The Suffering God Can Help


In this quarters issue of The Insight Series,

dr. jrgen moltmann shares his own story of meeting the suffering Christ.
up my suffering within myself. My lifetime is as nothing in Thy sight. I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. They were words of my own heart and they called my soul to God. Later I read the Gospel of Mark. When I came to the story of the passion and read Jesus death cry, My God, why have you forsaken me, I knew with certainty, This is the One who understands you. I began to understand the assailed Jesus because I felt that He understood me in my God-forsakenness; He is the divine Brother in distress, who takes the prisoners with Him on the way to resurrection and life. I began to summon up the courage to live again, seized by a great hope. This early fellowship with Jesus, the Brother in suffering and the Redeemer from guilt, has never left me since. I am sure that there and then, in the dark pit of my soul, He found me. Jesus Godforsakenness on the cross showed me where God is in my forsakenness, where He had been in my life before, and would be in the future. The suffering God saved me in my sufferings. The encounter with the suffering God in Christ is a great consolation in our personal life when we are losing beloved ones and have to mourn at their graves. The pain of grief lies in the feeling of losing someone and of being lost oneself. The consolation therefore lies in the experience of indestructible community with God. This is, however, only possible when the Godhead is not an unfeeling, indifferent heavenly power named fate, but rather the eternal love who feels and suffers with us. That makes it possible for us to experience in our sorrow, also Gods sorrow and in the pain of our love, Gods pain present. God loves understood me in my with those who love, God weeps God-forsakenness; He with those who is the divine Brother in weep, God sordistress, who takes the rows with the sorrowful. prisoners with Him on When the only the way to resurrection son of the and life. famous mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead died in a car accident at the age of 21 he wrote in his very abstract book, Process and Reality, the very concrete and personal sentence, God is the fellow-sufferer who understands. With a beautiful English hymn we sing, (continued on next page)

his was the saving experience of my life. It was 1944, at the end of World War II. As a boy of 18 years, I was drafted into the German army. The Insight Series, features guest writers who In February 1945, have influenced the philoI was taken sophical identity of WMF. prisoner of war These theologians, scholand spent more ars, writers, practitioners, than three years and professors have had behind barbed a role in shaping the vision of WMF. Each wire in Belgium, quarter, The Insight Scotland and EngSeries gives each conland. April 1948, I tributor a platform to was repatriated. speak to the WMF community and constituency. Dr. Christine Pohl, Dr. Walter Brueggemann, and Dr. Miroslav Volf are among future contributors. At the beginning of my imprisonment, I felt completely Godforsaken. I lost all hope; all interest in life faded away. The dark night of the soul came upon me and I felt that last temptation of all who are imprisoned, to give myself up--to die the death of the soul first, and then to the death of the body. My turn from this sickness unto death to new hope and new life came about through two things: first through the Bible, and then through the kindness of the Scottish workers and their families towards the prisoners, their former enemies. At the end of 1945, a wellmeaning British army chaplain visited our camp and distributed Bibles to the prisoners. Because I came from a secular family in Hamburg, this was the first Bible in my life. Some of us wondered and would rather have had a few cigarettes. I started reading without much interest until I stumbled on the Psalms of lament. Psalm 39 held me spellbound: I was dumb with silence, I held my peace and my sorrow was stirred. I have to eat

...I felt that [Jesus]

THE INSIGHT SERIES

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R E C OMMEND

The Crucified God, by Jrgen Moltmann. Paulist Press, Minneapolis: 1993


In the preface, Moltmann writes, The theological foundation for Christian hope is the raising of the crucified Christ. Anyone who develops a theology of hope from this center will be inescapably reminded of the other side of that foundation: the cross of the risen Christ. Hope without remembrance leads to illusion, just as conversely, remembrance without hope, can result in resignation. The book is a timely reminder to disillusioned visionaries--who too quickly abandon the struggles for personal and political liberation--that the risen Christ reigns from the cross. Moltmann follows the path of crucifixion into the Godhead itself, reading a profundity of interpretation that is rare in trinitarian thought. (from cover). You may purchase this book at the WMF online bookstore at: http://www.wordmadeflesh.com/resources.htm.

