Twenty-four hours in hell ...

This morning, I preached at the chapel service at Grace Hospital. (My wife is a chaplain at the hospital – she invited me.) I really like the vibe of this place. The emergency room at Grace has taken a lot of heat in the press for chronic understaffing, but the heart and soul of the hospital remains intact. It’s a small hospital, which gives it a family feel. It’s also the ministry ground of the Salvation Army. General William Booth, a Methodist evangelist, founded the Salvation Army in 1865, which puts him almost 150 years ahead of the western church in missional ministry on the homefront. If you want proof that the church can be visible and credible in the surrounding culture, take a good look at the Salvation Army.

Although the Salvation Army is known for its warmth and compassion, its caring culture was inspired by a founder who could be direct, if not downright curmudgeonly, at times. Sometimes we need people to give it to us straight. To Christians who thought they could escape their ministry and mission because they were not "called to the ministry", General Booth offered the following rebuke:

"Not called!" did you say? "Not heard the call," I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face – whose mercy you have professed to obey – and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.

For the past year, I’ve been exploring new approaches to theological education. Len Sweet and I hope to shape the future of the 21st-century church by creating learning opportunities in virtual and real spaces that are unparalleled anywhere else in the world. As excited as I am about the opportunities before us, I know what matters most is our motivation. Jesus came not to be served, but serve and give his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20.28). Ultimately, our school can be about one thing only: giving our lives away in the name of Christ – giving our lives as a ransom for others. This is the ultimate learning community.

As a theological educator, General Booth knew the importance of keeping his troops focused on the world, not church business/busyness. Again ahead of his time, General Booth was painfully aware of the limitations of conventional theological education. In my all-time favourite William Booth story, the general appears before a graduating class at the Salvation Army training school. As he looks over the ranks of soldiers who’ve spent several years training for ministry, he makes the following announcement: "Young men, if I could have had my way, I would never have had you here for these years of training. But I would have put you in hell for twenty-four hours. I would have allowed you to feel the pains and pangs of the damned, to hear the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I would have caused you to see how they suffer forever. Then I would have sent you out into the world to warn men to flee from the wrath to come."

Compelling words, as only the general could say them. You may never spend twenty-four hours in hell, but as you witness the this-world suffering of others, allow what you see to move and motivate you to make a different world. This Holy Week, as you remember the sacrifice of Christ,

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. (Philippians 2.5-8)

Let's empty ourselves in Jesus' name. Paradoxically, when we do so we become truly full-filled.