Why I've fallen back in love with y'all

When Katie, Mason & myself moved in 2005 from the frozen tundras of Chicago, Illinois to the pollenated southern United States (Tallahassee, Florida), I made a conscious decision that I would not give in to the use of y'all - be it in conversation or correspondence. I've always taken a little extra pride in employing correct grammar (it's the English Lit major in me - we have very little practical application of our studies!). I felt grammatically free of y'all after the now four of us moved to the multicultural Cayman Islands. I even secretly harbored a few  "told-ya-so" moments when listening to some Southern American friends struggle to try to explain y'all to persons of other cultures here in Grand Cayman. 

Falling back in love with y'all. Until, that is, in the Fall of 2010 when I re-discovered the brilliance of y'all. I was reading the book of Ephesians and I was astonished to re-read multiple prayers, teachings & exhortations as addressed to more than one person (as most of the New Testament is written to churches - 2nd person plural - not individuals). But it would be easy to read all of these brilliant verses as written to individuals because while the Original Greek has an expressed grammar that communicates "you" (plural), the English language does not. The British utilized "thou" as the second person singular for some time whilst reserving "you" for 2nd person plural. That faded by the end of the 17th century though. Back to Ephesians. Consider the difference y'all makes to how God's Word to us is understood & received:

1. Y'all were dead in your trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1)
Received individually (you): My story is that I was most definitely dead & following ways of the world, but some people's story may be different - some grew up Christian.
Received corporately as a church (y'all): There is not one person who wasn't dead and running in the other direction from God before He rescued them. Not one! We all collectively share some version of the same story.

2. But now in Christ Jesus y'all who were once far off have been brought near through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13)
Received individually (you): I've been brought near for a personal relationship to God - Father, Son, Holy Spirit - because of what Jesus did. Every day is great if it's just you and Me, JC! 
Received corporately as a church (y'all): I've been brought near for a personal relationship to God - it's personal but not individual. I've also been brought near to others to experience with them eternal fellowship with God. 

3. [I pray] that y'all, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and how long, how high and how deep is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:17).
Received individually (you): Jesus, please fill my cup to know and experience your love as an overflow. Please also fill up Jimmy's cup that he might experience this too.
Received corporately as a church (y'all): Jesus, help us as a church body experience the overflow of your love. Jimmy & I will only experience loved pushed to its boundaries as a community - benefitting from one another's encouragements, gifts, wisdom, prayers as expressions of Your love.

4. Let know one deceive y'all with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6).

Receieved individually (you): Jesus, please help me stay alert today for even the subtle lies of this world. Help me fight them off and remember they are empty promises.

Received corporately as a church (y'all): Jesus, help us as a church body fight off lies and empty promises. If one of my family members falls under deception, it could affect us all. Use me to encourage someone in the truth! Protect especially our Elders and leaders from the latest fads and false teachings.

Ephesians reminds us that Christ didn't so much die for individuals as he did for the church: "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25).

Curtain #1: Dividing mankind
from the Holy of Holies

How we went from you to y'all. By taking upon Himself the sin of the world as he died on the cross, Jesus was made unfit for His eternal community - Father, Son, Holy Spirit - "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabacthani" (Mark 15:34). His y'all was cruciformed into an alienated and isolated you. His eternal community - His forever church forsook Him. He did this to make you and I into a y'all. Remember the tearing of the temple curtain that occurred after he breathed his last (Mark 15:38)? Scholars have longed tried to figure out which curtain the gospel writers were referring to - because in the temple there were two curtains. Curtain #1: Divided the Holy of Holies from the Court of Men. This curtain kept sinners from perishing in the pure presence of a perfect God. Curtain #2: Divided the Court of Men from the Court of Women & the Court of Gentiles. It was a glorified airplane curtain dividing Coach from First Class (some of us just want to sneak a peek of what goes on in First Class). Curtain #2 symbolized that there are social divides that are not to be crossed. It is my opinion that the gospel writers are purposely vague on which curtain was torn - because they meant for their readers to consider both barriers obsolete. Through Christ's death, every dividing curtain is brought down (Ephesians 2:14). Thus, it's no longer you but y'all (you + Trinity) and it's not longer you but y'all (you + the church to which you belong).

Applying y'all to you. You are going to experience the goodness, the comfort and the encouragement of a communal God (Father, Son, HS) this Christmas Season. We can be confident of this because God works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Such good is not simply meant for just you but for y'all! Who is your y'all with whom you will share blessing upon blessing? Who is your y'all with whom you will experience together the width, length, height, & depth of Christ's love?

This Advent Season, I've loved watching families of Sunrise light our church's Advent candles and lead us in a Reading. Doing it in the privacy of their home would suffice, but isn't it so much richer that they do this with community?! Equally, I can't wait to sing "Silent Night" on Christmas Eve. How much more full is the experience with a couple hundred family members letting their light shine forth! Maybe your y'all is comforting those in your church community who are lonely this Christmas or having a non-married member of your church to your home on Christmas morning for breakfast or to open stockings (what a blessing it would it be to even prepare for them their own stocking!).