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Hope of the Resurrection


ONLY THE SUFFERING GOD CAN HELP (continued from previous page) And when the human hearts are breaking Under sorrows iron rod, Then we find the self-aching Deep within the heart of God. When Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the theologian of the German resistance-movement against Hitler, was imprisoned by the Gestapo in Berlin, he had a similar encounter with God. He wrote in a letter, Only the suffering God can help. In their religions, men in their distress are searching for divine power, but the Bible brings us to the powerlessness and the suffering of God, because through His wounds we are healed. A few months later Bonhoffer was brought to the gallows in the concentration camp of Flossenbrg and died with the words, This is the end, for me the beginning of life. For Bonhoeffer the suffering God was not only a consolation in his own suffering. He also discovered that we are called to share in the suffering of God in the world. Christians stand with God in Gods suffering. When the Archbishop of El Salvador Oscar Arnulfo Romero met God at the grave of a murdered priest, he experienced his second conversion. From that time on, he discovered the eyes of the crucified God in the eyes of the poor and homeless children of his crucified people. In the poor, the homeless, the naked, the imprisoned Christ, Son of Man and World Judge is already present among us and is expecting us, our fellowship and our justice.
In addition to authoring a list of theological works, Jrgen Moltmann taught Systematic Theology at the University of Tbingen in Germany. He is now retired and living in Tbingen, though he continues to lecture and preach at universities and churches. In his youth, Dr. Moltmann aspired to become a physician, but his plans changed after the experiences he relates in this article. After Moltmann became a Christian, he began to study theology as it was one of the options available in the prison camp. Unsurprisingly, much of the liberation thought that he is known for came out of his period of imprisonment. Dr. Moltmann is probably the most prominent Protestant theologian of the century. It is said that his genius has been his eschatology and in interpreting Gods acts in history in light of Gods desires for history. Some of Moltmanns books include, The Crucified God, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, and The Spirit of Life.

by adriana forcatto

t was our usual walk back from another late night on the streets. We turned down the alley that runs through the market near our flat. This place, which bustles during the day, was now dark and deserted. No more crowds, blaring music, or lively food stalls. Vendors had closed down shop. The only hint of a market place was the putrid smell of trash left over from a long day of business. As usual, we carefully watched our steps so as not to trample upon any of the days scraps, which were lining our path. Where there is usually not a person in sight, we spotted a figure hunched over a wooden railing. It was unmistakable. The dark eyes looked up at us only for a second as we passed. Then they quickly dropped again as the young man continued digging through the heaps of garbage for whatever scraps that could become his evening meal. We turned the corner without a word. Once in the comfort of our home, we were still unable to shake the image we had just seen. We gathered some food from our shelves and my husband, Walter returned to the alley. A sincere thank you was exchanged for the food. Our conscience is appeased. We have done a good deed. Then why is his face unforgettable? What we were able to do for him filled his stomach for one night. But where is he now, right at this very moment? His hunger continues to gnaw away his very life. As the proverb says, Give a man a fish and hell eat for a day But what about the days that follow? The proverb continues, teach him how to fish and hell eat forever. This implies relationship. We have not seen this young man since that night. So, is that one mans hopeless suffering on the record as just another statistic? Mother Teresa invites us to remember that the passion of Christ ends always in the joy of the resurrection, so when you feel in your own heart the suffering of Christ, remember the resurrection has to come. Jesus provides hope for this young man, where I can give him none. Jesus identifies with this young man, in a way I could never fathom. Fyodor Dostoevsky writes,

Christs love for human beings was an impossible miracle on earth. But He was God. And we are no gods. Suppose, for instance, that I am in great pain. Someone else cannot possibly know how much it hurts me, because he is someone else and not me. I have never known this young mans desperation. My hunger has never driven me to the trash heaps. Jesus on the other hand has lived this mans suffering. This does not absolve me from responsibility. I am still called to defend the cause of the needy. And as I do that to which I am called I stand on the hope that Jesus offers, the hope of a resurrection.
Adriana and Walter have lived in Lima, Peru for three years, serving with WMF among street children. They could not bear to leave the children they had grown to love after completing their first term with WMF. They renewed their contract saying, It is for [the children] that we have come to this place...it is for them we will stay.

