SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #147 ---- 11/6/00
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
As We fight The Good Fight
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #147 ---- 11/6/00
Title: "The Tragedy of Mostar"
My Dear Friend and Kingdom Partner:
I write you in a season of change. Summer is gone, the colors of Fall
have faded for the most part, and the sunny days of Fall are now being
interrupted by periodic blustery winds and chilling rains. Winter is
coming.
It is also a season of change for our family. Now that we have returned
from our latest trip to the Balkans and my Father has sold his house, we
now focus our attention on getting Dad's possessions packed up, having a
final moving sale, and moving him into his new apartment about 25 miles
south of our home.
Then, it's a season of change for America. Tomorrow Americans go the
polls to elect a new president and vice president, many congressmen and
state and local officials. America again faces a historical moment of
decision that will chart the course of the future for years to come.
If you an American, my friend, ---- VOTE! Please vote!
It is also a season of change for many parts of the Church. Para-church
and various denominations have their national and regional meetings
during this season of the year. Because of frequent profound decisions
made during those times, some will never be the same.
Finally, it's a season of change for the church where I've been interim
pastor for more than a year and a half. Last Sunday they invited a
prospective pastor to come as a pastoral candidate. Yesterday they voted
by a more than 91% majority to invite him to become their new pastor.
He has accepted, and will arrive in just a few weeks. So our ministry
will conclude there and we will face significant changes again. What
will the future hold? Another interim? More conferences and revivals?
More international traveling? More time to write?
Who knows? All I know is we're facing another season of change. It's a
great time to be serving the Lord.
MOSTAR MAYHEM:
For several years Jo Ann and I have wanted to go to Mostar in Bosnia.
Until the war in Bosnia we had never heard of the place. When we finally
did learn about it, all we heard was heartache, bloodshed, and horrible
atrocities.
When we made our first trip to Croatia they were still fighting in
Mostar. On that trip Jo Ann picked up the book, "Miracle At Mostar"
which described, among other things, the development of a church there
during the war. Our interest intensified.
Still we had never been there.
Last June while ministering in Sarajevo a refugee from Kosovo drew a
beautiful pencil sketch of Stari Most ("the old bridge") about which I
had read in David Manuel's book, "Bosnia: Hope From the Ashes".
I was stunned by the artist's ability, and deeply humbled by his gracious
gift. I determined I would go to Mostar at the first opportunity.
So when Jo Ann and I got off the bus in East Mostar three weeks ago, it
was a dream come true. We were actually there! Finally!
Our host was late in picking us up, so we were quickly inoculated into
the society as little Gypsy children crowded around us begging for money
and eyeing our every possession.
Finally our missionary host arrived and quickly whisked us across the new
bridge spanning the Naretva River and into West Mostar. The city wasn't
always divided in such a way. It used to be just Mostar.
Later that evening mission Tim Gotchey and his family took us up a
winding mountain road on the western side of the river to a brand new
restaurant high on the mountainside overlooking that great city. The
view was spectacular. We must have been three or four thousand feet
above the floor of the valley below, with the two Mostars sprawled out
before us between mountain ranges on all four sides.
We enjoyed delicious food and sweet fellowship for a couple of hours. It
was dark when we walked out of the restaurant. Jo Ann and I were not
prepared for the view below. It took our breath away.
There was Mostar, aglow with tens of thousands of lights. It looked like
someone had cast hands full of diamonds, sapphires, and rubies upon a
black velvet cloth. We could only stand there in silent awe as we gazed
on what looked like a star studded sky inverted and resting below our
feet. "Oh, my goodness!" and "Wow!" were nearly worn out with over use.
The next morning as Tim took us to the bus station for our journey to
Dubrovnik, we wound our way back through the heart of Mostar. What we
saw there was different from what we had seen the night before.
There, along the streets near the river in West Mostar stood the bleak
and battered skeletons of buildings still hollow and vacant after more
than six years. Gaping holes big enough to drive through were everywhere
to be seen.
Entire building facades were so riddled with shrapnel and bullet holes
that there was not one place where you could place your hand without
touching a scar of war. Nowhere we have traveled in the Balkans have I
seen such evidence of the intensity of war as what we saw there.
