Perspectives- Scott Buresh

Dr. Scott Buresh, a professor of anthropology at Towson University, spent 18 months in Aceh in Muslim boarding schools, living as the local culture does. He taught on the topic of "Building Bridges of Love," which addressed cultural issues, tying lessons from Jewish tradition in the Bible into modern day evangelization models. First, Scott led us in a meditative reading, Lectio Divina, where he first read a passage, then read it again and asked us to listen for key words or phrases that God may be pointing us towards, then again and asked us to seek an application in it, then again while simply letting the words wash over us. Here are some key points that I took away from Scott's teaching:

• The #1 value in the US in independence, though we should plan to live as communities of disciples, since individually we are all very poor representations of Christ.
• Jesus was able to do what He did because He relied on His Father, not because He was God.
• If we would teach what Jesus taught in the way Jesus taught, we would experience the same response. Jesus was perfect, but He was still rejected.
• Jesus was fully immersed in Jewish culture, and was fully dependent on His culture to learn language, Aramaic and Hebrew in this case. He was a real carpenter in a small town. He went from the throne of glory to this, for the sake of people. How much less do we need to give up to reach others?
• Jesus taught, "Repent (reconsider what is reality) for the Kingdom of God (God's presence, His rule, His power) has come near (immediately available)."
• Jesus taught in daily interactions while travelling, in the temple, out in the open, and He taught through stories, making ideas relevant to an audience.
• It is important to serve humbly and with integrity when entering a different culture. Taking a single true identity as a servant that genuinely cares about the community will go farther than misrepresentations that seem to bring one closer to a culture. It is also imperative to keep this identity at home and abroad.

Scott closed with stories of those that have taught what Jesus taught in the way Jesus taught. The early church saw martyrs dying with joy and peace because they had tapped into the Kingdom. The Celts missed persecutions suffered elsewhere and left the Ireland they knew to teach and transform the uncivilized countryside. Hudson Taylor recognized cultural differences in China and took theirs on, serving as a teacher. Frank Laubach took a fresh approach of teaching people in the South Pacific how to read, by requiring that each student teach someone else what they just learned before he would teach them the next lesson. Each of these required some sacrifice and full devotion to God, but each transformed the world for others and for God's glory. It's worth it.