I SAW YOU AFTER MIDNIGHT by adriana forcatto a face without a name dark eyes exposing shame digging through trash each days the same what will your next meal contain? survival is not a game who is to blame? i saw you after midnight caught just a glimpse of your plight then left you out of sight tried to forget you with all my might your burden far less than light can this be right? how many little mouths to feed depend on you for every need? cant give to them for youve not received the life we all deserve to lead from this pain which you have grieved shall you be freed?

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Photo: Chris Heuertz

From Suffering to Reconciliation


by danielle speakman

iberation. This is the cry of oppressed people throughout the world. Whether it be the poor, the marginalized, or the racially discriminated, people who live beneath the whim of the powerful are demanding freedom from the system and the people who have oppressed them. Latin American liberation theology, Black theology, and feminist theology speak from the liberation perspective. Miroslav Volf, author of Exclusion and Embrace, argues for something different. Volf proposes instead a theology of embrace wherein freedom and liberation are not the ultimate goals for society. He writes, Will justice ever be done if the ultimate goal is not reconciliationto make love tower over freedom does not mean abandoning the project of liberationbut it transforms the project. This is revolutionary. To make reconciliation our highest goal completely alters and deepens our vision of solidarity with the poor. Specifically, reconciliation expands our understanding of suffering.

Overarching all of this, suffering is a willing sacrifice given so that, in the end, there can be reconciliation--reconciliation between the poor and the rich, between the oppressed and the oppressor.

Photo: Matt Ammerman

Word Made Flesh has made a commitment to suffering as a willing sacrifice in serving Jesus among the poorest of the poor. This commitment reflects many things. It reflects the desire to empathize with the reality of the poor. It reflects a commit...Suffering is a willment to join the ing sacrifice given poor and to underso that, in the end, stand through a relationship of there can be reconpartnership that ciliation--reconciliaccompanies the ation between the poor. It reflects our willingness to poor and the rich, surrender who we between the once were in order oppressed and the to incorporate the oppressor. reality of the poor into who we are.
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There is something profound that happens when someone commits to suffer with another person. We begin to love. We begin to care. We begin to see the importance of relatedness. We see that our lives have already been woven together and that the manifestation of relationship completes a piece of us. The sufferings of the poor are but one side of the coin, while the other side contains the sufferings of the rich. We may choose to live beneath the belief that our problems are isolated, but in reality, they are founded in the wide context of our world. Can we really turn away from the loneliness that the pursuit of riches has born for us? Can we really see this as separate from the homeless and hungry street child? When we commit to suffering, we realize that we are related, and then we see that healing must take place in both the rich and the poor so that everyone may be healed. As those of us who have grown up rich seek to live among the poor, and thus, suffer with them, there provides a space of reconciliation. Those of us with material wealth say to the materially impoverished, Take. Share my food. Share my home. Share what I have. And the materially poor give to us a wealth of soul, which we have lost. And we cry together. We hurt together. We become one. We reconcile and bring close what has