Through Christ, we have a personal relationship with a Divine Community - Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It's meant to be personal, but it cannot stay individual. It's not meant to be. I'm just speaking the truth...y'all.

(If further interested: (1) Here's a ya'll version of the Bible!!; (2) Here's a respectable Brit who favors using y'all for the Bible; (3) Here's a longer article from a Southern-American theologian- contains extra nuggets of insight; (4) Here's an article on the Remarkable history of y'all) 

Forgiveness: You heard the sermon, now Sing the Song

Yesterday receiving the Word & responding in Worshipping under the big top, I had the privilege to teach on Step 4 in making relational peace between two persons. Step 4: Go & Be Reconciled (Matthew 5:23-24). My sermon in a nutshell was this: Don't miss your moment to cap-off the peacemaking process by verbally extending forgiveness.

I was searching all week for the perfect song that might complement the message and help us respond in praise and obedience to God's Word. Doh! Found it a day late. Chalk it up to God's will. Thanks to Susan Vivas who posted this song on her Facebook Page. It highlights nearly every point I wanted to make, did so through song, and did so in under 4 1/2 minutes (I know, I know: "If only Pastor Ryan had found this earlier vs. 35 minutes plus spilling Harquail pond water on the stage").

The song is "Forgiveness" by Matthew West.  Posting it here:

• It's the hardest thing to give away...help me now do the impossible. Check.
• And the last thing on your mind today. Check. One of the major reasons I showed clip of Mike Steenkamp (Reeva Steenkamp's uncle) extending forgiveness to his niece's killer (runner Oscar Pistorius). Because of the public spotlight & universal scope of the opportunity, it was easier for him not to miss his moment. But for us (and Jesus' audience in Matthew 5), the need to extend forgiveness is often the last thing on our minds and we, thus, so easily miss our moment.
• It always goes to those who don't deserve. Check. Hey, just like each of us - who are ill-deserving of Jesus' forgiveness.
• It's the opposite of how you feel. Check. Hence, replace feelings WITH ACTIONS and the story of my friend who mowed that dude's lawn even though his first inclination was to tear him a new one. Act and feelings will often follow. 
• It takes everything, you just have to say the word. Check. When Jesus talks to his disciples about the power of forgiveness that He is entrusting to them (see John 20:22-23), the application for our lives is to actually speak these particular words: "I forgive you" versus offering a "no worries" - "no big deal" - "we're cool" response.
• It'll clear the bitterness away, It can even set a prisoner free. Check. "Unforgiveness is the poison we drink hoping others will die" to quote Ken Sande formerly of Peacemakers Ministries. Letting it go frees us from the poisoning.
• Help me now to give what You gave to me. Check. Ideally forgiveness comes as a natural response or overflow from considering, meditating on, cherishing, the forgiveness Jesus extends to us through his cross. "Bear with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgive each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive" (Colossians 3:13).     

Awesome stuff. I've already bought the song to remind me of my need to forgive and then re-initiate forgiveness when total recall (the old grudge, desire for judgment) springs up when I least expect it. 

Free Audiobook for May: Resolving Everyday Conflict by Ken Sande

Are you like me: I feel something near compulsion to alert people to free stuff. Not free junk, but quality things from the land of the free and the home of "there's no catch." This month proves to be more than an easy call to alert you to christianaudio.com's free audiobook of the month - Resolving Everyday Conflict by Ken Sande.


I recommending clicking right here, taking the 30 seconds to fill in your info, and get to downloading for your listening benefit. I do so for two big ole honkin' reasons:


#1: Peacemakers Ministries and Ken Sande. I remember attending my first Peacemakers Seminar at my old church in Chicago nearly ten years ago. Since then, I've used Peacemakers materials with youth, in counseling, in helping lead frustrated people to Jesus, in my marriage, in martial counseling, in sermons, in basic conversations. It is simple, biblical, and practical. Also, conflict is just one of those things in which passions (especially the desire to get what we want) runs so high, we need some kind of concrete, firm plan we can 'cling to' in such moments lest everything else in us erupts or implodes (passive-agressive) to cause pain for ourselves and others. In other words, it's hard to trust ourselves and our instincts in such moments - we need a plan/strategy outside ourselves.


#2: If you have any relationship of depth and/or meaning, you experience, have experienced, will experience conflict. So if you have a heartbeat and have uttered "hi" or "sup, holmie" to someone today, then this audiobook will prove intensely relevant.


May God use this resource to prevent pain, heal hurts, and bring glory to Himself through your conflict.  