It was then I began to sense the demonic massacre of Mostar. In the
nights darkness the damage was unseen, and beauty prevailed. However,
when day came, vivid reminders of wars past fought abounded all around
us. As in our first visit to Sarajevo, I could hear the children
screaming again. I could see the women running for their lives as they
watched their husbands gunned down in the streets.
Then I began to piece together the picture of the real Mostar. And it
wasn't a picture from the mountain top showing the beauty of a sprawling
metropolis. Instead, it was the picture of a ravaged, raped, and divided
city.
Something horrible and unspeakable . . . . yes, unthinkable, . . . . .
had taken place here several years ago.
But the wounds were still open . . . . . bleeding . . . . . . infected.
More than a river divides the city.
East Mostar is primarily inhabited by Bosnian Muslims, while West Mostar
is occupied by Catholic Croats. Before the war, the people lived in
peace, harmony, tolerance. They visited friends and relatives on either
side of the city. But, when Stari Most was blown up, it tore the soul
from the city and from her people.
Stari Most is in the process of being rebuilt, but construction has been
suspended. Certain demands are not being fulfilled, so money has been
cut off for its completion. The city needs its bridge rebuilt, for it is
the symbol of unity that once had brought two sides together.
Today, however, each city has its own bus station. If you arrive at one,
you have no guarantee you can get across to the other. If you want
information about bus schedules, you may or may not get it, depending on
which station it was to which you had arrived. Prepaid calling cards
purchased in East Mostar will not work in West Mostar.
Mostar is a divided city ---- not by a river, but by religion, ethnicity,
ideology, and bitterness. If Stari Most is ever rebuilt, there is no
guarantee the division will cease.
Another kind of bridge building is going on there, however. There are
two churches in Mostar, one on each side of the river. They work
together and pray together. Not long ago the church on the west side had
no building and had to meet in temporary quarters on the east side.
Recently the city gave them a large building which they can renovate for
a permanent building ---- a bridge abutment has been established.
Maybe someday, if Christians will be truly Christian, Mostar will once
again be one city.
We will visit again to see what progress has been made. There are some
valiant believers risking their lives daily to that end.
CHRISTENDOM'S MOSTAR:
I was deeply saddened last week to once again gaze on Mostar.
No, I wasn't back in Bosnia ---- I was right here in the midwestern
United States.
But I was seeing Mostar all over again. I had been seeing it for many
months, but until I went to Bosnia's Mostar, I hadn't noticed the
similarities.
For years a major denomination in the United States has had running
battles between factions within its ranks. A few years ago the strategy
shifted to a state by state level.
Recently I attended a state meeting where a showdown had been planned.
East Mostar and West Mostar were going to clash at the river. They had
forgotten that "In Christ there is no east nor west."
>From up on the mountain top everything looked great. The spiritual
darkness made it appear beautiful, filled with bright lights and life.
However, the river ran through it. And the river divided it.
For a long time the bridge held them together, but someone had blown up
the bridge. Civil communication was no longer possible. They were using
two different phone systems, and the prepaid cards no longer were
accepted on the other side of the river.
Each side was making demands that travel between the two sectors was no
longer acceptable. Each built its own bus station, created its own bus
line, and staffed it with its own kind. Apart from a few Gypsy children
looking for help and hope, everything else spoke of prejudiced business
as usual ---- "our way".
Since communication and commuting were both cut off, the next best thing
to do was to use propaganda by way of the media to make their case ----
and discredit the case of those on the other side of the river.
Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent printing and
mailing accusations, insinuations, and outright lies. People from the
outside came in to bolster the defenses and offenses of each group.
Now, on the surface, everything appeared to be civil and "Christian",
each group speaking of the other as "our Christian brothers and sisters".
But, when the election showdown for president came, more than 3,000
delegates (an all time record turn out) voted.
Less than 700 votes separated the two candidates. This denomination on a
state level is certainly a divided "Mostar".
As I sat on the floor in the packed arena and listened to the executive
and the president of this denomination make respective impassioned pleas
for unity and for a return to the common work of the Great Commission, I
wondered . . . . . .
"How did I end up back at Mostar?"
Even more haunting a question ---- "How did this great people become like
Mostar?"