He calls himself Tuna; he lives on the streets of Calcutta. Though once a promising art student, Tunas peace and sanity was taken by a mysterious family tragedy. Tuna still carries his pad and pencil everywhere. But the images he sketches, like his words, are usually incomprehensible. Tunas friendship, and through it, intimate contact with his constant sufferings, has been influential in the lives of many WMF staff members. His friendship has helped reconcile these rich Westerners to the poor. The suffering of mutual humanity has been shared between souls and struggled against. And faith, hope, and love have remained. - Daphne Eck

once been separate. The willing sacrifice of suffering becomes redemptive. In suffering together, in reconciliation, we find a way to move beyond the pain of this world into a beauty and love, which exists within and beyond the pain. This is true liberation. Suffering isnt undertaken simply so that we may be overwhelmed by sadness. It is undertaken because to know suffering is to struggle against it. In the midst of suffering, the anguish reminds us that there has to be a reality much better than the pain of the suffering. There is no doubt that we must be liberated, but over and above that, we need to be reconciled. Planted in this common goal, suffering can be a strangely hopeful and beautiful thing.
Danielle lives in Pasadena, California where she is working towards a PsyD in Clinical Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary. She serves with WMF in an Inactive Extension Staff position, spending her school breaks among the street children of Lima.
Danielle with a Peruvian street child.

In addition to sharing experience and lessons from the field, we hope for The Cry to give voice to staff who, like Eric and Seth, are in the process of preparing to go. Please pray for the Angels and Allgires as they will soon be leaving their homes to serve Jesus among the poor. Please contact the WMF office if you would like to receive the Angels or Allgires personal prayer updates or if you are interested in giving financially to their ministry with WMF.

An Invitation
by seth allgire

From Self-Centeredness to Community-Centeredness


by eric angel
esus life was one of suffering--suffering that began on the day of His birth. He was born into persecution. Herod ordered all the children in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas to be killed in order to prevent the survival of the one that was called the King of the Jews. He was born a Jew--a second rate citizen in the eyes of the Gentiles. His fate was in the hands of the Roman Empire. He had few rights and little power in their eyes. Christ was born into poverty. His birth took place in a barn, and a feeding trough was His crib. He was a carpenter by trade; he was far from royalty. Jesus was ultimately born to suffer and die the death of a lowly Jewish prisoner at the hands of the Roman Empire. In his death, He suffered humiliation, unimaginable physical pain, rejection, loneliness, injustice, and the weight of the sins of all people on the cross that dark day. In this life of suffering, Jesus identified and had compassion for the marginalized in society. He was a friend of the poor. He touched the people with leprosy, and healed the sick. He spent time with harlots. He took care of the widows and orphans. He brought children to the center of His teachings, and He even asked a tax collector to follow Him. Jesus took on the sufferings of those around Him, and through His death, He took on the sufferings of all people for all time. As Christians, we are called to follow Jesus all the way to the cross. We are called to die to self, so that He can live in us and through us. We are to be His hands and His feet in the world. This means that we must also embrace the suffering of those around us--this is true compassion.

Our societys turn from one that is community-centered to one that is self-centered, or individualistic, has changed our understanding of suffering and ultimately our understanding of compassion. We tend to view suffering as punishment, and compassion as pity. However, compassion is something far beyond pitying someones misfortunes. It is identifying with people, embracing their needs and their sufferings, and laying ourselves aside so that Jesus can minister His love and mercy into their hearts and into their specific situations. But suffering is not the end. You see, Jesus did not suffer, die, and leave this world a defeated man. We cannot talk about His suffering without mentioning the resurrection. Jesus challenged death and won; leaving us with hope in the midst of our suffering and trials. As we spend time among the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the sick it brings us back to the scriptures, back to the hope that once captured our hearts. It brings us back to Jesus. When we embrace the felt needs and the suffering of the least of these, we remember why Jesus died on the cross, and hopefully, through His grace and our obedience, they will understand and experience it for themselves. Turning our eyes outward, stretching out our arms and embracing others needs and suffering, allows Jesus to bring new life to everyone. Dying to ourselves allows Jesus to live through us, and Jesus living through us brings hope to a suffering world.
Eric and his wife, Kelly, live in Cumming, Georgia where they are preparing to serve with WMF in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They will be the Brazil Servant Team Coordinators.