Peacemaker's Ken Sande in Beirut: 3 great insights when talking Reconciliation, Jews, Muslims, Christians

Speaking of reconciliation amongst radically different persons (see previous blog post):


Okay, so a number of you who live in Cayman got out to the Peacemakers Conference in early April that I encouraged our church and many of you specifically to attend. Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries, was the speaker and did a fabulous job (I didn't attend the weeknight sessions as I'd gone through that training a couple times before...but did attend the leaders session while Katie attended the session geared for women).


I had a chance to speak with Ken while he was here and he was amped up (which for Ken means speaking just above the tone of your grandfather handing you a Werther's Original) about a trip to the Middle East, which he is currently on as I type. I just received this email from him, which I thought contained three brilliant insights if you're interested in peace between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East and the role God might very well be calling Christians to play or if you have a Muslim or Orthodox Jewish friend.


If you're keeping score, the insights that specifically struck me were: (1) The lack of a robust theology of reconciliation and how that might give Christians a unique opportunity; (2) The one-way mercy in Muslim theology; (3) His quotation of Isaiah 19 at the conclusion of the article as a vision that we can be confident will one day be fulfilled through Christ. 


(If you are further interested in this sort of thing, I'd encourage you to read a book called Blood Brothers by Michael Chacour. It's a Christian autobiographical page-turner with a personal touch that simultaneously gave me great understanding with re: to the origin and ongoing issues among Palestinians and Israelis).  Okay, here's Ken's email. Cheers...

April 28, 2011

Dear Friends,

By the grace of God, I arrived safely in Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday evening, April 25. The first two weeks of my trip were arranged by Manfred Kohl (who serves on our Board of Directors) and his wife Barbara, who wanted to introduce me and our three other companions to the rich history and spiritual dynamics of the Holy Land. They have planned an intriguing schedule of travel for us through Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel. At the end of this tour, Lord willing, I will fly on to Cairo to join Chip Zimmer (our VP of Global Ministries) for a week. We are looking forward to meeting with Christian leaders there and speaking at a conference of leaders from the Anglican, Coptic Orthodox, Evangelical, and Roman Catholic Churches.

My first day in Lebanon was an eye-opener. I spent most of Tuesday with the leaders of the Lebanese Society for Educational & Social Development (LSESD) and the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS). One of the professors I met ( I will not give many names in my reports) was especially thoughtful; his remarks helped me begin to understand the delicate nature of Muslim-Christian relationships. Here is a bit of what he shared:

• The historical enmity between Islam and Judaism derives in part from the fact that neither religion has a robust “theology of reconciliation.” This lack lies at the root of the thousands of years of unresolved hostility that have existed between Judaism and Islam, and between the many factions within Islam itself. What a powerful incentive this realization should be for all Christians to pray for the spreading of the gospel of Christ throughout the Middle East!
• The Q’uran has a strong emphasis on the mercy that Muslims hope to receive from Allah. Mercy is wonderful, but it is “one directional.” It flows only from the high to the low, from the strong to the weak, from the master to the slave. It never flows both ways. Love, on the other hand, which is fully revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ, is intended to be two-way. God loves us, and by his grace we can love him. By that same grace a slave and master can love each other, as can a poor man and a rich man, a weak man and a powerful man. Love opens the way for two-way relationships of mutual respect, care, responsibility, and equality, which are essential for a viable democracy. 

As I have reflected on this, I’ve realized that the spreading of the gospel in the Middle East, with its theology of reconciliation emphasized in the New Testament, could contribute to the rise of true peace. The love of God expressed in Christ can promote the healing needed for lasting democratic change.

And how might Muslims, especially those who are more moderate, be encouraged to embrace biblical concepts of reconciliation and love? First, as a result of prayer that God would move in their hearts through common grace to give them an understanding and appreciation for these qualities, which are so much a part of his character and glory (see Exod. 34:6-7). And second, by praying that the Lord would give his church in the Middle East and all believers around the world the grace to live out these qualities of love and reconciliation in our relationships with one another and with our neighbors, Muslim or otherwise.

The need for the church to lead by example hit me powerfully as I gave a lecture on biblical peacemaking at ABTS on Tuesday evening. While talking afterward with students, faculty, and local pastors, I learned that unresolved conflicts are wreaking havoc in many Christian marriages, churches, and ministries in Lebanon. I heard stories of divorces (sometimes high-profile church leaders), estranged families, domestic abuse, fragmented churches, and conflict in the workplace and with neighbors—and I was powerfully reminded of stories I hear when I speak in the U.S. and in other countries.

But the stakes here are especially high. If Christians here learn to live out the reconciling power of the gospel in their personal relationships, they can play a significant role in promoting reconciliation and healing among their Muslim neighbors.

So, please pray for the church here and for me as I travel through the region in the days ahead. Please pray that God would help me to discern what role he would like Peacemaker Ministries to play in this process. I want to learn from others’ experience and wisdom and discern ways that we might be able to work together to play some small part in fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah:

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.” (Isaiah 19: 23-25, NIV)

Yours in Christ,

Ken Sande