THE MAKING OF A MOSTAR:
I like simple answers. So, I was looking for a simple explanation to
what caused a denomination once known for unity and cooperation to become
as factious as the Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats of ex-Yugoslavia.
I think I found it.
The reason the Mostar of the Midwest exists is the same reason the one in
Bosnia exists in such chaotic form.
They have gravely forgotten one simple thing. And, in forgetting, they
have consequentially resorted to the inevitable.
What did they forget?
They forgot that it's not about them.
It's never been about them. But, because they have forgotten who it's
really about, they have concluded it's about them.
You see, in Bosnia's Mostar, it was to a large extent about God. The
Bosnian Muslims call him Allah; the Catholic Croats call Him God.
But, because it became about *Their* version of God, it ceased being
about the true God. Since, therefore, it is no longer about Him, it was
easy for it to become about them.
It's always easy to become about us when it's no longer about Him.
So it is with the Mostar of the Midwest. These people who should know
better stopped letting it be about the Lord Jesus Christ, and made it
become about them.
Their agenda . . . . their understanding of scripture . . . . their
opinions about ministry.
After all, if it's about Jesus, you can't really fight over that ---- it
wouldn't be "Christian". Besides, you don't dare fight over Him ---- or
against Him.
So, let's make it about us; even better, . . . . about them.
That's good . . . . . . them against us.
When you make that tragic error, a hideous battle begins . . . . . . for
control.
You see, as long as it's about God, you know Who's in control, and Who
deserves control.
But, when you make it about "us" and our agenda, then logic demands that
we'd better be in control. And, if we're not in control, then take
control . . . . . by whatever means necessary. There's too much to lose
if we're not in control.
Control is never an issue unless it becomes about you.
As long as it's about Jesus Christ, there is no need for you to be in
control, for He is. When it becomes about you, then there are issues of
survival, personal agenda, and reputation. So, you gotta take control.
The best way to do that is to prove your "rightness" and your superiority
by appearing to be the victim trying to vindicate your own oppressed
plight.
And, of course, you're the victim because someone has attacked you and
offended you.
It was "them".
No matter that they're our brothers and sisters . . . . they are still
"them", and we're "us".
IS THERE A STARI MOST?
So, there you have it . . . .
My heartbreak for this denominational "Mostar" is as great as the one I
have for the city in Bosnia.
It was all so unnecessary.
All they had to do was remember Who it's really all about . . . .
. . . . . and then go build the bridge. The river is crossable . . . .
if you build the bridge.
I predict that, unless there is repentance and a broken hearted coming
together of the two factions, the chasm dividing this great Christian
force will grow even wider in days ahead.
They may think that the issues are the issue ---- but they are not. It's
not about the role of women, the matter of homosexuality, the inerrancy
of Scripture, abortion, or anything else.
It's about one thing ---- Jesus Christ.
And, until they figure that out, they are headed for another Mostar
Massacre.
FINALLY:
Now . . . . . . before you and I get too upset with "them", let's look in
the mirror.
Have we ever mistakenly thought this whole Great Commission thing was
about us . . . . our comfort . . . . our goals . . . . our agenda?
The best way to find out is to check the control issue.
Who's running the show? Who's trying to control or manipulate? Who's
trying to convince? Who's trying to be the Holy Spirit?
We don't need another Mostar, friend. Two is enough.
Oh? You know of another?
-------------------
When I told Jo Ann what my letter would be about today, she told me she
thought it was supposed to be a letter to encourage.
She's absolutely right.
So ---- I encourage you! ---- Keep away from Mostar! Remember ---- it's
all about Jesus! Since He's in control, you don't need to be!
Serving Him is far too thrilling, so don't let yourself get sucked up
into the political self serving antics of others.
Be about the Father's business. That's enough.
Have a wonderful week, friend. And, let me hear from you.
In His Bond,
Bob Tolliver ---- (Rom 1:11-12)
Copyright November, 2000. All rights reserved.
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Hang in there! I'm with you!
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Bob Tolliver -- (Rom 1:11-12)
Life Unlimited Ministries
E-Mail: [email protected]
Ph: 417-275-4854 Fax: 417-275-4855
Do You Get "Shoulder To Shoulder"?