uffering is naturally repellent to us in our humanity. Why would anyone desire less than the greatest ease in life? Do we not hear and see messages every day that tell us that comfort is our right and is ours for the taking? Our culture tells us that the closest we should come to suffering is watching the evening news while we are free to change the channel with nothing more than the thought, Im glad Im not in their shoes. Those of us who choose to follow Jesus, however, are called to live differently than our culture dictates. We are called to live like Jesus. By becoming a man, Jesus became Immanuel, God with us. When Jesus was with us on earth, He did not limit himself to the beautiful, attractive, lovable, or comfortable. Jesus became fully human and chose to live and move among the poor, widows, orphans, the sick and lame, the blind, and the hungry. Jesus chose to encounter a suffering humanity, to give Himself fully to those who suffer and to share in those sufferings. We come to know the love and compassion of our God through the life of Jesus. Every day Jesus invites us to participate in revealing the love and compassion of God by following Him into His life shared with those who suffer. When we go to those who suffer and enter into suffering with them in the name of Jesus, it is a declaration that God is for them and with them. This is a part of the fellowship of sharing in Christs sufferings that Paul wrote about. And we too rejoice in this fellowship of the suffering because there we find the compassionate embrace of a loving God inviting us to enter into His Kingdom.
In February, Seth and his wife, Kari, will join the WMF Romania community in Galati, Romania to serve in Field Staff positions. They currently make their home in Trinidad, Colorado.
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Photo: Monica Klepac

THE PROPHETIC VOICE OF THE POOR by monica klepac


etting my body and heart still enough to listen attentively to our Fathers voice is not easy for me. Often I catch what He says in snippets, verses, and inner promptings. Last week, His words came though a 6-year-old prophet named Gabriela. Gabi has had extensive medical problems, tragically stemming from a broken arm that was not treated properly. Thankfully, she is currently receiving treatment at the best pediatric hospital in Romania. The hospital is in Bucharest (four-hours away, by train), so the staff has been taking turns going there to accompany our friend through her pain and fear. I recently spent an afternoon with Gabi in the hospitals yard under the shelter of gentle trees. Our game that day was toss the buckeye, and it was a time of laughing and being children. I was thankful for this respite from talk about doctors and operations. For a few minutes, we just enjoyed the fall sunshine and each others company. A woman approached as we played and, seeing her gathered skirt, braided hair, and fringed scarf, I immediately knew that she was a gypsy. We exchanged greetings and she offered to tell my fortune. With a kind No thank you, I hoped she would leave us to our game. She offered again and said it would only cost a few thousand lei (about 20 cents). I declined again, but she offered yet again. This exchange continued for a few minutes until my refusal became firm enough for her to leave with a swish of her skirt. Relieved, I turned to Gabi to resume our game. Instead of tossing the buckeye, she paused and stared with thoughtful eyes. Who was that? Gabi asked. I replied, She was a gypsy who wanted to tell me the future. But only God knows the future, right? But if God asked for money, you would give it to Him, right? she countered. Yes, I answered, slightly embarrassed. And if God asked you for clothes, you would give it to Him, wouldnt you? she continued. Yes, I said sheepishly, Do you think I should have given her money? With a glance over her shoulder towards the gypsy woman, Gabi simply said, She is poor. You know, I gave Daniel some candy and I would also give some to Cati or anyone. All at once, I was ashamed. For a few years now, I have been learning about Gods heart for the poor, and with each book, discussion group, and Bible study I feel like I am the first to discover amazingly new ideas. The deep truth of how God sees the poor and how His followers should respond is new to the affluent, but not to the ones who have always lived in poverty. Gabis words After over a year of incompetence from healthcare professionals, Gabi has finally were truly a proreceived adequate care and her last operphetic voice into ation for infection in her arm. There will be more operations next year to correct my life. The the bone damage in attempts to increase the use of Gabis left arm. focus of my concern--the evils of fortune telling--was insignificant to Gabi in light of the womans need. After this conversation, I felt uncomfortably similar to the goats that disregarded the poor yet thought they were generous, while Gabi modeled the attitude of the sheep that helped the poor without even realizing it. Thankfully, Gods grace came through Gabis words to save me from myself. May our hearts be exposed and led to the Healer through the prophetic voice of the poor.
Monica and Joel live in Galati, Romania and serve together as the Romania Servant Team Coordinators. Monicas open heart and easy laughter are refreshing reminders of the joy of the Lord as she ministers among suffering children and families.

SHARED SUFFERING (continued from front page) to spend the full fifteen days in that horrible cell. The judge also told me that she knew that the police often plant drugs on the kids and believed his story. However, she could not release him because he did not have his identification documents. The next frustration was getting the police to do the paperwork. They took their time, no matter how insistent or angry I became. Of course, a bribe would have made them move more quickly. They never got up the nerve to ask me, but they told Julios girlfriend if we gave them 100 soles (35 dollars), he would be released the same day. Finally, after spending seven days in that tiny cell, the police took Julio to the courthouse where he was given his freedom. The judge declared he had paid the price
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for the crime he had not even committed. The day of his release, Julio and his girlfriend made a surprise visit to my apartment. Thankfully, he was okay. Julio thanked me for being at his side every day. He said the Lord knew what he needed for Christmas. I was his gift. His words stunned me. I had not been able to do anything for Julio. Throughout the whole ordeal, I had felt so helpless against the corrupt police who abuse their power. I had failed Julio. I could not take his suffering away. As it turned out, Julio didnt care. He didnt even want that; he just wanted me to share the burden with him. He didnt want to carry his pain alone. I have come to accept that I will not be able to stop all the injustice. The police will continue to mistreat the kids and I wont be able to stop it. They will continue to violently interrupt peaceful moments in the park with the children, and I will

still only be able to save the few I can hold in my arms. They will continue to beat the kids when I am not there and I will continue to only be able to bandage their wounds afterwards. But the kids arent asking me to take away their suffering; they just want me to share in it with them. They dont want to suffer alone. It is this suffering with that I am learning and struggling to do. The more I love the street children, the more I join them in their suffering; and the more I join them in their suffering, the more I love them. Certainly, sharing in their suffering is painful, and part of me constantly wants to pull back. But it is to these kinds of relationships that the resurrected Christ calls us.
Jamie serves in Lima, Peru as a social worker to street children. She spends most of her time ministering among a group of teenagers who are addicted to smoking a form of freebase cocaine called pasta.

Photo: Teri Knittel

A WORD FROM A DIRECTOR

To Follow in His Steps


from phileena heuertz, director of child advocacy
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. - 1 Peter 2:21
Photo: Chris Heuertz

n the dark of night, he lays on the cold, dirty pavement. His fragile body is shivering. I reach out to him and discover he is burning with fever and suffering from dysentery. My new, young friend cannot speak and instead communicates with me through his desperate, innocent eyes. Weeks before, I had met this boy at the Madras International Airport. In his rags for clothes, he greeted us with his big eyes and the brightest smile I have ever known. Unlike the other street children, this boy never asked us for a thing. He warmly welcomed us with his kind smile and loving gestures, never speaking a word. This was now the third or fourth time I had encountered this boy at the airport. We tried desperately to get information about him to see if there was something we could do, but no one knew anything about him. Seemingly deaf and mute, he couldnt tell us anything. Sick and alone with no family, his frail body lay on the pavement and grew weaker with every breath. Suffering. What do I really know of suffering? Kind friends sometimes remark on the sacrifices we make to live and work among the poor, suggesting that we suffer. Though the sacrifices we make are often painful, we recognize

the greater suffering that our brothers and sisters live through everyday. It is their suffering that moves us to willingly make sacrifices. Christs words challenge us: Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (Jn. 15:15). And in his epistle, John writes, This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers (1 Jn. 3:16). Because Christ laid down His life for us, we are moved to do the same for others. When I have been so loved by Christ, how can I not love my neighbors in the same way? We echo the apostle Paul, Christs love compels usand He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again (2 Cor. 5:14-15). We love because He first loved us. Jesus has shown us the way to live. But do we understand what it meant for Him to lay down His life? Imagine the sacrifices of all His privilege as the Son of God that Christ made for us. Pauls letter to the Philippians tells us how Christ laid down His life to the point of death. Scripture describes how He became poor and intimately familiar with suffering. Jean Vanier reiterates this, So Jesus begins to make the passage from the one who is healer to the one who is wounded; from the man of compassion to the man in need of compassion; from the man who cries out: If anyone thirsts let him come to me to drink, to the man who cries out: I thirst. From announcing the good news to

the poor, Jesus becomes poor. He crosses over the boundary line of humanity which separates those whose needs are satisfied from those who are broken and cry out in need. (The Broken Body, p. 49) The apostle Peter tells us, To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. (1 Pet. 2:21) Jesus not only shows us the way of compassion and hope and healing, but He also challenges us to lay down our life and to suffer with those who suffer. In His meekness and vulnerability, the young South Indian boy at Madras International Airport asks me if I am willing to lay down my life for him. But more than that, if I listen carefully, I can hear him asking if Im willing to suffer with him. Am I willing to somehow embrace his suffering to the point that it becomes my own? If I am, than this suffering can become a celebration because it presses both of us closer to the Suffering Servant that the prophet Isaiah speaks about, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

SERMO N TA PES
Prayer for Revolution, a message given by Chris Heuertz (Executive Director) at Great Commission Fellowship in Wilmore, KY, is available for purchase. To order the tape, enclose $5 in the attached envelope and designate the check to Sermon Tapes.

Phileena with Samuel, whom she found sick and living alone at the Madras International Airport.

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Photo: Chris Heuertz

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SUFFERING

T H E C RY: A N A D V O C A C Y P U B L I C AT I O N O F W O R D M A D E F L E S H

SOLIDARITY OF SUFFERING by chris heuertz, executive director

n the aftermath of the events of September 11, the United States entered a posture of suffering that for many had previously been uncharted ground. With this newfound posture of suffering, the way we grieve will forever be changed. However, the challenge of change for us is found in where our grieving takes us. Can we learn to harness the redemptive potential of our suffering? Can we allow the reality of the grief in our hearts to nurture compassion for the grief of others? Can we extend love to our enemies in such a way that causes us to embrace their pain? Today, there are still 4,326 people missing in the rubble of what once was the World Trade Center in New York. Before September 11, there were over 4 million refugees in Afghanistan who probably couldnt find New York on a map. Recent Pentagon press briefings have indicated the unfortunate destruction of villages and civilian neighborhoods in various parts of Afghanistan. Could it be possible that their suffering, which is directly linked to our suffering, can be a stage of solidarity where we will be united? In Kabul, New York City, and Mazar-e-Sharif hundreds, if not thousands, of boys and girls are left orphans. Alone and scared, these children hold the future of how suffering and grief are accepted and absorbed in our world. Our example to them is the key. As we reflect on the events of this year, may the Lord have His way in our hearts and transform our contemporary understanding of justice so that it includes the justice of all who suffer. The redemptive potential of suffering finds its fulfillment not in the reprisal of its cause, but in the requital of its response.

Photo: Sebastio Salgado/AMAZONAS Images.

Children at the Kamaz camp for dispaced Afghans. Mazar-eSharif, Afghanistan, 1996. Photo printed with permission fom The Children: Refugees and Migrants, Aperature, New York, 2000. We highly recommend this excellent, thoughtful book of photography by Sebastio Salgado. You may purchase the book from Barnes & Noble, using the link on the resources page of the WMF website at: http://www.wordmadeflesh.com/resources.htm

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